Chris Vliek

UWRIT1102
11/1/15
Inquiry Proposal: First Draft
I remember the first Fast and the Furious movie pretty vividly. The high octane film from
2001 told the story of Dom, portrayed by Vin Diesel, and Brian, played by the late Paul Walker,
and their increasingly dangerous underground street racing syndicate and subsequent infiltration
into a criminal smuggling operation. Now at 7 movies deep and more on the way, these movies
now have become convoluted to the point that it would take a book the size of Game of Thrones
to explain all the insane plot points and story twists. While the story of these movies was never
the high point of the films for me, the true stars of the film to me (and to most) were and are the
cars. Doms 1970 Dodge Charger and Brians 1994 Toyota Supra Mark IV are iconic in car
culture. These movies inspired a whole new generation of gearheads. Combined with the
popularity of the BBCs Top Gear, car clubs and racing culture is widely accepted and in the
forefront of popular culture. However, this newfound focus on speed and power is not without
its critics. Street racing, while not encouraged officially by the Charlotte Motorist Club, is
becoming a problem in the Charlotte area. It is difficult dispute that the group could easily be
contributing to the illegal underground racing circuit. However, the members of the club think
otherwise.
Upon moving to Charlotte last August, I found a job working on cars. While Ive always
enjoyed car related things like the Forza Motorsport and the aforementioned Top Gear, I never
considered myself an authority on cars. However, a few of my co-workers were and are crazy

for automobiles. Since I knew no one in the state, besides my fiance I moved here with, I began
attending car meets with my co-workers. Conveniently located at the university I was attending,
the Charlotte Motorist Club was more a social club for me, rather than car club.
Combined with the luxury cars of Tega Cay, South Carolina that Id been working on,
some of the cars Id see at these meets were fascinating to me. I began see beyond the purely
aesthetic merit to vehicles of all manner, from the futuristic Tesla Model S to cars that made
Mater from the Pixar movie Cars look pristine in comparison. We are an endangered species,
you and I. We lovers of speed. We devotees of power, performance and noise.. A communal
celebration of horsepower, torque, grip, leather, technology, beauty, states noted car enthusiast
and former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson in his introduction to Forza Motorsport 4. While
the CMC meets began as way to meet people, its culture began to become a part of my own and I
finally understood Jeremeys monologue.
The Charlotte Motorist Club is an automotive enthusiast club run and founded by
University of North Carolina-Charlotte students. Started in 2012, CMC is one the largest student
run groups on campus. While some may scoff at the need for registration of members vehicles
and other hoops CMC requires members to jump through, the numbers do not lie: the group is
5,000 strong and counting. Meeting at the CRI Deck from 6pm to 9pm on Sundays during
normal school semesters, members are encouraged to bring their car, truck or bike to meets,
regardless of age, make or model. The Facebook page is full of members asking for automotive
advice, selling parts and people posting funny car memes. While the atmosphere at meets are
loose by nature, the rules are not.
Members are required to register vehicles even to attend, including listing license plate
numbers. Non-register members are turned away. Burnouts, drifting, excessive engine revving,

speeding over 15 mph or other obvious street laws are enforced harshly by the officers of the
group, as well as police officers who patrol the meets and are located nearby. Rule violations
typically are followed swiftly with banishment from the group permanently. A positive and
accepting, respectful attitude of others opinions and their vehicles is encouraged. The meets are
for fun and a gathering of mutual interest, not to judge others.
While meets are policed mostly by the members and officers of the group, its not perfect.
As with most gatherings of college age humans, alcohol and drugs are occasionally present at
meets. Despite rules against such behavior, it is not uncommon to walk through a cloud of
narcotics or see someone sneaking a Bud Light on a tailgate. Going to my first meet, my coworkers pointed out a particular group and informed me that if I ever needed weed, those were
the individuals to haggle with. Even something as simple as bringing a friend or guest who isnt
registered results in problems. However there is a more pressing issue in my opinion. While
organizing and participating in street racing is prohibited and is literally rule number one, it still
happens and has caused accidents, including the deaths of members of the CMC community,
among other innocent bystanders.
Street racing is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: racing in the public streets.
Spectators and racers typically meet up in a common area and hammer out details of who is
racing who, when, where and what, if anything, will be the reward for the victor. Once the
racing are arranged, the participants typically head out, convoy style, to a 1/8 or mile section
of road is marked off, signaling the starting and ending point of the race. Other similar activities
include speed trials, where participants try to beat a time on a certain stretch of road set by
others, and a practice known as the centipede, where drivers play a dangerous game where
they attempt to pass each other while increasing speed like a game of follow the leader.

