Double AA club Podcast
Double AA club Podcast
EP:76 Danny Lambertus on the high-octane world of NYC & Florida street racing
Get ready for an exhilarating ride through the pulsating world of street racing with NYC Boom and Big Daz on the Double A Club Podcast! This week, we have the legendary Danny Lambertus sharing electrifying tales from his street racing days in New York City's hottest spots like Hunts Point. Feel the adrenaline rush as Danny recounts the thrill of evading the police and contrasts it with the controlled environment of sanctioned track events. Hear about the quieter scenes in Yonkers and White Plains and how urban development has reshaped the racing landscape over the years.
Shift gears with us as we zoom down to Florida, where the street racing culture is equally vibrant but uniquely different. We'll discuss how racers like Branny, Vic, and Cletus are steering enthusiasts towards tracks amidst tightening street racing laws. With Florida's year-round favorable weather creating a continuous racing season, discover how events in places like Kissimmee are growing in popularity. Finally, for all you young car enthusiasts out there, we dive into the challenges of building fast cars on a budget, highlighting the differences between street and race cars. Buckle up for an episode filled with stories, insights, and the undeniable allure of the racing world!
You are listening to the Double A Club and this is your host, ny Boom, and my co-host, big Daz. We'll be talking about trending topics and healthcare and basically just as a disclaimer just to let the listeners know that this is just basically on our opinions and speculations and I hope you guys enjoy the show. Let's start off and kick off with our first topic.
Speaker 2:This is NYC Boom here on the Double A Club Podcast. Joining me is Danny Lambertus. Please tell us, tell the people about yourself and what you do.
Speaker 3:My name is Danny Lambertus, uh, out of New York city, new Jersey. I have been in the racing industry since 1996, uh, street racing uh in my early days, uh now, um, full-time media for the racing scene. So I cover a lot of events on the East Coast. I was a promoter for a while, did a lot of track events and I hosted a podcast from 2013 to 2016 in the car racing industry nice, nice.
Speaker 2:So so real quick question, because you know this is so we can kind of understand the differentiates that the street racing is legal correct.
Speaker 3:Yes, the street racing is obviously the name of it the streets, right. So all this started in the 80s, you know, and it goes way back, way before that. But in New York City, when I got involved, I started hearing about the street racing in the 80s, you know, late 80s, where people were going to spots like Hunts Point, zuri, gav, and it was this whole hype around street racing. And I didn't understand it until 1996 when a cousin of mine I was 16, 17 at the time, I think 17. A cousin of mine made me sneak out the house and he was like yo, man, we got to go to New York and you got to see the street races. And I'm like yo, what are you talking about? York? And you got to see the street races? And I'm like yo, what are you talking about? He's like Hunts Point. And I had already heard about it in my younger years because one of my older cousins was already going out there. But I'm like no man, what are you talking about? Like he's like yo, you got to go out there, you got to see it. So fast forward 97. He took me out there and we went out to hunts point and it was probably one of the most incredible, addicting, satisfying adrenaline rush you name it, I mean that I have ever experienced and the bug bit me that night.
Speaker 3:But basically what it comes down to is you find you know a long enough strip on the street where you know the pavement is as smooth as possible. You know you have to keep it hidden, obviously, because it's not sanctioned, it is illegal. Two cars line up Right, two cars line up take off. You know whoever comes up next comes up next, and so on and so on and so on, and you keep doing that until the cops come and break it up and chase everybody away.
Speaker 3:And then you know that becomes a little fun aspect of it because it's like you know the getaway, you know, you know. So now you compare that to sanctioned racing, where you have a racetrack or the safety precautions are in place. You know the fans are kept away for a certain amount of distance to ensure their safety. You know the racers, their cars, have to be checked, which is like inspected pretty much, to make sure that all the safety parameters are in place in the vehicles. They're wearing helmets, you know seatbelt restraints or harness restraints and so on and so on, and there's a criteria that you have to follow in the racetrack compared to you know the streets?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember when I was young they did a lot of street racing off of the Yonkers Highway. I'm not sure if you're familiar with it. I can't remember what highway it's called, but it was a highway over by I like to say overhead and towards like Montefiore Hospital and the highway that goes that starts there and goes directly up Towards Yonkers. And I remember they used to do street racing Back in the days on that highway Because the highway was usually empty, nobody really traveled through it.
