Midnight has long been the designated witching hour for a clandestine racing circuit that pits modified cars head-to-head until day break, or the police chase them away.

The drivers are amateurs at best. They are kids in their teens and early 20s texting an inner circle from Sanford to Tampa to meet at the night’s designated race strip.

“It’s a roving street party,” says Mark Davis, veteran Orange County sheriff’s deputy. “They’ll select an area and group up anywhere from 100 to 200 to 300 cars.” Davis has been busting illegal street-racers for years. His campaign to break up the circuit is well-known in media and law-enforcement circles.

One favorite spot is under an overpass on I-4 at the Orange-Osceola county border. The screech of tires can be heard until 5:00 in the morning. The cars, a mix of Hondas and Dodge Neons, are street-legal, with modified engines under the hood.

But now those street machines are coming out of the shadows. In the last few months police have been called to accident scenes linked to what investigators call “spontaneous races.”

“The scary thing is, it’s [now] happening when people are taking their kids to school or going to work,” says Sgt. Kim Miller of the Florida Highway Patrol. She says spontaneous races are happening in broad daylight on busy streets throughout Central Florida.

In Seminole County, Red Bug Rd. is the hot spot for these sudden speed runs. “All these people think they can handle these modified vehicles,” says Miller, “but they can’t. A mistake at 80 or 100 miles an hour is a deadly one.”
Miller is a 15-year veteran trooper with the FHP. When a major accident unfolds, she is called to the scene. Just 14 days into 2009, she was called to Whisper Lakes Blvd. in Orange County. According to FHP, two Orlando drivers matched their cars—both modified speed-racers—in an im­promptu race that proved almost deadly.

Michael Amparo Lassall and Daniel Colon Medina, both 21, were street-racing eastbound on Whisper Lakes Blvd. just before 3:00 in the afternoon. They were doing nearly 70mph in a 45mph zone. Lassall was driving a 1996 Honda; Medina was behind the wheel of a 2004 Acura.

Witnesses say Lassall tried to pass Medina. He never made it. Police say Lassall hit the curb and lost control, sliding off the road and smashing into a tree in the median. Lassall was injured and (at this writing) is still hospitalized. Medina, who was not injured, was arrested and booked, charged with street racing. Lassall faces the same charges. And both vehicles will be impounded: Under state law, the vehicle of anyone caught speed-racing is impounded for ten days.

FHP troopers are concerned the problem will continue to escalate. “My biggest concern,” says Miller, “is that innocent people are being killed.” Although no one died this time, the potential was there. It always is.

“Their ‘high’ is speeding, not alcohol or drugs,” Miller. “Parents aren’t involved enough with what their kids are doing with their cars—that has to change.”

Yes, it does. S

Mike Holfeld is a reporter for WKMG Local 6 News, and a regular contributor to Seminole magazine.