Compact racers are really a drag

Thursday, July 24, 2003 | 9:38 a.m.

Abel Ibarra has turned an obsession for speed into a nice livelihood as one of the most recognizable drivers in sport compact racing.

Although he got his start in racing on the streets of Southern California, Ibarra has some advice for those who participate in illegal street racing: Don't do it.

Ibarra, 33, said that because of the proliferation of venues offering safer alternatives to street racing -- such as the "Midnight Mayhem" program at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- there is no excuse for racers to pursue their hobby on the streets.

"When I started street racing in '83 or '84, it was a little bit different back then," said Ibarra, who will be in town this weekend for the GM Performance NHRA Sport Compact Nationals at The Strip.

"There are too many cars and no one really knowing what to do; it's just really dangerous.

"My main thing is, some of us (race) as a living now but we all do it because it's supposed to be fun. If you're out there street racing, all kinds of things can happen; you can get in trouble with the cops, you can have (accidents). Something that's supposed to be fun can turn real tragic and sad and that's why I don't recommend it -- especially with so many tracks being open now and them having facilities to show up where we didn't have those facilities back then and we were kind of forced to do it on the streets.

"The whole point of this is supposed to be fun and not something that turns tragic or can really can ruin someone's life and another person's life if someone innocent gets hurt."

Ibarra's move from the streets to the quarter-mile dragstrips, which coincided with the rise in popularity of illegal street racing, came about quite by accident. Ibarra built a "killer-fast" Mazda R-100 in 1996 with the intention of racing it on the streets. About that time, the police started making regular appearances at the "illegals" and Ibarra decided to take it to Pomona Raceway to test it.

Almost immediately, Ibarra's car was the fastest compact at the track. Once he started taking it to races around the United States, he discovered he had "the fastest runner in country." Slowly, he began to attract the attention of sponsors, who offered him just enough money to go from race to race. In 2000, his persistence paid off in dual National Import Racing Association and Import Drag Racing Circuit national championships.

Today, Ibarra races a Mazda RX-7 with sponsorship from K&N Filters and Toyo Tires and comes to Las Vegas as the most recent winner in Pro Rear-Wheel Drive in the NHRA Summit Sport Compact Drag Racing Series.

Although he is sixth in points in Pro RWD, Ibarra is only 29 points out of third place. He said he is confident he will do well in this weekend's event, which was postponed in March due to rain.

"We went and tested in Vegas in January and we did really, really well," Ibarra said. "Then we had a little bit of chassis problems and we've just been having little problems here and there ... but we figured out what was wrong so we should be fine from now on. We've won two races and been runner-up at two, so that's pretty good considering the amount of drivers and how many drivers have won; there have only been three of us to win races, between the different sanctioning bodies.

"I think we're going to do really, really well. I've got a pretty good tuneup for Vegas and I like the track."

Qualifying will resume Friday at 6 and 8 p.m. and eliminations will begin at 8 p.m. on Saturday.