Irwindale Dragstrip and Irwindale PD
Co-Host “TOP COP” Night at Drag Races
Irwindale, Calif. – – There were “cops” all over the place at the Irwindale Dragstrip on Saturday night August 22, and most of them were Chiefs of Police from jurisdictions that ranged from Bell to Beverly Hills and from San Gabriel to Santa Monica.
… No, it was not a “combined forces” operation.
But wait … maybe it was … because every Chief there on Saturday was at Irwindale for the same basic reason: to join together in support of NHRA Street Legal Drag Racing at safe, sanctioned, local drag strips like the fifteen year-old eighth-mile facility at Irwindale.
All of those Chiefs and every person on Irwindale’s staff knows all too well of the deadly toll that illegal street racing exacts each year. All of them are acutely aware of the problem and each understands that a strong answer lies in tough enforcement coupled with safe, controlled places to have fun, be it basketball courts, baseball diamonds, skate parks, or drag strips.
“We had a good turnout of TOP COPs,” said operations VP, Bob Klein. “They all found out how much fun and how exciting drag racing can be under safe conditions. They got to see the wide range of participants that we host every Thursday night here at Irwindale, and they found out that ‘safe’ does not mean not having fun, or that it’s not exciting.”
Irwindale’s own TOP COP, Anthony Miranda worked with track officials to invite a number of Police Chief’s out to test their prowess against Irwindale’s NHRA (accurate to three places) timing clocks.
“Because there were so many different types of cars all running together, we presented first, second, and third place trophies based on each TOP COP’s reaction time. (That’s the time that it takes the competitor to react and stand on the gas when the green light pops on.) “It was the only thing that was a common performance mark,” Klein explained, “actually it’s one of the most critical components of a good run on a track that only takes 8 or 9 seconds start to finish,” he explained.
Each Chief took their car through the standard NHRA safety tech inspection line. They saw how critical safety components of each car (brakes, steering, tires, wheels, throttle return springs, and more) are all checked prior to going out to make runs on the quick Irwindale Dragstrip.
The Chiefs and their guests also enjoyed an authentic “trackside dinner” of hot dogs, burgers, chips, and soft drinks provided by Irwindale Concessions, and first time “drag racers” were able to get advice from a number of the track’s regular competitors.
A big part of the exercise was giving the Chiefs an actual onsite view of how little space an NHRA Street Legal Dragstrip actually takes in terms of acreage and how needed such facilities are in the southland.
… Irwindale being the only NHRA dragstrip in all of LA County that operates on a regular weekly basis every Thursday night*, year around.
Needless to say everyone had a great time, challenges flew, fans and racers hung out with TOP COPs from all over the county, and the notion that safe racing at an organized strip was somehow not “fun” was, in racing parlance: “blown into the weeds”.
The track fully expects a some of the TOP COPs who did not make it out to this event to be coming by on Thursday nights to take a shot at the track’s lights (and maybe at each other …) Hmmm … “The Chief’s Challenge”, sounds like a cool fund-raiser and track management would be quite amenable to it). “We also expect the Chief’s who were with us on Saturday to be back having fun at our regular Thursday Night Test’N’Tune sessions as well,” said Klein. ” … And, hey, they all be very welcome!”
www.irwindaleeventcenter.com