Street racing and sideshows persist in KC despite police efforts. What’s the solution?

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A perennial problem on Kansas City streets is heating up again with the re-emergence of “sideshows,” illegal street racing and automotive stunts.

In early April, police on both sides of the state line in Kansas City arrested and cited dozens of people participating in such sideshows, where drivers do doughnuts, burnouts, and other stunts while a group of spectators watch. The illegal events often happen late at night along public streets.

Sideshows have led to at least two local deaths in recent years. In 2022, a spectator was killed after being run over by a vehicle performing stunts on Front Street, and in 2023, another man was shot and killed at a sideshow near Meyer Boulevard and Swope Parkway.

Despite years of modifying roads across the city, investment in deterrence efforts from the Kansas City Public Works Department and police crackdowns, the sideshows have persisted.

“It’s dangerous and we don’t want to see anyone get hurt, not even one person,” said Bruce Holloway, a leader at the Historic West Bottoms Neighborhood Association.

Holloway said there have been fewer vehicle stunts around Liberty Courtyard after the city made road modifications. But now, he said, there seems to be more sideshows in private lots, creating headaches for business owners.

“I think there’s been some deterrence of the activity on the public spaces, the public lots, and maybe not as much on the private lots,” Holloway said. “There’s still work to be done.”

Police and pucks used to deter sideshows

A year ago, the city cut grooves into pavement in downtown hot spots. In 2022, the city debuted what are called “pucks,” small, elevated installations that adhere to the road and don’t interfere with normal driving, but get in the way of vehicles performing moves like “donuts.”

“We’re seeing it throughout the West Bottoms,” Holloway said of the sideshows. “We’ve been advocating for help with it from the police department and they seem to be responding.”

Kansas City, Kansas, police touted a collaboration with Kansas City police in a joint operation this month to combat the dangerous events.

On the Missouri side, KCPD disabled 39 vehicles with “stop-sticks,” arrested four people on city charges, made one felony arrest, issued 27 citations and towed three cars. A child endangerment charge was issued to a man who police allege brought a 7-year-old child to the event.

In KCK, police disabled 30 vehicles with “stop-sticks,” issued 32 citations, made three arrests and towed five vehicles.

The sideshows are carefully planned, but “recklessly executed,” with participants and spectators fleeing at high speeds, KCK police said in a news release. The sideshows have proven to be a source of violence and serious injury accidents, police said.

“These sideshows are not casual meetups of car enthusiasts,” said KCK police Maj. Violeta Magee, commander of the department’s east patrol.

Local car enthusiasts agree.

‘Definitely a big drain’

Bugra Durukan is a founder of KC Cars and Coffee. He started the organization a decade ago with his friend Stephen Cook when they noticed a lack of regular, safe events in the metro for car enthusiasts.

“It’s definitely a big drain on the automotive world,” he said of the sideshows.

In contrast to sideshows, his group invites police out to their events, usually held the last Saturday of the month from March through October.

“Our biggest focus has been to have a safe automotive-focused event that you can take your entire family to,” Durukan said. “We’re always shouting from the rooftops, ‘no burnouts, no speeding, no illegal activity.’”

Durukan said there are a few reasons the sideshows happen, but argues that the city can do more to deter participants.

They happen more, he said, because people are chasing a fleeting moment of fame in a viral video of their stunt, and because cars are more powerful than they used to be. He said they also happen because there is a lack of education for younger generations about ways to show off their cars in a legal and safe way.

Durukan runs Curnow Reserve, a dealership focused on high-performance and exotic cars. In years past, he said, “Hellcats” were stolen from him to be used in sideshows, and were returned by police after the cars were found wrecked.

“I have so many different clients and friends... in the automotive world and every one of us is trying to do everything we can to display to the public that we are not one in the same (with sideshows),” Durukan said.

Watching sideshows is illegal

Two months ago, the weekend of Feb. 25, KCPD responded to a large sideshow in south Kansas City. Officers towed five vehicles and 21 people were given $100 citations. Police warned in an announcement on X, formerly Twitter, that watching these events is also illegal.

KCPD released a video this month of helicopter surveillance of a sideshow, which blocked off the intersection of Blue Ridge Boulevard and Sni-A-Bar Road. KCKPD shared a video of officers deploying “stop-sticks” to cars speeding away as police began to issue tickets.

Capt. Jacob Becchina, a police spokesperson, said the Kansas City Council has passed ordinances that make participating in or watching sideshows and street races illegal.

