.

the car junkie daily magazine.

.

Unhinged: Who Should We Be More Angry At With This ABC News Piece On Street Racing? The “Racers” Or The Reporters?


Unhinged: Who Should We Be More Angry At With This ABC News Piece On Street Racing? The “Racers” Or The Reporters?

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody that LAPD, CHP, and other police forces in the southern California area would ramp up anti-street racing actions following the Chatsworth crash in February that has two men behind bars with murder charges pending. It is no surprise to anybody that southern California still maintains a broad spectrum of illegal automotive activity, and that a lot of it can be traced back to track closures in the area. And it’s no surprise to anybody that the “not in my back yard!” and “think of the children!” has been, once again, ramping up into a fever pitch since the Chatsworth crash, with local lawmakers making threats to crush racing activity while actively destroying nearly every possible legal location for automotive enthusiasts in the area to go play at. It’s kind of sickening to watch, but nothing compared to this piece from ABC on a street racing bust in California a couple of days ago. Here’s a fun drinking game: a shot for every time the “Fast and Furious” movie franchise is referenced.

It’s hard to have sympathy towards guys getting busted for racing or doing donuts in the middle of a street or Interstate, and naturally I find the cop’s “seek and destroy” attitude just as problematic. But if you want to see what’s fanning the flames of all of this, look at the reporting. This is ABC News. This was put out as part of their morning show (which I got to watch as I was in the gym a couple of days ago) that went out nationwide. Lara Spencer wastes no time in relating some kid in a Mustang showing his ass on a side street to a blockbuster movie, and T.J. Holmes is treating the whole thing as if street racing gave people Ebola. This actually strikes my nerves harder than the “A Current Affair” clip from Austraila about the two idiots drifting the length of a bridge. They both are the same thing: it’s not just a news clip portraying a show of force from the police or someone’s lack of judgement, it’s a panic attack with video that will be followed up by the weather and a word from our sponsor.

If California really wants to curb their street racing, things called “drag strips” and “automotive parks” exist where people can go ballistic with their cars in a safe and controlled manner. It might sound novel to most, but they help! Or, at the least, find one of the thousands of mall parking lots in that urban decay and rope it off. Let the cops supervise while heads-up stuff goes down. It’d be a damn sight better than seeing another Chatsworth happen. Meanwhile, ABC News should stick to pointless morning banter and cutesy crap for morning journalism…showing a Mustang doing donuts while playing the health and safety panic card isn’t doing yourself or anybody else any favors.

Because jumping off of a bus falling off of a cliff IN AN ACTION MOVIE is the same as a midnight street race in real life, right?

abc news s:r fnf clip

 


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0

11 thoughts on “Unhinged: Who Should We Be More Angry At With This ABC News Piece On Street Racing? The “Racers” Or The Reporters?

  1. Sumgai

    As usual, a few idiots ruin things for the rest of us.

    I recently realized that my Mustang sits in the garage gathering dust simply because I can’t enjoy it on local streets. I drive it about once a month. If I ever drove it faster than Camry pace a cop would immediately materialize to pull me over. They are getting way too serious about this stuff.

    1. 1970camaroRS

      Because there’s big $$$$$ involved. Huge court fines, court costs/fees, impounding costs and charges that are difficult to get plead down let alone dismissed. That law the was alluded to about modifications is a push to make illegal modifications for the purposes of racing. A very open-ended interpretation allowing the fining and impounding of any car an officer wants. It’s all about $$$$, nothing more.

  2. PJ

    I don’t see any major issue with the actual news report other than comparing the fast and the furious to them. I also have to say its good they repeatedly said “illegal street racing” rather then the usual drag racing they normally use to describe this stuff.
    I’ve seen several videos lately of groups performing really stupid stuff on the streets. I’m not talking about a burnout but blocking off full streets doing donuts, drifting, racing and all sorts of other behaviour.
    I ask why this is happening? I get the tracks are closing, and we will never end street racing. But why suddenly do people feel the need to do this stuff in busy areas, with bystanders, traffic and whatever else?
    Street racing isn’t smart but to quote tropic thunder “you never go full retard”

    1. kiwi1

      Well said, as for tracks closing that comes down to money, if people supported the tracks then they would not get sold off as easily, its not up to the sanctioning bodies either to keep them open.

  3. ml

    This the same thing as the liberal gun control. When the government wants something they feed it to the news outlets. This is no coincidence that it come on the heels of the government an auto makers wanting to pass laws on modifications!

  4. gern blanston

    street drag racing has always been around, and will not die, regardless of any laws. What bothers me is the ridiculous “Street Outlaws” staged show that promotes this stuff, as well as “fast & furious”, which is fantasy as well. If you want to taper this crap off, you’re gonna have to have “personal responsibility” laws , & then you’ll have a REAL problem. I find the rudeness of todays youth appalling, but, us parents raised them not to take responsibility. Open the track, & you’ll slow it down, but, itll still live.

  5. 75Duster

    This might sound like a crazy idea, but since all of this street racing and “stunt driving” was happening in San Francisco area why aren’t there any race tracks in the area to take these idiots off of the streets? Pelosi, Feinstein, NHRA?

  6. keezling

    I don’t like news people for the same reasons as others, but this didn’t seem that outrageous to me. The street racers in those videos want to draw attention to themselves and it looks like they will get their wish. I hate to see crackdowns like this, but lets put the blame where it belongs. I think you’re spot on about autosports venues being eliminated as a big part of the problem.

  7. Threedoor

    And the talking heads (that little far left worm George Stephenopolous) pushing to get more laws passed, have us get permission from our masters to modify our own private property. When will they force us to buy the state mandated eco-mobiles and crush our stuff when we don’t comply?

  8. Lynn Minthorne

    Those were not street racers !! They were clowns in cars putting on a show to see who has the biggest D

  9. HotRod

    Whats with broadcasting where you’re going to be racing and having 300 to 400 folks around that might get hurt or killed? Not to mention that the cops most likely monitor the social media sites and plan a little party of their own.

    When I was drag racing racing on the streets we took our racing to the back roads and isolated streets. Very few times were there more than 5 or 6 others around. It was just as illegal but there was less chance of someone getting hurt or killed without all the traffic and bystanders.

    The jerks in the video are morons. They wouldn’t make a pimple on a real street racers butt. They’ve most likely watched to many Fast and Furious movies.

Comments are closed.