Jekyll and Hyde

A recent incident involving illegal drag racing got me to thinking about similar outlaw actions and their effect on what I’m going to call the “legitimate participants” of the sport.

Some young adults, and probably a few older ones, got together on a public street to do a little “street racing” – an illegal form of drag racing. Eight people were killed and dozens injured when a car went into a crowd of spectators. A responsible person would ask, “Why were they racing on the street?”

I'm going to guess most of the outlaw participants would point a finger at the GREEDY OWNERS of legitimate NHRA drag racing businesses who have the audacity to charge an entry fee to use their legal and safe facility. Meanwhile, some people shake their heads and condemn ALL drag racing as an unnecessary and evil killer of our youth.

Sports parachute clubs that follow proper rules and safe procedures have to deal with the negative publicity garnered from BASE jumpers who illegally hike into National Parks for the thrill of jumping off cliffs or who jump from public buildings and bridges.

Gun owners have to deal with those that believe it is their right to own assault style weapons. Hunters and fishermen have to deal with poachers. Kids walking to their local skate park with a skate board under their arm, holding a bag of safety equipment, are all labeled as “punks who terrorize public streets.”

And in case you missed the correlation it’s the backyard, or commonly called, renegade players who end up in emergency wards with a busted eyeball dripping down their cheek that legitimate players and field owners have to cope with. Or the people who think it’s cool to do paintball drive-bys or who get chased off public land. Or the ones who love to show off their oozing welts they get from playing without a chronograph or other basic safety rules. It's said any publicity is good publicity but is that always true?

I could go on. Whether you agree or not my point is made. And before someone tries to pull the “personal rights” card on me let me say I’m the first one who will stand up for personal rights. Go jump off a bridge. Go to the range and fire up targets with your AK-47. As long as my rights are not impugned upon by your wrongs I’m a happy camper.

I suppose every sport or endeavor has its dark side. Maybe for the sake of personal rights we legitimate participants should allow the outlaws and renegades their right to do as they please and instead go after the short sighted folks who think the outlaws and renegades represent us all.