This is, IMO, exactly what happened. There was no racing, it's just a guy probably showing off his slick new wheels to his teammate but with no actual idea how to drive it. So he starts showing off and plows his car into a stop sign. No big deal, apart from the fact that people shouldn't be able to purchase cars like this without showing they can actually drive them. There's being able to drive a regular car, and there's a beast like this.
Anyways, this speaks nothing to Fred's character. Even if he is racing in a parking lot, who cares? He and whoever he's racing know the risk and at least they aren't doing it on regular streets.