By Jenna Johnson and Ruben Castaneda
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, February 17, 2008
There's no regular schedule for the street races. But whenever a driver calls one, news spreads quickly through the tightknit racing community, centered in Charles and southern Prince George's counties.
On an isolated highway on the chosen night, fans gather, sometimes hundreds of them. The two drivers exchange "smack talk" and decide what defines a win, said a source who works with many participants but doesn't want his name connected to the illegal pastime.
The street races provide a thrill, bragging rights, and occasionally the chance to win thousands of dollars, according to those familiar with the pastime. They also frighten neighbors -- but police say they find it difficult to stamp out competitions with shifting locations known only to a secretive group of people.
After the deaths of eight people during a race yesterday morning on Indian Head Highway in Prince George's County, residents of the area said they have complained repeatedly to police about the threat to safety.
"This is one of the biggest pastimes out here -- race cars," said Donnell Myers, 57, who lives in a ranch house near the highway and occasionally watches the races. "What happened last night is what everyone was afraid could happen, but at a much larger scale."
The Indian Head Highway Area Action Council recently discussed reckless driving on Indian Head Highway, also known as Route 210, with Prince George's Police Chief Melvin High, member Stanley Fetter said. Several Accokeek residents say they are regularly woken by revving engines and racing cars, but by the time police can respond to complaints, the races are over and the crowds have dispersed.
"The police will come by on occasion on a nice day, but it just doesn't stick," Fetter said. "We need a far more intensive presence than we're ever going to see with the ways things have been going on."
The Indian Head Highway racing strip is popular because it is flat and lacks traffic lights, said John Filer, emergency medical services chief in Charles County. The four-lane highway is divided by a grassy median and lined with trees and telephone poles.
"This is a frequent occurrence," Filer said. "It's known for being a drag-racing spot. It's so straight and high, and you can really get going for a while."
Frank Dunn, the owner of Country Carpet just off Indian Head Highway by the crash site, said that in the past week to 10 days, he has been hearing reports from customers that his store's parking lot was filling with cars in the middle of the night. One customer told him it was being used for cars to be unloaded from trailers in preparation for races.
A Prince George's law enforcement source, who asked not to be named because the investigation is ongoing, said police are aware of a circuit of street racing aficionados. But he said stopping the races is not simple because the races move around, and those involved keep the information within a tight circle.
"It's a continual cat-and-mouse game," the source said. "It takes a lot of additional resources to go after them."
For example, the source said, state police helicopters might be called to shine a spotlight on a racing site, which requires coordination between state and local police. The races move not just within Prince George's, but in other counties in Maryland and in Virginia. In Prince George's, the source said, there have been races on routes 197, 450 and 301.
Even if racers are caught in the act, the source said, the most serious charge often would be reckless driving.
Prince George's police Cpl. Clinton Copeland said police are working to improve enforcement.
"We are putting things in place to address the issue," Copeland said. "It's a problem we have dealt with, and we are dealing with."
Maj. Joe Montminy of the Charles County Sheriff's Office said law enforcement officers have had problems with street racing for years. "It's pretty popular. Some of these racing clubs and street racers, we've had trouble with them and had to run them off."
He said racing clubs monitor for police cars to protect their racers. "It's pretty sophisticated," Montminy said. "They have lookouts, and they know we're coming for miles."
But street racing is not as bad as it was decades ago because many racers are opting for legal drag racing tracks, such as one in Budds Creek, instead of the street, said St. Mary's County Sheriff Timothy Cameron.
"We're not getting the complaints we used to . . . and I think a lot of that is thanks to Budds Creek," he said. "There's too many people and too much traffic on these roads now, and some people just want something safe and monitored."
Staff writers Christy Goodman, Rosalind S. Helderman, Philip Rucker, Katherine Shaver and Steve Vogel contributed to this report.
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