Police Record 50 Crashes And Make Over 100 Arrests For Illegal Drag Racing Outside Texas 2K Event

During last week’s annual Texas 2K drag racing event in Baytown, police cited over 100 people for drag racing or reckless driving. On top of that, the department says that it arrested around 100 other individuals for crimes like DUI or deadly conduct. The event might be over but officials expect illegal street racing to continue.

The sanctioned Texas 2K event takes place each year at Houston Raceway over the course of several days, bringing together fast cars and spectators from all over the nation. Earlier this week, we told you about how police ended up agreeing to a dirt track race after arresting a street racer in the area.

That incident turns out to be one of 106 tickets for racing or reckless driving that the Houston PD issued over a five-day span. Police say that there were pursuits in some cases and about 50 crashes to go along with them. “We observed racing going on on the highways and on the surface roads of the freeway,” Sgt. Matthew Ham with the Houston Police Department said to ABC13.

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“People driving at extremely high rates of speed, doing what’s called ‘fly-bys,’ where along the service road people would be lined up, and the vehicles would go by at a high rate of speed. Also, we would see racing where cars would line up, and then they would give a signal to go, and then they would race each other. 

“It is very dangerous when you have souped-up cars, and they’re capable of going really fast, and you have vehicles that can go so fast that they’ve even got parachutes on the back,” he continued. Police seized at least 10 cars and are filing paperwork to take them from the owners permanently.

District Attorney Kim Ogg made a clear distinction between those associated with Texas 2K participants and those who broke the law: “You have the legal event, and you have the legal spectators, and then you have people who cross the line, who have the interest, but also don’t have any regard for the law or other people’s lives.”

Ogg doesn’t expect the illegal activity to stop anytime soon though. Houston Raceway is shutting down for good in April. “Houston is a car-centric town, and we have great freeways,” she said. “I don’t know that we will ever be finished.”