We always found the stories of New York City street racing from the 1970s and 1980s to be on the verge of complete fantasy. Guys racing literal pro stock cars down the street and all this other stuff just seemed impossible in a city filled with millions of people, thousands of cops, and peeping eyeballs everywhere. Well, those stories have been proven true many times over and the fact is that the city still has a street racing problem to this day and in one neighborhood residents are demanding that the cops do something to stop it.
Washington Heights, New York sits just north of Upper Manhattan and just northwest of Yankee Stadium. It is where famous baseball player Manny Ramirez grew up and it is the home of Amsterdam Avenue, which has apparently become one of the hottest places to street race in all of New York City. Residents at a recent meeting have demanded that police do something to curtail the problem which they see as a safety hazard. Previously police have done stuff in a more passive manner, like adding parking spaces to narrow the road, which did not stop the street racing but it did make it a heck of a lot more dangerous, so there was that.
In 2015 complaints about street racing from NYC residents to the police have risen more than 30% and it seems like the Queens area is the place where most of the “action” is taking place. We do not know the details of the cars involved, how fast guys are going, or how hairy the machines are but we do know that the issue that persisted for decades earlier continues today in one form or another and it will continue virtually forever with the cat and mouse game between police and scofflaw taking center stage every time. When they get squeezed off of Amsterdam, where will they head next?
Click here for the NY Post Story On NYC street racing complaints
There was an article in New York magazine in the 70’s about the street racing scene. The protagonist of that article was driving a 1st gen Camaro or Firebird with the “wrong” front end clip for the marque (i.e., Pontiac front clip on the Chevy or vice versa). I’ve never been able to find that article again. I found this, though:
http://www.mustangandfords.com/how-to/tech-qa/0305mm-thepathtodrag/
reminds me of an article I read many moons ago. Mustangs and Fast Fords featured a couple of 5.0 Mustangs that were confiscated by the NYC po-po. The city turned them into bait cars, using them to lure guys into a race then pulling them over. The article had gobs of data bout the cars and they were pretty rowdy cars….they will find a new place to run…
The City needs to open a few race tracks. BUT As long as there are cars there will always be those who will race on the street regardless of the consequences
Lets see-within 1 hour of NYC you have:
Island Dragway
Englishtown
Lebanon Valley
A little farther down the NJ tpk you have Atco-that runs like 6 days/nites a week-from Feb to Dec.
Not much of a shortage of places to race.
always ridiculous when some claim there are no tracks around the city… thank you for reminding me that not all people are clueless and unable to do even the simplest research about where to race on an actual track… how can anyone be into drag racing in NY and not know of those tracks???
Anywhere around NYC metroplex, “an hour away” only gets you about 5 miles. So in theory, you’re right, but in practice, you’re completely wrong.
Gee, people that like powerful cars street race in them, even in cities?
Stop the presses! Who knew?
I’m sure the present police will have the same amount of success in stopping this as any other police agency since cars were invented.
I remember mid-’70s when the guys from Hot Cars magazine would brag about their NY street racing…one year they flew to Van Nuys Blvd., looked it over on a Wednesday cruise night, then went home and announced right on the cover there was no real street racing in the San Fernando Valley. “The Truth Hurts!” Lotsa good laughs, then nobody bought Hot Cars anymore. From here, I just hope NY did actually have a decent scene, that is was more real than Hot Cars’ weird delusions.
Meanwhile at whatever end of the country, your tax dollars support school football programs and the athletically-gifted who excel there while hoping not too many break their necks at it, and the dirtball gearheads can find their playing fields elsewhere and take risks their own way.
R. I. P. Terminal Island. !!
Reopen it!!!
NYC is f@&$*%#ed.
There will never be a legal dragstrip near NYC until racers get organized and buy some real estate and build an INDOOR facility to deal with noise issues. It would help if it were in the basement of a 100-story Trump condo complex. Because the real estate is too damn expensive.
From what Ive heard there is a little more than this.
While on the topic check out the new movie franny lew. Its about street racing in queens in the 80s
http://queenscourier.com/open-casting-call-for-film-set-in-northeast-queens-in-the-80s/