Beat the Heat - Genius Police Officers

[piercehawkeye45]

This is pure genius. It is smart, effective, safer, fun, and will loosen tension between police and car racers.

If you talk to Anthony Gonzalez, you will realize quickly that there is no talking him into slowing down on the road.

"Adrenaline rush -- the closer I feel to getting killed, the more I love it," Gonzalez said.

The trick is controlling the passion for racing from spilling onto public roadways.

"How fast have you gone?" Local 10's Sasha Andrade asked Gonzalez.

"One-hundred-sixty, 170," he replied.

Police officers are redirecting people like Gonzalez from the street to the County Line Drag Way. The program is called Beat the Heat. Once a month, officers will race anyone over the age of 18 for $25.

"You could bring your mother’s minivan. You can bring a pure racing car. It doesn't matter," said Officer Jose Ayala with the Medley Police Department.

"We're actually getting a lot of kids and adults alike come here and say, 'We used to race in Davie. You probably used to chase us around, and now we're here on the track and we want to race your car,'" said Officer Ron Bradley with the Davie Police.

Officers said they have seen a drastic reduction in illegal street racing since Beat the Heat started in 2007.

"We used to have races in the warehouse district almost every Friday, Saturday night. They've completely stopped," Bradley said.

Racers told Local 10 that they actually prefer the track.

"It's better and it's safer," one racer said.

The next Beat the Heat race is May 23 at 7 p.m. at the County Line Drag Way on Okeechobee Road.

http://www.officer.com/web/online/Top-News-Stories/Florida-Officers-Battle-Drivers-in-Legal-Street-Races/1$46460

[xoxoxoBruce]

Many of the original drag strips in the 50s and 60s were set up and sometimes sponsored by police departments. Or the police would get a local service organization like the Lions or Rotary to sponsor them. The idea was to get the street racers to go drag racing instead.

As it increased in popularity drag strips became businesses. And to clean up their image, and lower their insurance premiums, they instituted strict safety inspections as the cars became more powerful/faster.
(I can't take my Chevy to the strip because I'd need a full roll cage.)

I wish them luck with this, but the first time Jr rolls Mom's minivan the lawyers and do-gooders are going to create so much heat for the police I doubt it will last.

[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I wish them luck with this, but the first time Jr rolls Mom's minivan the lawyers and do-gooders are going to create so much heat for the police I doubt it will last.

That was my thought as well but it has to be remembered that drag racing will always come with the risk of crashing or even death. But, drag racing in a controlled environment, I'm sure there are fire trucks and ambulances on stand by, will always be safer then street racing.

Unfortunately, I don't know if everyone will get that concept.

[TheMercenary]

Now if they could just do that with the sport bikes they could save even more people.

[Elspode]

Yeah, but that would greatly reduce the Stupid Human Trick video pool, which I enjoy so much as an educational exercise. Helps me see things that make me remember to keep my head out of my ass.

[Bullitt]

There's a program like this in San Diego called RaceLegal. According to my uncle who helped start it, it's been successful in lowering the number of street racing incidents as well as the commonly accompanying deaths and injuries.