Crash Critically Injures Driver in Film on Dangers of Street Racing

A Los Angeles Valley College student film project on the dangers of street racing illustrated those dangers all too tragically Sunday.

Anthony J. Galati, 25, a volunteer drag-race driver, was critically injured after he lost control of his car and crashed into a pickup truck that was parked on the college’s campus in Van Nuys.

Galati, of Arleta, was flown to St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, where he was reported in critical condition with head injuries.

The film’s director, Tony DeSanto, 29, of Reseda, said he was working on the last shot in a school project, a public-service film titled “Street Racing Is a Drag,” when the accident occurred. Galati’s car, which was pitted in a drag race, sped out of control and crashed into DeSanto’s truck, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Alan Kerstein.

DeSanto said he was filming from an overpass on Ethel Avenue as the two northbound cars raced below. There was no camera footage of the accident, he said.

The driver of the other car was not injured.

DeSanto and Doug Lundin, 25, a friend of Galati’s, said the car used a special racing fuel that combined aviation gasoline and nitrous oxide.

“Maybe the button that controls the nitrous oxide stuck,” Lundin speculated.

Police said they were still investigating the cause of the accident, in which Galati’s orange 1968 Camaro pushed DeSanto’s truck 25 feet from where it was parked. The front end of the Camaro, which was built of fiberglass, disintegrated.

Galati, who has a small machine shop and races at the Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale, was wearing neither a seat belt nor a crash helmet at the time of the accident, witnesses said. Kerstein said Galati’s seat belt was purposely not worn for the film.

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Jeffrey Martin, of Valley Traffic Bureau, said no charges were filed pending an investigation.

Martin and Patrick Russell, of the college’s campus police, said a permit to make the film had been issued by the college.

“It’s just tragic that someone got hurt like this when the intent was to enlighten folks,” Martin said. “If nothing else, it underscores the danger.”