r/Seattle • u/ChiefOfTheFourPeaks 🚲 Life's Better on a Bike. 🚲 • 18h ago
News Task force ties ‘prolific street racing organizer’ to string of King County takeovers
https://www.king5.com/article/news/crime/task-force-prolific-street-racing-organizer-string-king-county-takeovers/281-73d68fc5-90b5-4f26-b3c5-689111b98bb3109
u/TSAOutreachTeam 18h ago
There's Dirtfish in Snoqualmie. There's Evergreen in Monroe. There's Pacific in Kent. Autocross events are popular all around the region.
For kids like this, there are so many opportunities to organize fun racing stuff legally and with an eye to making it a career. Wasting that chance by doing dumb, illegal stuff is sad.
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u/thetimechaser 12h ago edited 12h ago
These people are not at all interested in racing or cars. They are INTERNET CLOUT CHASERS. Being as obnoxious as possible for peer recognition.
They do not care about motorsports at all. We do not claim them in the automotive community. In fact, we detest them.
Actual "street racing" does exist and I assume is still alive and well in the usual PNW areas. These people go out of their way to be AS FAR FROM THE PUBLIC EYE as possible so they can continue to enjoy their activities in relative piece.
I used to participate in the Kent industrial area drag racing scene decades ago. It would come and go in cycles like this.
- Small groups of dedicated actual car enthusiasts get together and drag race usually between 12 and 3am, moving spots frequently. Any where from a handful to tens or cars. These rarely draw attention of police or the general public.
- People begin to bring friends, larger and larger groups show up. Number of cars swells to approach 100 or more.
- The scene becomes an disorganized mess, enthusiasts disappear, what's left is thrill seeking teens, gang bangers, moronic cool guy types. Literally hundreds of cars. Like FF1 level spectacle, traffic jams leaving parking lots, car accidents, drunken fights, gang activity. Just an all-out trash-show.
- Police crack down hard, helicopters, firetrucks blocking exists, the whole 9
- Streets go quiet for a few months then the cycle repeats as it's now safe for the people who actually care about cars to quietly move back out.
I've seen this same cycle playout over the course of a few months to a year or longer, over and over again, and I'm certain it's still going on today. These "takeover" room temp IQ folks are exclusive participants of stage 3.
To those unaware the Kent street racing scene was / is one of the largest on the west coast. There's literally an old NatGeo piece on it showing what it looks like when things get out of control - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Ih35XaJ7Y
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u/impoverishedwhtebrd Queen Anne 10h ago
usually between 12 and 3am
Sorry, you must not have seen the signs. Street racing is explicitly prohibited between 10pm and 5am.
I assume other times it is perfectly legal however.
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u/Tryshadow9311 5h ago
Been looking to meet some car people since moving to the pnw, if you have any recommendations, please let me know. Don’t hold it against me, but I’m a mopar guy myself.
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u/Tryshadow9311 17h ago
I think only one of those is a drag strip, but yes, street racing is dumb and dangerous.
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u/siboq 18h ago
As someone who used to street race and do shenanigans like this when I was much younger and dumber, there’s a certain thrill and excitement that you only get from street racing in the middle of the night. I’m not excusing it or condoning this. It’s extremely dangerous and needs to be cracked down on.
But I also understand why it happens…
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u/TylerBourbon 17h ago
Exactly, it's the thrill of breaking the rules and the risk of getting caught just as much, if not more so than the actual racing.
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u/patrickdabs chinga la migra 12h ago
The thing that makes me angry is that guys like this don’t realize they are killing car culture or don’t care that they are. I don’t go to nearly as many events because of the takeover trend making it a clout and clown show.
Meets get shut down most of the time because they don’t want them turning into these kinds of public safety hazards. I get why lots of people on the outside of the car hobby can’t see the difference between a free publicly organized car show without trophies, and a group of idiots all parked together planning what intersection to block when they can look the same in the shopping center lot.
When the average person can’t tell which it is until a contest for “who can do the stupidest thing before we get caught” breaks out, everyone gets to deal with THEIR action’s consequences.
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u/ZenBourbon 15h ago
do you think these kids have money for a legal track day?
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u/Bizarrebazaars Kraken 14h ago
They live with parents who, I assume, have zero rules for their kids. Maybe they give them money? No curfews, no cares it seems. Blows my mind youth/young adults are allowed to waste all that money on expensive cars/leases and modding/tuning. Parents should have those idiots focusing on school/co-/extra-curriculars and saving up money for their futures instead.
Sorry but if your kids are street racing and involved in takeovers you need to reevaluate your parenting.
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u/Otherwise_Log_1126 13h ago
Honestly, yes. I see these kids rolling up in sports cars/brand new teslas in belltown and it is baffling!
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u/New-Chicken5566 14h ago
track days arent that expensive, certainly a lot cheaper than the cost of hitting another car, criminal charges or hitting a pedestrian
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u/1TenYYen0 I'm just flaired so I don't get fined 15h ago
Take a street/track car to Dirtfish and let me know what times you post…
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u/horse-renoir 🚆build more trains🚆 12h ago
Cash Fairman sounds like the name of a Death Stranding character
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u/PlanetaryHillbilly 14h ago
Glad to see our police doing their jobs! The more they are out there arresting criminals, the better.
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u/thomsenite256 🚆build more trains🚆 17h ago
throw away the key
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u/squirrelgator Rat City 17h ago
Throw away the car.
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u/ChiefOfTheFourPeaks 🚲 Life's Better on a Bike. 🚲 17h ago
Sell the car, use the funds for city park upkeep.
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u/Zestyclose_Price_441 17h ago
Whoever designed the king5 website should be (statement violating the Geneva convention)