Illegal street racing a growing problem

Jen Lawson

Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.

They meet late at night along desert roads, revving the souped-up engines of their Hondas and Acuras.

Street racers, who are typically male and between 18 and 25, spend trunkloads of money and time customizing their cars for this underground sport that requires beating the law as well as their opponents.

Illegal street racing is a growing problem in Las Vegas and other cities, and experts say it is driving up car insurance rates as well as the number of car thefts and "chop shops."

"If they want a new paint job, they'll key their car. If they want custom upholstery, they'll slash their seats" for an insurance claim, said Mike Bender, a street racing expert with the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Some cars have custom accessories and alterations valued at $5,000 to $50,000, and the average annual income of a street racer is $7,000, he said.

"It's easy to do the math," Bender said. "The only way they can afford this is through insurance fraud and theft."

Drivers' appetites for faster and flashier cars have skewed car theft statistics, Bender said. Racers commonly file false car theft reports in order to get a check from insurance companies.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau estimates that insurance fraud costs Americans more than $30 billion a year.

Nationally, street racing has increased 60 percent since 1997, and it got more popular last year after the release of the movie "The Fast and the Furious," Bender said.

At the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where street racers have been allowed since March to tear up the tracks late at night several times a month, the number of racers grew from 400 to 450 in six months, and the number of spectators went from 2,000 to 2,500, LVMS spokesman John Bisci said.

"We try to keep it as close to illegal street racing as possible," Bisci said of the event, called "Midnight Mayhem." "They just want to come in and see how fast their cars can go."

Despite a legal outlet, "real" illegal racing still appeals to some drivers.

In the southwest section of Las Vegas, street racing has become so problematic that Metro Police conducted an enforcement blitz Oct. 19 and wrote 189 citations for street racing-related violations, Sgt. Keith Bowers said.

Bowers is also trying to get an ordinance passed in the county that would make it illegal to watch street racing. The proposal was submitted two weeks ago and is working its way up the chain of command, he said.

Modeled after San Diego's "spectator ordinance," the law would ban anyone from knowingly attending a street race or being present during preparations.

Hundreds of spectators can turn out at racing sites, helping to fuel the illegal activity.

"Without spectators, there's no sport," Bowers said.

During Metro's enforcement blitz last month, which was at Valley View Boulevard and Sunset Road, more than 700 people had turned out to watch the racing.

One person has been killed during street racing in Las Vegas, Bowers said. Fourteen people have been killed in San Diego.

Street racers' demand for sleeker, shinier more powerful cars has helped make chop shops more common in Las Vegas, said Sgt. Susan Shingleton, who heads up a Metro-run auto theft task force known as VIPER, Vehicle Investigations Project for Enforcement and Recovery.

People who run chop shops steal specific vehicles -- Hondas, Dodge trucks and sport utility vehicles are often targets -- then strip the parts off and resell them.

"There's big money to be made in cars," Shingleton said. For example, a $20,000 truck could be worth as much as $40,000 when its chopped down to its component parts.

Last year an auto parts store worker was indicted last for selling stolen car parts to street racers, she said.

The task force raided 10 chop shops last year. Just this month, the task force raided a chop shop on Highland Drive.

Last week Henderson Police discovered and shut down a chop shop on West Sunset Road. They arrested a 38-year-old man on felony charges relating to the operation.

VIPER, which consists of Shingleton, four Metro detectives and a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper, is Nevada's only car theft task force. It's funded by Metro and small grants from the NICB.

California, on the other hand, has 22 car theft task forces, Ray Unsell, a Las Vegas-based special agent with the NICB, said. Stricter laws in that state has driven car thieves to Nevada.

"California has been cracking down so hard, but there's still an appetite for vehicles," Unsell said. "Thieves are coming here and stealing vehicles, then bringing them back to California."

Unsell said he would like to see Nevada impose an extra $1 fee on license plates, as California did, to cover the cost of task forces.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks made homeland security more of a priority, reducing manpower and funding for property crimes, Shingleton said.

"If you get stabbed, you're going to have everyone out trying to solve the crime," Unsell said. "The mentality about property crime is people think it's an insurance company problem."

Other states -- California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey and Georgia -- also have task forces targeting street racing, Bender said.

Insurance companies are also getting savvier when it comes to street racing. The NICB working on educating insurers on how to tell if someone is pulling a scam for insurance money. For example, if the entire car is keyed, or if the seats are slashed to ribbons, there is a good chance the vandalism was intentional.

Getting the spectator ordinance passed will most likely make a dent in street racing in Las Vegas, Bowers said. The offense would be a misdemeanor, with a penalty of a fine of up to $500.