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Schiffy

Your take on street racing?

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So I looked around and was gonna put this in a race section, but noticed there isn't one, so I thought I'd post this here. I got that '98 GT today, it's my first Mustang in about 3 years so I'm pretty stoked. Had a friend hit me up with "so when we runnin'!?" I don't know if its my getting old, or maybe the fact I've got my 3 boys, but my response was "I don't street race anymore, got to much to lose." I'll admit, growing up in Houston, I felt as though I was at the epicenter of street racing in the late 90's early 2000's. I did it, was a part of it, embraced it, made money off it. Looking back now it was fun, but it was stupid and I put myself and others in very precarious situations numerous times. Just curious if there's anybody else out there like me... Maybe at one time you were an advocate and as you get older and have more things to think about, your mindset has changed, or am I the only one?

2 words. "Scandalous Racing" lol... I was in their street racing DVD they put together years and years ago when they came to houston from Chicago. Now here I am telling a buddy I'm not into that stuff... Haha

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to me, organized street racing is dumb. i have plenty of road courses to race at. But that being said, when I drove my mustang on the street i would get tempted with the occasional camaro or terminator that would attempt to race me.

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I did it some when I was younger but no longer participate in it. There's a lot of it here in the 757 and I go out to GTGs where people go race. I just stay in the parking lot and wait to hear the results when people return after the run. I have way to much to lose myself to get in that kind of trouble. I play around but nothing to extent of what most do.

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As soon as I got my mustang at the age of 17, I felt it was necessary to race all my friends. I was too poor to spend money on a track or at the strip, so we found an empty street with a large straightaway and we would just race each other on it. That was about it for a couple months, until I finally pulled the trigger on racing random people on the street. At that age there's not much you can do when another car pulls up next to you and revs with the owner looking like he's trying to win the pissing match. I've had my share of street races and i'm slowly loosing my care for it. I don't see the fun in it anymore. I've experienced enough problems with my car that I don't feel the need to put it or myself in anymore danger. Sure every once in a while, i'll just get on it in the middle of a street, but it's all for fun. I don't feel it's necessary to have the fastest car. Hell, I don't even care to show little honda kids up anymore. I just enjoy my car for myself, and if someone gets so upset because I don't want to run them, oh well. Not my loss.

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I've never raced anyone in my Cobra.. I honestly don't give two shits how fast their car is..

But there are some twisty mountain roads near me that I do treat as my own racetrack, but there is never any traffic, and I'm very careful, but needless to say, I exceed 160 on certain stretches

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Moved to proper section, we're gonna retitle it so it makes more sense for people!

-My take on it all. I build my car for myself, I've been getting into track times more and more and racing on the street doesn't prove much. I've done my fair share of "spirited pulls" when lined up against other people but I won't run up more than 20 over the speed limit on major roads. Here in detroit, we have a huge, i mean HUGE street racing scene. I'll go to the races with buddies as something to do but have only ran my car twice against buddies for shits and gigs. Too much to risk, too much money, time, and effort put into my car to wreck it, ruin my life, and possibly someone else's.

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I have enjoyed the trips to the track when my buddy was racing consistently. It's been awhile, but taking the car, making some test and tune runs, then tweaking timing and tire pressure and discuss shift points is a blast. Ie always built a car for myself. I can't wait to he wrenching on the '98. I read base HP is 215 at the wheels, so it's time to get bolt Ons and max that aspect out.

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Ive only had 2 street races in the cobra, but was able to resist many other opportunities. I get paranoid that the police will catch me. Too many things that can go wrong, pedestrians, drivers losing control of either of the cars racing, police show up, deer crosses the road, oil on street etc...

However I do open it up by myself occasionally. Its not worth having a built car if you aren't going to enjoy it when the opportunity arises. Thats why I bought a GoPro, I enjoy making vids of WOT pulls and enjoying them for myself.

The more power you have the riskier it gets. For example when I was younger my buddies and I raced out pickup trucks all the time. They were slow, couldn't get any dangerous amounts of wheelspin and were generally pretty tame. Whereas in faster cars you have a lot more to worry about.

