Professional Racing Community Bands Together to Promote Legal Racing,
Curtail Illegal Street Racing
DIAMOND BAR, Calif., June 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Going fast can be fun, and the
excitement of racing cars can be contagious. And dangerous.
There are legal alternatives to illegal and dangerous street racing,
according to members of RASR, Racers Against Street Racing. Drivers can show
off their driving skills and their car's performance at local racetracks
around the country, they say. The programs are open to owners of cars
equipped to run legally on streets and roads, as opposed to professional
racecars which are modified so much that they are no longer legal for street
use.
"A lot of drivers talk about how fast their car is, but we say, it's not
legit without a time slip," said Stephan Papadakis, AEM Racing. "You come
away from a track with that time slip proving exactly how fast you and your
car did go, so when someone says 'prove it,' you can." A time slip is the
official record of a driver's run at a racetrack.
"Besides the excitement of racing in front of a crowd, some street-legal
programs have other fun activities -- music, climbing walls, foam-play pits,
and the formal and informal car shows," said Lisa Kubo, Saturn Motorsports of
San Diego.
"Street-legal programs are sure a lot better than racing on the street,"
said Angela Proudfoot, Angela Proudfoot Racing. "There's a lot of good to say
about racing to your extreme limit in a controlled environment."
"It's cheap to compete at a street-legal night program at a track," said
Craig Paisley, Paisley Automotive Racing. Entry fees can be as low as $10,
including inspection and the opportunity to race.
RASR works with drag-race sanctioning bodies to open up more track
programs for the legal alternative to street racing. The leagues include
Battle of the Imports/IDRA, Import Drag Racing Circuit (IDRC), International
Hot Rod Association (IHRA), National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and NOPI Drag
Racing Association (NDRA).
Local law enforcement authorities support the legal alternatives to
illegal street racing. In one southern California city, for instance, local
police issue "tickets" -- to go race at their local Irwindale Speedway at no
charge.
Besides racers Kubo, Paisley, Papadakis and Proudfoot, other active RASRs
are Ara Arslanian of Bullish Motor Racing, Ed Bergenholtz of Bergenholtz
Racing, JoJo Callos of Castrol Syntec/Team Tactics, Shaun Carlson of Team
Mopar, Abel Ibarra of Flaco Racing, Len Monserrat of Team Big Len, and Chris
Rado of World Racing.
RASR membership also includes manufacturers, suppliers, and racecar
sponsors.
Companies underwriting current RASR efforts include founding sponsors
Motorsports Direct, North American Honda, Polk Audio, SEMA, the Specialty
Equipment Market Association, and Street Glow, and industry sponsors Advanced
Clutch Technology, American Products Company (APC), NOPI, Pep Boys, and
RELCO/Reliable Automotive.
More information about RASR and its programs to provide legal alternatives
to street racing within controlled environments is available at
http://www.rasr.info . A list of racetracks offering street-legal programs is
available at that site.
RASR is a program of SEMA's Sport Compact Council.
SEMA represents the $27 billion specialty automotive industry. Founded in
1963, the trade association has more than 4,500 member companies. It is the
authoritative source of research data, trends and market growth information
for automakers and the specialty auto products industry. The industry
provides appearance, performance, comfort, convenience and technology products
for passenger cars, minivans, trucks, SUVs and recreational vehicles. For
more information, contact SEMA at 1575 S. Valley Vista Dr., Diamond Bar, CA,
91765-3914; call 909/396-0289; or visit http://www.sema.org or
http://www.enjoythedrive.com .
Image available at: http://www.sema.org/images/31650.jpg
CAPTION: Racetracks across the country have opened their facilities to
young drag racers, offering an alternative to the dangers of illegal street
racing. (Credit: Super Street magazine)
SOURCE SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association)
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Related links:
http://www.sema.org
CONTACT:
Rosemarie Kitchin, ext. 104,
rosemariek@sema.org , or Lisa Guth, ext. 181, lisag@sema.org ,
both of Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA),
+1-909-396-0289
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