MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

Ok.. Being 2am, and bored as hell.. I was flipping through the channels and found this show..

CMT Most Shocking, Street Racing: Fast and Furious

I thought it was going to be a pretty stupid show, but I sat through it.. What impressed me was its impartial and somewhat sympathetic attitude towards street racing.

It was actually an interesting show, and worthwhile to watch if you can. I've seen some of these 'Street racers' before on other TV shows for one reason or another.

The street racers for the most part were not portrayed anywhere near as negatively as I would have expected. In fact this was the first show that seemed to portray the reality of it, both good and bad..

The one resounding theme was that nobody (even the cops) considered the street racing the scourge of society that the politicians and the mainstream seems to think it is. However it did repeatedly elude to the fact that its the inexperienced drivers that were the problem..


Ok.. You all need to get your own take on this.. My personal opinion is I am a street racer, and I always have been. I keep it to myself, and don't do things that can hurt other people or cause harm or damage. I do agree with the "Take it to the track" mentality, but I can INTIMATELY Relate to the lack of places, or the inconvenience or expense of attending an organized event.

Just curious to see what other peoples take on..

I don't want to hear "Street racing stories" or "Kill stories" We all know that those topics are not tolerated here, but I'd like to hear your HONEST opinions on this show, and the scene in general (Whats left of it.. Personally I'm not gonna risk losing my car or going to jail.. Or even hurting someone else, so I gave it up..)

Hopefully the mods can tolerate this thread.. (If you guys want to close it, let me know its inappropriate)

MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

My only actual complaint about the show was the Muscle car guys were portrayed as real Goobers.. Am I the ONLY person who has embraced both the Import and Domestic?

HardWired71

Whats wrong with you?!?!? TAKE IT TO THE TRACK!!! LOL just kidding boss.

I agree that the inexperianced and childish drivers are the main problem. There are places I consider "safe" to race, especially late at night, but the fear of losing my car, being arrested, etc. keeps me in check. I would love nothing more than to be able to race freely on the weekends. Now that they closed a track that was near me I am pushed even further away from being able to race at all. Very depressing to say the least.

Its too bad there isn't an old air strip that they would allow us to race or maybe look the other way.

Sentinal

I agree with most of what you said jack racing is best if kept on the track but if situations are safe having a little fun on back roads and stuff can be good fun and what the show said about inexperienced drivers is totally true. I never race in cities or any area where there is heavy traffic or pedestrians because its not worth it but some people who fail to recognize risk factors (mainly due to lack of life/driving experience IMO) give all fast drivers a bad reputation. on the show and your opinion

MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

Yep, thats basically been my point.. My other thought is the penalties definitely aren't fitting for the crime.. There's no question that this is dangerous and stupid though..

MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

Actually there used to be a place like that, called Fountain Avenue.. The cops would basically observe and video tape cars, but never bother anyone.. It was only when it became overcrowded or fights/trouble broke out that they came in and cleared everyone out.. Occasionally one of our "buddies" in a cruiser would come by and want to run their quickest against one of ours..

SoR

iTrader: (19)

Well, this seems to be a touchy subject in this country, and more often everywhere else in the world as well. As soon as someone posts or even mentions the "street racing", the thread gets closed down and it doesn't get to be discussed by people.
It's true, this subject is a double-edged sword because of the inexperienced drivers out there. People that just passed the drivers test, which I have to say is a joke in US, get a fast car, since the standard is generally very high, and think they own the road.
Now that's a big no-no. Instead of closing down the threads I think older and more experienced drivers should get the stories out and then educate the less experienced and less mature.
I have around 10 years of driving experience and moved to US some 4 years ago and after the fact I rarely talk to anyone about how I drive and what I find fun because people would imediately mark me as a street racer. Yes, I can say I do street race, I've been almost from the begining so it's almost 10 years now, but I have to admit I was always trying to be smart and did not want to go beyond what I felt was safe and I guess I had a pretty good judgement since it resulted in no accidents at all, not even a fender-bender till this day.
I did not own the first few cars I drove and my parents taught me how hard it is to earn the money so I always felt responsible for their property. I've seen lots of kids with rich parents have no respect for anything. They are always exploring beyond the limits since "money can buy anything" and their mom and dad can always get them out of troubles. (there's always exceptions).
Then again, there's the other side too, those with "lesser" cars have to show off as well and they can prove that their Yugo runs better than this "dudes" bimmer.
So like Jack mentioned, I myself believe most accidents and deaths are caused by inexperienced drivers and people with lack of strait judgement.
I can say that on average I've never driven so slow as here in the states. For some people 100mph is insane limit for outside of race track or even highway, for me that was normal on open roads, 80-120 was just about right. I did lots and lots of overtaking, high-speed curves etc. I was in a dangerous situation only 2 or 3 times because of my error but as mentioned above I never had one.
The reason why I generally support "take it to the track" is because of the people that think they are the best drivers in the world and can't be taught or reasoned with but my opinion is it's all because the lack of education. Some states in US still have only 10 questions exam. That's a joke. And then you have to park in between cones half mile apart.
My opinion is that very little is done to improve the safty. While you're most likely going to get pulled over for driving 85 in 65 zone, someone else in a SUV driving 60 in the left lane right next to his buddy in the right lane eating a hamburger and reading newspapers and thus jamming the whole traffic will not.

MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

Wow.. Nobody has anything more to add to this eh?

MisterSpoot

It's gotten touchy since a fair number of high-profile incidents following a certain movie.

Before that film, although there was a scene growing, and very prevalent in some parts of the country, the whole nation didn't know about it. Now it's become considerably diluted with a lot of immature, irresponsible folk.

MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

Yep, that was a major point made in that show too.. Plus the street racing video games probably isn't helping matters.

evomojo

Hey Mjack, I'll throw in my 2 cents. I'm 42 yrs old and have been street racing for over twenty years. I remember being about 13 miles south of downtown Dallas and racing in the early morning hours next to I-20 on the access road. It was a total blast! Everyone would show up about the same time, race safely, talk a little trash, bet a little cash, and go home. This was mid late eighties, early nineties. The po po would show up around 2am turn on the lights and we all knew that was time to go home.

Each weekend seeing who would show up, who would race who, and when would the trailer cars show up. In a perfect world everyone would be able to take it to the track in a controlled environment. I personally just love cars and love racing. You can go to a street race and not know anybody, and leave knowing a bunch of people. It's the whole car lifestyle. Legal, illegal, show, race, import, domestic, on and on.

I saw about the first 20 minutes of the show you mentioned. I turned it off after the first segment because usually when they go to the "ride with the police" and that's when the "street racing is bad okay" stuff starts. Glad to hear it was done with some balance.

I also love both import and domestic. Do you think it's a generational thing? Maybe us old guys are only ones who think fast is fast.

Rookies

iTrader: (1)

I want to know how a show like this wound up on CMT??? Country Music Television??? That's just too weird.

EVO-Bandit

MalibuJack,

You are not the only person that likes both imports and domestics - check the sig. I love any car that goes fast and handles well. It's all fun!

WestSideBilly

iTrader: (1)

I'm a fair bit younger, and even though I spend my money on imports (mostly style reasons), I have a ton of respect for most of the domestics. I do think there is some mentality amongst "kids" that the domestics are their parents' cars and somehow inferior. You can put a lot of money into most imports and still not be as fast as a bone stock Z06, and that's something to respect.

biohazzard

if you havent seen it...ill link to a place where you can d/l it.