Coconino County Sheriff’s deputies busted an illegal drag racing group that endangered other vehicles on Lake Mary Road earlier this month.
According to the Sheriff’s Office report, deputies learned through social media that a group called the Flagstaff Auto Club was planning an illegal street racing event – dubbed the “Slow Car Takeover” – March 6. The plan was for participants to meet at the Walmart parking lot located at 2750 S. Woodlands Village Blvd. in Flagstaff at 11 a.m.
Undercover plainclothes officers in an unmarked vehicle arrived at the parking lot ahead of time with a video camera. They spotted more than a dozen cars meeting up. Many spun their tires, creating smoke as they exited the lot and formed a caravan toward Lake Mary Road.
The deputies followed right behind them. More vehicles joined the procession on the way. A few even sped past the undercover vehicle illegally in a no passing zone, unaware that law enforcement officers were inside.
The vehicles stopped once at the boat docks on Lake Mary before continuing to the north end of the Mormon Lake Overlook, where they began pairing up to race at about 12:30 p.m. The deputies pulled onto a county road to get a better view. They filmed as one pair after another lined up at an invisible starting line and waited for one of the young men acting as referees to shine a flashlight at them.
The flashlight was the street racers’ checkered flag. The deputies noticed that as soon as it flicked on and off, the cars bolted forward, one in Lake Mary Road’s single northbound lane and the other in the southbound lane, against the intended flow of traffic.
Deputies filmed more than half a dozen illegal races on Lake Mary Road. At about 12:45 p.m., a red Mazda that was racing a light blue or silver passenger car had to swerve back into southbound lane to avoid a head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle that was not involved in the races. The same thing happened a few minutes later to a white Honda that was racing a gold Datsun.
After two close calls, the deputies decided to put a stop to the drag racing. Within minutes, Sheriff’s Office and Arizona Department of Public Safety vehicles descended on the Flagstaff Auto Club members and started making arrests. Two vehicles managed to flee the area as law enforcement was arriving. A few of the drivers admitted to racing but most denied it. One told the deputies it wasn’t racing, just “spirited driving.”
Cody Ivicek, 22, Manuel Virgil, 30, William Thomasson III, 28, Jason Morris Jr., 21, Lias Hastings, 25, and Curtis Farr, 29, were all arrested and charged with racing on a highway and obstructing a public thoroughfare. All but one were booked into the Coconino County Detention Facility. Farr was cited and released.
