Drag Racing Orange County

High-speed street racing over the weekend killed four young men, authorities said Sunday, one after a competition on the Riverside Freeway and three others after a chase through the streets of Santa Ana ended in a collision. The dead ranged in age from 17 to 29. In the first incident, three people were killed late Saturday night when they decided to race some friends in a second car to a party, and the vehicles took off south on Grand Avenue, Santa Ana police said.

High-speed street racing over the weekend killed four young men, authorities said Sunday, one after a competition on the Riverside Freeway and three others after a chase through the streets of Santa Ana ended in a collision. The dead ranged in age from 17 to 29. In the first incident, three people were killed late Saturday night when they decided to race some friends in a second car to a party, and the vehicles took off south on Grand Avenue, Santa Ana police said.

Four men were killed in two weekend car crashes that apparently involved illegal racing, authorities said Sunday. The dead ranged in age from 17 to 29. A race early Sunday morning between a Chevy Camaro and a Ford Mustang ended in death for Vahey Shahinian, 17, of Downey, the California Highway Patrol said. According to witnesses, the cars were weaving in and out of traffic at speeds nearing 100 m.p.h. on the eastbound Riverside Freeway.

Four men were killed in two weekend car crashes that apparently involved illegal racing, authorities said Sunday. The dead ranged in age from 17 to 29. A race early Sunday morning between a Chevy Camaro and a Ford Mustang ended in death for Vahey Shahinian, 17, of Downey, the California Highway Patrol said. According to witnesses, the cars were weaving in and out of traffic at speeds nearing 100 m.p.h. on the eastbound Riverside Freeway.

Two men died late Monday when a drag racer struck their minivan, bringing to five the number of deaths blamed on drag racing in Orange County in recent months. The men were turning left on a Dana Point street when one of two Mustangs in a race smashed into them. The van was pushed 120 feet then burst into flames so intense that rescuers were driven back. Since August, two other people in Orange County have been struck and killed by drag racers.

Two motorists died late Monday in the fiery crash of their minivan, bringing to five the number of deaths blamed on drag-racing in Orange County over the last four months. Four of the deaths involved motorists who were not racing but were struck by vehicles that were competing. The fifth fatality was a 16-year-old Dana Hills High School student who in September slammed his new sports car into a tree.

While the family of a 74-year-old woman killed by a drag racer on a busy Santa Ana boulevard mourned Friday, neighbors of the crash site say they are routinely troubled by motorists who use local streets to race. The fatality on South Bristol Street was believed to be at least the 12th from drag racing on Orange County streets and highways since August 2001.

For 46 years, Greg Garrett's wont--call it an attitude if you like--has been to search for competitive worlds to conquer. Reaching the summit of whatever the endeavor, Garrett, a 6-foot, 250-pound bearded mountain of a man, barely has taken the time to pound his 60-inch chest before looking for the next peak to ascend.