Anyone caught street racing will have car seized, Harris Co. district attorney warns

BAYTOWN, Texas (KTRK) — Legions of drivers are converging on Houston Raceway Park in Baytown this weekend for the annual TX2K Roll and Drag Race Nationals event, which is dubbed “TX2K21” this year.

While the gathering of racing enthusiasts addresses the “need for speed” in a controlled environment, law enforcement agencies are using it to send a warning to anyone who wants to take the speeds to public streets.

A news conference took place at the raceway on Tuesday in an effort to end the unsanctioned public road takeovers, which authorities acknowledge as potentially deadly.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, District Attorney Kim Ogg and raceway owner Seth Angel led the message.

However, it was Ogg’s warning about what could happen to racers’ vehicles that may be the most significant message from the event. Aside from street racing, she said her office will be prosecuting “fly-bys” and street takeovers.

“Not only can (these activities) land you in jail or prison, but you may have to live with the consequences of deadly actions that are foreseeable from this kind of activity,” Ogg said. “We’re seizing cars, and these cars are valuable … It’s not so great to have to rebuy your car back once it’s been lawfully seized and forfeited as an instrument of a crime.”

According to Ogg, her office, under a program targeting illegal street racing, has already seized 86 cars with the intention to forfeit.

The warning also came a couple of weeks after a fly-by resulted in the deaths of spectators along U.S. 290.