The only difference where the cars race on the show vs at the track, is the lack of guardrails. They tech the cars, there is safety equipment and EMTs on site, is better lit than many outlaw tracks I have been to, plenty of stopping room and actually the surface is better than some outlaw tracks we go to. I was just there for Cash Days and after all the racing and the "pimp juice" burnouts, the surface would pull your shoes off when you tried to walk on it.I myself, would have felt MORE comfortable making a pass there, than some tracks I have raced on, because it was WELL lit, plenty long and plenty wide. Where we were, there was a golf course on one side and open pasture on the other side. The local police are on site and block any and all access to the area. You do NOT get on site, without your name on the "approved" list. We were there for 12 hours.

It takes a real idiot, to not understand this is done in a controlled environment. Where in the world do you go and actually street race for hours and hours, with lighting better than many race tracks and all those trucks and trailers parked on the road. It even says in the opening that the racing is done in a controlled environment. I know how they portray it, but anyone other than a casual watcher, knows the deal.

As far as it being BAD for the sport......there are literally dozens and dozens of track operators who will argue with you about that. When they "book" a couple of the Street Outlaws guys for a match race, they generally set attendance records by a TON and the attendance stays up for a while according to the ones I have spoken with, especially the tracks that are smart enough to capitalize on the idea and start their own "list" deals, or something similar. Local, hole in the wall track to me, put out an open call out for a "list" race, with the top cars getting a chance to go to Louisiana and run the guys on the "new" show that is filming now. 100 cars and thousands of fans packed the place. So many people in fact, that they had to call the owner of the nearby dirt track, to use his parking, track and pit area, just to park all the spectators, because RACERS took up the whole drag strip facility. The PDRA, where the baddest door slammers on the planet race, had their two largest attended races this year, at events where they invited some of the Street Outlaws guys to come. People who had never been to a drag strip in their life, stood in line for hours to buy shirts and get autographs from Chief and Shaun at a radial race in Memphis last year. Know what they got to see while they were there for THAT?............some of the baddest radial tire cars in the country. I bet some will go back to the track again. Another track operator I talked to.....was going to shut down a couple years ago. Said he was going broke. He booked two of those guys. Biggest crowd he had ever had by far. Now he books a couple of them 3 times a season and that money, along with some renewed interest in the track, after they started coming, says he is making more a year than he EVER has...........Doubt he will say it's bad, nor will any of the other operators

As for myself, I have not had anyone call and buy a nitrous kit because they saw my T-shirt and stickers on the show.....BUT, this year alone I have sold over 200 shirts and send out countless stickers to people who saw them on the show and called or emailed me, because they wanted a shirt, hat or stickers, because they same them on the show. The majority of those people didn't even have a race car, or even a hot street car

So you can hate on it all you want, but the attention it brings is undeniable. You will also remember that the NHRA rattled their saber REALLY hard, threatening racers, going to ban them and pull licenses...........and then what happened? They shut the hell up and even showed up at the California taping, teched and stickered all the cars, as well as helped all those guys get their NHRA licenses.