Street racing seems to have pretty much disappeared.

While I'm sure it still happens once in a while I have seen little evidence of it. What little of it that remains is most likely gone  underground and takes place in out of the way places at odd times so as to keep it under the radar.

Then again I am an old man and the boys don't really keep me in the loop these days like they used to. I am only going with what I see and hear from a few of the younger people I know.

I posted the picture I took of the 'High score 87' sign under the blinking spped limit sign on Nextdoor and while most people found it entertaining, the usual people who are wrapped too tight got all worked up. I had figured that was going to be a likely scenario to begin with.

Years ago, and I was occasionally a part of this although I wasn't a drag racer. Straight lines are for fast cars. Curves are for fast drivers. 

I would occasionally run my MGB through the twisties going like the hammers of hell. While I occasionally still run a Miata through the twisties I don't go very fast anymore. I simply enjoy driving on a winding road as an old man. It used to be exciting going like hell. Now that I've slowed down it's relaxing.

For the most part these days the young people tend to take their driving seriously, especially young men. The attitude seems to have changed because I don't see as many of them champing at the bit to get licensed. They put it off in many instances. Right now I am watching a college sophomore starting to get licensed. Once they do get licensed very few go running down to Thunder Alley.

I know a young man that got licensed only after his parents got on his case because they needed him to pitch in and be able to run errands. He's licensed and drives like a little old lady as reportedly does my grand niece who has been recently licensed.

The days of dragging the gut on the main and meeting the challengers on Thunder Alley are long over other than a small subculture that seems to stay reasonably well under the radar.

I did get to check out some flashlight races a few years back at an airport landing strip. It wasn't on the street and really posed no real risk to anyone. I'm sure the police will leave that one alone because they have better things to do. Actually it was a somewhat older crowd which was mildly surprising. It was basically family type cars and a couple of Old School hot rods.

Actually about 50 plus years ago during the street racing heyday the Navy got into the act. In what was a stroke of public relations and recruiting genius they opened a little used landing strip up once or twice a month to the drag racing set. They even supplied medics and the airplane crash crews on standby.

At that time the State Police were throwing their weight around and decided to raid the operation. They tried with a remarkable lack of success. The base commanding officer (who had been watching the races whils sitting on a pickup's tailgate)  politely told them to leave and the Trooper in charge got high and mighty with him. 

The base CO, who had been tipped off, gave the high sign and the entire detail of Troopers was disarmed and herded into the brig at bayonet point by an armed platoon of Marines that 'just happened' to be standing around doing nothing.

Actually the drag racing was a small part ot it. It was more of a minor turf war. It ended when they found out that it was a United States Naval installation guarded by the United States Marine Corps and that the only authority State Police had on base was determined by the Navy and that was THAT.

I remember talking about it with one of my small town local cops and he grinned broadly and said, "Good for the Navy! The State Police have no business going in there to begin with."

The races continued for a few more months until finally the governor pulled a few strings and got a couple of congress critters to step in and stop it. Of course it didn't take long for things to go back to what they were which meant Thunder Alley was back in full swing again. Like it often does, government undid something that actually worked and recreated their own problem again.

From my observations the bulk of the speeders out there today are adults in some sort of a hurry because they were didn't leave early enough for whatever reason. Generally a lame one.

The last time I got stopped was on the turnpike a couple of years ago at 0300 and I knew instantly that the Trooper was fishing for drunks and drugs. I don't hold his fishing expedition against him. He was just doing his job. He relaxed instantly when he saw my face.

When he asked me what the hurry was, I explained to him that my sister had called me and told me that my mother had just won $800 in a wet T-shirt contest and my sister wanted me to get the money before Mom spent it on cocaine because the last time she got coked up she flipped her Harley and spent 3 months in the hospital.

He accepted my excuse and sent me on my way.

Still, from what I see with exceptions, of course, young men don't go tearing around like they used to and for the most part create little danger like they used to. For the most part they're far more responsible than we were.

What scare the hell out of me far more these days are teenage girls texting and middle aged Karens trying to take a picture of something that offends them to post it on line somewhere as absolute proof the alleged offender was driving three times the speed limit.

Actually I have never seen one of those pictures that shows any indication of speed whatsoever because the camera has a fast shutter speed. Every single one of them does look like a wrongdoing has been committed. It looks like the driver has illegally parked in the middle of the road.

Drunk driving is the big sin these days and I don't disagree that it's wrong. Still, if you look at things carefully, a distracted driver is far more of a danger than a mildly drunk driver is because of two things. The drunk generally knows he's had too much and adjusts his driving accordingly so as not to get caught. The distracted driver generally doesn't have a clue as to what they are doing behind the wheel because they are too busy texting or taking someone's picture.

For the record, I took that picture after I had pulled over well into the ditch  safely, turned on my flashers and had gotten out of the vehicle.

Still, no law enforcement is willing to stick their head up and admit that distracted driveing is often worse than drunk driving but any number of policemen will privately admit that distracted driving is as bad if not worse than someone mildly drunk behind the wheel.

Incidentally I just asked a Trooper I know and he told me that the signs of a distracted driver and a drunk driver are similar. Think about that the next time you consider texting Sally-Ann to tell her about what color dress Julie wore to the party or taking a picture of the person that passed you a few miles and hour over the limit to post on line.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY