Let's talk street racing and millennials

DdBob

DdBob

Dogue in teh desert
It's outa hand isn't it? I remember back in the day (80's) it was pretty much just a friday /saturday night thing. perhaps the occasional impromptu race would occur here and there between a chevy and Ford guy buty nothing more than a short blast and it was really only 'muscle cars".
Nowadays it's pick up trucks, Hyundai sedans, Luxury cars, everything.
My work is not too far from an expressway and I'd say since 2020 or perhaps a year earlier it seems almost everyday you will hear coal rolling or an asian rocket (perhaps motorcycle) that sounds like it's either going 90 mph or attempting to.
So what do you think the cause is?
I think it's a mix of too powerful cars nowadays (there is no need for them ) along with movies like TFTF and VIDEO GAMES like GTA. I think the millinials and younger don't realize the consequences which could happen because of the above mentioned.
I think they need to impound the car on first offense for a period of 21 days with a 500 dollar fine and second offense impound for 42 days and a 1000 dollar fine and third offense it's a mandatory 2 months in jail, a 2000 dollar fine and suspended drivers license for 1 year

what say you ?
 
My brother and I were in the street racing scene back in 98 in Jacksonville, FL. Jax had the second largest scene in the country behind LA. It was fun because we mostly just met in a huge parking lot and walked around looking at each others cars like a car show. Some people would illegally race but a majority of us would go to Gainesville and race at the track on track night.
I don't think it's a millennial thing so to speak. I do hate them driving like assholes though. We never did because we couldn't afford the tickets.
 
Street racing is just dumb. I think movies like TFTF and other cultural stupidity are to blame, as are a lagging level of quality in driver education. The fact that minivans can do under 6 second blasts to 60 doesn't help at all, and cheap high horsepower cars in inexperienced hands is never a good mix. The fact that anyone with a pulse can buy a 500+ HP modern muscle car on credit and be peeling out into crowds at the local cars and coffee is not a good thing, and it even suggests perhaps a tiered licensing system might be needed for such powerful vehicles. A 500 hp car requires some skill to operate safely, especially if one turns off the drive aids to make the wheels spin.

Where I live, even simple speeding can result in substantial income based fines. We quite famously we have fined people hundreds of thousands of dollars for excessive speeding. A man a few years ago got a fine for 1.08 million CHF, which is about 1.1 million US. Here the police have nearly instant access to a prosecutors office and they will opt to confiscate your vehicle on the spot for reckless driving, and then take it via court proceedings. We have very few speeders as a consequence. No one cuts you off here, and people help one another merge and stuff. They even stop for pedestrians. Draconian fines for years has created a nation of safe and polite drivers.
 
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Tiltsta said:
Street racing is just dumb. I thick movies like TFTF and other cultural stupidity are to blame, as are a lagging level of quality in driver education. The fact that minivans can do under 6 second blasts to 60 doesn't help at all, and cheap high horsepower cars in inexperienced hands is never a good mix. The fact that anyone with a pulse can buy a 500+ HP modern muscle car and be peeling out into crowds at the local cars and coffee is not a good thing, and it even suggests perhaps a tiered licensing system might be needed for such powerful vehicles.

Where I live, even simple speeding can result in substantial income based fines. We quite famously we have fined people hundreds of thousands of dollars for excessive speeding. Here the police have nearly instant access to a prosecutors office an they will opt to confiscate your vehicle on the spot for reckless driving, and then take it via court proceedings. We have very few speeders as a consequence. No one cuts you off here, an people help one another merge and stuff. They even stop for pedestrians. Draconian fines for years has created a nation of safe and polite drivers.
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I like the idea of a tiered license system. That would be awesome. We'd see a lot less over 60 females in Corvettes too. lol
 
with all due apologies to @DdBob and his noble profession, I think on balance that automobiles are pretty shitty in general.
 
In retrospect, it was out of hand when I did it as a teen. I took completely irresponsible risks that needlessly endangered myself and other people just for fun and bragging rights.

You know what, I didn't care at all back then. The only thing I cared about was not getting caught by the cops and even then the consequences weren't terrible if you did, so what? I would guess the same is true today and the consequences of getting caught are prob the only thing that will make a difference.
 
Combining readily high horse power vehicles with limited skilled drivers who believe "it will never happen to me" among normal traffic, and it's just a matter of when, not if.


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idk, I dont see much difference nowadays. I came of age in the mid 70s. Theres always been a contingent of young stupids going too fast be it in rebuilt jalopies, muscle cars, imports like Z cars, jacked up pickups, motorcycles, or lunatic mod wannabes in NYC on 2 stoke scooters.
But what do I know? Im so old I rarely get out past sundown anyway.
 
As someone who was raised by a hot rod builder.... raced on and off track.... got my first speeding ticket within a month of my first car.... then raised two teens....

You can't blame it on the video games any more so than the people who blamed any 70's and 80's mischief on "Devil Music". The media was a reflection of the people consuming it, not the other way around.


In general, I think we live in a world where many people have access to toys, weapons, vehicles, and are looking for thrills, excitement, and one-upsmanship... but our cities and streets are more crowded, there's more visibility with social media and 24/7 news. We complain when the kids "spend too much time inside with video games" but when they go outside with skateboards they're told "no riding in the street", "no riding in the bike lanes", and if.. IF... there's a skate park, it ends up being one person's passion project and within 5 years it's under funded, labeled as a crime haven, and turned back into a parking lot.

