ON THE ROADS Cops try to put the brakes on illegal street racing

ON THE ROADS Cops try to put the brakes on illegal street racing

John Valenti
On The Roads

ON THE ROADS
Cops try to put the brakes on illegal street racing

July 24, 2005


They gathered before midnight in the parking lot of Waldbaum's on Sunrise Highway in Baldwin. There were more than a hundred of them - Acura Integras, Nissan 300 ZXs, Subaru WRXs, Dodge Neons and Honda Civics.

Most of them bore the markings of illegal street racers: black carbon fiber hoods, fat tires, custom exhausts. A few were emblazoned with racing decals. Some were even running on nitrous oxide, a gas racers use to boost engine horsepower.

Across the street, under a full moon, State Police Sgt. Timothy Heins and State Park Police Sgt. Darren McCarthy sat in an unmarked police car with tinted windows, watching.

"Looks like we've got a big crowd," Heins said.

Illegal street racing has been around almost as long as we've had cars. But in the wake of recent suspected street-racing fatal accidents - one on the Southern State Parkway, one on the Cross Bay Boulevard in Queens - police are determined to stop it.

So Wednesday night, the State Police and the State Park Police combined forces to crack down on illegal racing.

"This is obviously the Band-Aid approach," Heins said. "But maybe if we cost them enough money, they'll stop racing."

Street racing is a loosely organized sport. Drivers arrange "meets" on the Internet. This night, police have learned of a "meet" after monitoring a Web site.

There, police said, racers from Long Island and Queens said they would meet at the Waldbaum's and then head out to run on Meadowbrook Parkway or the Ocean Parkway by Jones Beach.

Police had a plan, too.

They would wait in the shadows of a vacant beach lot, as well as on the Wantagh Parkway, Meadowbrook and Ocean. They had more than a dozen police cruisers, spike strips to puncture tires, and two K-9 units - one to search for drugs, one a bomb-sniffing dog to search for illegal nitrous oxide bottles.

Not long after midnight, the gathered drivers stopped standing around talking and got into their cars to head out.

On eastbound Sunrise Highway, McCarthy and Heins drove in a pack of cars. Drivers gunned their engines and weaved in and out of lanes.

Some of the cars headed onto the southbound Meadowbrook. Some continued on Sunrise. McCarthy and Heins took the Meadowbrook, doing 70 mph. Most of the cars easily pulled away from them.

A mile or so east of the Jones Beach Tower the drivers began to pull off onto the grassy shoulder of the Ocean Parkway.

Up ahead, police had set up a roadblock.

Minute after minute crawled by and nothing happened. Then, one by one, the cars headed back west through an unguarded turnaround.

The police had anticipated this. They had a roadblock on the westbound side of the road, too, just east of the tower.

There, more than two dozen cars were forced to stop. One by one, drivers were interviewed and asked to show their licenses and registrations.

All the drivers said they weren't racers. Police said their cars told a different tale.

"Honestly, I don't do street racing," said Jason Penn, 20, of Elmont, as he sat behind the wheel of his blue Honda Civic. A huge decal on the windshield read: "Team StreetWarFare. No Excuses." A decal on the rear hatch read: "R.I.P. Booga. NY Street Racing Legend."

An 18-year-old from Merrick, Bryan Vicquery, stood next to his Dodge Neon, which had doors altered to swing upwards instead of out - sort of like a Lamborghini.

"I just come to look at the cars," he said. "My car's all show. I don't race it."

The bomb dog found a nitrous bottle in the trunk of a red Honda. The driver, William Long, 19, of Bellmore, said he knew about it - but didn't know it was illegal.

"I'm not racing, sir," Long told State Police Sgt. Robert Myers.

"If you weren't going to race," Myers said, "then why is the bottle turned on?"

By the time police were finished they had issued more than 75 summonses for equipment violations and speeding. Three cars were impounded, including the red Honda driven by Long - since it is a federal violation to transport nitrous oxide, considered a hazardous material under law.

No one was caught in an "unauthorized speed contest," an illegal street race.

"We're trying to stop these races before they start, before they race and kill somebody," Heins said. "We didn't get the big group. But, tonight, we got enough of them."

http://www.newsday.com/news/columni...,0,5440754.column?coll=ny-rightrail-columnist

its never gonna stop
as long as people continue to come up with ideas there will always be people who don't understand its dangerous.

The police has done there job and nobody got hurt.

"Honestly, I don't do street racing," said Jason Penn, 20, of Elmont, as he sat behind the wheel of his blue Honda Civic. A huge decal on the windshield read: "Team StreetWarFare. No Excuses." A decal on the rear hatch read: "R.I.P. Booga. NY Street Racing Legend."

