lear4406

Yeah, your right about that. California is a little different when it comes to what you can put on your car. But here in the South we can do almost anything short of a full blown race car. I like the freedom, but I do see the walls closing in some. Also the newest car I own is a 1991.

RLSH700

I have my reservations on this. I don't like street racing and think those caught doing it should be arrested, yet I agree that taking and destroying private property might be going to far and here is why. Politicans have a tendency to take laws that are on the verge of being reasonable to make an excuse for an insanely unreasonable law. I'm afraid they might begin to take away muscle cars, sports cars, and supercars from us if we are just caught speeding a little. There are people who are a hazard when owning a car like this like say Paris Hilton, but the rest of us have something called a brain and know what is and what isn't acceptable.

Jeremiah 29:11

Street-race crash kills 8 in crowd

NEW: Police interview the driver, but no charges are pending

Driver likely never saw the crowd when he plowed into bystanders, police say

Officer: "Probably one of the worst scenes I've ever seen"

At least five people were also hurt in the crash

ACCOKEEK, Maryland (AP) -- A car plowed into a group of street-racing fans obscured by a cloud of tire smoke on a highway Saturday, killing eight people and scattering bodies in the early morning darkness.

At least five others were injured in the gruesome wreck along a flat, isolated stretch of highway about 20 miles south of Washington known for illegal races.

About 50 people were gathered before dawn along Route 210 as two cars spun their wheels, kicked up smoke and sped off, said Prince George's County police Cpl. Clinton Copeland.

Fans had spilled onto the smoky, dark road to watch the cars drive away when a white Ford Crown Victoria unexpectedly came up from behind and smashed into them.

"There were just bodies everywhere; it was horrible," said Crystal Gaines, 27, of Indian Head, whose father was killed.

Police interviewed the Crown Victoria driver, but no charges were pending, Copeland said. Authorities were looking for the drivers of the two cars involved in the race.

The combination of the smoke and the dark morning likely meant the unsuspecting driver could not see the crowd, police said.

A tractor-trailer that came by shortly afterward may also have struck someone on the roadside as it tried to avoid the crash scene, according to investigators.

The Crown Victoria, which had a crumpled hood and a partially collapsed roof, ended up down an embankment with one of the victims lodged inside.

Bodies covered by white sheets lay in the road and on the shoulder across a 50-foot stretch of the road later Saturday morning before they were removed by the medical examiner. Watch sheet-covered bodies lying along road »

Shoes were strewn about in the grass, and a pair of dark skid marks scarred the highway.

"It's probably one of the worst scenes I've seen," Copeland said. "This is a situation that could have been avoided, and it's a very tragic situation."

About 50 people were watching the race, Gaines said, and she saw the Crown Victoria approach without its lights on.

She grabbed her daughter, pulling the girl to safety. But her father, William Gaines Sr., 61, had a broken leg, and was not able to get away in time. Afterward, she found his body on the road.

"He wasn't breathing; he wasn't moving," Gaines said. "His body was in pieces."

Her brother, William Gaines Jr., was also there. The car came through so fast that "it just ripped people apart," he said.

"I didn't even see the car. All I heard was stuff breaking," he said.

Police could not confirm whether the car that struck the crowd had its lights on.

The victims' ages ranged from their 20s to 60s, police said. Seven people were pronounced dead at the scene, and an eighth died later at a hospital. Police said a body found in the car was one of the spectators and not a passenger, as they had previously assumed.

Route 210 is a thoroughfare with two lanes in each direction and few traffic lights along the stretch where the accident occurred. The road is flanked by some businesses but has little traffic in the early morning, Copeland said. The speed limit is 55 miles per hour.

John Courtney said his brother, Mark, 33, of St. Mary's County, also was among the dead. He identified his brother from a digital image police had taken.

"He liked going to the race track, watching races," Courtney said. "It's going to take a toll on my family for a long time."

Marion Neal feared her 42-year-old brother was among the dead and was awaiting images from the police.

"It's a tragedy," she said. "I don't like racing, but that was his hob

1971Chall

This is the type of stuff that gives everyone who likes performance cars a bad name. I have street raced in the past, right or wrong I always had enough common sense to do it in an area where there weren't any people. The track is still the best place to go but everytime you turn around tracks are being closed. I watched Detroit Dragway close down in '97 after 35+ years because the people that lived in the neighborhood near the strip were complaining about the noise. Hey the track was there before you, MOVE. As the tracks close down where do you go? Street racing will always be around as long as there is something to race. Again, I'm not pitching for street racing just making an observation why it happens. Unfortunately, there will always be idiots like this that make the news in a bad way.