Car sideshows are no doubt dangerous and loud, especially since most of them take place at night on major roads and intersections. That’s why one man from New York City was shocked to find out one very late night that the sideshow culture had made its way into his neighborhood and in a rather loud fashion– at least loud enough to draw the cops’ attention.
Footage of the incident was captured by a New Yorker and Reddit user CardiologistMobile54, who then shared it on the NYC subreddit and has since gone viral on the sub. The New Yorker was audibly upset at the sideshow which took place in the Avenue J and Bay Parkway intersection in Brooklyn, New York, and happened to be just outside of his apartment at “3 o’clock in the morning”, nonetheless.
In the video, you can see multiple cars drifting around the intersection, and they’re also surrounded by a sizable crowd. In most sideshows, members of the crowd would often deliberately get in harm’s way, or the cars would even try to swerve into them, leading to collisions. And while that didn’t seem to have happened in this particular sideshow, the Reddit user and his neighbors were more exasperated at the noise the event was causing. Fireworks were notably present, further adding to the neighborhood’s grievances.
A few more minutes into the event, however, police cars, likely from NYPD, came driving in, and the crowd dispersed with the Reddit user exclaiming in relief, “Finally, the police show up. Wow!” It appears the residents around the area quickly reported the disturbance. It’s not clear whether the police caught some of the participants of the sideshow or not, though this kind of car culture would likely prevail.
People online were questioning “why”
Some comments have pointed out just how surprising it was for sideshow meets to finally make in New York and in a neighborhood that’s predominantly Jewish (according to the Reddit poster). Sideshows were apparently popular in states like California, and not something you’d see in New York. Hence, it wasn’t uncommon for some people to make certain assumptions, alluding to Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected New York mayor, even though the two notions are unrelated, and sideshows are not new to New York.
“Wait when did NYC start doing sideshows? Definitely thought this was a Bay Area thing only,” questioned one Reddit comment. Another sarcastically claimed that “Don’t worry. Be happy. Your new mayor will soon fix all your problems.” Of course, regardless of how the New York sideshow is related to the current political climate, most of the New Yorkers were simply questioning the event.
“How is this fun for people? I get the driver having fun af but to be a spectator seems lame,” asks a commenter. “What’s crazy is they got private tracks they can pay to do this all through the Hudson valley 🤔. I dont feel bad when they get arrested or car taken. Bunch of dudes trying to impress random girls,” claims another. Such sentiments have led others to assume that the sideshow is trying to imitate pop culture, “Vin Diesel wannabes,” as one commenter pointed out.
