HIGH STAKES : DRAG RACING A DEADLY GAMBLE.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

Mike McNulty's knees were still trembling from the adrenaline rush. He had just won a 100-mph race on a quarter-mile stretch of De Soto Avenue - and the thrill of victory was intoxicating.

``It's kind of scary, but it's kind of good when you know you're winning,'' said McNulty, an 18-year-old North Hollywood grocery store clerk who drives a 1989 Mustang GT.

Every week across the San Fernando Valley, McNulty and other amateur racers gather with their souped-up cars at fast-food parking lots and car washes, where they wager hundreds of dollars and even their car pink slips on speed.

The stakes are high - as high as life and death itself.

But McNulty and other street racers insist such risks are easily overshadowed by the thrills and bragging rights bestowed upon the Valley's fastest set of wheels.

``It's very dangerous, and it's very illegal,'' said Marty Eden, a 34-year-old auto mechanic who has been street racing since 1988. ``It's a death-defying risk. It's like being a stunt man - Evel Knievel. Everyone feels like they're taking a risk.''

Eden and others race on industrial stretches of the Valley, including De Soto Avenue and San Fernando Road, all picked because they say they usually are deserted come race time.

Speed kills

Police get tired saying it: Speeding is dangerous - whether it's drag racing on such quarter-mile stretches or `freeway flying,' the term given high-speed freeway races.

Not only does it endanger the racers, but it can claim the lives of people not involved in the spectacle.

Most recently, three Sylmar High School graduates were killed March 4 during a freeway race. They died when their car plunged off the edge of the Foothill Freeway during a race where speeds reached 100 mph.

``It doesn't take a lot to lose control of a car. Speed definitely kills,'' said Bill Tatum, a senior lead officer in the LAPD's Foothill Division.

The Los Angeles Police Department doesn't keep statistics on the number of street-racing-related fatalities, but officers say such deaths are all too common.

In April 1995, two cars racing on the San Diego Freeway caused a fatal crash in North Hills that killed four, including an 18-month-old girl.

A 20-year-old Granada Hills man was killed during a race down Balboa Boulevard in November 1995 when the car he was driving spun out of control. And two people were killed in August 1995 when a drag-racing Porsche went out of control and collided with a pickup in Woodland Hills.

``You have kids and cars and a desire to show them off and see who is faster than the other,'' said Foothill Division Lt. Joe Hiltner. ``Unfortunately, it leaves people dead like on the 210 (Freeway).''

Crackdown

Police say they plan to renew their seasonal crackdown on the illegal street races as summer nears and crowds thicken. But they acknowledge that street racing always has been part of the Valley's car culture. The basin's long straightaways make for convenient drag strips and, as such, attract racers from all over Southern California.

``It's been going on probably since the street was paved and cars could drive over it,'' Hiltner said.

Eliminating street racing is tough for police, who say they cannot field enough officers to keep up with the changing venues for these driving duels.

It can cost $5,000 in overtime to place enough officers on the streets for just one night.

``We often don't have the money or the resources to get a detail together,'' Tatum said.

When police do catch the speed demons, they impound their vehicles and dispense speeding tickets, vehicle code violations and curfew citations.

``We just try to find whatever we can,'' Tatum said.

At the races 

Across the street from Kevin's Burgers on De Soto Avenue one recent Friday evening, a crowd was gathered around a metallic blue 1972 Chevrolet Nova sporting a roll cage and slicks - smooth-tread racing tires.

``It's the fastest,'' bragged Matt Sendejas, a 29-year-old auto mechanic from Westchester, who said he recently zipped down the quarter-mile in 11.62 seconds.

But he might have to wait for another day to race. He test drove the car earlier in the day and it wasn't up to its usual speed.

``She's sick, but I don't want anyone else to know that,'' said Sendejas who spent the evening showing off his car to his buddies.

Robby Traboulsi, a 24-year-old Northridge resident who has spent $7,000 on modifications to his 1989 Mustang GT, said he has earned about $2,000 from drag racing during the past three years.

He is so confident about winning that he no longer brings his Mustang to the parking lot.

``Everybody is staying away from me tonight,'' he said, glancing around the crowd of about 100 racing fans.

Around the parking lot, the choice ranges from souped-up hot rods to turbocharged compacts and 1960s- and 1970s-era muscle cars, all of them outfitted with outrageously large and loud engines.

While such classic muscle cars as Camaros and Mustangs remain popular, more and more street racers are turning to Honda Civics and Accords with specially lowered suspensions, race-tuned exhausts and wheels trimmed for high speed.

