4 Investigates street racing

IT'S AMAZING THEY DON'T KILL MORE PEOPLE AS THEY FLY AROUND THE STREETS OF ALBUQUERQUE AT A HUN...  More »

IT'S AMAZING THEY DON'T KILL MORE PEOPLE AS THEY FLY AROUND THE STREETS OF ALBUQUERQUE AT A HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR. THEY'RE STREET RACERS -- ALWAYS TRYING TO STAY ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE COPS. BUT WE CAUGHT UP WITH THEM -- AND WE SPENT THE PAST MONTH DOCUMENTING JUST HOW DANGEROUS THEY ARE. INVESTIGATIVE JEREMY JOJOLA IS LIVE OUT ON PASEO DEL NORTE -- THE NEW HOTSPOT IN TOWN FOR STREET RACERS. IT'S MIND BOGGLING HOW FAST THESE GUYS ARE GOING ON PASEO-- WE WERE SURPRISED TO CATCH THEM BREAKING THE LAW SO OFTEN OVER THE PAST MONTH. IN FACT, IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, WE WERE RIDING AROUND WITH DEPUTY WHO CLOCKED A RACER BURNING DOWN PASEO AT MORE THAN ONE-HUNDRED MILES PER HOUR. 'engine nats''engine nats''jojola: can you smell the rubber?''mustang nats' IT SOUNDS LIKE THE DAYTONA 500 HUNDRED. 'mustang tires nats'BUT IT'S REALLY PASEO DEL NORTE ON A THURSDAY NIGHT. 'blaise: corvette, mustang, here they go.''corvette/mustang race nats' OUR CAMERAS CAUGHT TOO MANY RACES TO COUNT OVER THE PAST MONTH, ALL OF THEM BEGINNING HERE IN A PARKING LOT PACKED WITH PEOPLE. A MEETING ORGANIZED EVERY THURSDAY BY THE LOCAL WEBSITE RACINGSOUTHWEST- DOT-CO M. THE SITE CLAIMS IT DOES NOT PROMOTE STREET RACING. BUT UNDER SECTIONS LIKE 'STREET ACTION'AND 'CALL-OUTS'PEOPLE BRAG ABOUT STREET RACING..... 'internet video nats' AND EVEN POST HOME-MADE VIDEO LINKS OF THEM BREAKING THE SPEED-LIMIT ON PASEO. WE FOLLOWED DRIVERS FROM THE PARKING LOT TO THE ROAD. SOMETIMES, THEY WOULD EVEN STOP RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF PASEO. 'jojola: here we go. Honk nats.''jojola: we had to stop in the middle of the street!' ANOTHER LOCAL SITE CALLED STREETRACINGISNOT ACRIM E-DOT-COM ALSO HAS MESSAGES FROM DRIVERS BRAGGING ABOUT BURNING RUBBER ON PASEO. 'uhm...it's a thrill you know.' WE MOVED INTO THE CROWD...... 'driver: it's just a matter to see if your car is faster than the other guys.' AND FOUND SOME DRIVERS NOT AFRAID TO TALK ABOUT THEIR ILLEGAL HOBBY, AND HOW FAST THEY GO. 'probably 170, 180.''driver: we're probably putting ourselves more at risk than anybody else.''jojola: some people seeing this piece tonight will look at this and say, you know what, you drivers are putting our lives at risk by driving on our roads, that we pay with our tax dollars.''driver: we don't do it in traffic. There's a couple cars and there's probably three miles a head of you where there's no traffic at all.''often times they don't think it's that big of a deal. They think with respect to racing in the city, it's a pretty safe place for them to race. DEPUTY TED ASBURY PATROLS PASEO AND SAYS BECAUSE OF THE ROAD'S WIDE OPEN VIEWS AND FEW STREET LIGHTS, MORE RACERS ARE HITTING THE PASEO PAVEMENT. 'you see a lot more of that activity now.' JUST MINUTES AFTER WE STARTED CRUISING WITH HIM. 'so there you go, you got two racers.' TWO RACERS BLEW RIGHT BY US AND DISAPPEARED DOWN THE ROAD. 'on radio: trying to catch up to vehicles racing west bound on paseo over 100...' AFTER A 125 MILE PER HOUR CHASE, DEPUTY ASBURY GOT ONE OF THEM. THE DRIVER CLAIMED HE WAS IN A HURRY TO A GET TO A GAS STATION. 'asbury: so it was on empty...is that why your racing another car?' HE WAS CLOCKED AT 102 -- MORE THAN FORTY MILES PER HOUR OVER THE LIMIT. NO GLORY AT THIS FINISH LINE, CUFFED AND CHARGED WITH RECKLESS DRIVING. 'asbury: that's your average day on paseo.' THIS WEEK THE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT IS CRACKING DOWN ON SPEEDERS ON PASEO AND I-25.... SINCE WE STARTED AIRING PROMOS FOR THIS REPORT, WE'VE NOTICED ON RACINGSOUTHWEST. COM, SOME USERS OF THE SITE HAVE BEEN CALLING FOR A BAN ON THOSE WHO ILLEGALLY STREET RACE. LIVE IN NE ABQ, JJ EYEN4  « Less