Photos: Modified cars and illegal street racing

Illegal street racing in Compton. From “Rebel Without a Cause” to the “The Fast and the Furious” films, the activity is woven into Southern California's DNA — in movies and in real life.

Illegal street racing in Compton. From “Rebel Without a Cause” to the “The Fast and the Furious” films, the activity is woven into Southern California’s DNA — in movies and in real life.

(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

May 10, 2015 4:59 PM PT

Officers in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Aggressive Driving Detail are trying to put the brakes on illegal street racing, one vehicle code violation at a time.

Modified cars

Spectators gather for an illegal race on Ana Street in Compton. Street racing is a subculture that approaches the tribal: insular, with its own coded language, distrustful of outsiders.

(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Modified cars

Officer Will Durr, left, and Sgt. Greg Fuqua, members of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Aggressive Driving Detail, inspect the illegal modifications a motorist had made to his vehicle in Granada Hills. The driver was ticketed.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Modified cars

Youths begin to pull out of the Royal Plaza shopping center in Northridge before police can cite them for possible vehicle code violations. “We’re getting pretty famous out here, the Aggressive Driving Detail,” said Officer Will Durr.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Modified cars

Valley Traffic Division officers, part of the LAPD’s Aggressive Driving Detail, prepare to cite motorists in Reseda for driving modified cars that do not adhere to the state vehicle code.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Modified cars

Brandon Leon, 19, right, hangs out with his friends Armando Castillo, 18, in hat, and Jorge Jasso, 19, next to Leon’s 2010 Toyota Carolla Sport at the Royal Plaza shopping center in Northridge. They say are part of the car culture known as “stance,” in which youths admire one another’s cars instead of racing them illegally.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Modified cars

A young man attaches a license plate in hopes that he won’t be cited by police for having a car that doesn’t adhere to California’s vehicle code. Authorities do not keep track of deaths and accidents related to street racing.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Modified cars

Sgt. Greg Fuqua, part of the LAPD’s Aggressive Driving Detail, keeps an eye out for young motorists whose modified cars are out of compliance. “They know we’re out here,” Fuqua said. “We tell them, ‘Let us inspect your car or you’ll go to jail and we’ll still inspect your car.’ ”

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)