Evo Street Racers: About - Frequently Asked Questions FAQ

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Below is a list of frequently asked question of Evo Street Racers. Should you have additional questions or comments feel free to contact us at Info@evostreetracers.com or fill out the form.

Is The Activity of Illegal Street Racing the same as Drag Racing?

Often Illegal Street Racing (ISR) is incorrectly identified as “drag racing” or “street racing.” Both drag racing and street racing are sports legislated by sanctioning bodies that ensure the highest level of safety for both the participants and spectators whereas ISR is illegal and often highly dangerous activity. (I.E. IHRA=Drag Racing and IRL has numerous street races including the Grandprix of Long Beach)

Is The Activity of Illegal Street Racing growing?

When considering the “growth” of ISR one must consider the parameters in which it is measured. Unfortunately most law enforcement agencies in America do NOT specifically identify the act of “ISR” rather note it on citations as “Speeding, Reckless Endangerment, Exhibition of Speed, Contest of Speed, ect.” Without having a universal specific term to identify the act of ISR it becomes assimilated into larger speeding categories thereby making it near impossible for an agency to define the statistics. Considering that over 70% of the populace speeds on the American highway system it is easy to understand why the statistics are easily skewed. It was only recently, within the past few years, that a few states including Florida have specifically coded citations with Illegal Street Racing.

Unfortunately law enforcement agencies have finite budgets; therefore, strategic law enforcement is dependent on the current social values of society. Frequently it takes numerous deaths for a society to react to a problem, demand change from politicians, and for law enforcement to react; regardless of whether it is drugs, thievery, ISR, etc. Other catalysts include film, music, and video games but short of a death or an accident involving the social elite an ISR incident is at best a family destroyed and a head line in the local newspaper for a day.

Even if their was a method for an agency to accurately capture the incidence of ISR, which there is not, it begs the obvious question; has the activity actually increased or is it the level of enforcement that increased where it once did not patrol? We often caution anyone who claims a specific trend with regards to ISR, because often it is VERY misleading and statically inaccurate. Although it is cliché, with regards to ISR, one death is one to many.

Recently Evo Street Racers has implemented a new research study in an effort to better capture the incidence of street racing based on a variety of factors. The preliminary assessment has overwhelming proved that illegal street racing is on the rise. Details to be released shortly.

Why do people partake in the activity of ISR?

Comprehension of the answer to the aforementioned question starts nearly a hundred years ago where street racing actually born the sport of drag racing.

As it applies to America, many believe that in the early 1930’s in California the Hot Rodders were responsible for starting ISR as they would race each other at the beaches, through the back roads, and at the dry lake beds in the Mojave Desert at speeds over 100 mph. Shortly thereafter a visionary, Wally Parks, a co-founder of the Road Runners Club (a club exclusively for Hot-Rodders) organized the Southern California Timing Association in 1947 which led to the 1949 Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats. This was the FIRST ORGANIZED SANCTIONED event that mirrored modern day drag racing where there WERE RULES that utilized a stop watch and a pre determined distance to declare the winner. Even though an alternative to ISR existed since the late 40’s why do people still partake in the illegal activity?

From our research and experiences Evo has found many reasons including:

Lack of race tracks to race on.
Racing on the street is free.
Racing on the track is too expensive.
Time constraints of track operation where one can race on the street at any time.
Tech inspection at a race track is too harsh and the vehicle won’t pass.
Track officials demean the illegal street racers and don’t consider them as a legitimate patron.
Track officials arrange the staging lanes in a way that makes it hard to coordinate a race between two people.
At the track the owners of race cars belittle the owners of street cars as slow.
ISR participants do not want anyone else to know their times.
There is no racing series’ designed to accommodate for the ISR scene.
ISR participants like the adrenaline rush of breaking the law
Ego’s
Tracks do not allow a passenger in the car while racing.
Street credibility to enhance standing amongst friends.
The street evens out the competition where a lower HP vehicle could beat a higher HP vehicle.
Rules and guidelines ruin the fun of racing.
Chances of getting in trouble are slim.
Tracks are arranged where there is poor interaction/line of sight between spectators and drivers

Who is ultimately responsible for the activity of ISR?

With films such as The Fast & Furious being released, recent creation of the Sport Compact Car culture (mid to late 80’s), and automobile companies producing vehicles which could arguably be considered the second age of the Muscle Car, ISR has grown in media attention. The media has depicted illegal street racers as the villains of the road as they are viewed as social miscreants, immature, reckless, uncaring, and at best stupid.

