Spazum888
09-17-2002, 10:46 PM
street racing a sub cultur of its own. by leon terry, staff writer
While most students live paycheck to paycheck, a select few choose to live their lives a quarter-mile at a time. As old as driving itself, street racing has snowballed into a subculture of its own, complete with movies, books and websites.
"It's a blast," said Travis Clark. "It's so much of a rush it's hard to describe."
Moki Iverandi agrees.
"There's nothing like street racing. Whenever I'm behind the wheel the world just melts away."
Some are less than thrilled with the popularity, claiming it ruins the sport.
"After 'The Fast and the Furious' came out, everybody started throwing rice wings on their '85 Civics and claiming to be a street racer … Those idiots completely ruin it for the rest of us," said Chris Lang, a Honda technician and electrical engineering student. "I hate it when I drive around school and see Saturns and Sunfires with wanna-be exhaust systems that are just loud. They think they're hooking up their car when they haven't done anything."
Lang said sometimes it pays to choose to buy an imported car rather than a domestic one.
"The important thing is the whole 4-cylinder, small weight/high compression to prove you don't need a 3-ton car with 800 horsepower to run 12s," said Lang. "It's a pretty big deal when an all-motor Civic can blow the pants off a Mustang 5.0."
It can also be more cost-effective to use imports.
"You can get an old car with a lot of miles on it for next to nothing. Then, get an imported motor from Japan, all for under $8,000. For $10,000 you can make a car that will run 10s," said Clark. "To get something like an old Mustang up to that speed, you're looking at $15,000 to $17,000."
There's also the all-important look to consider.
"They do look cooler," said Iverandi. "That whole Japanese or European styling to it, while the American cars are all big and boxy … they're just old looking."
Lang explained that it is hard to find street-racing these days.
"There's no street scene anymore. The cops are on to it. There's only people with nothing done to their cars who think they race, and they ruin it for everyone," said Lang.
Clark agrees. He said it's easier and safer to race at the tracks.
Clark and Iverandi are members of the national street-racing club DSM. For more information visit www.DSM.org.
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found this in the university of central florida news paper today. good.
While most students live paycheck to paycheck, a select few choose to live their lives a quarter-mile at a time. As old as driving itself, street racing has snowballed into a subculture of its own, complete with movies, books and websites.
"It's a blast," said Travis Clark. "It's so much of a rush it's hard to describe."
Moki Iverandi agrees.
"There's nothing like street racing. Whenever I'm behind the wheel the world just melts away."
Some are less than thrilled with the popularity, claiming it ruins the sport.
"After 'The Fast and the Furious' came out, everybody started throwing rice wings on their '85 Civics and claiming to be a street racer … Those idiots completely ruin it for the rest of us," said Chris Lang, a Honda technician and electrical engineering student. "I hate it when I drive around school and see Saturns and Sunfires with wanna-be exhaust systems that are just loud. They think they're hooking up their car when they haven't done anything."
Lang said sometimes it pays to choose to buy an imported car rather than a domestic one.
"The important thing is the whole 4-cylinder, small weight/high compression to prove you don't need a 3-ton car with 800 horsepower to run 12s," said Lang. "It's a pretty big deal when an all-motor Civic can blow the pants off a Mustang 5.0."
It can also be more cost-effective to use imports.
"You can get an old car with a lot of miles on it for next to nothing. Then, get an imported motor from Japan, all for under $8,000. For $10,000 you can make a car that will run 10s," said Clark. "To get something like an old Mustang up to that speed, you're looking at $15,000 to $17,000."
There's also the all-important look to consider.
"They do look cooler," said Iverandi. "That whole Japanese or European styling to it, while the American cars are all big and boxy … they're just old looking."
Lang explained that it is hard to find street-racing these days.
"There's no street scene anymore. The cops are on to it. There's only people with nothing done to their cars who think they race, and they ruin it for everyone," said Lang.
Clark agrees. He said it's easier and safer to race at the tracks.
Clark and Iverandi are members of the national street-racing club DSM. For more information visit www.DSM.org.
---------------------------------------------------------
found this in the university of central florida news paper today. good.