On illegal rides or street grabs, drivers show off their skills and their cars. Now an attorney for Kansas City fringe shows says he has created a legal way for drivers to participate.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Illegal street takeovers, known as sideshows, plague many cities. If you're not familiar with the term, the sideshow features drivers spinning their cars at breakneck speeds at public intersections. They disrupt traffic flow, can pose a threat to spectators and in some cases can be fatal. But in Kansas City, a small business owner has created a legal and safe space for all the spectacle. KCUR radio's Brandon Azim reports.
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BRANDON AZIM, BYLINE: On a weekend afternoon, hundreds of spectators surround a giant asphalt pit in the Kansas City area. They watch drivers of modified cars burn rubber and make a 360-degree circle around a tower of tires. Twenty-year-old Colin “Vegas Baby” Jones stood behind the tire safety barrier and showed off his 2008 V6 Mustang.
COLIN JONES: Honestly, a lot of people don't like this car because they think it doesn't have any horsepower. But you get a welded differential and nothing under the hood – just nothing. Just straight out 4.0(f) – and this thing will break.
AZIM: Jones says he expected to one day get arrested for his part in illegal drifting, but he says the adrenaline rush is too tempting.
JONES: It's a mesmerizing feeling, that's what it is. Their version used to be to drag race and improve their 70s cars. Our version is different. These are modern times and we like to park our cars sideways.
AZIM: Jones is glad he now has a legitimate place called the Throttle Dome, where hard braking and explosive speed are allowed.
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AZIM: At a downtown intersection six miles away, Kansas City Police Sergeant Phil DiMartino stands where illegal performances have occurred in the past. He says sideshows, legal or illegal, are breeding grounds for trauma.
PHIL DIMARTINO: It's an element of danger that exists. These cars crashed. They got into accidents.
AZIM: And there was violence too. In 2023, a 20-year-old suburban man who was a spectator at a sideshow in Kansas City was fatally shot. So many cities, including Kansas City, have taken steps to limit such car stunts on public streets. For example, in Oakland, California, white poles were installed at intersections. Kansas City did something similar by adding rumble stripes to slow-spinning cars. Sergeant DiMartino says they are reducing the number of pop-ups, but the data shows otherwise. As of mid-December, the number of sideshow mentions has increased from 171 last year to 204 in 2025.
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AZIM: The Throttle Dome has been open since May. Owner Desmound Logan bought the land on which the dome sits and founded a business on it, providing both a safe space for drifting and a place where drivers can modify their cars.
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AZIM: He says he's tired of watching drivers get injured and put the safety of spectators and the public at risk. He also says that because of the 2023 shooting, he has made it clear that anyone found with a weapon cannot participate and will be asked to leave.
DESMOUND LOGAN: This is the safest place for the automotive community. And there are no pistols, no grenades, no knives – none of that. We take it all out straight from the front.
AZIM: Logan's dream is for the police to see Choke Dome as a possible solution that they could tackle together.
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AZIM: Back on the track, Colin Jones gets ready to get into his shiny red Mustang. He said he knows the risks associated with street racing, but in this safer environment he's willing to take them.
JONES: It was everything we could have dreamed of in one place, and Kansas City desperately needed it. What Kansas City is really about is lowriders, nice cars and big asses (ph).
AZIM: He hopes the Dome's popularity will move dirty and dangerous sideshows off the streets and force others to provide more legal venues for sideshow enthusiasts to showcase their talents.
For NPR News, I'm Brandon Azim in Kansas City.
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