Speaker 3:Right, and I forgot the name of that highway too, but I do remember Yonkers, um, yonkers, white plane, there was a lot of people racing in that area, um, and those areas were actually better for street racing because it was quieter.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and they're very quiet, you know, let's say you compare it to like hunts point or flatlands or areas like that in new york city where, you know you, you have two, three hundred cars showing up, a hundred cars showing up, you know yonkers, you get like 20, 30, 40 cars showing up.
Speaker 3:Um, you know you get a lot of races off and every now and then a cop would come by and you know everybody would dip and then eventually come back where hunts point was, like this big you know thing because, uh, you know, there was just so many people, you know you had people scattered on the sidelines, you had tons of cars coming through, so it was more of an elaborate you know production, if you want to call it that, at Hunt's Point compared to like the smaller, you know the smaller areas, like, you know, yonkers and White Plains, where still good races went down, but it was just less attention on those areas a safe area to race, because I'm trying to remember Hunts Point and I don't recall they had many like free roads, like everything was always with train, like you know, with the overhead train station and the pillars, so like I can't think of any area in Hunts Point that didn't have that, was it?
Speaker 2:what was there like a clear area for you guys to race that didn't have any trains or anything like that?
Speaker 3:yeah, there were. There were certain streets where, and one in particular. But you know, now those streets all have speed bumps and the fish market is out there. They move the fish market from the East Side Highway over over there. I think the fish market used out there. They moved the fish market from um the east side highway um over over there. I think the fish market used to be right by south street seaport and now it's located in hud's point. So even the roads are different now out there. They did put up a lot of speed bumps to stop that one strip um. But yeah, back then we there was a a very good strip that we had out there where everybody would just run.
Speaker 2:Man, don't you just miss New York. Back then it was just so much better than it is now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, man, I just saw something crazy. They got like a 65-foot glizzy in the middle of time square and it's like yo, new York is wild right now. New York is crazy right now. You know the portal connecting, you know, new York city to Dublin, and everything that went down.
Speaker 2:Some only fans should um show their titties to Ireland.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then the people from from Ireland. They put up a video of the World Trade Center on fire, so that was like.
Speaker 2:that was like a shot directly at New York man, people are just so disrespectful nowadays, even though back then we didn't have that many sanctions and regulations and things were probably more dangerous. People were more civil back then.
Speaker 3:Right, and that generation you know, like the 80s and 90s in New York there was more morals, there was more principles. You know like a lot of those OGs at the time. You know they were coming from being raised in the 70s and you know they were coming from being raised in the seventies and, and you know sixties and seventies and they had morals. You know like, they had parents who taught them certain rules and principles and you had older generation OGs teaching these younger guys you know how to live by these principles and morals. Also, and don't get me wrong, new York has never been so-called the fairy tale. You know land, um, but back then it was just different.
Speaker 3:This generation now is is more reckless and more wild. There's less respect out there, uh, less loyalty out there, you know. So it's just, you know it's. It's a different generations and you know you, you could say how you want, but New York and the 80s and 90s, even going into the you know a little bit into the 2000s, was a great place. Man. They, new York in the 90s was like a huge playground, you know now. Now it's like, you know you, you got to be super careful in New York, you know yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um. So I know here, I'm here in Florida and I know down here in Florida we have a lot of tracks that are specialized for street racing and stuff like that. Okay, I'm guessing, since now it's legal up in New York and Jersey, they had they started creating some of these tracks over there.
Speaker 3:Well, what's happening in New Jersey in particular is we lost two major racetracks up there. We lost Echo Dragway, which closed, I believe, last year, and then we lost English Town, which closed a few years back. But those were the two major racetracks in New Jersey. New York, I think they have one, I think they have Lebanon Valley Dragway or Raceway, but that's never really been like a staple like that. You know where. You know. You mentioned English Town, you mentioned Atco Dragway or Atco Raceway, you know whatever, and those were like the staples. And when we lost those two that was tough, you know, on the racing community, because it's like damn, like that was our home, you know, and now you're pushing everybody back into the street. Now, you know some of the closest racetracks are in Pennsylvania, you know, two hours away, two and a half hours away, three hours away.
