SAN DIEGO — George Waller Jr. and Lawrence Calhoun lived for the night. When the sun went down, they traded their mundane day jobs for gleaming cars with souped-up engines and joined the cavalcade of other hot rods prowling the city streets in search of a drag race.

Then on one Sunday night last fall, Waller, in a vintage Plymouth, squared off against Calhoun and his blue El Camino. But neither crossed the finish line that night.

The race ended in a fireball of screeching tires and crumpled metal that left a pair of teenage sweethearts dead, another teen gravely injured and Waller and Calhoun facing murder charges and 30 years in prison.

George Waller Jr. was driving the Plymouth that crashed into another car, killing two.

Their trial, set to begin Wednesday, is the first San Diego murder case stemming from a drag race and unfolds in a city already at war with the street racing subculture. Shanna Jump and Brian Hanson, the victims of Calhoun and Waller's race, were just two of 16 people killed as the result of illegal street races in San Diego last year.

In this southern California city of 1.2 million an entire unit of undercover police detectives works full time to infiltrate the drag racing circles. Concerned citizens try to discourage street races with safe and legal competitions at the local stadium and the city has outlawed even watching the races.

Brian Hanson, one of two who died in the accident

But street racing, with its speed, excitement and glamorization in movies such as "The Fast and the Furious," still proves magnetic to young people. Authorities hope charging Calhoun and Waller, fixtures of the local drag racing scene, with murder sends a strong message that street racers risk not only the lives of innocent bystanders, but also their own freedom.

On Oct. 6, Waller, a 32-year-old school custodian, met up with Calhoun, a 29-year-old employed by a heating and air conditioning company, on a quarter-mile stretch of Imperial Avenue known for drag racing.

According to the prosecution, both men were driving cars that had been modified to go faster than normal vehicles. Calhoun's 1984 Chevrolet El Camino had a distinctive instrument panel and a special fuel line. Waller's 1968 Plymouth Barracuda sported extra horsepower.

One motorist on Imperial Avenue that night told police that he heard the roar of engines behind him shortly before 7 p.m. and pulled to a side street in fear.

The motorist said the El Camino and the Barracuda were coursing down Imperial Avenue side by side. The Barracuda, he recalled, had its headlights off and the vehicles appeared to be going 100 miles per hour. The speed limit was 50 mph.

Shanna Jump was making a left turn in her Geo when she was hit. She did not survive.

At about the same time, 19-year-old college student Shanna Jump was driving her Geo Storm in the opposite direction along Imperial. Her boyfriend, Brian Hanson, and his 17-year-old brother, Michael, were passengers.

According to police accident reconstruction experts, Jump slowed her vehicle and attempted to make a left hand turn in front of Calhoun and Waller. Waller's Barracuda, going about 87 mph, collided with the Geo, which was going about 12 mph. The Geo suffered "catastrophic" damage.

"It was literally almost broken in half by the magnitude of the collision," accident reconstruction specialist Ernest Phillips testified during a preliminary hearing.

Jump and Brian Hanson were killed and Michael Hanson suffered brain damage so severe that nine months later, he is unable to walk or feed himself.

Waller and a passenger in his car, Jason Moore, were also hospitalized. Police say that Calhoun, whose El Camino was untouched, did a U-turn and drove away from the accident.

According to the prosecution, he phoned a few friends to tell them that there had been a bad wreck and someone might have died.

George Waller Jr.'s vintage Plymouth (top) crashed into Shanna Jump's Geo.

Investigators found pamphlets in Calhoun's car that warned against drag racing and mentioned the high number of street racing fatalities that year.

Deputy District Attorney Blaine Bowman charged the pair with two counts of second-degree murder, saying they were aware street racing was dangerous and raced anyhow. A judge who determined in January that there was enough evidence to try the men for murder said, "This is nothing but a giant tragedy for everybody."

Calhoun's defense may argue that he is not responsible for the accident and both men may tell jurors that the lesser charge of manslaughter is more appropriate.

Even before the deaths of Jump and Hanson, San Diego was the epicenter of the battle against illegal street racing in California. In 1998, a public health professor at San Diego State University decided injuries and deaths from drag racing constituted a public health epidemic and helped create a legal, safe venue for enthusiasts to use.

Called Racelegal.com, the program sponsors Friday night races in the parking lot of Qualcomm Stadium. The races draw some 2,000 spectators and more than 200 racers.

But while Racelegal.com reduced the problem, it did not come close to eliminating it. In 2001, when police officers routinely saw 1,200 spectators at illegal drag races, the San Diego police department organized the Drag-Net unit, believed to be the first full-time undercover detective squad devoted to illegal racing.

The police department says the squad has severely reduced the number of races and that spectators now number in the tens rather than the hundreds.

San Diego also has tried to attack the problem with new laws. Last October, the city council made being a spectator at a drag race a crime punishable by six months in jail and a $1000 fine. This spring, the council unanimously passed a second law permitting police to seize and sell cars used in illegal drag racing.