“These ordinances have been used for citations on some occasions and vehicles have been towed,” Becchina said. “Our traffic division is actively engaged within our department to address these concerns.”

Violators can face a $150 fine or 30 days in jail for a first offense. For a second offense, violators can face a $300 fine or 60 days in jail. Third and subsequent offenses can come with a $500 fine or six months in jail.

Spectators can face a $100 fine for each offense.

Report sideshow activity, illegal street racing

Holloway said he encourages his neighbors and businesses in the West Bottoms to report activity as soon as they see it.

“The approach we’re taking is that if folks see something in the area, then (we ask) they pick up the phone and report it,” Holloway said. “I think the best answer is awareness and to get people engaged with helping out. Police can’t do it by themselves.”

In 2022, KCPD said part of the problem with deterring sideshows was city ordinances that were historically permissive to them. Stiffer fines and penalties were added in 2021, and since then police have worked with local leaders to identify a better approach to deter them.

Officer Alayna Gonzalez, a KCPD spokesperson, said police have not received reports of sideshows where street grooves are used. But there has been activity in other places known for sideshows.

“We also have a detective who has been specifically designated to work on identifying vehicles and people involved in illegal street racing or sideshow activity to present cases for prosecution,” Gonzales said.

Gonzalez said participants in vehicle sideshows would not typically meet KCPD’s criteria to engage in a police pursuit (chase). A 20-page document outlining the vehicle pursuit policy describes how officers decide whether or not to pursue drivers suspected of a crime. Officers will not chase a sideshow participant unless they meet specific criteria, like being suspected of a violent felony.

“As always, in any instance where we are notified of street racing activity, officers are called to respond for enforcement efforts, which can include a variety of elements to include our helicopter unit,” Gonzalez said.

“By continuing our focus on creative efforts (such as the street grooves), discussions surrounding revised or new legislation, and community outreach are all important factors in putting a stop to illegal street activity and making our roadways safer,” she said.

Street grooves are on roads at the intersection of Grand Boulevard and Truman Road, inside of Swope Park and the West Bottoms under Interstate 670. There are plans to put more grooves in 18 other locations throughout the city.

City officials said it will take time to tell if these road modifications have long-term effects and if they are effective in deterring sideshows.

“The data showing the impact on the roadway will not be analyzed immediately, but over several years,” said Sherae Honeycutt, a spokesperson for Kansas City.

Honeycutt said the “pucks” or “traffic buttons” used in the past were effective, but had durability issues when met with snow plows and other winter operations.

Other ways of improving traffic safety in KC

Loosely related to sideshows is the city’s Vision Zero plan. While it will not specifically go to sideshow deterrents, the program aims to improve the safety of Kansas City’s streets by funding solutions to pedestrian challenges.

Among more than 100 other Vision Zero improvements, the city created curb extensions and pedestrian islands to create barriers in the street. You can see this work along Grand Boulevard at 12th Street. More than $4 million is allocated to Vision Zero in this fiscal year’s budget.

“The goal is to find solutions that do not create a significant cost to the taxpayer but create systemic change in how drivers using the road in adverse ways can navigate,” she said.

Car enthusiasts talk about community solutions

While they may not be widely discussed, there are outlets for local car enthusiasts to push their cars and skills to the limit, albeit in a controlled environment.

Bill Johnson, a leader of the KC Region of the Sports Car Club of America, said the increase in sideshows is troubling and makes him wonder if his organization is doing enough to market safe and legal automotive events.

“Part of it’s social, part of it is just people showing off,” Johnson said of the sideshows.

He argues having a safe space where people are allowed to race, show off and have some fun could be a solution to its dangerous alternative. His sports car club allows people to do a lot of the same things, without breaking laws.

“It gives you the opportunity to take your car out and drive it in a way you can’t do on the street legally,” he said.

Johnson said his organization has limited resources to promote all of its events: autocross, rally-cross, road racing and road rallies; but believes they could be the kind of outlet sideshow participants are wanting.

Durukan said he agreed and suggested the city get involved in the promotion and creation of other legal car shows.

“If more and more people realized how quickly things can go south at these sideshows because a lack of safety, you might entice some of the younger generation to avoid it,” Durukan said. “And giving them a space to actually do some of this stuff.”

But even with these outlets available, Durukan said he feels sideshows will be an issue as long as there are no real consequences for participants.

“I know our police do some of the greatest push back for these (sideshows) but it seems there’s also a lot of difficulty in getting a final prosecution all the way through to where they’re not just back out doing it again,” Durukan said.

The Star’s Anna Spoerre contributed to this report.