AIKEN - Hollywood calls them the Fast and the Furious. Veteran drag racer Annette Summer calls them the fast and the foolish.
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Street racing, long a troubling trend of youngsters with too much time and too much horsepower, is getting added fuel from movies such as the recently released action flick 2 Fast 2 Furious, Mrs. Summer says. The deaths that inevitably come in the wake of such glorifications of speed give drag racing a bad name, she says.
"It's just stupid," she said.
According to a recent Associated Press report, four people have died in street racing-related accidents nationwide since the sequel to the 2001 movie The Fast and the Furious opened in early June.
The makers of the film have denied a connection and note the numerous public service announcements made in conjunction with the film warning against street racing.
But in the year the original movie came out, about 135 people died in accidents that were suspected incidents of street racing - more than twice as many as the year before.
Mrs. Summer, who with her husband co-owns Aiken's United Automotive Performance Center, says street racing exists in Aiken County - in a shadowy world where teens can converge and disperse in the blink of an eye.
"You can see them meeting and gathering" in their souped-up import cars with spoilers and ground effects, Mrs. Summer said. "There's certain places in Aiken County where you can get away with it."
Aiken County Sheriff Mike Hunt said he isn't aware of specific areas in the county where drag racing complaints are prevalent, and said he hasn't noticed an increase since the movie opened.
"We don't have any hot spots that have been brought to our attention," Sheriff Hunt said. "We continue to use education and enforcement efforts to address erratic driving or drag racing to keep our young people safe."
Since before the days of James Dean and Rebel Without a Cause, drag racing has had a presence in American popular culture. But researchers say that with more young people getting faster cars earlier, the combination of testosterone and gasoline proves a volatile mix.
Sheila Sarkar, the director of the California Institute of Transportation Safety at San Diego State University, found in a survey of teenage drivers that more than half had been in a car during reckless activities. Most said they considered 90 mph and above to be excessive speed.
"It's discomforting to learn what these young drivers think is safe driving behavior," Dr. Sarkar said. "These results strongly indicate that teenagers are receiving the wrong messages about driving and being safe on our streets and highways."
Both Dr. Sarkar and Mrs. Summer have the same solution: Let the teens drag race in a controlled environment.
The Carolina Dragway in Jackson offers just such an avenue, Mrs. Summer says. But more parents should give their blessings for kids with "tricked-out" cars with nitrous tanks and boosted horsepower to go racing.
Mrs. Summer, a two-time champion in the Pro Street Class who has been drag racing professionally for 23 years, remembers having to sneak to the drag strip for organized races as a teen.
"The parents need to make their minds up - do you want them to race it on the street or go to the drag strip?" Mrs. Summer said. "Because if they don't let them go to the drag strip, they're going to be out on the street racing, wrecking and killing themselves."
Dent Johnson has announced races at the Jackson strip for 39 years. The latest wave of speed demons drive unlikely hot rods - modified Mazdas and Subarus that can blow the doors off a Dodge Viper, he said.
"The kids are going to run their car somewhere," he said. "It might as well be at a place that's well-supervised, with deputies and EMTs."
Mrs. Summer offers a taunt to the street racers who shun organized racing:
"Maybe they don't want to go to the drag strip and get their butts kicked by a girl."
Associated Press reports were used in this article.
TEEN SURVEY
A recent university survey of 2,310 drivers ages 15 to 18 shows that 62 percent of the group had been involved in reckless auto activities such as street racing, drunken driving or other unsafe acts. Those surveyed said the threshold of unsafe speed was 90 mph.
Reach Stephen Gurr at (803) 648-1394
