In Minneapolis, street racing has become a common occurrence throughout the late hours of the evening with groups of young adults. At several events this summer, things have turned violent, resulting in injuries and some deaths.
Steve Marsh, a reporter with Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine, talked with News Talk 830 WCCO's Jason DeRusha about the culture and what he found while embedded with the city's street racers.
"I wanted to see what was actually going wrong," Marsh said.
Marsh shared that while he has seen some of the "Fast and the Furious" movies and driven a few nicer cars, he is not a car guy. However, he could hear the street racers from his home in Minneapolis, and he had a connection to one of the deaths this summer, leading him to want to know more.
"One of the kids that was killed in June went to my high school," Marsh said.
Marsh got in contact with the crowds after one of his friends' nephews gave him the accounts on Instagram that they follow.
"It's usually young men showing off for each other on social media, so I contacted a bunch of drivers and groups, and I got some callbacks," Marsh said.
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When he got in touch with one of the young men, a 23-year-old who goes by E in his story, he sat down and interviewed him. After some discussion, E agreed to bring him along to a Friday night race scene.
While they jumped from place to place, avoiding the police, Marsh saw what it was like to be a part of the crowd.
In E's car, Marsh said that he could see the control he had over the vehicle while going 140 mph on Interstate 94 and doing tricks in empty parking lots.
While at the events, Marsh talked with drivers, and in his story, he wrote that many of them think the cops and social media misrepresent them.
"A lot of them were bummed out that their time for having fun has gotten people hurt and drawn attention to them as this symbol for something wrong with our city," Marsh said.
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Over the last two summers, the pandemic has kept many drivers off the roads, and Marsh said that this has turned what would be a group of 50 drivers into a group of 150 plus.
"Everybody has gotten more reckless driving, and these kids had the run of the streets for a couple of summers in a row, and now it's kind of reached this point where it's drawing a lot of media attention," Marsh said.
Marsh acknowledged that the cars are a problem and that they have had some serious issues.
"These cars are a nuisance, they are noisy, and there have actually been people who have gotten killed in crossfire with some gang activity," Marsh said.
However, with the pandemic and the death of George Floyd reducing the staffing of the Minneapolis Police Department, it has been challenging for the police to get control of those involved.
Marsh shared that E argued if there was a place he could do his tricks and racing, there wouldn't be any issues, but officials like Hennepin County Sheriff Hutchinson have dismissed the idea altogether.
With the street racing continuing and local law enforcement stretched thin, there is no answer as to when or if the late-night gatherings will stop.
