'Stupid to street race,' SEMA executive says

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The 'need for speed' -- or at least the dreams of it -- gave birth to a multifaceted automotive aftermarket industry that today represents hundreds of billions of sales and payrolls dollars.

When a car plowed into a crowd of spectators at a popular Maryland street racing spot last week killing eight, the story made headlines across the country. Just last month, an 18-year-old at the wheel of a 500-hp BMW M5 killed himself and four friends when he lost control and the 2008 car, which was registered to his father, left the road and struck a tree. In 2006, a Northern California teen that prosecutors claimed was racing her Ford Mustang crashed into an SUV, killing a beloved Tongan prince and princess and their driver. The 18-year-old was found guilty of misdemeanor manslaughter and sentenced to two years in jail. She could be paroled this year.

"It really makes your stomach turn when you read any story about someone being killed in illegal street racing. It's completely unnecessary," said Peter MacGillivray, vice president of sales and marketing for the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA). One of SEMA's missions is to get the message across that street racing is for losers.

In fact, the trade group, now based in Diamond Bar, Calif., was born as the "Speed Equipment Manufacturing Association" but in 1968 SEMA modified its name to downplay speed and its baggage. "While street racing is something drivers have been participating in for decades, it doesn't make these deaths any easier to swallow, particularly when you look at how big this tragedy is," MacGillivray told OnWheels. "This is why we have been promoting safe and legal drag racing for as long as we've been around."

The SEMA executive said he was impressed with a Washington Post editorial that called on law enforcement to work with street racers and teach police officers how to spot vehicle modifications that enhance performance. MacGillivray warns, however, that there's a fine line between education and communication and alienating that group if people (and their vehicles) are fined or face draconian measures like car-crushing just because police may think they look like street racers.

"We want to raise awareness of how stupid it is to street race, but we also want to raise the awareness of how much fun it is to go to an organized, sanctioned track and drag race there.

"We work with media companies like yours to take the glamour away from street racing and shine the light of reality. It really shouldn't take a tragedy like this for people to get awareness. It doesn't matter whether you're the best driver in the world or a first-timer, you're playing with fire. In the best scenario, you're going to be put in jail. The worst case is somebody gets killed. It's that reality that needs to be communicated."

Testosterone-charged movies, TV shows, video games and car magazines may glorify modified cars and street racing, but, MacGillivray notes,"You don't need a performance car to street race."

He called the deaths in Maryland a chance to educate. "Alienating the street racing community isn't the way to do it. It's about education and creating opportunities for people (to legally race). At the same time, it's important that we clearly let folks know we don't want to be misrepresented as somehow condoning illegal activity."

David Dollarhide (right) wants nothing to do with street racing. "When I was going to the street races in the late '90s, we saw a lot of reckless driving and it just got out of hand. After hearing about someone who lost control of their car and it veered off and hit a cvuple of spectators, that pretty much ended the desire to go to the street races," said the 29-year-old resident of Frisco, Texas.

A big factor was that a track near his home started putting on street racing-style events. "You could just bring out your car and go racing," Dollarhide said. "They called it 'The Midnight Madness.' You could run from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. It was $5 to spectate or $10 to race all night long. Not only was it legal, it was safe."

And for performance fans, safe also meant protection from police wrath." At the street races, the cops got really bad. They started blocking everybody in and loading up buses and taking everybody to jail,"Dollarhide said.