While an official racing scenario typically features a big divide between the viewing
public and the racers, spectators of these illegal functions have no such safety precautions and
tend to get as close as their bravery allows them to get to the action. In addition to the dangers to
the spectators, the drivers are not necessarily trained or even competent drivers, unable to control
their own vehicles on streets that are not closed off to the public and their vehicles. These races
put other drivers at risk, since unknowing drivers on the road could make one wrong turn and
end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In a city like Charlotte with a population of over 800,000, there are a lot of drivers on
road susceptible to accidents. Mecklenburg County has considerably more automotive accidents
than the surrounding counties, despite increased patrolling officers looking for illegal racing
circuits. The fact that the Charlotte Motorists Club hosts its meets in the city only strengthens
the argument that the club encourages unsafe driving practices, including street racing.
With increasingly advanced technology in radar detection and communications made for
public consumption, an organized street racing community is able to conduct their races and
evade capture and punishment, much to the chagrin of law enforcement. Despite strict
punishments such as vehicle seizure, fines, loss of license and even jail time, races still occur.
One former Charlotte street racer, who had been caught and arrested, stated that despite jail time
and the loss of his vehicle, it was worth the risk. Others racers not arrested in the incident stated
that they were being unfairly targeted by law enforcement and were just chilling, nothing else.
As previously stated, the first rule on the master list of rules for the Charlotte Motorists
Club is no organizing or participating in street races. However, these types of events occur
frequently. I personally have seen multiple races that were planned and executed by members of
the CMC. Its not surprising considering the nature of the meets. CMC meets are known to

house a bit of showboating. The competitive side of automobiles is no secret. In a state that
houses the NASCAR Hall of Fame, racing seems almost like a given. I-485, a common site for
underground racing, has even been dubbed by some as the Mecklenburgring, a reference to the
iconic Nurburing racetrack in Nurburg, Germany. With these factors, it would seem like the
CMC encourages street racing almost just by existing.
Despite all logic pointing to the previous conclusion, members insist otherwise. Facebook
posts about races are immediately taken down by admins of the page. Even posts about legal
racing locations like the Carolina Motorsport Park are met with a bit of skepticism. Members
have been known to question the legality of the sites and motive behind the meetups. Like the
aforementioned Fast and the Furious films, these events can lead to sketchy situations involving
sketchy people. Still, the racing persists.
My first exposure to the racing community was from the same person who introduced me
to the club to begin with. My former co-worker Adam, who wished to have his last name not
included, has been an active member of the Charlotte Motorist club for the last 2 years. Adam,
aged 20 years old and from Rock Hill, South Carolina, has been working on vehicles since he
was 12 years old. He drives almost every night, not to simply go from point A to point B, but to
drive and says he puts around 10,000 miles a month on his car. Even after crashing his
motorcycle and breaking both legs less than a year ago while racing, he is an active participant in
the car culture of the Carolina, including street races.
While Adam has strong opinions on the car culture and the thrill of racing, the world is
trying to make vehicles safer across the board. Cars are being made less for fun and power and
more for efficiency and practicality. Vehicles are now being produced with safety precautions
like back up cameras, blind spot awareness warnings, and even in some cases, parking assists.

