Race Into The Night

It's after midnight on a Friday night in San Diego, and there are two Honda VTEC drivers who want to see who has got the quickest ride.

The word is out that there's a race tonight...loads of friends came along to watch the action and after a couple of burnouts and nitrous purges, they blast off into the darkness to once and for all settle the score...

Dangerous street racing? Nope--it's the Qualcomm Stadium RaceLegal.com drags, and it's 100-percent legal. You can race all the way until 1 a.m., have your fun and not worry about getting in trouble, losing your license or getting a ticket! In San Diego, there's no reason to take the high risks of street racing when you can race in a safe environment, in front of your friends and not worry about the police.

Heck, there are even cops to race against, and if you can outrun one of their drag-modified black and white units--while racing down the 1/8-mile track that's set up in the stadium parking lot--the officer will hand you a free "Beat The Heat" T-shirt for your efforts. Through the hard work of RaceLegal.com, San Diego-area gearheads have a safe and legal alternative to street racing happening on Friday nights, and it's supported by the city government, as well as the San Diego Police Department.

The track has dual side-by-side 1/8-mile timed lanes and can accommodate the launching of 480 racecars an hour. Burnouts are welcomed, VHT traction aid is used, there are two separate Christmas trees and at the end of the run, you get a timeslip complete with 60-foot increment times. Typically, the track sees 200-plus racecars on a Friday night, and some 2,000 spectators per event. The "pits" have local speed shop and engine builder vendor booths, there's food and soft drinks available, and the fully lighted facility is a great place to hang out and watch drag racing, talk drag racing, and if you've got $15 and pass the safety check, drag race all night long! There's a 93-decibel noise limit and you must have a valid driver's license, but if your car is road-worthy and you want to race, Qualcomm Drags (located on the 8 freeway in the Mission Valley section of San Diego) awaits you. Other cities across the country should look to this pro-active approach that is being used in San Diego, as the street-racing dilemma is something that's not going away anytime soon. In 2002, San Diego experienced some 16 fatalities and 31 serious injuries as a result of illegal street racing. Something had to be done to curb this high-risk and deadly activity. Participants, bystanders and innocent motorists unaware of the high-speed racing are all at risk when racing takes to the streets, and now with the innovative actions of RaceLegal.com, there's a place to race in San Diego that will not land you in jail...or worse, in the morgue.

Our friends at Venom Racing decided to take their rig and some cars down for some late-night gear slammin', which inspired us to follow along. The big question here is, why aren't more municipalities doing this kind of thing?