LAST RIDE
Fast & furious end for racer on notorious Queens drag strip
A drag racer met a fast and furious end when he crashed into a traffic pole in Queens, splitting his car in two early Sunday.
The 35-year-old motorist, Jesus Montenegro-Posadam, who races under the moniker Melo, was speeding west on Review Ave. in a 1997 Honda Civic when he slammed into a traffic light pole near Van Dam St. by the LIRR tracks in Sunnyside just before 1 a.m., according to cops.
The impact split the car in two. He died at the scene.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents the neighborhood, visited the crash site. He said local civic groups have long complained about drag racing on Review Ave. and called for the installation of speed bumps and other measures to slow traffic.
“I don’t know when the last time we had something this horrific,” he added. “It’s freakin’ me out.
“There were were a group of young men who were here who were going way too fast,” he added. “This could be prevented and needs to be prevented, and there needs to be dramatic action taken. . . We’ve known this is a problem for years.”
Montenegro-Posadam didn’t have a garage of his own but found customers through social media, pals said. Police said the racer was homeless. Friends said he was married with a 7-year-old son.
Dozens of mourners gathered to construct a makeshift memorial at the scene of the crash. A sneaker lay next to a cracked cell phone amid the wreckage.
There was a smattering of applause as one man cracked open a Heineken and poured it out in honor of the dead racer.
They tagged the roadside shrine with monikers including “RIP Melo.”
“He loved working on Hondas and he died doing what he loved,” said one mourner and fellow drag racer, who declined to give his name. “Very well known. Very quiet, just all about his car. That’s what all these kids are about, it’s all about their cars.”
The victim had been trying to make his car run faster to beat a rival, and took the Honda out for a spin when he crashed, according to that onlooker, who says motorists from Brooklyn and the Bronx come to Review Ave. to race.
“I know he was out here tuning the car, the car wasn’t working right, I know he kept on getting beat by this one kid. He kept on trying to beat him,” the man said.
“When everybody starting leaving, that’s when the rain started coming down, and that’s when he was lining up to do his last pass,” the man added.
“You don’t know if he tried to get out of somebody’s way — and those cars don’t stop. They don’t stop. These cars can do well over 120, 130 mph in this short distance. It’s sad.”
Another visitor at the crash site described the deceased as “a humble, cool guy” who worked on other drivers’ cars.
Last month, an Instagram account belonging to Melo2ne posted a photo of a green Honda Civic named “F13 AKA KILL MACHINE.” The car in which Montenegro-Posadam was killed was a green Civic.
“This is some bad a-- hatch, never let me down,” Melo2ne captioned the photo. He wrote that he was considering selling the car but it would be difficult to part with.
Alex Arangel, a worker at Full Throttle parts shop in Fresh Meadows, stopped by to pay his respects. Though the 32-year-old car buff confessed the grisly accident scene made him feel “very uneasy” he said “we take our chances” when it comes to racing.
“This is not gonna stop,” he added. “These types of things might just keep happening.”
After lingering at the site of the fatal wreck, fellow race enthusiasts lined up their cars, poured water under their back tires and gunned their engines to kick up white plumes, then sped away toward Van Dam St. leaving behind a smell of burned rubber.