'Now, it's danger city'
Drag racing once meant muscle cars and empty roads. Not any more. As SHARON CRAWFORD reports, it's a 24/7 nightmare -- especially for parents. Originally published Globe and Mail, June 3, 2006.

John Newell started drag racing by a fluke. He was 17 and wanted to buy a Ford convertible. The seller suggested a short drag race to demonstrate the car's capabilities.

"I was hooked as soon as I popped the clutch," he says. "There is no one alive who ever drove in a winning street race who didn't get a life-defining rush from it. There may be nothing legal that the average human being can do for the dollar spent that can provide the level of gut-wrenching, mind-blowing raging rip that a street race in a muscle car or a modern tuner [contemporary car] can provide."

That was 39 years ago.