Street Legal "Racing"

Haven't read anything here about this relatively new format. Not sure it's considered real racing and why I posted it here.
it's something relatively new in the LA area it seems, It's for street legal insured mufflered non trailered cars on 1/16 mile, with walls and generous shut off area.
its objective is to reduce illegal street racing.
It sounds like a good idea, I'm sure some bozo will figure out how to cause his or another's death by unlimited stupidity, but at least the general public will be spared high speed chases, etc.
I'd like to see if they at least require helmets and a 3-point worn seat belt.
I like it for what it is and can't see any real harm with this early experiment.
It's kind of like legalizing bordellos without the moral aspect.
What say you?

1/16 mile I’ll say it’s stupid.

Ha ha ha...My driveway is longer. What an insult to car guys.

I think well stick to real street racing out here in the sticks.

Looks like the bowling alley for kids with the side bumpers up.

The idea itself seems like a potentially good one to stop street racing. I don't think it will really make a dent in pursuits though as most are not from street racing. I do think it would need to be a 1/4 as others have written. The other concern has got to be liability. Someone will sue the property owner after there's a crash with injury, whether the owner be a private individual who allows this use or a government.

Small towns in my area are adding street drags to their town festivals.

It brings lots of cars and interest.

You have to consider locations, targeted participants, and the lower speeds - for the non-racer bureaucrats whose approval is necessary - and almost certainly, insurability.
1/16th mile (330 ft) is like the old top-of-2nd-gear deal back in the day: in some urban/suburban areas, that was about all the room you had, and if you'd gapped the other guy and were pulling away, you won.
So yeah, while it seems a bit short & silly, it's better than a lot of street scenarios.
Might even become a training ground/feeder of some sort for the 1/8 and 1/4 tracks & events.
I used to think 1/8-mile was weak; but I find it OK now, and it's arguably easier on parts.

This 'format' is probably not aimed at us guys. More to the younger ones that like 'roll racing' and the like. This one might be a step up from that. At least this seems to have a hole shot and reaction time that requires some amount of skill. Doesn't it? Roll racing doesn't seem to take any real skill at all. Or am I missing something?

So, they are running about the equivalent of a city block? They probably aren't looking to get guys who race at the strip to show up, just the kids who are racing light to light.

Well it's something and the 1/16th mile is undoubtedly to limit the speed obtained along with mufflers no trailers etc.

Here they just do roll racing on the freeway from one overpass to the next one in the middle of the night.

I think the street racing thing as far as drag racing from a stop has kind of disappeared in this area? Places where it used to happen have been slowly overrun by new neighborhoods, and the police patrolled the remaining areas until people gave it up, at least the people I know of who used to do it.

Our dragstrip has a Saturday Night drags thing a few times a year where you can grudge race your friends, or do test and tunes, and those seem pretty popular and are a way to keep people from racing on the streets that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Thinking a little more about this racing format proposed, seems like winning combos would be 4-wheel drive, big tire, lots of torque, and ignore all aero?

Hellcat Grand Cherokee?

Tesla Plaid.

Stoplight to stoplight.

I assume you "race" between the white lines? How is that "racing"? Be lucky to get out of second gear.

Almost as bad as that yaa who on YouTube with a small block Mopar TrickFlow engine. He runs at some super short track and neglects to tell people it’s not anywhere close to an 1/8 mile

They did something similar here on the front stretch of a mile cirle track on Weds. nights. It was pretty popular! Essentially run what ya brung. Then someone complained about noise and they shut it down. Who buys a house by a race track and then complains about noise?

The regional 1 mile oval does these a few times a year on their pit road. They usually coordinate it with a local law enforcement agency so you can run against LEOs if you want.

It is not at all targeted towards dedicated drag racers who ready know where their local tracks are. This is for the stop light drags crowd who still have a conscious about what they are doing or those guys who bought a sport/performance car that don't want to deal with a drive to and the requirements for NHRA participation where they are first round fodder for 2-3x the cost.

I concur.

Agree, and still better than not having it, stupid and silly as it might seem. With it in place the local law for "street drag racing" should be really enforced and the fine doubled or tripled.

I could see this taking off, fast forward 25yrs there will be plenty of folks to defend it on the grounds of "less maintenance and less fuel and faster programs" just like with 1/8 mile now.

That would have moved most of the "street" racing that took place in my home town back when I was 18 from off the streets to someplace much safer.
There would have been an endless stream of challengers competing on most Fri & Sat nights through out the summer months.

Have no idea if that would work these days or not, not so sure the current street racing is block to block. Judging from the marks on some streets around here, it appears the "new" track should look more like an intersection where they can see how many doughnuts they can do before they exceed the car's power level, or they exceed the driver's abilities, or some moron hanging out the window recording the event falls out.

in the milwaukee wisconsin area.
they do this at the milwaukee mile a couple of times a year.

they also do a organized "street racing" every Thursday' night ', I THINK, at the Washington county fail grounds . the "TRACK" is supposed to be about 1 block long. no trailered cars allowed and the cars must be 100% street legal.

So true. There will still be a large percentage who will continue their ways of causing mayhem & chaos.

Ah, memories. Some enterprising souls actually measured off a quarter mile and painted start/finish lines on a good straight road next to our local Metro Airport. People would monitor the stop sign and shut down activity if there was traffic there. Area has since been built up as an industrial park.

And also memories in Florida as of 2021 and as of 2023 now includes even recording via cell phone as participation as an included infraction, briefly:

"DEFINITION OF ‘RACING ON HIGHWAYS’
The offense of Racing on Highways, or ‘Street Racing,’ is defined in Section 316.191, Florida Statutes. Broadly speaking, ‘Racing’ can include four categories of conduct:

Racing, Competitions, and Exhibitions– driving any vehicle (including motorcycles) in any race, speed competition, speed contest, drag race, acceleration contest, speed exhibition, acceleration exhibition, or speed record;
Coordination and Facilitation– participating in, coordinating, facilitating, or collecting moneys at any location for any race, competition, contest, test, or exhibition;
Passenger Participation– knowingly riding as a passenger in a race, competition, contest, test, or exhibition; and
Traffic Interference– purposefully causing the movement of traffic to slow or stop for any race, competition, contest, test, or exhibition.

REQUIRED PROOF AT TRIAL
To prove the crime of Racing on Highways at trial, the prosecution must establish the following factual elements beyond a reasonable doubt:

The defendant:
drove a motor vehicle in; [or]
participated, coordinated, facilitated, collected monies at the location of; [or]
knowingly rode as a passenger in; [or]
purposefully caused moving traffic to slow or stop for
A race, drag race, an acceleration contest, a speed competition, a test of physical endurance, a speed exhibition, or an attempt to make a speed record on a highway, road, or parking lot."

"Paradise Road"......................

Here in Illinois, the state used to require that guardrails be installed for 1/4 mile each side of a bridge. And most bridges were concrete. We had a bridge or two that were our favorite 'tracks'. Good starting line traction and the quarter was already marked, courtesy of the state of Illinois.

Come to think about it, that was the last thing that libtard run Illinois has done for us.

My thoughts exactly looking at the second pic.

Actually Powerline Road in Sacramento. Red circle is the intersection in the first pic.