No sign of pumping brakes
Street racing revs up in Orange County as leaders push to strengthen laws, offer alternatives
Michael Mieszkowski was jogging along West Colonial Drive when a parade of more than 50 high-performance motorcycles rolled like thunder down the street Thursday night.
The cyclists raced each other and popped wheelies down the major road just after 8 p.m., according to Mieszkowski.
“I could hear them for a few blocks before they actually passed me,” said Mieszkowski, 28, of Orlando. “At one point a group of 10 or so came zooming by, way past the speed limit… It’s only a matter of time before one of these people causes an accident.”
The bikers are part of Central Florida’s illegal street racing scene, which local authorities say is a growing concern. The Orange County Sheriff ’s Office said its deputies made 152 arrests in 2016
associated with illegal street racing. That number jumped to 226 in 2017.
To help pump the brakes on the trend, the agency created an anti-street racing detail in March. By the end of 2018, OCSO had issued 988 citations and made 199 arrests related to illegal street racing. Of those, 149 arrests were made by the detail.
The Sheriff’s Office says further action is required, which is why the agency approached state Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, about rewriting the laws regarding street racing.
“There was a time where it was tapering off, but we’ve seen a huge increase over the years,” said Stewart, who has been seeking a solution to the problem for more than a decade.
In November, Stewart filed Senate Bill 116, which would increase the penalty for illegal motor racing from a misdemeanor to a felony after two warnings. The bill has been referred to several senate committees for review, and would take effect in October if it passes.
State Rep. Amy Mercado, D-Orlando, filed an identical bill in the House last month.
“Hitting their wallets is effective, but I don’t think it will get them all off the streets,” Stewart said. “And while deputies are busy conduct sting operations, they’re not patrolling our neighborhoods. There is a better solution. They need somewhere to go.”
Stewart helped open the Central Florida Racing Complex in southeast Orange County to offer an alternative to racing on the streets. But it was closed in 2013 after the county received noise complaints.
Giving kids a safe, legal place to race was very effective, according to Master Deputy Robert Ramos, who told the Orlando Sentinel in 2010 that OCSO had seen a 55 to 60 percent drop in street racing after the Central Florida Racing Complex opened.
“Now, tracks all over the state are shutting down, that’s the biggest problem,” Ramos said. “These kids are on the streets because there’s nowhere nearby to go.”
The closest track to Orlando is the Orlando Speed World Dragway, located in Bithlo just east of the State Road 520 entrance. The next-closest dragways are in Gainesville and Jacksonville.
A sound similar to a thousand hornets buzzed as vehicles, two at a time, lined up and burned out on the quarter-mile drag strip Wednesday at Orlando Speed World. The smell of burned rubber wafted through the air as about 40 racers chatted during the dragway’s “WhoopAzz Wednesday” event, which is open to the public.
On Friday nights, the attendance is even higher.
“You’re never going to get rid of the problem completely; it’s been around forever,” Ramos said. “But you can give them somewhere to go. You can educate them.” He has embraced a nationwide program known as “Beat the Heat Inc,” which encourages wouldbe street racers to challenge law enforcement in drag races on sanctioned tracks.
When Ramos was a teenager, he used to race friends on the street for fun. But he ditched the hobby after seeing too many crashes.
“A lot of kids just watch ‘The Fast and the Furious’ and don’t understand that it’s not the same thing,” he said. “You’re going fast after improving your speed, but now you need to upgrade your brakes, and that stock seat belt isn’t designed to save you at a higher speed.”
With permission from the sheriff, Ramos painted his 1979 Mercury Capri RS with OCSO’s colors and logo. He uses the car for Beat the Heat races he organizes at Orlando Speed World.
“After they realize this isn’t a trap, they’d actually come out,” Ramos said. “If they win — which I usually let them; they’re not going to come back if they don’t win — I’d give them a shirt.”
The shirt says, “I beat the Heat.” Ramos also gives racers advice on how to improve their technique or the car’s performance.
He tries to hold events twice a month but has been unable to do so recently because the trailer that carries his Mercury is in need of repair. Ramos relies on donations to keep his mission from stalling.
“Even if just 10 kids show up, those are 10 kids that aren’t on the street,” Ramos said. “We all win.”