What not to do in your Challenger.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/22/str...tml#cnnSTCText
Addicted to the rush of the race
Story Highlights
Illegal racing at "ridiculous" levels in U.S., one law enforcement official says
No national database to track street racing arrests
Street racers say they're drawn by adrenalin rush
Police struggle to find appropriate deterrents
By Brad Lendon
January 22, 2008
CNN
(CNN) -- Gavin Simcoe hadn't planned on nearly killing himself. He was just with a couple of buddies that night of September 25. But street racing came up. There was trash talking about whose car was faster.
"I said, 'I think mine can beat yours,' " Simcoe says. His friends agreed, "let's go out and do it then."
They chose a straight two-lane road. It had hills, something Simcoe needed for a running start because first gear in his 1993 Honda Civic EX didn't work.
Simcoe says he hit 110 mph really fast. But then, headlights. A car was coming out of a driveway. He swerves, rolls. He feels twigs scratch his face and envisions his parents at his funeral.
"I was thinking, not me, not me," Simcoe says. "I really thought I was going to die."
Illegal street racing has reached what one law enforcement official calls "ridiculous" levels in the United States, causing a number of deaths. Simcoe knows he's lucky to be alive.
"The fire department told me that when they see this, nine out of 10 times the kid's dead, and if they're alive then they're gonna be missing some limbs or they're gonna be a paraplegic," Simcoe says. He had a concussion, some scratches and bruises.
A few months later, the thrill of racing wasn't gone. Yeah, he'd started lecturing others on the dangers of street racing, but he also watched "The Fast and the Furious," the Hollywood hit that some experts say has brought street racing to new heights of popularity.
He wants to race again -- this time on a track. "Racing to me is like adrenalin," Simcoe says.
Authorities say more and more drivers are seeking that adrenalin high.
"The last four years it's been out of control," says Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Kim Miller, public affairs officer for Troop D in Orlando.
In the 10 days ending January 1, four people in her jurisdiction died, including a teen bicyclist just riding alongside the road.
There also have been deaths in other parts of the country.
There's no database tracking street racing deaths, but a Google search hints at the scope. Police say a 21-year-old man was killed while street racing in Copiague, New York, on January 6; a Texas City, Texas, teen killed in late December racing his best friend; a 60-year-old Bakersfield, California, grandmother killed in an accident with street racers in October; a 15-year-old boy killed in an accident with street racers in Elk Grove, California, in June. Those cases are found just in the first 30 matches on a Google search of "street racing deaths."
The California Highway Patrol says it gave out 697 citations for participating in a "speed contest" in 2006. Those numbers were down from 2007, but CHP spokesman Tom Marshall says those statistics cover only highway patrol jurisdictions, not local surface streets where many races occur.
Bryan C. Harrison, president of Evo Street Racers, which runs a Web site on street racing, says the lack of official statistics makes it impossible to say if more or fewer people are racing and dying.
"I often caution anyone who claims a specific trend ... because often it is very misleading and statistically inaccurate," Harrison says, but "one death is one too many."
How they roll
Police and street racing experts say there are at least three types of challenges:
• spontaneous contests between drivers who wind up at the same red light or stop sign on public roads;
• roving parties where r