Needed: A Drag Strip

I would like to address a growing problem in Ventura County and perhaps provide some ideas for a workable solution. The problem is illegal street racing.

Most of the time this activity goes on unnoticed in the late night and early morning hours at secret locations throughout Ventura County. Unfortunately, we read only of such events after there is a tragic fatality. Often the victim is “an innocent bystander or a motorist in “the wrong place at the wrong time.”

In the interest of public safety, we could provide a safe, supervised, accessible facility for such events. Ventura County needs a drag strip.

We must realize as long as there are motor vehicles in a country that thrives on competition, the will to “be a winner” and “to be the best at anything we do,” there will always be contests of acceleration--legal or illegal. Drag racing started as soon as the second horseless carriage was built.

This program could be beneficial to our community. For example, an average of 300 to more than 1,000 paying participants and spectators attend various small tracks throughout California every weekend. As a city or county-owned facility, the revenue collected would go directly into our local economy, as well as creating jobs.

Right now, the only options legal racers in this county have nearby are Los Angeles County Raceway, which is 75 miles away, or in Palmdale or Bakersfield raceway (100 miles). Let’s not forget Big Willie Robonson’s Brotherhood Raceway on Terminal Island in Long Beach (70 miles). Yes, Brotherhood Raceway is working. With the help of L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan and the L.A. Harbor Commission, the City Council members realized this was an excellent program to get racing off the streets, and get LAPD officers working on real crime issues instead of chasing down good kids with fast cars and bikes. Plus, at $10 a head (to race or watch), that’s a sizable amount of money to operate and even make a small profit for the city of Long Beach.

We need a program like that in Ventura County.

GLENN MAKER

Simi Valley

Glenn Maker is a member of the Ventura County Dragstrip Coalition.