Before the franchise
Lanes closed, tire marks on the ground and burnt rubber scattered everywhere on Highway 99. The new rebellious members of a social media car club are out late at night causing trouble. Stopping the highway and blocking all lanes, their actions were planned and executed strategically. The Modesto Police Department arrived but these sideshow enthusiasts did not leave nor care.
This all took place from 9:00 p.m. all the way until early the next morning, Feb. 5, 2017.
The festivities started at the Hobby Lobby on McHenry in Modesto, then to the parking lot of the In-N-Out off of Palendale in the Woody Colony Plaza, and finally ended up on the highway. According to an eye witness claim, whom wishes to stay unidentified, “There were easily over 80 cars that came together from all over, not just the 209 but from Fresno down to San Jose. They all came here because ‘The Valley Takeover’ did something like this earlier last year.”
The Valley Takeover is a group of car fanatics who bring people together from all different backgrounds who are interested in modifying their cars. Most of their takeovers ended in sideshows and the intervention of the Modesto Police.
A sideshow is the illegal act of burning out, drifting, drag racing and a clear favorite doing donuts. This time last year, the Valley Takeover had four events and the last one ended with many tickets and drivers fleeing from the scene. Since then, they have reestablished themselves as a car show only group. This means that there will be no sideshows allowed at these upcoming events.
The popularity of sideshows didn’t come to the Central Valley until the late 90s; about the same time a very successful and influential franchise came out.
The Fast and Furious movies debuted in 2001 and has been releasing movies ever since. The last of these films came out later this April and will be end of the Fast and Furious life on the wide screen. Even though these movies won’t be shown in theaters after this year, the impact will be present for quite a while.
“I was into cars before the franchise appeared but after watching the first film, I became fully submerged into this car community,” Kristine Laureta, who has been part of the underground world of cars since she was in her early twenties, said.
The kids growing up
By 2012, the Fast and Furious franchise already took off and was onto its sixth movie. For those who were older during the release of these films, it may have impacted their views on cars not significantly. But for the individuals who grew up with these motion pictures, it was their life.
College freshmen and sophomores of today would have been either four or five during the movie’s first debut.
“It was fun and it was something to look forward to while growing up. I just wanted to be eighteen already to get my license,” Alejandro Ramirez, a local car enthusiast, said. “I was interested in cars before the films came out, but they impacted me to have a stronger interest. They gave me a whole lot of options of what to do with cars.”
Ramirez has a background in the car community, but also history with the police department. He explains how it is to live both lives much like the main character, Brian O’Connor, in the first Fast and Furious, who was an undercover cop who was rooted deep in the car scene.
However, Ramirez isn’t undercover, but “it is dangerous and definitely sketchy. Without the badge on, the members of these car shows treat me like one of them, but with the badge on they see me differently.”
In the original Fast and Furious film, Paul Walker and Vin Diesel drive Honda Civics, a low-end Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) vehicle. These cars weren’t as popular as they are nowadays in the Central Valley. After the movies’ popularity and production value increased, so did their choice in cars. The newer, faster and luxurious cars hit the big screen and changed the car community.
“The older movies were all about the older cars that they made to become faster and louder, unlike the newer movies that are already filled with the fastest cars on the market. This changed the car community because the ‘new generation’ car guy only wants to show off their expensive and faster cars,” Ramirez added.
The badge
“Before, when kids would come out with their modified cars, there wouldn’t be as much racing as there is now. There wouldn’t be as many parking lots getting taken over or sections of road, like Highway 99 a few weeks ago. Before the movies, there were a lot more American-made cars, but now it’s almost all imports,” Officer Callahan, a traffic unit officer at Modesto Police Department, explained.
Some cautionary tips for drivers and other civilians on the streets: “Be aware of your surroundings. Be an active driver while you’re driving. And don’t let yourself get distracted while you’re driving. If you are going to be a driver, drive.”
In 2001 the first movie was released. 16 years later so does the last of this franchise. Many kids in high school or early years of college have grown up watching these films. They would release as they got older and their interest grew as did the popularity.
Officer Callahan says that these millennials “would glorify these characters more than they would look up to a police officer.” But here are a few tips from him for those who grew up with these movies: “Don’t lose your common sense. Enjoy yourself but don’t take the risks of endangering other people. Accidents are accidents, but just because you think you are a good driver, that doesn’t mean that you can avoid crashing into some innocent bystander while you’re going too fast.”