What idiots lol.

lol yeah, read that too and though the same.

Good call, shit I saw the biggest pullover last night caused by streetracing when I headed back home from DenverRolla's house at 3 am.... bunch of ricers of course and a few boosted cars cause I could hear the BOV's blowing off when I pulled in the street so I'm not too long away from home which is a long straight away, more than 20 cars were racing up and down that straight away but what they didn't know about is that 3 cops live in that area so next thing I know I'm riding by trying to get home and I see everybody trying to scatter and shit cause cops were raiding the street. Luckily my neighbor came out and saved my ass cause some other cop wanted to eventually tow my car cause he had probable cause of streetracing and I'm like "hmmm sir I live like 2 mins away from here u can even ask Jim my neighbor, he's a cop from Denver, plus I have a Corolla man why would I even waste my time racing these guys when my car can't even do 80 mph (I kinda laughed)" so then Jim came out and they let me through and so I got home. I talked to Jim this morning and he said that they gave a lot of tickets out and that most of the cars were towed too lol..... man people are stupid man, I'm just glad I got home alive and without tickets or towing or being arrested thanks to some knuckleheads.

I don't really race with my rolla, it's too slow and is just not worth getting a ticket over you know... hell I don't race period like I don't want to die and other people to die too, streetracing is just too damn risky.... I try and stay out of the scene as much as I can and just lay low and relax with some friends and eventually live life and not end it by trying to be "cool".... man today's people need to grow up in that whole thing like yea I have a fast car but think ahead of time and think of the consequences that shit brings to u and others. I do admit I've done some stupid shit in the past cause I'm young but after the things I've seen happen (not to me thankfully) I laid my ass down 100%....

i go to a car meet that is every sunday night, no, no one races and the cops do come towards the end of the night, but half the time the just walk around and look at all the cars and talk to people...

i havent seen any pull over yet. i dont usually go out that much. i havent gone to any meets yet lol.

i raced the 98 LE and it was not all that quick nut still won some races though.

ive raced here and there ill admit to that

and hell no street racing wont stop, partly because in most cases there is NOWHERE to race legally (locally anyway)

there needs to be some sort of silent agreement between cops and the racers, to be able to use an industrial area or desolate area where no1 will get hurt, hell they can even have a cop there to make sure no1 starts trouble

but it will keep happening no matter what

down here people can't complain there are three race tracks. the one I go to is cheaper and closer
I pay 10 bucks for entrance and race as much as i want on thursday's
Friday's u pay15 and go by a bracket racing only according to your time slip.

we have a few here in CO but they're extremely crowded so u have to wait like 3 hrs in line for ur runs lol

if you cant find a place. take it to the desert, like 2F2F lol..

if not the track we go to Military Highway which is south from where i live. there people top out thier cars and the cops don't say anything unless something happens then everyone jets.

e_andree and customrollaz, keep it on topic.

I'm glad they're cracking down on this, while street racing can be done safely, 99% of people who do it are retards who have no respect or grasp of life.

And I didn't know it was a federal offense to have N20!!!!

i think its having an opened bottle thats illegal

I didn't know it was a federal offense to have N2O either like Dr Tweak said.

N2O is an oxidizer, Its illegal to transport it without a sticker on your vehical. So just toss one of those hazzardous (flamable) stickers on the back of your rig like your see on the semi's are your good to go

MY BAD!!!! lol .... like is it legal to have it but not turned on? or just illegal to have it 100% even if it's not hooked up?

cause from what I've heard is that u can have it in ur car but just not drive with it hooked up.... from what I've heard I might be wrong though since almost every damn part that they make for cars now is illegal lol

What the hells is the difference between transporting gasoline and N20? If it was illegal to 'transport' it (aka, where the hell are you transporting it if you don't have a delivery address) then why the hell do they sell it at shops and such? And why do they sell Nitrous kits??? Sounds a bit 'fishy' to me...

But you know cops...

Hmmmm... Didn't read the second page, but I have heard it was legal to have it, just not turned on as well... Otherwise, I would call bullshit on the legality of transporting N2O.

If that was the case, wouldn't every car need a explosive material sticker on it?

NO2 is illegal here in texas for the following reasons
its connected full or empty
it has liquid but is not connected
and if the tank is inside the cabin of the car aka the back seat area
it must be mounted in the center of the trunk , can't be in the right or left side.
i know its messed up but its true texas has the wierdest laws.

yeah but most of the racers here don't really care unless your at the track is has to be fully inspected by a state personnel.