Here's the big, grand, philisophical and theoretical difference between "speeding" and "street racing" that makes the former acceptable and the latter not:
If I hop in my car, and go looking for a twisty backroad to cruise down at a relatively quick pace, I personally do it around 8/10ths, varying slightly on occasion based on previous experience with a road. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've truly pushed the limits of my own skill and/or those of my car outside of a racetrack or autocross course, and all of those came when I was much dumber and less experienced than I am now. I would wager that the vast majority of "enthusiasts" like those populating this board would say nearly the same thing, because while we accept a certain level of increased risk by driving in that manner, none of us believes it to be dangerous; for one, driving at 8/10s leaves you some room to maneuver. You would be able to pull up a little shorter than you expected to, or turn in (or out) more than you had planned when something unforeseen occurs in front of you on your "course." At illegal, but not maximum, speeds, there is still room to err and not have
catastrophic results. Further, if conditions change, like the weather, road surface condition, visibility, traffic, etc. then I can and would simply slow down, same as the rest of you. No big deal, I didn't "lose" anything.
However, when you bring competition into that mix, you lose that margin of safety. It's pretty hard to win at an autocross or out in a legitimate race setting driving less than 10/10s, and that applies to street racing. You aren't leaving any braking power or cornering grip if you come around a bend and find a cow in the road. Or someone stepping off a sidewalk into a crosswalk. Or pulling out of a dirt driveway. Or any of a thousand unpredictable things that could happen. Plus, because a victory is at stake, you're much less willing to simply back off when you
know what you are doing is dangerous. People weave through traffic, or pass in oncoming turn lanes, or dozens of other stupid maneuvers.
This thinking frequently pervades even "group drives" which aren't actually competitive at all... but some people think there's something to prove by pushing their limits. Look at the bay area i-club drives last year- what was it, 4 in a row where a car was totalled, and a couple of kids even died in one? That's why I don't do group drives anymore, at least not ones without a very select, controlled group of participants. Not people who have great skill, but people who are familiar with each other and not bothered by not being the fastest, or by knowingly slowing their pace despite another group member's being faster.
To tie this into the subject at hand, the exact same philisophical difference applies to driving a tuned car fast, and
tuning a tuned car fast. If you're limiting yourself to road tuning, then you are guaranteeing that you must successfully accelerate from ~35 mph to ~90 mph 8-10 times, on the exact same piece of road. And fromt he tuner's persepctive, he has to do that several times a week, every week. Some people here know that, in spite of the presence of my V1, I do not speed on I-80 during the course of running my route for work, a span of 240 miles. This is because I know that, as I drive 1200 miles
every week on that stretch of road, which I know to be actively patrolled by CHP, I would drive the probability of getting caught well beyond 50%. However, if I am driving down the hill for other reasons, visiting family or the Sac crew, whatever, I usually do speed and depend on the V1 and my own awareness to avoid getting caught. The difference is that the probability of getting caught is much lower given my own attentiveness and the infrequency of those trips. The reward of reducing my travel time over the number of trips I make justifies the slight risk of a fine and a point on my driving record.
So, to spell out the point in no uncertain terms: Ed's accident was a CERTAINTY to occur at some point. It was not a freak occurence. What was lucky is that it was his own vehicle and not a customer's, and nobody was badly injured. But the accident was not "bad luck" for Ed like mine was 2 weeks ago.
In fact, the law itself sees this discussion the same way I do. This philisophical point of view is why murder is a capital crime, but kidnapping and rape aren't. It's why you get a fine for being caught speeding, but have your car impounded and/or confiscated and sold, and large fines and/or jail time and/or multiple points against your driving record. "Illegal" and "dangerous" are not synonymous in the eyes of the law.