I-TEAM: Street racing concerns surface in another area of Jacksonville

Footage shows cars racing on Sportsman Club Road

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The News4JAX I-TEAM is looking into more concerns about street racing in Jacksonville -- this time in the Picketville area.

A News4JAX viewer sent a video to the I-TEAM of a street race that happened over the weekend on Sportsman Club Road and led to a crash into a property that houses semitruck trailers.

The I-TEAM was alerted to regular street racing on the road, with videos to back it up. The latest video shows two cars racing on Saturday with one appearing to swerve out of control at the end and going into the fence at an industrial yard with semitruck trailers.

WATCH: Press the play button above to watch the full video showing street racing on Sportsman Club Road

This is the latest concern raised over car meetups in Jacksonville. Several of the complaints have been about large groups of drivers meeting up in private parking lots and doing things like “doughnuts,” which damage the lots. In one case, a property manager told the I-TEAM that it would cost between $60,000 and $70,000 to fix the damage to his lot. With the street racing, there have been concerns over safety and noise brought up.

RELATED: Doughnuts & street racing: Late night reckless drivers a nuisance for downtown residents | Manager says street racers have caused $60K in damage doing donuts in strip mall parking lot | I-TEAM: Complaints continue over car groups driving erratically in vacant parking lots | I-TEAM: Local car group speaks following street takeover complaints | Councilman’s message to car clubs: Get off public property or buy your own place | Video appears to show police cruiser peeling out in Jacksonville parking lot | Witness says police cruiser seen in video was trying to disperse crowd gathered for car club meetup | I-TEAM: Residents say drivers are turning this area of Jacksonville into a weekend racetrack

The spot at Sportsman Club Road is pretty remote and not near any residential housing. It is, however, near multiple industrial yards that appear to be mostly closed on weekends when the racing happens.

“They stay out of the way, but we’ve had them lined up all the way down here to around the corner,” said Roger Waters, who works at a nearby business.

He added that a crash was inevitable.

“I’ve been waiting on it,” he said. “You can see in the ditches where they run off the side of the road.”

The I-TEAM reached out to the city of Jacksonville about this issue and was referred to Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. We requested a statement concerning this issue with car meetups as well as requests from car clubs to build a large track in the city where these meetups can happen legally.

Members of the car clubs have told News4JAXfor months that other large metro areas in the southeast have tracks for car clubs but not Jacksonville.


About the Author:

Scott is a multi-Emmy Award Winning Anchor and Reporter, who also hosts the “Going Ringside With The Local Station” Podcast. Scott has been a journalist for 25 years, covering stories including six presidential elections, multiple space shuttle launches and dozens of high-profile murder trials.