Manufactures like Tesla and Google are trying to make cost effective vehicles that emphasis
safety and reduce harmful emissions. These vehicles are not popular among the racing
community. Common vehicles like the Honda Civic and the Toyota Camry, two of the highest
selling vehicles, are not seen as a respectable cars to have in car enthusiast circle. Theres
nothing there. Its a people carrier. Pedestrian. A car for people who dont know anything about
cars, Adam replied when asked what he thought of a Honda Civic.
Driving a modified 2012 Volkswagen Golf with straight piped exhaust, (illegal in the
state of North Carolina)stretched tires on custom rims and a lowered suspension that stands
barely an inch off of the ground, Adam often tells me stories about the cars he sees and races him
and his other friends participate in. A great car has personality. When I see a slammed
(lowered suspension) vehicle like mine, I usually want to talk to the driver. I want to see the
mods (modifications) theyve installed. I want to hear the engine, Adam said about his car
community. While races are not during meets, Adam admits that the races are indeed
occasionally set up while at CMC meets or similar car club meets ups like the NC/SC meets,
which have a similar set of rules and procedures. He believes the meets do not encourage the
racing.
The officers and high ranking members do a good job of policing members and keeping
everything cool, but they can only do so much. When you have so many people together with a
similar hobby that is such an intense love, people are going to talk trash about your car or make
or model you like. Its usually in good humor but it gets to you and sometimes you have to put
your money where your mouth is. At the end of the day, I want the thrill. The speed and power
make it worth the risk. When we race, we make it as safe as we can, but the unpredictable nature
can make the races more exciting. Adams response to my question of why he feels the need to

race wasnt a shocking answer. You dont buy a $30,000 car and modify it for speed to cruise
around in. As Will Ferrells famous character from Talladega Nights, Ricky Bobby, might say
about the need for speed, I wanna go fast!
Outsiders of the car culture do not seem to understand the need to race, let alone have a
car that isnt practical. Born and raised in the Motor City of Detroit, Michigan, Brittany
Maffesoli, aged 23, doesnt get the culture at all. To me it seems like an exercise in vanity. I
dont see the point of spending absurd amounts of money to make your car less practical.
Driving just to drive seems ridiculous to me. Im just trying to get where I need to go, not make
a spectacle of myself, Brittany said when asked about the car club culture. As a person who
rarely drives at night, let alone for fun, Brittany did not see the appeal of the CMC.
Brittany, who drives a 2008 stock Honda Civic, is not the demographic the Charlotte
Motorists Club typically attracts. When asked about the racing community, she had fairly strong
opinions. Racing in the streets to me is a selfish act. People who are just trying to go about
their daily commute or trying to get home at night shouldnt have to worry about someone
dangerously driving on purpose. Typically the people who have modified or powerful cars seem
more entitled to drive aggressively and believe they have more of a right to be on the road that
the rest of us. Movies like Fast and the Furious encourage and fetishize unsafe driving habits
and could influence more to drive in a similar manner. When I asked her if she would want to
be in the University area around or during the time of the meets, she said that she try to avoid the
area and would feel unconformable if caught during that timeframe, knowing members would be
on the road with her.
Measures are being taking to prevent racing. Popular racing areas are being closed
during typical racing hours and restricts the traffic during those times. Law enforcement officers

are encouraging the public to report unsafe driving. Surveillance cameras are being utilized
popular racing areas in order to try to break up and/or monitor illegal racing circuits. Sting
operations in some situations are used to infiltrate these types of groups as well. Concrete
barricades and others obstructive objects may be erected to deter would-be racers. Even within
CMC, legal races on legal tracks, sponsored or member created, are advertised on the CMC
website and Facebook page to encourage members to get their racing fix in a safe and legal
manner.
Upon reflection, the Charlotte Motorist Club is a bit of a contradiction. Heavily governed
by members, it encourages safe and courteous driving. However, gathering together such a large
group of drivers together could also encourage the members to flex their figurative muscles.
How can anyone be surprised that large groups of cars would lead to illegal street races? Despite
many rules and regulations, the races still occur. Even though the group may have a few bad
eggs leading them down a destructive and dangerous path, the group is taking steps to improve
their reputation and continue to provide a safe environment to show off their prized vehicles.
Hopefully in tandem with law enforcement, they can work to reduce the number of street racing
accidents here in Charlotte.