For the most part illegal street racers are by no means bad people. Most do not poison our community with drugs, violence, and with the exception of ISR are law abiding citizens. They usually get good grades in school and are active members in both our work force and community. Street racers gather at a predetermined point to promote their social lives. They will discuss their lives, their cars, and tell jokes as they laugh and have a good time. Thereafter, to bring excitement to their monotonous lives, enhance their ego, and in the interest of competitive spirit they seek a quick adrenaline rush by indulging their hobby of cars in a drag-style-race with the thought that they will not hurt themselves or others. Who is ultimately at fault for these young-adults breaking the law, consequently putting themselves and others in harm to pursue an activity that is deeply engrained in America’s history? Upon researching the subject and interviewing many people Evo Street Racers has noted some of the more common opionions:

The Parents that speak so highly and often of the “good old days” when they owned a Muscle Car, met at the A&W, and would race their friends up and down the boulevard.
Society for creating the double standard where they state to follow the speed limit yet most adults speed and honk their horn when a person is impeding traffic by driving at the speed limit.
History for glorifying the days of bootlegging where cops would engage in a car chase with the “bad guys.”
The Police that set bad precedents by having their patrol cars cruising above the speed limits.
Film industry for glorifying car chases with an end result that is not indicative of reality.
Professional drag race drivers that openly declare that their careers started out on the street.
Racing Sanctioning bodies for happily admitting instead of condemning the illegal roots by which most of them were founded on.
The Race Track industry for not addressing the needs of the illegal street racers at their facilities.
The Amateur Drag Racers for condemning illegal street racers (whom inherently drive far slower cars) at the drag strips?
The OEM’s for designing and marketing cars for performance. (Note a 2007 Toyota Camry is as fast 0-60 as a 1999 Porsche Boxter)
Politicians for not taking ISR seriously by passing effective laws and/or enforcing them
Local Townships blocking the creation of a race track or closing one down (due to noise, traffic, pollution, etc.)
The Illegal Street Racer as s/he is ultimately responsible for his/her actions.

Is the new generation of participants more reckless than the old generation of Illegal Street Racers and how does this relate to the underground street racing scene.

Hardcore illegal street racers, also known as underground street racers, are an entirely different breed of “racer” and compose a VERY small percentage of the ISR scene. They drive high end automobiles equipped with expensive performance modifications and primarily race for money. These people tend to be older because of the monetary intensive nature of owning that type of a car. They have devices installed on the vehicle and strategies which assist in eluding law enforcement and trouble in general. Often they do not associate with the ISR scene for fear of increased visibility which can cause law enforcement to notice them, decline their ability to hustle a person in a bet, and put their vehicle in jeopardy to get stolen.

In referring to the old-generation racers as in the baby-boomers, they were as reckless as today’s generation of ISR participants the key difference being the choice of vehicle and amount of vehicles on the road.

Why does it appear the import vehicles dominant the illegal street racing scene?

The definition of a “Muscle Car” includes that the vehicle must be inexpensive; hence why a Chevrolet Corvette was never considered a Muscle Car while a Chevrolet Camaro is. With inexpensive easily modified vehicles back in the 60’s/70’s young-adults could buy and race them for cheap. Today’s generation of ISR has used a similar technique, this time called the Sports Compact Cars Scene, which is largely dominated by Japanese vehicle’s (Although domestics and Euro’s exist too). Honda’s have gained particular attention by the media as the typical ISR vehicle which is largely true due to the fact that they are VERY easy to work on, cheap to buy, and have an excess of interchangeable parts and engines that can be fitted between numerous models much like it was in the Muscle Car Age. In today’s age a young-adult of low income can buy a cheap Honda, make it into an ISR vehicle for relatively inexpensive means, and not raise the concern of his parents as the vehicle was designed as an economical form of transport and not a race car.

Does illegal street racing result in additional criminal activities?

ISR vehicles are displayed to the public during some form of exhibition be it for “show or go” and often get stolen shortly thereafter or a young-adult buys a high end car that they cannot afford and to get out of the payment will have it stolen or burnt. Nevertheless, most of the crimes are concerned with vehicles getting stolen and people buying stolen parts and installing them on their vehicle (at time unknowingly). Although it is rare there has been reports documenting that people have got shot and stabbed at ISR events, which is usually unconnected to the activity itself but can occur when someone loses a high-end bet. Once again Evo must stress this is VERY rare.

One Vision - One Goal. Take Action, Save Lives, and End the Senseless Tragedies.

For more information about curing the disease of street racing click here .

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