Drag Net

Since the days of sock hops and nickel Cokes, a lonely stretch of San Fernando Road has been a hot spot for illegal drag racers.

On weekends, teenagers gather in the wee hours of the morning, partially secluded under a Golden State Freeway overpass, to see just what their souped-up Camaros and Honda Civics can do. When police arrive, they scatter like cockroaches in fluorescent light.

On a recent weekend, they didn’t scatter fast enough.

Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division handed out 150 tickets--a division record for nabbing hot rodders in one bust--to people who were either participating in illegal drag racing or just watching.

Those ticketed ranged in age from 15 to the mid-20s. Some were Sylmar locals, others came from the Santa Clarita and San Gabriel valleys.

Though the police considered the operation a success, they acknowledge that after every group bust at this drag-race haven, the hot rods always seem to return.

“They’ll come back and test us again,” said Capt. Ronald Bergmann of the Foothill Division. “It’s almost like picking up Silly Putty. It comes out between your fingers and goes someplace else. There’s no easy solution.”

But the National Hot Rod Assn., with headquarters in Glendora, believes it has a solution: Give hot rodders a safe, regulated place to race.

Currently, the association hosts drag racing at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds racetrack, where speeding is legal, the bystanders are in bleachers and authorities can inspect the cars. The program, begun two years ago at the facility in Pomona, is called Street Legal.

Police officers in that area support the program--some even spend an occasional Saturday racing the hod rodders around the track. Back out on the streets, when the officers catch hot rodders speeding, they are likely to give them police “Get Out of Jail Free” cards, based on those from the game Monopoly. The speeders don’t get out of the tickets, but the cards, signed by officers, at least give them free admission to the Pomona raceway.

At the raceway on Street Legal days, participants pay $10 to race their low riders and cars souped up with nitrous oxide all day, said Bernie Partridge, director of the Street Legal program for the NHRA. The program, Partridge said, provides young drivers with the same adrenaline rush that comes from street racing.

“The one thing we can’t give them is the feeling they’re doing something illegal,” he said.

But the illegalities associated with street racing may be what draws teens to San Fernando Road.

On the fateful Saturday of Labor Day weekend, racers took each other on in pairs, according to Sgt. Phil Smith, a vice unit officer who was observing the scene.

“They lined up in a row and would speed off and race,” Smith said. “They would turn around and start the next race, one after another, bam, bam, bam, bam.”

The races started shortly after midnight, Smith said. About 15 races got off before the black-and-whites blocked both sides of San Fernando Road, trapping participants and bystanders in the middle.

Sixty-two people received tickets for “aiding and abetting a speed contest.” Eight were cited for engaging in a speed contest, and 39 for aiding or abetting exhibition of speed. (They were allegedly tooling around in their cars, not actually racing.)

Another 28 minors were cited for curfew violations and 12 others were cited for various equipment infractions. One driver had no driver’s license, Smith said.

The infractions carry an average fine of $400.

No one was booked, but two men, allegedly the race “starters,” were handcuffed so they couldn’t flee.

Smith estimated the speed of the racers as between 75 and 100 mph, with bystanders just a few feet away. Many of the autos were equipped with nitrous-oxide boosters, he said, which can cause a car to start with a jolt that can make it difficult to control.

Racers also block the southbound lanes of an entire stretch of San Fernando Road near the intersection of Sepulveda Boulevard, forcing other motorists to drive southbound in the northbound lanes to pass, Smith said.

But Danny Ayala, 26, who was ticketed for “aiding and abetting,” said he doesn’t think the racing poses a hazard to the area. “We all worry about our safety,” he said, adding that the area is popular with hot rodders because it’s near an industrial park that is largely deserted at night. Few other cars are in the area, he said, between midnight and 3 a.m.

This was Ayala’s first ticket as a bystander at an illegal drag race. His day job: driving instructor for a private school.

NHRA officials say a racetrack is the only safe place to race.

“It’s safer than driving down Interstate 5 or Interstate 10,” Street Legal’s Partridge said, adding that the Pomona raceway attracts about 1,000 participants whenever the races are held, about once a month.

For the die-hard hot rodder, though, that may not be enough.

They’re unable to run as much as they’d like, Partridge said. “For a guy who made some changes to his car, who is antsy and wants to go racing, a month is a long time.”