Today's LA Times has an above the fold article regarding illegal street racing and the expected increase with the upcoming release of 'Fast and the Furious 2'.

I have one son already driving and drag racing a Lightning (I rarely get to share it any more) and the next son is coming up shortly.

But with Roll Cages still being required for under 12 second cars it poses a dilema.

I am 110% behind keeping racing at the track and greatly encourage public efforts to reduce street racing and get it on the track. For example my son knows the deal if he ever breaks the arrangement. Yet now we have some Lightning mods that may dip this puppy well into the 11's.

The '03 Cobra I am breaking in for my younger son will be in the 11's just with some new Hoosier street slicks, a slight pulley change and perhaps small dose of Nitrous. (Yeah **** even morons can learn how to shift given enough time and gear shavings ).

Even the Mercedes I've got on order for me is an 'out of the box' 11.7 sec performer as are cars like the Z06 vette, Porche, Viper, etc.

Now you could say don't let kids near these cars, but at that Palmdale Ford event, there were many 18 year olds with '03 Cobras most were under 20. And this isn't 1975 again...cars are getting faster each year now. I mean gosh, a 450HP Audi? a 1001HP Bugatti/VW???

And who are going to have the faster cars???? Street racers, not the occasional once a month racer.

I feel Roll Bars in cars driven on the street 99.5% of the time are much more dangerous than 10-11 second cars driven on the track without bars .5% of the time. If someone has an accident on the street with a fixed rollcage (no driver or passenger will be wearing a helmet on the street) the carnage is going to be much worse. Yet I realize NHRA is there to maintain safety on the track, and I deeply respect that.

If NHRA could approve 'removable' rollbars (not just side bars) this could eliminate most of this arguement, but as yet they won't.

So what are your thoughts. How do we bring the street racers in without increasing their risk at normal street driving? How may of you sub 12 second Lightnings have a bar and of those, how do you feel driving on the street?

Or do we just outlaw sub 12 second cars from being sold for the street?...or maybe wait for legislation mandating 'acceleration' limiters similar to the top end limiters we have now?

 

Hey Doug, cant wait to shoot the **** with you again and your kids are pretty fockin lucky, thats all i have to say.

Last week i was interviewed at Irwindale by Eyewitness News 7. The guy asked me many questions pertaining to Lightnings. We then covered safety equipment, then off to questions re: 1/8th mile vs 1/4 mile racing. I told him although people prefer the 1/4 over the 1/8th, its gives you a decent perspective on how your vehicle will run with the mods you have just added. I also told him it gives you a chance to test and tune before the big weekend and most people are working on their launch and 60's.

He then brought up the dreaded question, street racing. I come from the old skool of racing. Street racing for the most part has changed drastically. Its a new generation out there, whom for the most part, lack common sense when it does comes down to street racing. Then i had to bag on the ricers for really making a menace of the damn streets.

The drag footage of my truck was aired Last thur night @ 11:00 and then more drag footage of my truck and interview were aired at 6:00 on Fri. Ray was also interviewed in the GNX.

You will see more news crews hitting the track after this 2 Slow 2 Gay movie comes out tonight

 

Oh there we go, a camera is on and our media ***** President is out chasing the lights

Yeah I guess my kids have some luck but I suppose I got them nice cars cause I feel the guilt over the burden of who they got for a father, plus their mother moved out....

Hey I'm old school too Kevin, a '74 'real' Ram Air IV sleeper Firebird, I managed to keep on the road in spite of my indescresions (is my son reading this???) But we had Lyons in Saugus, the real 1/4 mile in Irwindale. But with less population less personal knowledge. and much less brains, I ran on the street occasionally. Blew those Mustang boys who though small block light meant Pontiac good-night (NOT). But with hind sight, I should have kept it at the strip and would have had more fun with meeting other guys.

But what to you think about the roll cages???? Are they counter productive? Need your opinion!!!!

 

Well, in the "good ole days" we never had the audience that the
street racing crowd seems to have today. Say I wanted to run
Rocko in his Chebby. A friend of mine and a friend of Rocko's
acted as the starter and the "finish line" ... That was all. The
Ft Ashby straights saw many such runs. We even had the
1/4 lines painted on the straightaway.

Bragging rights were swift. Everybody heard the results at
the local cruising hangout almost immediately. The winner
usually was the first one back there with the loser showing up
a few hours or nights later...... We went to school all abuzz
about how ROCKO cleaneed JOHNNIES clock ... No G-Tech
help there either ... We just relied on the "He beat Joh,
John beat Harry, so Rocko can beat Harry ...

Dayum Life was simpler back then ...


PS... I think that the roll bar thing keeps a LOT of people
that would be on the strip at home. Both ricers and Bolt
owners that don't want to cut holes in their trucks or cars ...

