San Diego, California
One day ago

Night falls in the big city, but that doesn't mean it's sleeping, in fact, it comes to life. The Coronado Bay Bridge bends over the water like a snake, connecting the main land to the Northern Island. In the distance a train passes. The sound the metal wheels make on the rail can easily be mistaken with thunder, but the sky is clear, except from a few innocent clouds, colored orange from the downtown lights. The nightlife of San Diego is electrifying, especially on this day. Between the old warehouses near the harbor, where normally at this hour work has stopped and the streets are calm, a group of people have come together on the crossing of Main Street and Sigsbee Street. They didn't come alone, they brought their cars. A final guest arrives in a tuned 97'Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, apparently he's a regular.
One of the guys approaches him to welcome the guy. "Jay, what's up?"
"Dan the man", they box their fists as a handshake, then turns to one of the other mates and greats him as well. "Juaxoo".
"Jay Jay… So how are we doing this tonight?", a young Asian guy asks the three that are standing in a circle while others listen in carefully.
"One race, one grand to buy in", Danny suggests.
"Quarter mile?", Juaxoo checks.
"Quarter mile", Danny confirms.
"I got a better idea", Jay throws in.
Curious the others look at Jay, who is the tallest of them all and also has earned their respect many times over. Amused he looks them all in the eye one by one before he clarifies himself.
"Death Road".

A short silence, followed by whispering and some comments come from the spectators. Everyone in this business knows Death Road.
"What?", Danny eyes widen. "You wanna race that track?"
"They just finished it, but it isn't open yet. I'm talking 5 miles of brand new asphalt, tight turns and no roadblock needed", Jay argues. "Unless you're crapping your pants of course, white boy".
The others who have surrounded the three racers shout out a loud 'ow!' because of the insult and laugh entertained, but Danny takes it well. He takes out a roll of hundred dollar bills, followed by another; it's two thousand dollars.
"How's that for a chicken?", he challenges.
Jay grins and looks aside at Juaxoo, who takes the same amount of money out of his pocket and the tall Afro American follows.
"Winner takes all", Jay decides.
"Let's do this!", Juaxoo shouts enthusiastic, getting the crowd exited as well.
All haste to their cars, every single one of them unique and fast. They split up and go in different directions in order not to draw any attention from the local police. Jay hits the highway and takes the lead. After thirty minutes, he arrives at the beginning of the road down in the hills just outside town. Others soon follow and park the car along side and remove the 'road closed' signs. Everyone seems to know exactly what his or her job is. Jay gets out of his 97' Eclipse and walks over to young guy with a trimmed beard and a baseball cap on, who leans over his rolled down window of his 92' Mazda Miata. From inside his car what sounds like a police radio gives him all the details of the cops' location.

"Ty, are we ready to go?", Jay checks with the guy.
"They're busy with an armed robbery, you're good to go", he confirms.
"Alright people! Let's burn some rubber", Jay walks back to his black Mitsubishi and gets in.
A line is drawn from one side of the road to another as the three cars drive up to their start position. People alongside the road cheer and shout exited as the drivers encourage them. Jay enjoys it, the adrenaline is rushing through his body, although he seems completely calm to the outside world. He glances aside at Juaxoo, who's working on the board computer of his yellow 05' Subaru WRX Sti. It's a brand new car and Juaxoo has put a lot of money and effort into it, but he's not as good as a driver as he is, so Jay's sure he'll win. Danny on the other hand is a different story. He has been in this world for quite a while now, he's an excellent racer and his ride ain't bad either; a '02 Acura RSX Type-S RHD. It's gonna be a fun race, that's for sure. All stop right before the line and Jay lifts up the passenger's seat to reveal two NOS tanks, which he opens, and turns a few switches. He gasses up, letting the engine growl. The others join in, letting the spectators feel the heat from their exhaust pipes, which ejaculate fire. As Ty lifts his arms in order to give the 'go' they all put their race cars in first gear and on the signal all three shoot away like bullets, the tires shrieking and engines running even louder. Skillful and without fear Jay shifts gear, watching Juaxoo who's right in front of him. As expected, after the first turn Juaxoo looses his position and falls back to a second place after a mistake of judgment. Jay can see in his back view mirror that he nearly misses the crash barrier and to make things even worse for the Asian dude, Danny passes him with a neat movement in the inner corner. This is so much more fun than the quarter mile, this is where you can test the driver, not the car. Juaxoo is surely gonna lose his two grand, but Danny is right on his tale. He shifts back to his second gear for a sharp turn, which he gets through drifting. His only real competitor can't get next to him and Jay smiles; once again he's the best.

Then something in the corner of his eye catches his attention. A bit surprised he glances aside to find another car next to him.
"What the hell?", Jay muddles perplexed.
Since when do racers just tune in without even paying the price? This is insane, where did this guy come from? Jay shakes his head irritated and shifts to his 5th gear; he's gonna smoke him. On a straight bit along one of the hills of San Diego he presses the little red button on his steering wheel that results to only one thing; more speed. A dose of NOS is injected into the engine, giving it a boost of speed and energy, one that's needed to run out his new opponent, but when he glances aside, the black car is still next to him. It's driver creates a little space between them and then hits Jay's Mitsubishi hard in the side. He's barely able to correct the car from smashing into the barrier and looks aside stunned.
"Jezus Christ!", he curses. "Do ya want me dead or something!"
Jay gets his answer fast enough, because for a second time the car hits him in the flank, only this time even harder and right before a turn. As Jay starts slipping every thing seems to go in slow motion. In one last glance he looks through his windshield and sees the barrier coming right at him. There's nothing he can do and with about a 100 miles an hour he hits it. As if the crash barrier is made out of matchsticks the car breaks through. Until this moment, Jay is still there to tell the tale, but when the 97' Eclipse folds itself around a tree like it's made out of rubber, all lights go out. A race that the big guy was sure to win, it the race that he has to pay with himself.