Truck hits and kills 2 at illegal drag race

Southern California’s illegal drag racing culture took another bloody turn early Sunday in Lancaster, when a passing driver veered into a crowd of spectators, leaving two men dead and three men hospitalized. Some onlookers then jumped into their cars, chased down the driver and held him for deputies, authorities said.

The driver was booked on suspicion of felony hit and run.

“It was a pretty horrendous scene,” Sgt. Greg Minster of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said of the early-morning incident in the 4500 block of West Avenue G in Lancaster.

More than 150 people were gathered about 1 a.m. on a dark stretch of desert highway when a westbound Chevy truck, not involved in the race, plowed into the crowd, investigators said. The driver then sped away and was pursued for five miles to Antelope Acres, where he stopped. The spectators held him until deputies arrived.

Luke Richardson, 42, of Lancaster was arrested on suspicion of felony hit and run, a sheriff’s spokesman said. It was not known whether speed, alcohol or drugs were factors.

Taken to hospitals in critical condition were Gregory Gute, 20, of Rosamond and Earl Goodrich, 22, of Palmdale. Richard Martinez, 26, of Palmdale was taken to Antelope Valley Hospital with moderate injuries, and Richardson was treated for minor injuries.

The names of the two men killed at the scene -- a 19-year-old from Palmdale and a 22-year-old from Moorpark -- were not released pending notification of relatives.

The incident is under investigation. The drag race “was all over by the time our deputies got there,” Minster said.

Illegal street racing is a major problem in the area, where enthusiasts from throughout the Southland, often communicating via text messages, gather almost weekly in the early morning along mostly deserted highways to watch drivers compete at speeds in excess of 100 mph, said Deputy Christopher Peutz. Participants, and even spectators, can be cited under codes specifically outlawing drag racing, but “we have to actually be out there to see them,” he said.

“They come caravaning up here to do their thing,” Peutz said. “It’s [often] a network of friends; back in the 1970s they had cruising on Whittier Boulevard, now they have drag racing. Because it’s so far out and there’s nothing out there, we don’t always hear about it unless there’s an accident or someone drives by and calls.”

Such races have long been part of U.S. -- and especially Southern California -- underground culture. It was celebrated as early as the 1950s in the James Dean movie “Rebel Without a Cause” and subsequently in films such as “Two-Lane Blacktop,” “American Graffiti” and “The Fast and the Furious.” The last film is credited as the first cinematic look into the illegal sport-compact racing community.

The phenomenon, seen in both rural and urban areas, has claimed many casualties. A rash of street-racing accidents over several months in 2003 led to the deaths of an 18-year-old who collided head-on with a car while racing on an Ontario street; a 21-year-old college student who lost control of his car in San Diego and slammed into a tree; a 74-year-old Huntington Beach woman whose car was hit when a racer swerved into oncoming traffic; and a 16-year-old Ramona girl who lost control during a race and plunged down an embankment.

As a result, a number of cities in Southern California and across the nation have imposed penalties on street racers and the spectators who cheer them on.

david.haldane@latimes.com