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Be a freakin man and take it somewhere safe. I'm 21, and my age does not affect my decisions in this area. I'll occasionally do mini rolls(10-15mph jumps without exceeding the speed limit), but only when there's no traffic. It isn't worth a ticket or hurting someone.

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Be a freakin man and take it somewhere safe. I'm 21, and my age does not affect my decisions in this area. I'll occasionally do mini rolls(10-15mph jumps without exceeding the speed limit), but only when there's no traffic. It isn't worth a ticket or hurting someone.

I speed... I'm a big fan of rolling into it heavy footed. Don't necessarily stop at the speed limit, but I'm not going to much over it. Love that kick in the pants feel. Probably wont feel that low end torque in the '98 that I did in my '95, but I'm sure with technological advances, I can make good power outa my new 2V.

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With the prices some dragstrips charge its no wonder people street race. Plus in many areas a dragstrip is very far away.

I am not condoning it, but I do understand the attraction. Besides I hate dragstrips personally. Ive only been as a participant one time and it was no fun at all.

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We used to race at a place in Houston Called rankin rd. there were on 3 ways in and they were always blocked by spectators, it's was behind 2 strip clubs and was surrounded by 2 pastures and an 18 wheeler mechanic shop. It was still unsafe, still illegal, but we felt safe. I think that's part of the problem. You feel safe even if you're not. You get comfortable and ignore the rest. Atleast for me it was like that. Paid my apartment bills a few months with the winnings from street racing or betting on street racing, then things went to shit, hit rock bottom and now I've been in the navy almost 9 years. Haha... Worst and the best thing that could happen to me, and cars and street racing were at the center of it all. I refer to it as my fall from grace. lol... Without the arrests for spectating street racing, some bad decisions with money involving street racing, I never would have met my wife and have these 3 awesome little boys I'm proud to call mine.

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We used to race at a place in Houston Called rankin rd. there were on 3 ways in and they were always blocked by spectators, it's was behind 2 strip clubs and was surrounded by 2 pastures and an 18 wheeler mechanic shop. It was still unsafe, still illegal, but we felt safe. I think that's part of the problem. You feel safe even if you're not. You get comfortable and ignore the rest. Atleast for me it was like that. Paid my apartment bills a few months with the winnings from street racing or betting on street racing, then things went to shit, hit rock bottom and now I've been in the navy almost 9 years. Haha... Worst and the best thing that could happen to me, and cars and street racing were at the center of it all. I refer to it as my fall from grace. lol... Without the arrests for spectating street racing, some bad decisions with money involving street racing, I never would have met my wife and have these 3 awesome little boys I'm proud to call mine.

^Sounds like you've turned things around, congrats dude!

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Lost my DL for a year, probation for 4 months, 24hrs of driving classes, 8 hrs of it in person 4hrs per night, almost lost the car and put in jail. $2400 tied up in tickets, fines, court cost and traffic schools. Had to have a meeting with a clerk to interview to get my work only DL so I could test drive cars since I work at a shop. I almost lost my job over it and had to depend on family or friends to take me everywhere for a year... I bet you can imagine what my take on it is...

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Lost my DL for a year, probation for 4 months, 24hrs of driving classes, 8 hrs of it in person 4hrs per night, almost lost the car and put in jail. $2400 tied up in tickets, fines, court cost and traffic schools. Had to have a meeting with a clerk to interview to get my work only DL so I could test drive cars since I work at a shop. I almost lost my job over it and had to depend on family or friends to take me everywhere for a year... I bet you can imagine what my take on it is...

Atleast you were smart enough to give it up... I know a lot of people that kept going.

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I stopped street racing after my huge car accident. I wasn't racing or anything, it was 7am and an Expedition ran a red light at 55mph. Almost got paralized from the waist down. My ribs broke the center console and now have pinched nerves on my back. If this happened to me in the morning going to class, it could be much worse at a high rate of speed.

