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Police Race At Dragway To Fight Illegal Street Racing

Posted by samzenpus on from the to-fuel-inject-and-swerve dept.

For $25, anyone over the age of 18 can race a police officer at the monthly "Beat the Heat" night in Miami, Florida. The races are held at County Line Drag Way and are designed to redirect people from racing on the streets to the dragstrip. "You could bring your mother's minivan. You can bring a pure racing car. It doesn't matter," said Officer Jose Ayala with the Medley Police Department.

9 of 15 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Huh? by Hmmm2000 · · Score: 1

    As someone who street raced in a previous life and has been drag racing for 25 years, why is this interesting?

    Maybe to fulfill someone's childhood dream of "beating the fuzz".

  2. Re:Huh? by roc97007 · · Score: 1

    Why is it even news? There were programs like this as far back as the seventies. The tv series Adam 12 did a "public service" episode on this topic back when we didn't have anything else to watch on TV.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  3. that's not a bad idea by ILuvRamen · · Score: 1

    If you take all the seats out of most minivans, they can really giddeyup lol. Seriously, our old van had the same if not better acceleration when totally stripped down as my V6 Mercury cougar and that's 170HP and 2800 pounds.

    --
    Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
  4. Oh good by FiveDozenWhales · · Score: 1

    Hey, this is my chance to test if my car can outrun a cop. Then I'll know whether or not to pull over next time they flash their lights at me.

  5. the old saying by zogger · · Score: 1

    You may be able to outrun the cops old ford, but you'll never be able to beat his motorola. ..at least that's what we used to say back in ye olden days in detroit during the height of the muscle and pony car years.

    1. Re:the old saying by JWSmythe · · Score: 1

      I always loved that saying.

          But, it doesn't help with "Suspect driving gray sports car, last seen heading South on State Road 100", when you actually turned onto SR100, and then made a couple more turns, and are heading off to the East on another road at the speed limit.

          I'm in a car that's fast enough now, where I would need a LOT of road to see it. At 170mph, I'd be doing 2.8 miles per minute, and need at least 30 seconds to stop. "Safe" roads to do that on are rare at best. An 8 mile stretch of road disappears in about 3 minutes. (or the length of a football field in 1.2 seconds) Honestly, I don't know how fast mine goes, so we'll just stay with the 170mph speed. Any road where I can get up to speed, there are no turns to make (i.e., I-10 between nowhere and nowhere), or Alligator Alley. I'd love to have the opportunity to find out how fast mine goes, and eventually I will, on a nice long track.

          I'll suffice it to say, I've been on long desert roads, where multiple tractor trailers were in line doing about 65 (speed limit for cars 70mph to 75mph). When I'd pass, I'd start out at their speed, and watch the speedometer pass 150 as I cleared the first truck in line. I'm not racing them, I'm just passing slow vehicles, and not getting stuck in the wrong lane.

          I've watched people race on the streets. They are stupid. Even when I was 18, I saw them as being stupid. They're also the same people with very low life expectancies. Over 100 in a residential area is not a smart thing to do. It may be a cat or a person that you hit, or even just lose control and hit an occupied dwelling. In any case, someone is going to be rather upset (or dead). I found out a few months ago, an old friend died this way. He was passenger in a car traveling at "excessive speeds" on a toll road. Something happened, they lost control, hit one wall, and shot across to demolish their car into the other side.

          With all that said, I really enjoy racing on tracks these days. No worry about tickets, and I can run as hard as the car will take. :) At one track, I gave out before the car did. That was a long day of hard driving. The tires were hot. The brakes were hot. The engine was rather warm, and I was sore all over from the exertion and adrenaline.

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
  6. Been Done: Caravan & Nitrus! by StCredZero · · Score: 1

    Some mainstream news mag did a profile of CA street dragsters, and there was one kid who's job was going around in his mom's Dodge Caravan taking $5 bets. Little did they know, he had it hooked up to Nitrus Oxide!

    My coworker's uncle did something like that in the 60's with a VW bug with a Porsche Boxer engine. (Had to move the rear firewall forward to fit it!) He used to be famous in the Houston area. The nickname was the [something] killer, where [something] was the car favored for hot-rodders.

    1. Re:Been Done: Caravan & Nitrus! by BizzyM · · Score: 1

      My coworker's uncle did something like that in the 60's with a VW bug with a Porsche Boxer engine.

      I'm pretty sure the Boxter was a 90's car, not 60's...

  7. gaymarie@live.com by GayMarie · · Score: 1

    Wow. My lifetime fantasy has been to be in a Demolition Derby but I've never had a car crappy enough to enter. I'd get my hands on something sturdy if the police were to offer this service to fulfill my dreams.