My $.02 ....

 

They aren't counter productive.

Most street races are SLOW. Really slow, I mean horribly slow. Most cars I've seen at street races are solidly in the 14's

Are there faster cars? Sure. Are any of them 11 second cars? VERY few.

What it really boils down to is most street racers are under 25 and are driving a car their parents bought for them. These are not typically fast cars.

Yes there are a plethora of cars that are very fast out of the gates, but you won't see these cas at street races.

Granted Seattle isn't as big a town as LA for street racing, but we typically have 200 cars or so a night, so I think I've got a pretty good sample.

Remember: If we were concerned about safety, we would all wear helmets in our cars anyway.

Roll cages are a good piece of safety gear. On or off the street. I haven't ever heard a story of a driver being killed because he had a roll cage installed.

Coldie

 

Out here in cali they are very counter productive.

Average street racer car at Mansville in Compton runs 10's. Some are into the 9's.

13 Years ago i was racing at these street races. I started in the 12's in 1990 in a 5.0 and was in mid 10's my 1992 cleaning up on the street racing scene until no one would run me.

It was fun racing the Carb boys with my Fuel Injected 5 point Slow cleaning up on them

 

Are you talking import racers? or domestic?

average running 10's means a hell of a lot of money....

Coldie

 

Give me a a 1987-93 coupe 5.0 and $6000.. Ill build you a 10 second car.

 

I drove a car with a full, 6-point rollcage in it on the streets(daily driver) for about 5 years. I was in my 50s at the time. It was a 1991 Camaro Z281LE, Chevy's entry into the Trans Am racing 'deal' back then. It came from GM with no a/c, an aluminum driveshaft, Corvette disc brakes, an oil cooler, SLP s/s headers-full exhaust, etc. The 305 c.i. EFI eng. had been bored out to 310 c. i., balanced & blueprinted, cammed, chipped, underdrive pulleys, hogged-out intake plenum, 350 c. i. injectors, aluminum roller rockers Recaro driver's seat, 5-point Simpson harness(always 'on'), etc.

I always worried about what might/would happen should I get into an accident. My haed would be 'mush' if it slammed into the upper, front, horozontal bar! Thank God that never happened. It was a road course car, not a 1/4 mile car. I drove it in driver's schools at Road Atlanta and at Roebling Road.

Roll cages on the street could/would be dangerous. Be careful, you 11 second guys .

Dan

 

****:

I agree on getting a domestic into the 10s/9s. What we get at the street races around here is 100% rice. Even the mustangs have huge wings...

Looks are very important to this crowd. Your 1990 5.0 with $5000 isn't going to be very pretty to this crowd (I don't think it matters, just explaining the scene up here)

True quote from a Seattle street racer:

"I like racing when it rains, it makes your car seem faster"

Coldie

 

Hey Coldie, thanks for the input... those 'slower' street racers wouldn't need roll bars either way. And I'm not talking about street accidents at 120MPH. I'm opposing street racing to in my world those don't occur.

I'm talking about street accidents at 40-65MPH with no helmet but WITH roll bars. Maybe if there were airbags installed on the rollbars they might be safer. Otherwise I think roll bars would (to quote LightningRod) 'turn their heads to mush'.

Thanks again.

 

BigDaddy: Just have to say that you an awesome parent!

 

I've actually asked this before, but what purpose do these cages serve? And why is it below 12 seconds that you are deemed in need of one?

By the name "roll cage" im assuming they think that you will lose control at some point and roll your vehicle, in which case the cage is additiona support for the sides and top of the vehicle. Is this the case? If so why not just determine it by trap speed? That seems more logical. If its to prevent chassis warp, i have to believe that there would be more effective and more appealing ways of doing that. Someone please enlighten me.

 

Roll cages are dangerous for the street only IF you dont take the initative and use harnesses with them. If you strap yourself in, you will survive all kinds of stuff and more importantly, your vehicle will hook up better since you have chassis support welded in front to back.

The ricers out here would get laughed at by all of these cars.


Street Race cars arent supposed to be pretty. The game is to have car as ghetto as possible...people think its just a pile of ****.

 

****:

I'm with you. I guess I'm more talking about the "street racing scene" (wave hands around alot to make that sound even goofier)

vs.

actually racing fast cars of the street

I've never had anyone willing to race my truck when I'm at a street racing "event" (more quotes). Plenty of people will race (and beat me) when it's just one on one actual street racing.

Coldie

PS: Roll cages are to create a safty cage for the driver in the event of a roll. Yes you should be wearing a harness as well. Along with the 12.00 limit, there is a speed limit which requires a roll cage, but in our trucks, you'll never hit it before 11s...