CHATSWORTH >> For years, a stretch of wide blacktop notorious for late-night street racing was known as the Canoga Speedway.

Now a couple of years after two fans were killed during an illegal race, Los Angeles officials have installed a “rumble strip” to combat street racing.

“Are we ready to rumble?” asked Councilman Mitch Englander, whose district includes the fateful drag strip, during a morning news conference next to a newly completed test strip on Plummer Street between Canoga Avenue and Topanga Canyon Boulevard. “Today we are sending a message that our streets are not racetracks. We are not going to tolerate this activity any longer.”

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Englander joined Los Angeles police and transportation officials at Chatsworth Business Park along the four-lane boulevard where two people were killed and one person seriously injured in February 2015 during an illegal street race between a Ford Mustang and a Nissan GTR.

Along a commercial drive lined with pepper, pine and sycamore trees were 20-foot sections now blocked out with slightly raised reflective test strips running across the road. Each strip, spaced roughly two paces apart, was designed to lightly work a car’s suspension.

Each passing car, while experiencing a momentary loss of traction, made a “bap-bap-bap-bap” sound as it passed by a half-dozen TV cameras.

And that is precisely what’s meant to deter speed racers that count on every bit of rubber hitting the road, police and traffic engineers said.

Since the rumble strips were installed a week ago, they said not one race car has gunned it down Plummer Street, while average traffic speeds fell 10 percent.

Narrow corridors along the curbs were left free of the rumble grid so as to not jar or upset passing bicyclists.

“This is another tool that we have at our disposal to combat speeding, where speed humps are not possible,” said Brian Gallagher, a senior traffic engineer for the Department of Transportation.

Rumble strips have been installed to thwart general speeding on other streets in the city, including westbound Burbank Boulevard near Hayvenhurst Avenue in Encino.

Last month, Englander launched a motion to test such strips as a potential deterrent against illegal street racing.

In the past 5½ years, nine deaths have been linked to the sophisticated late-night races, police said, which can form in a flash and quickly disband at the site of cops. Another 64 people have been injured.

“That’s nine deaths too many, plus 64 injured who shouldn’t have been injured,” said Capt. Andrew Neiman of Valley Traffic Division.

The new strips across Plummer would be the first attempt to employ rumble technology to curb illegal street racing. If successful, such rumble strips could be laid down in other areas prone to squealing racers.

The pilot project on Plummer, a gift from a contractor, would have cost about $25,000, Englander said. The rumble strip technology, too loud to be laid down near homes, is perfect for the wide San Fernando Valley commercial corridors or industrial zones preferred by race buffs.

The city may soon consider a motion by Englander to impound the cars used by suspected race-car drivers for 30 days and seize and destroy cars involved in any race-related injuries.

“We really need to take our streets back; that’s the bottom line,” Englander told reporters. “These are not racetracks. And people are being killed in record numbers. We will continue to expand this pilot project into other areas.”