``They like buying the little Honda cars,'' Tatum said. ``It's the car of choice.''

When it comes to speed, the inexorably linked questions are: How fast do you want to go, and how much do you want to spend?

Racers spend thousands on their cars, outfitting them with bigger engines, suspensions that improve traction and even nitrous oxide injectors, which add explosive speed by making the fuel burn faster.

``Every second you go faster means more money,'' Traboulsi said.

The race circuit is an underground one, announced through word of mouth.

Some regular race series begin Friday nights when dragsters meet outside Kevin's Burgers or Denny's Restaurant at Encinitas Avenue and Roxford Street, where they negotiate the terms of the race. Less powerful cars might receive a handicap. Bets can range between $100 and $1,000, and sometimes the winners go home with the losers' car.

Occassionally racers compete in grudge matches where no money is involved.

``It's a male macho thing - my car is better,'' said John Landon, an assistant auto body shop manager from West Hills. ``It's not for money. It's just to beat that car.''

Fans say street racing can provide cheap, innocent thrills where, despite the dangers, collisions are relatively rare.

``We're out here to have fun,'' said Tim Orello, a 20-year-old racer from Toluca Lake. ``We take pride in our cars. It's better than getting involved in drugs or gangs.''

And unlike the three young adults who perished on the Foothill Freeway, street racers said they exercise as many precautions as possible.

They use safety harnesses and roll cages, helmets and fire jackets. And a flagman makes sure the quarter-mile drag strip is clear of pedestrians, passing motorists and parked cars.

``A lot of people go out on the freeway and race and that's not racing,'' said Spence Tidwell, a 44-year-old Los Angeles city gardener and racing fan. ``That's just people out and out freeway flying.''

Death in the family

The families of the victims who died in the speed contest on the Foothill Freeway said drag racers should take a hard look at the potential deadly consequences.

``We're devastated,'' said Theale Haupt, whose daughter, Shannon, was killed when the car she was riding in careened off an embankment into the Pacoima Wash. ``This has created an abysmal hole in my life and I keep falling into it.''

Also killed in the crash were driver Pablo Rangel Jr., 18, and passenger Michael Encinas, 18.

Kenneth Acosta, one of the two drivers involved in the deadly race, pleaded not guilty to three counts of vehicular manslaughter. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in state prison. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 20.

``Being involved in a speed contest is a serious infraction,'' Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Dale Cutler said. ``Theoretically, it could rise to the level of murder.''

At Church of the Foothills in Sylmar, the Rev. Sam Platts said he is struggling to comfort friends of the victims and to help them make sense of the tragedy.

``Young adults don't really make wise decisions with their lives,'' Platts said. ``They think nothing can happen. They have no appreciation of danger. They think they're immortal.''

Haupt said he has only one message for street racers: ``Get your foot off the gas pedal.

``The passengers must tell the driver: I don't want to die like Shannon - slow down or let me out of car. If (Rangel) had done that, he would still be here, and I would have my daughter.''

Enthusiasts said they'll never give up: ``It's in our blood. It's part of our life,'' said Dan Crowse, a 49-year-old cabinet maker who has been racing since 1962.

``I'll always be a hot rodder.''

RACING IN THE STREETS

Like the varied machines leaving hard on Valley streets, drivers in illegal drag races have their own vernacular. Here's a sampling:

Burn-out - The act of spinning your tires against the ground to warm them up and improve their grip on the road.

Slicks - Soft-compound tires with very little traction that are often placed on the rear axles of a car.

Leaving hard - A car that takes off fast from the starting line.

Hooking - The same thing as leaving hard.

Stealing a move - Cheating. When a driver takes off early before the start of the race to get an unfair advantage over his opponent.

Freeway Flying - High-speed freeway racing that involves no starting or finish lines.

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--color) A late model Ford Mustang, left, races against a Chevy Nova at the corner of Canoga Avenue and Nordhoff Street.

(2--color) Crowds watch as a souped-up Chevy Nova burns rubber before racing a Mustang - a race the Nova would lose.

(3--color) Ryan Genizeh stands set to start a contest between a Honda Civic and a Honda CRX. Street racers say they pick industrial strips for their illegal late-night contests.

(4--color) Money, and sometimes a pink slip, changes hands at the Valley's drag races, left. Some drivers park their cars, far left, and show off their engines.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News

Box: RACING IN THE STREETS (see text)