CarCraft Glorifying Street Racing??

[Ron Ward]

That was me in the early to mid 90's, hit up the midnights every weekend, used to meet up at Sonic on Deer Valley Rd........


Honestly I just took the side I did to see what kind of reaction I would get....... I'm sure if I was all for it, the reactions would be different......... IMO they should have tracks that allow people to run what they brung without all the safety tech that goes with all the big tracks........ I think it is stuff like that that drive people to race on the street, well that and tracks aren't open at 3 o'clock in the morning.......... A nice quarter mile track with a race at your own risk waver that needs to be signed that is open all night long is what every major city needs......... City run and maintained and just so people can street race............

Yeah... sign the waiver and hope someone brought a shovel and a mop.

[STINEY]

No worries about CC doing any follow up stories guys................what is the last project car that actually got finished? I can think of a dozen that were started, yeah, but how many ended up as more than swap meet fodder?

(and yes, I know I am the pot calling the kettle black here)

Besides, the quote said they would "fallow" up in the near future with the same story/guys, right? Last time I checked the definition of "fallow", it fits exactly with what is likely to happen in the magazine world.....

[SuperBuickGuy]

I like well running cars/trucks/bikes.... Makes me a bad element?..why?

maybe it's that you wreck other people's cars as a hobby?

[Deaf Bob]

maybe it's that you wreck other people's cars as a hobby?

Could be that ... The looks I get... Lol

[Manifestospeed]

Young Kids and CC

At the end of the article in the little blue highlighted box, they say they just scratched the surface of this and that they would check back with these guys to see how stuff is going in the future, and then they add that they want to go around the country doing articles about Street Racing and then they ask people if they know were some good scenes are......... If that isn't advocating Street Racing I don't know what is....... To young kids eyes, that don't have much common sense, I'm not sure if these articles are a good idea........

My guess is that most of the "young kids" reading CC (all five of them) are more interested in "On the Rack" than McGann blowing the lid off of street racing.

The dirty little secret is that the performance aftermarket is built on selling hop-up parts to "kids" who seldom, if ever, visit a sanctioned race track. Where do these "kids" use their new-found horsepower?

On the streets, of course.

Thus, all of the official "don't street race" messages are about as credible as "Big Alcohol's" "drink responsibly" fig leafs . . . They're just "disclaimers" that the suits think up to avoid lawyers and crack-downs. . . .The business models of both "Big Alcohol" and "Big SEMA" are mostly built on facilitating behaviors of questionable safety and legality.

That being said, we live in a free country with a free press. So while telling a sanitized version of the "truth" about street racing is perhaps irresponsible, it's well within the CC's journalistic freedom.

Besides, it's not as if CC is the paragon promoting law abiding responsibility . . . look at all the off-track burnouts, emissions-illegal mods, and "street" cars that would never pass tech at any sanctioned track . . . .

Considering that the "Prius" mainstream already sees hot rodding as some sort of planet-killing thuggery, there's probably not to much downside to CC's sanitized reporting.

[Beagle]

No worries about CC doing any follow up stories guys................what is the last project car that actually got finished? I can think of a dozen that were started, yeah, but how many ended up as more than swap meet fodder?

(and yes, I know I am the pot calling the kettle black here)

Besides, the quote said they would "fallow" up in the near future with the same story/guys, right? Last time I checked the definition of "fallow", it fits exactly with what is likely to happen in the magazine world.....

oh hell, I thought you were talking about me. I have my eye on a caged Mustang that only needs some engine / trans bits put back in it. It'd be a good street racer... in 1992. lol.

This isn't the first time CC or HRM has covered the street scene, and I believe the OP has told me this before but I'm too lazy to go find it and quote it. "If you don't want your kids run over, what the hell are they doing in the street"

let's face it, drama sells. We even have shows during the day so the unemployed folks in the country can have a "reality" show about actually having a job! Even sadder, another where we can see where our storage unit guns got used to blow up toy trains. Ice-pawn-repo-prospecting!

[Spaceman Spiff]

http://www.carcraft.com/thehistoryof/62998_real_world_street_racing/index.html

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAR-CRAFT-MA...0#ht_500wt_923

http://www.amazon.com/STREET-RACING-HOTTEST-BADDEST-VOLUME/dp/B005UOXPGM

[Turbo Regal]

I read the article. I saw as reporting on what is going on, not a promotion of the lifestyle.

