I Blame Sprawl

As long as there are vehicles, there will be racing.

The first such race was probably seconds after the second conveyance was built.

If you don't allow for a place where racing is legal, then racing will happen illegally.

"But there's a place hours away where..." isn't allowing for it.  It's got to be handier than the local industrial park's roads.

This would be, mostly, simple to solve.

The places where the illegal racing is happening now could be shut down, legally, and the racing could occur... but you'd have to pass a couple laws indemnifying the business owners who are not open from liability from injuries or damages to the racers and spectators.

A couple of cops and an ambulance hanging around is not a severe strain on resources.

But I guess we prefer to keep failing at banning it and arresting participants who aren't deterred.