DETROIT – A group of donut drivers who have caused mayhem on the streets of Detroit took their stunt driving to a private lot over the weekend with police looking on.
“Sunday fun day” was held at a private lot off West Warren Avenue in front of Detroit police officers. It’s the type of setup the stunt driving community has been looking forward to for quite some time.
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It’s not the area drivers were working with Detroit police to find, but in the meantime, it keeps them off the streets.
“It’s like a temporary lot until they finalize the paperwork for the DPD lot that they’re giving us,” said Tommie Mahone, a garage shop owner and stunt driver. “Just the feeling of not worrying about the cops shutting it down or running from the cops -- that was just surreal.”
The gathering of spectators and drivers doing donuts will now be held on Sundays at the lot on Detroit’s west side.
“That’s where we have to have it because we don’t want anybody complaining," Mahone said. “We don’t want traffic backed up. You know, we don’t want to take it out into the streets.”
Although traffic congestion might no longer be an issue, some are concerned about how close spectators get to the cars that are sometimes barreling out of control.
“When a car is doing its thing in the pit, the spectators want to come close, get the best video, see the best footage and get the best point of view,” Mahone said.
The group plans to put new safety precautions into place.
“With these lots, we’re going to set up barriers completely around the pit, like a big square, and that’s going to be the vantage point of all the spectators,” Mahone said. “So the only thing that’s going to be in the pit is the cars.”
Some people who work in the area said this arrangement should have been made a long time ago.
“It keeps everybody off the street and out of trouble,” said a man who works in the area. “We won’t have all these problems with people holding up traffic."
There aren’t any homes around the lot because most of the buildings are abandoned or out of the way. That should make it less likely that people complain about the noise.
“Everything’s in one spot. This is the way it should happen,” Mahone said.