City of Tucson considering a street racing ordinance

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - Speedway and Houghton is just one of 15 locations around the city that are known for illegal street racing.

According to Tucson Police Department records, they have received more than 1,500 calls about racing vehicles over a four year period. Now residents in these neighborhoods are glad to hear the city is looking for ways to put an end to this problem.

Under a proposed ordinance, any person participating in any kind of racing on a street or highway could have their vehicle impounded and be cited for a class one misdemeanor.

Tucson city council and Mayor will be discussing the proposed street racing ordinance during Wednesday's city council study session.

Those proposing this ordinance say a citation or cite/release arrest has not proven to be effective in stopping illegal street racing. Right now, those arrested for street racing are able to keep their vehicles, unless they have a suspended license.

"I think it's a great idea. Just to get them off the street and give them something to think about you know," said Frank Santiago, who lives near Golf Links and Wilmot, one of the areas listed on the map.

According to Santiago there are dozens of racers that gather in the area on a weekly basis. "They have these high horsepower cars and they have no concern about anybody else out there on the road."

Tucson city code already has an automatic impound in place for off road violations within 1/4 mile of a structure.

Known racing locations include:

Kolb and Science Park
Littletown/Centennial
Old Vail, Valencia to Houghton
Houghton/Valencia
Los Reales/Swan
Hughes Access/Aerospace Pkwy
Sonoita Hwy/Sahuarita
Snyder Hill/Continental
Speedway/Tanque Verde Ranch
Speedway/Houghton
Aviation/Richey
Prince/I-10
Pistol Hill Rd
Golf Links/Wilmot

The goal of this ordinance is to have racers rethink their risky behavior, and to move to a location where they can safely race.

Tucson dragway has been offering that safe place since 2016, and they are hoping to help be a part of the solution.

"They're just looking to have fun. And last year we put together the street rally out here at the Tucson Dragway and it was awesome," said Jim Hughes, owner of Tucson Dragway. "We had over 1800 people come out to watch the event. We had over 300 cars that came out. We're trying to get street racing off the streets."

The dragway is opening up their track to racers during two events next month.

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