[CDMBill]

http://www.carcraft.com/thehistoryof...ing/index.html
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAR-CRAFT-MA...0#ht_500wt_923
http://www.amazon.com/STREET-RACING-.../dp/B005UOXPGM

So its just part of the long term editorial recycle.

[TC]

I'm thinking that after reading the article that I want to get back into the Street Racing scene here in Phoenix..... I mean what's not to like, guys on the breaking edge of new technology, living the bad boy life and did you see how that one cover of CC says Chic's dig it to!!!......... Yap outlaw racers are the coolest!!!!..........

[SuperBuickGuy]

My guess is that most of the "young kids" reading CC (all five of them) are more interested in "On the Rack" than McGann blowing the lid off of street racing.

The dirty little secret is that the performance aftermarket is built on selling hop-up parts to "kids" who seldom, if ever, visit a sanctioned race track. Where do these "kids" use their new-found horsepower?

On the streets, of course.

Thus, all of the official "don't street race" messages are about as credible as "Big Alcohol's" "drink responsibly" fig leafs . . . They're just "disclaimers" that the suits think up to avoid lawyers and crack-downs. . . .The business models of both "Big Alcohol" and "Big SEMA" are mostly built on facilitating behaviors of questionable safety and legality.

That being said, we live in a free country with a free press. So while telling a sanitized version of the "truth" about street racing is perhaps irresponsible, it's well within the CC's journalistic freedom.

Besides, it's not as if CC is the paragon promoting law abiding responsibility . . . look at all the off-track burnouts, emissions-illegal mods, and "street" cars that would never pass tech at any sanctioned track . . . .

Considering that the "Prius" mainstream already sees hot rodding as some sort of planet-killing thuggery, there's probably not to much downside to CC's sanitized reporting.

Stupid Prii apocalypse - it's nothing more than the tail wagging the dog. Most people want SUVs (which still outsell Prii by a huge margin). Even my wife is moving towards a SUV because it's far more useful in SAR.

They report it because it sells magazines; we continue to encourage people to go to the track. Of course, when they get to the track they always meet that guy who tells them their car is the biggest POS and shouldn't be there. Which is quickly followed up by that guy going to the track officials and reporting his finding.... the track officials then come and tell the kid "to come back when he has a safe car." .... yeah, that's going to happen.

Or, put another way, how many stories have you told about how you religiously followed the speed limit; drove cautiously; then brought home a cherry pie for your dear sweet mommy?

[Bamfster]

Everybody knows how I feel about street racing ..... I read the article and to me it focused mainly on the guys that build the power and the cars. They had to mention the street racing to get from point A to point B for the story. I didn't take it as they condone it at all.

[TC]

Everybody knows how I feel about street racing ..... I read the article and to me it focused mainly on the guys that build the power and the cars. They had to mention the street racing to get from point A to point B for the story. I didn't take it as they condone it at all.

I'm not saying they are Condoning it, I'm saying they are Promoting it........... Just running an article(good or bad) about street racing is promoting it, because there will always be a certain group of people that the story will spark an interest in and go out and get into the street racing scene........... It's just like when they put a murder on the news and all of a sudden they end up with copycat murders, sure they were just reporting it, but it caused others to go out and copy the murder.......... If you promote it(talk about it) some people will do it..........

[Deaf Bob]

I'm not saying they are Condoning it, I'm saying they are Promoting it........... Just running an article(good or bad) about street racing is promoting it, because there will always be a certain group of people that the story will spark an interest in and go out and get into the street racing scene........... It's just like when they put a murder on the news and all of a sudden they end up with copycat murders, sure they were just reporting it, but it caused others to go out and copy the murder.......... If you promote it(talk about it) some people will do it..........

Are you really that much of a SHEEP?....

[Brian Lohnes]

Good call TC, let's cancel journalism. Yikes.

SBG - Jim Tice, the legendary leader of the AHRA once said that running a drag strip was a tough business because the first thing your customer saw was an old lady asking for their money and the second thing they saw was a tech guy telling them how big a piece of shit their car is.