Speaker 3:We still have one racetrack in New Jersey which is Island Dragway and that's a small family owned, you know racetrack that has huge racing history but a lot of racers you know faster cars Claim that you can't race there. You know, I was an event promoter For that For Island Dragway for a while and we had A lot of cars show up, a lot of faster cars show up and race with no problems. But there was just a stigmatism Behind that racetrack that you know you couldn't race too fast there because, um, you wouldn't be able to slow the car down in time because the shutdown area was so short, um, where now it's the only drag, the only track left in Jersey really, um, and people are going to it, um, but still, you know you get the faster cars that don't want to race there, some of the not slower cars, but you know, compared to the faster ones they are slower. You know they'll go there and they'll show out. You know, and we have a good time A lot of the street racers are actually embracing that island driveway right now because their cars are running times that that track can handle Right in dragway right now, because their cars are running times that that track can handle right. So, uh, being that it's the only track left, you're seeing that influx of people like actually start supporting that track a little bit more, um, but still, you know the closure of those two major racetracks in new jersey hurt the scene like a. I know a lot of people that sold their cars after that. They were just like yo, it's not worth racing, you know. So for the most part, you know we still got a decent amount of events.
Speaker 3:Florida I've always been a huge fan and supporter of the Florida racing scene. I explored Florida with our podcast back in 2013, 2014, um, and we started, you know, getting in tune with the street racing scene down there and what we realized was like florida had the street racing scene. It was just super quiet compared to the way it was in New Jersey or in New York. You know where. New York it was more. Everybody knew Thursday, friday, saturday and even Sundays. You know where the street races were In Florida it was way more organized.
Speaker 3:You know, shout out to Tito Fiebre, who was one of the first ones from the Orlando-Kissimmee area, central Florida area, to put me really on to Florida Street Racing. You know, now you have, you know, your different groups out there and I don't want to, I don't want to like name them but shout out to everybody because they know who they are. If they hear this eventually, they will probably everybody, because they know who they are. If they hear this eventually. Um, but, um, you know, you got like, uh, you know finest auto detailing down there. You know, just to name one, um, these are guys who are keeping the scene alive at the track, you know now, uh, especially, um, orlando speed world.
Speaker 3:You know, yeah, that racetrack is helping the street racers get off the street and they're doing what they call no-press events, right, where it's sort of similar to the way you would be running on the street, just on the track, right. So things like that, like Ozzy and his people at that racetrack, have helped curb you know, curb a lot of the street racing down there. You've got tracks like Branny sitting over on the other side and Vic and Cletus and over there doing their thing, and they've helped out bring a lot of the races onto the track down in South Florida, you know, you've got a lot of track. You know a few tracks down there that you know are conforming and helping get these street racers off. And now, you know, in Florida the street racing laws are getting even stricter, you know. So it's super dangerous to get caught right now down there, you know, is it even worth it to get caught down there and listen as long as they make fast cars, there will always be street races.
Speaker 2:You know there's always going to be. There's always going to be fast cars, Right, Right.
Speaker 3:You know. So you know, street racing will never die, no matter what these people try to do and and these legislators, these legislators try to like, stop that movement. Street racing will never die, you know, and that's something that I'm super happy and proud, uh, to know, because to see the evolution of the scene from when I was a teenager to now you know, I'm 44 now um, has been one of the best blessings that I've ever had in my life I know, I know that the street racing is definitely growing down here in Florida, especially in the past, like five, six years, like I literally can hear them rounding up and getting ready to go to where they're going to go.
Speaker 2:Like you'll hear like a hundred motorcycles and cars just revving down the street, just driving, just going by and it'll just keep going like the next 30-40 minutes going to wherever they're going to stop racing. It's increasingly grown. You know down here, right so, but I know down here we have tracks. So you know it's a little strange to hear that New York is doing it in tracks, because I mean there's not really many places in New York that you can have, that you have the space to have that type of track, you know.
Speaker 3:Right, and the big advantage that Florida has over, you know, up north, is that you know the racing never stops. You know, up here, you know, the racing starts. You know the racing never stops, you know, up here, you know, uh, the racing starts, you know, and I mean it does kind of go all year round, but not at the tracks. You know, street racing. If they can get in the race in 20, you know degree weather, they will, um, you know they'll, they'll bring, they'll bring, uh, a torch and light up the street, bring, they'll bring, uh, a torch and light up the street, you know, just to warm up the pavement. Um, you know, there's, there's, there's a large group of street racers up there in new york that live and die by it. They'll make it happen, whatever weather.
