By Cathy Logg
Herald Writer
MONROE — Evergreen Speedway officials have proposed an option for street racers: Take your challenges to the track.
George Wade, the speedway’s track management consultant, wants to provide street racers a place they can race without running afoul of police.
"We have a drag-racing program that we run probably 12 to 14 times a year on our front stretch — one-eighth-mile drags," he said.
Those occur on Friday nights or Sunday afternoons and begin with the track’s season opener "cruising night" on April 5.
The speedway generally charges drivers a $10 pit pass for the Sunday races and a $10 entry fee. Wade said he’s not sure if the costs would rise this year because of increased insurance rates.
"It’s kind of like street drags. We try to get the high school kids involved," Wade said.
Everett police have been cracking down on street racers in industrial areas or on Highway 529. The Everett City Council tonight will consider a draft ordinance that would make attendance at an illegal race a misdemeanor.
The races typically draw large numbers of young people and numerous cars. The racers play cat and mouse with police, who try to enforce the city’s no-tolerance policy toward street racing.
"We want to get the kids off the streets and let them race safely," Wade said. "We have emergency medical technicians here, track officials, and we’re fully insured."
Particularly in the Sunday matches, street racers would have multiple opportunities to compete, Wade said.
"They probably have four or five passes to qualify, and you start your rounds of competition. As you win, you keep on going," he said. "For something like this to work, you have to do something like grudge racing. You can pick your challengers. That’s something we’d like to try and work into."
Racers could compete as many times as they liked, depending on how many cars were involved, he said. If 40 or 50 cars show up, there would be fewer opportunities for each driver.
Wade said he’d like to see police and street racers come together in a positive way, and suggested that officers might volunteer to inspect the cars and make sure they are street legal.
"Regulation racing has been a pastime of car enthusiasts for years," Everett police Sgt. Boyd Bryant said.
"Racing in a regulated setting, like the National Hot Rod Association, is highly preferred over street racing, where there’s 10,000 things that can go wrong, such as pedestrians, mechanical failures.
"While we couldn’t, as a city, endorse any private entity that got into that business, it’s obviously a preferred and a more safe place to conduct racing."
You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437
or send e-mail to logg@heraldnet.com.
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