If you get all your street racing knowledge from the Fast and Furious movie series and Street Outlaws, you might not be aware of the sideshow or “takeover” phenomenon. In some large urban areas, like Philadelphia, the San Francisco/Oakland megalopolis, and metro Los Angeles as seen in the video above, groups of, well, let’s be nice and call them “car enthusiasts” gather to, well, let’s be nice and say, “enjoy their hobby” on public streets.

Run, dude! He’s coming right at you!

Large crowds gather, cars and trucks do donuts at random, and eventually the police show up and ticket as many participants as they can identify. Sometimes, as we see in this video, drivers inadvertently smack their cars into curbs, light poles, and other immovable objects. Sometimes, if they’re really unlucky, they hit a bystander or two, and depending on the severity of the injury and the mood of the crowd, they risk immediate retribution.

In this recent video, shot in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles, a fourth gen Camaro driver makes multiple attempts at starting a donut in the middle of the street, only to be unable to really break traction and get the burnout going. This leads to several near-misses with the crowd, before finally smacking the curb with the right rear wheel hard enough to get the car to bounce a few inches in the air.

No matter though – the “fun” continues until the arrival of the police leads to the crowd scattering, and our cameraman makes a narrow escape in the back seat of what looks like a Camry. You know the old saying – “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes…”

GET TO THE CAMRY!