Everyone wants things to be better, but NOBODY wants to pay for anything.

Everything is expensive, so instead of a public park with rock climbing, skating, or some other outlet... it has to be a money maker. So only the well-off kids join travelling clubs... while the majority of kids are throwing bottles in an alley.

High school and college used to be a place where you could try out things and "find your passion", and now days with large class sizes... if you aren't one of the best in your area at whatever... or have the money to keep getting better... then you're not going to make the swim team, the tennis team, basketball, go kart racing, bmx bike or skate park....

How do you think I ended up playing Metal and Punk in garage bands and playing "Anti-Prom" parties?

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Right now that entire idea hits so close to home because there is a tax referendum that our area is voting on. [Yes] is a new tax adjustment that is lower than the current one in place, but will continue to fund the school system, extra curricular activities, and most importantly... the Teacher's Salaries. We have an epidemic of not enough good teachers, partially because it's such a demanding job... with criminally low wages. Vote [No] and the current tax expires and with no other plan in place, the schools will have a financial crisis on their hands.

Last year my wife and her fellow teachers were called "heroes" and "saints" because parents realized how difficult it is to teach ONE kid, let alone a room full... with one who has emotional difficulties... and 3 who don't speak english very well... but those specialists and teacher aids are the first ones cut... so ONE support person might float between 6 rooms. Yet we drive down the street and it's littered with "Vote NO on Wasteful Spending". Wasteful? Teachers and schools are Wasteful? We are talking about what totals the average home owner paying $150 less on their annual property taxes than what they've been paying for the past few years... but it's the businesses and landlords in the area who want to save a couple grand in property taxes... because they don't care if the school system suffers, or neighborhood home values decline.

Don't even get me started on the bullshit of schools being funded by property value. That's just racist horseshit that keeps inner city or small town schools barely able to keep the lights on, while wealthy suburban (mostly white) schools with robotics teams and college prep courses.
 
yabba said:
with all due apologies to @DdBob and his noble profession, I think on balance that automobiles are pretty shitty in general.
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I agree. I'm probably one of the few non "car guys" in the trade. I really don't like vehichles at all and view them as a necessary tool.
 
Lerxst said:
In retrospect, it was out of hand when I did it as a teen. I took completely irresponsible risks that needlessly endangered myself and other people just for fun and bragging rights.

You know what, I didn't care at all back then. The only thing I cared about was not getting caught by the cops and even then the consequences weren't terrible if you did, so what? I would guess the same is true today and the consequences of getting caught are prob the only thing that will make a difference.
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what I don't remember is seeing people doing donuts in intersections or taking over the streets. It was isolated shit and it was usually done on roads outside city limits with the exception of Friday and Saturday night on the local "cruising" street. I think youtube and social media have made it worse because monkey see monkey do and everyone wants to impress.
 
DdBob said:
what I don't remember is seeing people doing donuts in intersections or taking over the streets. It was isolated shit and it was usually done on roads outside city limits with the exception of Friday and Saturday night on the local "cruising" street. I think youtube and social media have made it worse because monkey see monkey do and everyone wants to impress.
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Intersection takeovers and the drift style donuts are a new thing but the rest of that behavior was more or less the same. You didn't have smartphones and social media to organize these flash G2Gs back when.

For us it was stop light drag races everywhere and anywhere, burnout contests, top speed competitions on highways and drag races on more isolated streets. All completely reckless and a miracle no one was killed or seriously injured.
 
Street racing has been a thing for nearly as long as there have been cars capable of racing. Same as it ever was...I don't see it as a millennial thing.
 
i don't see very much "racing" around where i live. that's not to say it doesn't happen in this town. just not around here.
clowns screaming down the street on rocket bikes doing a hundred, does happen. on the street right in front of my office bldg. but it's almost always just one person. not really a race. i don't see intersection take over shit around here.

we did a bunch of stop light racing back in the day. but we had to be careful, because the cops in my home town had no sense of humor about it.
they'd pull you over, issue you a ticket that make you loose your license and tow your car. right then and there.

i don't recall really seeing anyone loosing control back then. but we were raised with cars that were, as The Boss said, suicide machines.

we knew what could happen if you dropped the hammer all the way in the wrong place. of course i'm talking about 1969 - 1975.
our student parking lot looked like a Mecum's auction.

if you turned a 16 y.o. kid loose in some of those cars, today.....he'd be dead in 2 blocks. you do not flog 427's and 440's recklessly.
 
Well there has been a show tv for a number of years all about street racing. Basically prostock and modified drag cars being trailered to actual streets and raced illegally for cash.

Can’t say it’s new. Back in the 70’s we would toss motorcycles in the back of truck and take them out on back roads, set up and race. Then disappeared.

now though you see it everywhere and they’re putting people at risk.
 
I'm not sure it is much worse now than it was a generation or two back.

We live a few houses away from a side street that is fairly wide an has about a 1/2 mile downhill with no stop signs. Speed limit is 30 then bumps up to 40 once it leaves the residential part. I can hear cars jetting down there at night regularly at at least 90, probably much faster. And a main road about 1/3 of a mile away on Friday nights I hear motorcycles racing nearly every weekend.
 
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