Speaker 3:Um, but in florida, you know, there's a huge advantage with the weather, because it's like you know where we're scrambling to get to the track from march to october, you know, maybe going into november a little bit, that's like pushing it. October, like middle of october, we're done, you know, and we don't get to see the track again until like march. You know, um, so we raced for a few months, you know, and then it's like, ah, hibernation mode and the winter time in Florida, I mean in Jersey and in New York and up North basically, because you can't forget Connecticut and all those states Um, but like up North, like you really go into like build mode over the winter, where you're either making your car faster or you're building a new car or you're building a car, um, where Florida, like you're building a new car, you're building a car, where Florida, like you're just racing year-round, you know, and you have that exposure to the track, you know. So it's huge difference.
Speaker 2:I think I think down here in Florida we may get maybe one month, if you're lucky to get off, and that's it right all year round is pretty, it's pretty manageable good.
Speaker 3:I manageable. I think you guys, like you guys down there, like have a bad spell like end of December going into January.
Speaker 2:We're around there, right yeah, that's it, and then other than the rain season, other than the rain season. But the thing with the rain season is that it's strange it only rains at 3 o'clock it rains for like an hour you're done the rest of the day.
Speaker 2:The thing with the rain season is that it's strange and only rains at 3 o'clock. Hey, you're done the rest of the day, the rest of the morning, rest of the night. You're good, you're clear, you know. So, here in Florida and it's, and because that it's been growing, it's getting, it's getting really big, I mean, I know in Kissimmee they have like they'll have like Puerto Rican parades over there and it's nothing but racers, right, you know. So it's, yeah, I mean I mean it's good, though.
Speaker 3:You know like whatever keeps the scene going is always a positive thing in my eyes. You know you could have a young, you know, 17, 18 year old kid who's, you know, not financially stable or not even relying on mom and daddy money, but just trying to build a race car or a street car. You know, because that's a different. There's a big difference in that too a race car and a street car, you know.
Speaker 2:But You're going to have to explain that to us in a bit. But yeah, go on.
Speaker 3:So you got like these young kids and I'll get into it, you know I'll get into it. But so let's say, like you got these young kids right, and then they might be working like a small part-time or maybe they're working a full-time, you know, whatever, whatever, but they're scrounging up every little dollar they can to try to make their car fast, period, you know. And it might not be super fast, it might not even be fast according to other people's standards, but to that young dude, you know, or that young lady, um, you know, their car is fast in their head or they're trying to get it faster, um, and they're building streetcars, and streetcar is basically a car that you could drive and race on the street. You could drive it to the race, you could drive it home, um, and you know it's, it's set up for street action, where a race car you're talking about strictly being on the track, and that cars only, you know, usually trailer to there. You know they're being their trailer to the track. They never leave the street at all, you know, I know.
Speaker 2:It's all about those cars. Those cars usually have specialized tires too. They can't be on on on the street Right right.
Speaker 3:Where a street car you could, you could put it on regular tires, pull up to the races. You know you might not be the fastest dude in the neighborhood, you know. Whatever Um, but you know, enjoy your car for the night, you know, and you build it to how you want. You know a racer has more stringent Guidelines that they have to go through. You know safety is always a priority with the race cars. You know speed is always the top priority. You know faster weight, weight reduction and all that, all that has to be taken into account and it's such it's more of a stringent program being a Track racer where a street racer, you know you could take the interior out of your car to make it lighter or you don't have to. You know you might not have to spend $10,000 or more on safety equipment Because you got a seat belt, you know, and you got airbags and you hope they deploy if anything goes wrong.
Speaker 3:Where these racers, you know you got parachutes and their crashes, god forbid, are at higher speeds. You know, and you know you got a car going 190 miles per hour down the track and that car loses traction. You know that's a serious injury, and not to say that the street racer doesn't go through that. Um, but at a track, you know you have to have those safety precautions because you're handling way much more power at a faster propulsion rate right when in the street, um, if you have an inexperienced driver or got to bid, you know you have pedestrians or innocent people Like yeah, you're going to see, you know you're going to see accidents that way, but for the most part on the street you know your car isn't moving that fast, you know, and it all depends on the setup also because you got fast street cars. But it's harder to be a track racer than a street racer as far as investing the money and the safety and building the car. Where a street car, you can get away with a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course, especially the way you explained that. You know the whole concept of trying to make it as fast as possible but also safe. You know that's got to come with a lot of guidelines and a lot of like headaches with it. If you know, unlike a street car, I can do whatever I want, you know. So yeah, I bet you on that one, right, yeah?
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to Double A Club. Listen to us next episode to continue this topic. If you want to reach us on the email, it is doubleaclubpodcast At gmailcom. Catch you on the next one.
