During a typical weekend night at a McDonald’s parking lot in New Haven, Conn., car engines rev, spectators scream and amateur drivers tear into the street for late-night drag races.
But on Saturday, the raucous races came to an abrupt halt. Police car lights flooded the staging ground, and officers shut down the illegal sporting event as part of a sting operation.
Ten vehicles were towed, and 47 people, including a juvenile, were arrested on charges ranging from trespassing to operating an unregistered vehicle, according to the police.
“There were people screaming, yelling and fighting about their cars. It’s crazy,” said Anthony Yeaton, 36, a resident of New Haven who said he watched Saturday night’s race.
The drag-racing phenomenon in New Haven dates back at least 50 years, when a mile-long stretch of road on New Haven’s harbor, Long Wharf, would transform into an arena filled with racers in shiny cars, dozens of cheering fans and the sounds of screeching engines echoing over the Long Island Sound.
Nowadays, the McDonald’s parking lot on Foxon Boulevard has become the new staging ground for the races, which resurface in the city every summer, officials have said. There, spectators and drivers from as far as Bridgeport and New York City cheer as engines rev and smoke billows from behind car tires, before the racers burst out of the lot and take off down a quarter-mile stretch of road at speeds witnesses said can reach 100 miles per hour.
Scores of videos depicting the races have been posted to YouTube with titles like “New Haven Takeover,” and “TOOK OVER MCDONALDS!!BURNOUTS/STREET RACING COPS CAME.”
As the races have gained in popularity, so, too, have concerns about danger: The area near the McDonald’s parking lot was the site of 100 car accidents last year alone, officials said.
Business owners on Foxon Boulevard have raised a steady drum beat of concern about the increased frequency of the races along the busy roadway. After Saturday night’s arrests, the New Haven Police Department warned in a statement that “any racer or spectator entering a business lot will be arrested for the appropriate charges.”
“We’ve had this problem for some time, but it has also increased over the last few years,” said Gerald M. Antunes, the alderman who represents Quinnipiac Meadows, which includes Foxon Boulevard. “Just think of how many people can be killed being a spectator. My main concern is people getting hurt as well as the noise and the disruption it creates in the ward,” he added.
But cracking down on the illegal sport in New Haven is tricky. Because of the dangers associated with high-speed police chases, the New Haven Police Department has a policy barring officers from chasing after drag racers during a heat. Instead, the police often photograph drag-racing vehicles during the race and then try to stop drivers after the fact.
Still, many residents have called for the police to do more.
“Residents hate it. Businesses hate it. They don’t want kids going down the street at 80 miles per hour,” said Mark Cusanelli, 65, a West Haven resident who witnessed a drag race along Foxon Boulevard three weeks ago.
“There was a bunch of cars and people in the roadway. I was like, ‘Where are the police? Where are they?’”
In 2008, one traffic-calming group, Safe Streets, called for a citywide speed limit of 25 m.p.h. More than 1,600 people, including 30 public officials, signed a petition that proposed the speed limit, along with other measures to discourage reckless driving.
Residents have recently urged lawmakers to increase the number of police officers stationed near the McDonald’s and to build more speed bumps to deter dangerously fast driving. They have also complained that the racers block law-abiding residents from driving on the street at night.
“Racers stop you from driving into their lanes,” said Nate Cando, 19, who works in a hardware store next to the McDonald’s. “There is a driveway to the street, and they stop and park in front of it. You can’t move.”
Still, racers do not appear to be deterred. On Sunday night, Mr. Yeaton said the drag racers were planning to gather at a local diner and to race into the night on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard.
Serena Cho contributed reporting.
