Street racing 15 years ago was just as stupid as it was now, only the races then took longer to finish. Back then, a (completely stock) 1990 Mustang GT 5.0 was just about the fastest thing you'd come across, minus the really rich guy who would show up in his C4 Corvette and wax everybody. A 1990 Iroc Z was to be feared by all, and I was smoking a ton of people in my ultra-sweet 1991 GSX Eclipse. Nothing much has changed except (1) the horsepower involved and (2) the sheer number of people participating in the lunacy.
IMO, street racing will always be stupid and a little senseless. So is drinking heavily, but that won't keep me from doing either from time to time, I'd imagine. I firmly believe, however, that the "danger factor" has went up significantly in the past 15 years due to increase in HP seen in the cars racing on the street. Fuck, just five years ago, 500rwhp would own just about 90% of things on the street; now, 500rwhp will get you ninth place at a small dyno day meet.