Tuesday, June 17, 2003 | 9:17 a.m.
Schedule
Remaining 2003 schedule for "Midnight Mayhem" at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:
June 27
July 11
July 18
July 25
Aug. 8
Aug. 15
Aug. 29
Sept. 5
Sept. 12
Oct. 3
Oct. 17
Nov. 7
Dec. 6
The last time Juddi Lin took part in an illegal street race, she nearly put her face through the windshield of her juiced-up compact car.
Before that, she suffered a broken collarbone when she lost control of her Ford Mustang while racing on a rain-slickened Las Vegas street. Lin figures she has gone through "five or six" cars since she took up illegal street racing -- at the age of 14.
"It was exciting for a few years," Lin, now 20, said of the craze, which gained momentum with the release of the blockbuster film "The Fast and the Furious" in the summer of 2001 and this summer's sequel, "2 Fast 2 Furious."
"I used to race every Saturday for two years; I never missed a Saturday."
Rules
"Midnight Mayhem" is open to any licensed driver with a currently registered car, truck or motorcycle and proof of insurance. Vehicles must be driven (not towed) to the track. Drivers under the age of 18 are required to present a completed parental consent form. The entry fee is $10 for car and driver and $5 for spectators.
An NHRA-certified safety crew and ambulance are present at each event.
Lin became so proficient that her peers dubbed her the "Illegals Queen." At about the time her minor accidents starting becoming more severe, The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway launched its "Midnight Mayhem" drag-racing program for street-legal cars. Lin now satisfies her need for speed in the controlled environment of The Strip rather than on the streets of Las Vegas.
"I had five or six accidents (street racing); like two accidents on each car," Lin said. "I've been hurt twice but not really seriously. The first time, I broke my collarbone and the second time I just kind of hit the steering wheel and windshield with my face. I couldn't laugh or smile for a while.
"After I got into the accidents, I started coming here. Now I only drive my CRX from the house to The Strip."
Lin was among about 150 participants in Friday night's edition of "Midnight Mayhem," a program started last year that is designed to attract illegal street racers and other amateurs to a safer environment.
"It's cool out here," Lin said after making a few passes in her 1989 Honda CRX on The Strip's quarter-mile. "It's a party place. It's fun; they've got music playing and you can race without the cops hassling you."
Fatal attraction
Although racing on city streets and highways has been a rite of passage for teenagers for decades, the trend has taken a deadly turn in the past few years. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, street racing was a factor in 135 fatal crashes in 2001 -- more than double the number reported a year earlier.
In San Diego, 16 deaths and 31 injuries were directly related to illegal street racing in 2001 and the city attorney's office prosecuted 290 illegal street-racing cases in 2001, according to the National Hot Rod Association.
In many cities, those caught participating in illegal street racing face fines of up $1,000, imprisonment, and, in some cases, seizure of their vehicles.
Last week, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance that would make it illegal to watch a street race. Metro Police is trying to get a similar "spectator ordinance" passed in Las Vegas.
Earlier this year, in a widely publicized case, two street racers in San Diego were charged with second-degree murder stemming from an accident that resulted in the death of three teenagers. The defendants, George Waller, 32, and Lawrence Calhoun, 29, were found not guilty of murder but convicted of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and reckless driving resulting in bodily injury.
The trial, which was nationally televised on Court TV, marked the first time in California history that murder charges were sought in a street-racing-related incident.
Midnight moneymaker
Although the "Midnight Mayhem" program at LVMS is not the first of its kind, it has become the model for other tracks around the country interested in drawing illegal street racers off the streets.
"The NHRA recently put out a kit for all of its 140 member tracks saying 'Here's how you can start a street-racing program at your track,' and basically took our rules and all of our literature ... and sent it out," said Chris Blair, LVMS' director of drag racing operations.
"Midnight Mayhem" is open to any registered street-legal car, truck or motorcycle. Drivers also must have a valid driver's license and proof of insurance and must drive the car to the track. Participants are allowed to make as many runs as they can from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Although Friday night's program drew about 150 vehicles and a few hundred spectators, the program has attracted as many as 460 vehicles and 3,000 spectators -- at $10 per driver and $5 per spectator.
