TAMPA — On sultry summer nights, the crowds still gather to watch the street races.

Two cars sit side by side, waiting for a signal. Tires screech and the cars speed off into the darkness. The crowd roars.

It's been a common scene for decades, especially on or near Gandy Bridge and the Courtney Campbell Causeway. Police know of the problem but acknowledge it's hard to do more than chase the racers to another location.

Still, they try.

On Sunday, a Tampa police sergeant was injured while working an anti-racing detail on the Courtney Campbell Causeway. Police said two drivers hit speeds of more than 100 mph in the late-night race before one man crashed.

John Rubio, 34, of Melbourne, tried to avoid hitting another vehicle that wasn't in the race, police said. He lost control of his car, hit a guardrail and scraped down the road until he hit a police car driven by Tampa police Sgt. Thomas Miller.

Miller saw the driver lose control and tried to speed up to get out of the way. Rubio still slammed into the cruiser from behind.

Miller received minor injuries. Rubio wasn't injured. He was arrested and charged with reckless driving and unlawful racing on a highway, police said.

Police say they know what attracts racers to the bridges.

“It's a long stretch of road,” said Janelle McGregor, spokeswoman for the Tampa Police Department, which has had an initiative for about a quarter century to stop street racing. “It's a flat, straight stretch of road.”

Last year Tampa police investigated 19 cases of street racing from Jan. 1 to Aug. 12. So far this year, they've had 11 cases. All the investigations led to arrests, McGregor said.

Tampa police monitor street races based on intelligence investigators have picked up - often from social media - or simply by routine, McGregor said.

“We monitor the roadways on weekends and late at night when street racing is known to take place,” she said.

On the Courtney Campbell Causeway last year, spectators pulled out their cameras as a gray Honda Civic and yellow Ford Mustang came speeding by, according to a police report.

Two adult men were arrested for racing; a 16-year-old girl was cited as a passenger in a vehicle and released to her parents.

These drivers put not just themselves at risk, McGregor said.

“It creates a danger for the innocent drivers using the roadways,” she said.

Street racing comes and goes in popularity, said Mike Puetz, a St. Petersburg police spokesman.

These days, many of the events are organized through social media. Even on sites such as YouTube, a number of videos of races are posted with references to Gandy Bridge and the Courtney Campbell Causeway.

When police get wind the races are occurring, they organize to stop it, Puetz said.

Police officers investigate, issue tickets and make arrests. They can impound the vehicles used in the races for 30 days. Passengers and spectators can also be cited.

But it doesn't end the cycle.

“At the end of the day it causes those folks not to give up on racing but to move to where police are not at,” Puetz said.

(  http://tbo.com/news/crime/lure-of-street-races-endangers-drivers-officers-20130812)

MARION COUNTY, Fla. —A teenage girl died after she crashed a race car at a Marion County speedway on Saturday. (March  22, 2014).

The Marion County Sheriff's Office says 15-year-old Niokoa Johnson was driving a race-ready Nissan Sentra when she lost control of the vehicle during her second lap.

She was the only driver on the track at the Bubba Raceway Park along Gainesville Road when the crash occurred around 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Investigators said Johnson's car hit a concrete barrier, and witnesses told deputies that it was her first time driving at the track.

Johnson was unconscious when racetrack workers and others got her out of the Sentra. She was taken initially to Ocala Regional Medical Center, then flown to Shands Medical Center in Gainesville.

Johnson was pronounced dead at 3 p.m. Sunday.

A statement from Marion County Sheriff's Office spokesman Judge Cochran said,  "The Marion County Sheriff's Office will continue to look into this incident as an accidental death investigation."

Nearly a dozen injured in street racing crash near OIA

A street racing accident sent approximately 50 people running for their lives early Sunday morning.

Police said a driver set off an almost deadly chain reaction after losing control of their car while street racing on the south side of Orlando International Airport.

"A single vehicle traveling at a very high rate of speed caused a chain reaction," said Lt. Arnold Alvarez from the Orlando Police Department.

A total of six vehicles were damaged after police said the driver of a Mitsubishi Mirage drove more than 100 mph into a crowd.

The crash left one person in critical condition and a dozen other witnesses injured.

Tire marks paint the pavement on Heintzelman Boulevard where the race started and then ended with a crash around 3 a.m. Sunday.

"The car was coming down super fast and just hit people in the street,” said Jean Sanchez, a witness. “It hit like seven people and people were lying on the floor."

The crash scene covered about a mile long stretch of road.

By the time officers arrived, they said most of the spectators had already fled the area, carrying several victims to area hospitals.

One of the severely wounded victims was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Sanchez was watching the race but escaped uninjured. He said something he could have been prevented for others as well.

“It was just a dumb move.  He was going super fast for no reason into a crowd of people,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez said the drivers and audience were not racing for cars or even money.

He said it was all just a show for fun, and said even despite the accident, racers with the need for speed will still burn tires on the pavement.

Orlando police said the area has had problems in the past.

Racers said since the city closed the Central Florida Race Course earlier this month, they don't have a choice but to turn to public roadways for competition.

Investigators have not release any information about the driver of the Mitsubishi Mirage.

Police said the driver and spectators could face charges.