LA - the best place for a good street race

[dd74]

The thread on the best place for a Porsche to live spawned this thread.

For a long time now, I've wondered why Los Angeles doesn't have more street races akin to the Long Beach GP?

Reasons we should have more street races:

1) When I say L.A. is a car mecca, I mean a BIG car mecca. South of the airport, there's Honda, Toyota, Lincoln Mercury and a whole lot of other big companies with some sort of "headquarters" here; usually the design studio.

2) We have Pasadena Art Center, which is like the feeding ground of new auto design talent for the world. It's located above the Rose Bowl? Detroit and all other car companies, make recruiting trips to the Art Center so they can snatch up the new new thing in auto design talent.

3) Beverly Hills has that Ferrari festival every year: Rodeo Drive is a sea of red pasta from Wilshire Boulevard up to Santa Monica.

4) We've got so much celebrity muscle behind the wheels of so many different cars, it's a heaven of beautiful people and beautiful autos.

5) Our roads are in good shape, so are our freeways.

My only con is the bottlenecking of traffic for a weekend or as long as a week (qualifying, events, the final race, etc)

But if Long Beach can swing it, why can't somewhere else in L.A.?

For those familiar with L.A. history, there was a street race that went down Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. Yes, it was back in the 1920s, but Ocean Avenue is still there in its more-or-less same form. Also, Gilmore Field beside Farmer's Market ("The Grove," and adjacent to La Brea Tarpits - the biggest depository of Jurrasic fossils on Earth), had dirt track racing. (It was also where the Anaheim Angels originated from, I think).

We're steeped in auto history.

Road and Track magazine's headquarted out here. Motor Trend's in Miracle Mile beside the Petersen Automotive Museum - famed spot of the Bigee Smalls' assassination.

Dizzying.

I want more street racing. L.A. could make Monte Carlo look like Autotopia at Disneyland. Well, maybe not. But L.A. could put on a good show, don't you think?

Anyone have any thoughts about this?

[island911]

LA streetraces (?) . . .I thought there were daily races on every freeway.

[ZAMIRZ]

I was going to respond with a popular street racing venue, but then I realized you meant GP type events, not the illegal stuff that goes down late at night here in the valley.......

[island911]

Seriously; while argee the physical location has a whole lot going for it, I think the bureaucratic/legal environment would kill any hopes.

[dd74]

Originally posted by island911
Seriously; while argee the physical location has a whole lot going for it, I think the bureaucratic/legal environment would kill any hopes.

Dr.: I agree. More people down here believe of the car as an evil necessity than anything entertaining. But then again, NASCAR followers have come out of the woodwork in L.A. I wonder what other types of racing an average Angelino would take an interest in, particularly if it's done locally; i.e. in their backyard and on their streets. Hmmm...

As for the necessity of a car: I give two rules of thumb to anyone who is thinking of moving to L.A.:

1) Buy a car as quickly as possible.

2) Then find a place to live.

Around here, you have to drive to find shelter.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

They tried doing racing in LA, they had the Los Angeles Grand prix for like two years in downtown LA. I think it fizzled out.

[dd74]

Originally posted by Jared at Pelican Parts
They tried doing racing in LA, they had the Los Angeles Grand prix for like two years in downtown LA. I think it fizzled out.

Yeah, I remember that: more or less it was a club event. Just a gathering of enthusiasts.