Safely Officiated 'Drag Racing' is Best Deterrent to Dangerous & Illegal 'Street Racing'

No funny quips here and this is going to be to the point. Drag racing is between two contestants racing from a standing start side by side on a DRAG STRIP - that's why they call it DRAG RACING! They have helmets, special suits, roll cage, officials, safety crews and so very much more. Only idiots (with none of the safety measures above), sadly, race on the STREET - which is why they call it STREET RACING! GET IT RIGHT!

We in drag racing, work very hard to keep people off the streets, but poor reporting from the media, along with uninformed attorneys who routinely ambulance chase the terrible street racing crashes, have an adverse affect and harm on our work to reduce these awful criminal instances of street racing. 75 million fans of drag racing enjoy a terrific and extremely safe sport compared to the hideous and appalling crime of street racing.

The leading cause of the death for teenagers with drivers licenses? Street racing. Interestingly enough, San Diego Ca., the 8th largest city in the U.S., has essentially no drag strips within the general region and their street racing problem has been termed "epidemic."

Whenever a city council mentions what to do about street racing, simply inform them the best way to stop it, is for it never to get started - prevention. Build or use the current drag strip or strips in the area and then watch the crime rate go down while the streets get safer ... with less death and injury. Some of the most famous drag strips in history, started because neighborhoods and cities were trying to slow down street racing and crime. For instance, Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach (actually Wilmington) was started by the City of Los Angeles, the L.A.P.D. and the Lions Club, to stop street racing in the area. The famous Mickey Thompson, successfully operated the track.

Although politics and thought processes have changed over the years, maybe taking a serious look at how the sport evolved would jog the minds of our elected leaders and once again remind them of how this great sport began. In this writer's humble opinion, a large portion of the answer to the problem could be marketing. Both small and large businesses should be involved.

Hotels, motels, community service organizations, local neighborhood watch groups, teachers, state, county and city police and fire departments along with neighborhood malls, county supervisors, local television stations, news organizations, magazine publishers and city councils would join together. Then a marketing and advertising program should be initiated, emphasizing how the program would enhance revenues by increasing attention to the area and decreasing crime. Increased sales would offset any investment for businesses and pave the way to once again, take the 'act' of street racing and accelerate it to the 'sport' of drag racing. Safer streets and less crime will be the ultimate result.

Through the years, many more instances of these forward-thinking operations have occurred all over the country. Now for the rest of us; be vigilant and keep people informed and remember, the best deterrent and prevention against street racing? Drag strips and drag racing.