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I try to avoid it and only do it if I'm the only person who I can hurt .... any traffic I wont do it ..... I have lost control and slid off the road before from pushing my car too far on bald tires .... just missed a tree .... I love my car too much and have too much blood sweat and tears into it to lose it over negligence ....

The D3V

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I speed... I'm a big fan of rolling into it heavy footed. Don't necessarily stop at the speed limit, but I'm not going to much over it. Love that kick in the pants feel. Probably wont feel that low end torque in the '98 that I did in my '95, but I'm sure with technological advances, I can make good power outa my new 2V.

I speed some, though generally only with the flow of traffic.. I definitely will punch it for a couple gears on a free road too or on on-ramps, but when i'm racing I(and probably everyone else) get way too gung ho and don't really pay proper attention to anything. Not to mention high speed stuff.

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Not worth it anymore, I went out a few weeks ago for the first time in well over a year. Felt great to be around old friends and see some fsst cars run but on the ride home I kept thinking about what would have happend to me if I was cought again. And its a scary feeling with a misdemeanor on record from last time. I know just going to hang out was even a bad idea but it assured me I would never go again! Nothing more then local car meets on the weekend for me.

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I always tell people you pay $15 to run from 6-10:30 here at the local track so its well worth it. If you f up and hit the wall, o well atleast it wasn't a innocent person or car on the street. And if you manage to get hurt there is a ambulance less then a 1/4 mile away. Not to mention bathrooms with running water and a snack bar with burgers :)

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there is a ton of crazy street racing going on here. like for instance when i'm on the street in my mustang and there are people walking or on bicycles. i try to get 5 blocks faster than they do to feel good about even owning a car. however with 97 traffic lights per block and 52 cars.....the walkers get me by a nose. :mad-new:

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there is a ton of crazy street racing going on here. like for instance when i'm on the street in my mustang and there are people walking or on bicycles. i try to get 5 blocks faster than they do to feel good about even owning a car. however with 97 traffic lights per block and 52 cars.....the walkers get me by a nose. :mad-new:

Ask for a car length next time...

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Used to do alot of it . Never near heavy traffic always back roads or down by the boat loading docks where there's miles of straight road with nothing around. Just cops have caught on alot quicker the past 2 summers I guess years ago when everyone had 13 second cars it was a lot quieter lol.

My take on it now is it has to really be worth it . Where I live street racing they take your car for good . Speeding it's impounded for 7 days if you're caught going 40 over. The last 3-4 times at the old spot we've ended up taking off on cops when they got there like 20 cars or so .

Like now days I will barely even walk on it if someone try's me on the street because I don't want my cars getting impounded or taken. Not to mention if I lose traction and kill somebody . I usually go to the track on Friday night street legals every Friday it's a bit more money where I live like 30 to race from 5-11ish . I get all my speed addiction out there usually . I've been known to do a few highway nitrous pulls on the way home for fun. With how often there's race nights at our track I find it dumb to even try and organize street racing. We just set up grudge races at the track now

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Even for Las Vegas, the track is not always open or an option. We race on roads that are not traveled and only do it for a short time, because cops here are crazy.

I am not trying to justify it all, just saying that when we do, it is away from people.

Dallas had a much better street racing scene, but it is always the dumbasses who screw it up for everyone.

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I personally will not do it. My thought is I like my drivers license to be valid. Also kind of senseless going to jail if you hurt, maim, or kill some one.

About 6 or 8 years ago there was a bunch of street racers that would actually block off one of the feeder interstates and race the 3 miles to the first exit. Long story short they were infiltrated by the state police and all of them rounded up, including spectators. Every car involved was confiscated, plus fines and suspensions. Not at all worth it to me.

Matt

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I guess I'm biased... Being that I did it so much at a younger age I guess I see where people that do it say, "i do it where there isn't anybody" or "it's always on back roads" I used to try to make it sound better, but in the end it's dumb no matter what. BUT, looking at it from my view now... It's not a huge deal. It happens, bad things happen sometimes, and others, well... It's just any other day. I guess in a nutshell, for those who DO, do it. I don't look down on you. I know a lot of guys used to look down on me for doing it, but I take it as part of the learning curve.

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