Late Night Car Meet Ends In Dodge Charger Flambe
A Dodge Charger burst into flames after an impromptu drift exhibition for a crowd of people in a California parking lot on Monday morning. The local news, of course, framed the situation as an escalating threat to the community backed by hoards of street racers who just love illegal shenanigans — a half truth.
According to KTLA, the incident occurred shortly after midnight near the Walmart located in the Anaheim Plaza. Jaime Guzman, who works security for the area, said he was making his rounds when he saw a crowd gathered in the parking lot to watch vehicles perform a ludicrous amount of donuts. This claim was backed up by video footage
Guzman claimed only three or four cars were showing off, one of which he said struck a tree. The other casualty was the aforementioned Dodge Charger. After finishing its run, smoke started billowing from beneath the hood until the front end was engulfed in flames.
Anaheim Fire Department firefighters responded to the scene and managed to put out the fire, but the police were unable to catch the driver. In fact, Officer Heinzel of the Anaheim Police Department said no arrests have been made in relation to the incident.
While this definitely wasn’t the safest idea in the world, we’re glad to see these Ken Block wannabes kept their automotive hijinks off public roads. If you’re going to accidentally hit someone, it might as well be somebody that chose to be there.
[Image: KTLA]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Forget safety. Burning rubber while going nowhere is air pollution. And stupid beyond reason. May they all burst in flames.
Drifting is for morons and hopefully the insurance company will reject this claim placing it entirely on the driftwood driving it.
Yeah - I know I'm required to appreciate all kinds of motorsports...but I can't work up much sympathy for these guys. You look at what they're doing...it just screams "ignorant" to me.
I'd still like an extinguisher with fry powder...