"When we first did it, my original goal was that we would have a night at some point during the season where we would get 250 or 300 cars and maybe 300 or 400 spectators," Blair said.
"The first night, I had 212 cars that came out and almost a thousand spectators ... so it completely shocked me when it took off as quickly as it did."
While not intended as a moneymaker for the facility, "Midnight Mayhem" recently signed Titan Auto Insurance as title sponsor of the program. Although terms of the sponsorship were not announced, it is believed to be enough to keep the program running in the black.
Bruton Smith, whose Speedway Motorsports Inc. owns Las Vegas Motor Speedway, said money was not an issue when it comes to putting on the street-legal racing program.
"I think we're providing a service there more than anything else," Smith said. "I think it's wonderful that all these guys and girls come (to The Strip) and stay off the highway doing what they do.
"If they want to (race), then I say give them a safer place to do it and let them have a good time. That's what we're doing and if it gets big enough and we have to go to two nights a week, we'll do that to keep them off the highways."
Ulterior motive
When Blair introduced "Midnight Mayhem" last year, he admitted he had another reason beyond making the city's streets safer.
"What I wanted to do was find a way where we could get kids who were racing on the street to come in and introduce them to the basic fundamentals of drag racing," Blair said.
"What we wanted to do from there was get them here to the track, get to know them, find out what they're looking for and then create racing programs around what they want instead of what we wanted to give them."
So far, Blair's plan is working. He estimates that 25 to 30 people who came out to The Strip for "Midnight Mayhem" have gone on to race in the track's NHRA-sanctioned weekly bracket racing program. Lin is one of those who got into bracket racing through the street-legal racing program -- joining her boyfriend, Alexei Guinitoran -- and won her class in her very first race.
"I've been in the bracket racing for a while now but I really didn't take it seriously until recently," Lin said. "I just decided to give it a try and have fun with it. We don't have anything better to do on Saturdays (so) we might as well race."
Lin and Guinitoran said they both are actively seeking sponsorship so they can continue to compete in the weekly bracket racing -- and possibly beyond.
Community service
While Blair, track publicist John Bisci and other track personnel work long hours on the Friday nights the track hosts "Midnight Mayhem," Blair said the reward is worth the sacrifice.
"We're actually doing a community service, which is something a lot of racetracks never can accomplish," Blair said.
"We're benefitting from it because people now know that the drag strip is here where in the past people didn't even know we had a drag strip here. A lot of people knew we had two (NHRA national events) and everybody thought the other 50 weeks of the year, we were closed. Now, people know we're out here."
Blair also acknowledges that no matter how many nights the track offers a venue for street racers, it is not going to completely solve the problem of illegal street racing in Las Vegas.
Lin estimated there are anywhere from 200 to 300 illegal street racers in the Valley and said that some of those who show up on Friday nights for "Midnight Mayhem" return to the city streets on Saturday nights.
"A lot of those people (street racers) can't afford to pay to come in here, so they get out (on the streets) to get the adrenaline rush," Lin said. "Friday nights, they're here ... Saturday nights, they're out there (street racing)."
"We're never going to stop the illegal racing," Blair said, "but we can make a big difference and bring some attention to the problem and offer a solution to it." It's fun; they've got music playing and you can race without the cops hassling you."
Lin estimated there are anywhere from 200 to 300 illegal street racers in the Valley and said that some of those who show up on Friday nights for "Midnight Mayhem" return to the city streets on Saturday nights.
"A lot of those people (street racers) can't afford to pay to come in here, so they get out (on the streets) to get the adrenaline rush," Lin said. "Friday nights, they're here ... Saturday nights, they're out there (street racing)."
"We're never going to stop the illegal racing," Blair said, "but we can make a big difference and bring some attention to the problem and offer a solution to it." It's fun; they've got music playing and you can race without the cops hassling you."
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