Speed thrills: A drag racer in action

It's 11.30 pm and 21-year-old Prabhakar's mobile phone beeps twice. He reads the SMS he has just received and hurries out of his house.

Parked in his garage is a shiny 150cc bike but it is radically different from what the manufacturer intended it to be. It has a souped-up engine, the latest in graphic stickers and a massive silencer that came all the way from Dubai. Prabhakar guns the engine and disappears into the thin late-night traffic. He is off to a street drag.

Outskirts

This illegal and dangerous fad has been around for some time now. Drag racing which was once very popular in the city has now shifted to the outskirts with the police coming down heavily on the racers. Earlier, the Brigade Road area was used as a drag strip by wannabe racers. Most youngsters who can afford an imported bike or a modified one get into this kind of racing. This can at best be called 'street racing', which is illegal. Earlier this year, police had arrested eight youth involved in the drag racing. The roads which are straight and smooth without any speed-breakers are used for racing.

According to the police officials, Mysore Road and NICE Road are a favourite stretch, and their destination is a coffee outlet at Maddur. After the shutters are downed on pubs and bars at 11.30 pm, party-crazy youngsters head out of Bangalore to this 24-hour coffee shop on their bikes or cars.

Bellary Road stretch is also popular with youngsters who drive at full throttle. The police have taken all security measures to curb such races. "Along with night patrolling, we check for such activities. If there are complaints against such races, we will immediately take action," says Umesh Rao, traffic inspector.

Not drag

According to one-time drag racer Riyaz Khan, the noisy racing by youngsters on modified bikes cannot be called drag racing. A proper drag race is where only one person races in a specified lane, with all the safety measures.
But today, the scenario has changed. "We do it late in the night around 2 am," says Sayeed Ahmed, a drag racer.

"Spots like Nayandahalli junction, Rajarajeshwarinagar junction, R V College junction, a skywalk near Kengeri, DPS International School and Kumbalagodu are some places where the most number of accidents occur. Pedestrian safety too has been neglected," says, M N Sreehari, traffic expert.

Betting

Betting also takes place during the drag race. People bet on a particular car or bike. If that vehicle wins, the person will go home with the vehicle as a gift, and cash varying from Rs 1 to 10 lakh. Most of the times, the bikes and cars will have no valid documents.

The dragnet

A drag racer from Bangalore drove too fast,  but this time it was into jail. According to the police , Sukesh's ( a drag racer, who was caught two months ago) cell phone costs Rs 3.4 lakh and the gang's one-time night-out bill ran up to Rs 70,000. The gang purchased seven top of the line cars, including two imported ones. An expensive flat-screen TV and DVDs were recovered. The gang cruised around in a Nissan Xtrac vehicle fitted with a red light on top. The gang was into drag racing and Sukesh carried a fake letter from the police that read, "He is permitted to drive in full throttle in the city".