There’s nothing quite like a car show in a small town. There are classic cars on display, vendors, activities for the kids, rolling burnouts down Main Street… wait, what? While we generally discourage illegal tire smoking shenanigans, Kruisin’ Kittitas Car Show and Burnouts in Kittitas, Washington actively encourages participants to light ’em up in a sanctioned, controlled manner.
“This is the only burnouts on public streets in the United States that we can find, so it’s a pretty unique event,” President of the Kittitas County Chamber of Commerce Amy McGuffin told Apple Valley News Now. While the burnout competition in the middle of Main Street is the grand finale, the car show takes center stage for much of the day. Other activities include a mini golf course, a poker walk (like a poker run, but without the motorcycles), and various food trucks and other vendors. It’s much like any other small town festival across the U.S., this one just happens to feature big smoky burnouts down the main drag at the end, which is not something you see every day.
Light ’em up legally
While burnout competitions aren’t unusual in themselves, they generally take place in a designated burnout box on private property, not on a public road. The key to avoiding the destruction of public property is to require rolling burnouts to avoid tearing up one particular piece of the road. In fact, quite a few rules are in place to ensure a safe competition. Drivers must remain centered over the double yellow line at all times. Officials can flag a driver to stop at any time if there’s a safety concern, and they will be disqualified if they don’t stop. This keeps speeds slow and cars under control to prevent the stereotypical Mustang incidents we’ve covered a billion times.
This is the part where we’d typically write yet another reminder not to do burnouts like an idiot. But if you can make it to central Washington for next year’s Kruisin’ Kittitas event, knock yourself out. Because where else can you legally do a big smoky burnout down the middle of Main Street?
