Santa Fe High School senior Daniel Bojorquez always thought of others before himself, Patrick Gallegos recalled. "Whenever we would go out to eat, he would always let us pick. .
.. He always put us first instead of himself," the friend said.
"He was just a really good guy, really down to earth." It was "a huge shock," Gallegos said, when Bojorquez died in a single-car crash in late September. Police said he struck a column at St.
Francis Drive and Interstate 25 while driving at a high rate of speed. Gallegos said he heard from other friends after the crash how much Bojorquez liked to race his Mustang, and how he would often drive too fast or spin out. "He liked his cars, that's for sure," Gallegos said, adding a love of cars and street racing is common among young people in Santa Fe.
Once considered rare in Santa Fe, street racing was cited as the cause two crashes in the city last month that led to serious injuries and at least one death. The increase in street racing is a trend nationwide that some experts say stems from shutdowns during the coronavirus pandemic, when miles of empty roadways became race tracks for drivers' impromptu competitions. Santa Fe police Capt.
Thomas Grundler said street racing in the city occasionally has involved what appears to be an organized group of people, but more often it takes the form of more spontaneous, isolated incidents. "The car culture is very alive and well in Santa Fe," Grundler said. "A lot of people spend a lot of time and money .
