For the past week or so, starting around dark some nights, I've been hearing a car stop at the 3 way intersection down the street from my house, rev his engine, and do burnouts up the street past my house. A few times he's stopped in front of my house and used my driveway as a turn-around. Other times he's just zoomed past. Always the same car- I can't get a good view of it because of trees, but it seems like something low, black, 2 door, and RWD based on the burnouts. I think it's something 80's or 90's Japanese, 4 cylinder (based on the loud exhaust).
Last night he was at it again, and did it while I was reading my daughter to sleep (around 8 o'clock). About 8:30 I went out to the garage to work on my car for a bit, and about 9:45 I heard his engine again. I sprinted out to the road (we live in a rural neighborhood; my driveway is a good half a football field) and just as he passed my house he stopped and started to back into my driveway. I ran up to the driver's side and started yelling at him, cussing him out, and told him to get the berkeley out of here. Alas, I was in such a hurry I didn't catch his license plate, and it was so dark out all I could see was his pale, pasty-white face inside the car. He mumbled something like "My bad" and drove off.
About 20 minutes later, I was in the house telling Mrs. VCH about this, when suddenly we heard like 2 or 3 loud, buzzy cars come up the street and stop in front of the house. They revv'd their engines and were yelling. I stepped out of the house, but my wife, the smart one, said "Get back in here!" so I did, and called the police. The cars stayed on the street and as near as I can tell they never got out of the cars, and after sitting there for a few minutes they buzzed off.
An officer called me about 10 minutes later to talk to me about what happened. He said he was cruising the neighborhood and did not see the cars. I asked him to stop by the house, so he and another deputy came by about 5 minutes later. I told them what all had happened. He said they'd been getting similar reports from other areas, and were patrolling to try to catch them. He asked if they could do a "black out" (park a patrol car, lights off, in my driveway) and I told him, sure, anytime you want. I told him it was always about the same time- right after dark, but not every night. The driver, from what I could see of him, seemed to be about high school age.
I posted it in "Next Door" before I went to bed and this morning had a few comments from neighbors about the same thing. It's especially frustrating for me, as a car guy. I take my own cars up and down the street, test driving them, but I'm not doing burnouts and speeding up and down the street, at all hours, and turning around in other peoples driveways. berkeleying idiots.
