Sunday, June 15, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Ready to Roll

Speedway's drag-strip program works to reduce street racing

Fans watch racers at Midnight Mayhem on a recent Friday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo by SAMANTHA CLEMENS / REVIEW-JOURNAL Matthew Orozco, from left, Casey Webster and Ray Carlisle talk as Carlisle displays his 1995 Integra during Midnight Mayhem at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo by SAMANTHA CLEMENS / REVIEW-JOURNAL

It's just after 9 p.m. on a warm Friday night and a conga line of cars is forming on an access road just behind the Las Vegas Motor Speedway's drag strip.

Less than an hour from now, the eager drivers who wander among the immobile Hondas, Mazdas and Toyotas -- as well as a few relics from Detroit's glory days -- will strap themselves into their cars and await the green light that'll give them permission to, at last, spend the next 10 to 20 seconds of their lives trying to shave a tenth-of-a-second off of a quarter-mile trip down the asphalt.

And all without once having to look in their rear-view mirrors for the sudden appearance of flashing lights atop a police cruiser.

Welcome to Midnight Mayhem, a series of Friday-night amateur drag races that offer valley drivers -- among them, drivers who otherwise might be racing illegally on Southern Nevada's streets -- a safe place to exhibit their skills.

This year's Midnight Mayhem schedule includes 23 Friday-night events from March through December. During each session, drivers can race street-legal vehicles -- cars, motorcycles, SUVs, pickups -- on the speedway's drag strip as many times as they're able between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

The cost is $10 for drivers and $5 for spectators, and each night's festivities also include music, car shows and other special events.

Midnight Mayhem offers a safer venue for racers than Southern Nevada's public roadways, says Las Vegas Motor Speedway spokesman John Bisci, "because they don't have to worry about intersections, oncoming traffic, animals, pedestrians and curves."

This is the second year the speedway has sponsored Midnight Mayhem, and the program has been successful from the start, Bisci notes.

This year's Midnight Mayhems have been averaging about 2,500 spectators and about 400 cars at each event, Bisci says.

Tonight, by the time the first car leaves the starting line just after 10 p.m., the staging area is packed with a diverse sampling of American motorhood. There are plenty of imports, some old-line Detroit nameplates -- a 1966 Oldsmobile -- a few motorcycles, some SUVs and several pickups.

While some of the vehicles drive much as they did when they left the showroom, most probably have been tweaked or more seriously modified in preparation for their turn on the track.

The drivers are a diverse group, too, ranging from men and women in their 20s to middle-agers who remember when street racing was done with Camaros and Dusters rather than the smaller imports street racers favor today.

"In professional, organized drag racing, you need a certain type of car to compete well in a certain type of class," Bisci explains. "Here, you can run your mom's car or your car, or you can work all week on your car to make it really hot."

But, he adds, "drag racing like this, you don't have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a race car to make it go fast."

Paul Tsimalis has just finished his first run of the night in his 1997 GMC Yukon. It's the first time Tsimalis, 22, ever raced anything anywhere.

"It was pretty cool," he says. "I just took off, and it was a thrill. I mean, the adrenaline was nothing like I've ever experienced before."

Tsimalis ran the quarter-mile in 16.5 seconds and hit about 82 mph on the run.

"That was pretty fast for my truck, I guess," he says. "I was pretty happy with it."

Dawn Minnick started racing through her boyfriend, who let her race his car occasionally. But, since November, she has been racing her own 1999 Mazda Miata at Midnight Mayhem.

What's the appeal of racing? "It's just the adrenaline rush, seeing how fast you can go," says Minnick, 20.

Compared to street racing, Midnight Mayhem is "a more safe environment," Minnick adds, in part because alcohol is prohibited.

"A lot of people out there do, like, drinking and stuff. It's just dangerous. Here, it's a lot safer. Plus, you actually have your (elapsed) times. There, it's just who says so, you know?"

Melvin Abrego, 19, says he has been racing since he was 16, and has been participating in Midnight Mayhem since the beginning.

Abrego prefers Midnight Mayhem to street events because "there is a bunch of stupid people (on the street) who don't know how to drive and just act stupid."

Abrego says he'll go to a street race occasionally "to check out who's there. But I don't stay there for long."

Pat McCart, 40, says he has been racing for about 15 years and has crashed a few times while street racing.

"This is the way to go now," he says. "It's legal. You don't have to worry about the cops, that's for sure."

Brett Sauerland, 20, has just finished his first run on his 1994 Suzuki GSXR motorcycle and is disappointed with his 13.74-second time.

"That's pretty slow for a bike," he says.

Still, Sauerland topped out at 110 mph during the run. He admits traveling that fast on a motorcycle is "very, very scary. You just get your heart pumping."

But then, that's the attraction.

Tim Manning says he took his 1998 Dodge Stratus to Midnight Mayhem just to "see what this car can do."

"Eighteen-four was the time," he says. "Pretty slow."

Manning admits that street racing offers "more of a rush" than racing on a drag strip. But, he says, "at the same time, (street racing is) a lot more dangerous."

The atmosphere at Midnight Mayhem is "different, but it's still fun," Manning says. And, he concedes, considering the fines, insurance hikes and other costs associated with street racing, Midnight Mayhem probably is cheaper in the end.

According to Sgt. Frank Weigand of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's traffic section, street racers can be cited for a variety of offenses, including participating in a speed contest, speeding, reckless operation or -- if someone gets injured or killed because of a race -- felony reckless operation.

Similarly, Weigand says, street racers are subjected to fines of several hundred dollars, as well as impound fees and inevitable auto insurance hikes.

"I definitely think it makes an impact on the street racing, because a lot of those people at the track have realized (the street is) not the safest place to do it and they take advantage of what's being offered out there," he says.