Between May 14 and 17, about 100 police from Hume, Moreland, Brimbank, Moonee Valley, Darebin and Diamond Creek conducted Operation Liquorice in the industrial estates of Campbellfield, Thomastown and Tullamarine, where the dangerous culture is thriving.

Up to 300 people at a time have been racing, with as many watching the illegal street action.

Police fined 829 people with committing traffic offences. Twenty-eight were charged with drink-driving. Police impounded eight vehicles and handed out 224 unroadworthy notices.

But clinical psychologist Simon Crisp said the only way to prevent people from taking dangerous risks like these was to help them to take modest risks at a young age in a controlled environment.

"It's almost like they're making up for lost time," he said.

"It's a normal and healthy thing for young people to take risks. They need to do this in order to make proper judgements later in life.

"However, being able to take those risks safely needs to be developed from a young age so by the time they're grown they understand the causes and effects."

Organisations like Calder Park Raceway in Diggers Rest have provided a successful outlet for young people to take those risks in a "safe" and "controlled environment" for 27 years.

Until a recent hiatus, the raceway ran fortnightly drag racing meets that drew crowds of about 500.

General manager Dean Mansueto said the raceway was in the process of upgrading safety facilities and revamping the events to include other forms of entertainment.

"It's an outlet for the kids where they come and they race and we try and do that in an environment that's as safe as possible," Mr Mansueto said.

"On the street there's no safety at all. There'll be 500 kids around a car doing a burnout and all that needs to happen is for it to get traction and it will wipe out dozens of them."