KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Roaring engines, squealing tires and crowds of people. You may have heard about them, actually heard them, or seen them, but what exactly is a sideshow?

A sideshow is a gathering where drivers perform stunts. Sideshows. are now often held in vacant lots, and public intersections. 

According to KCPD this issue may be growing. 

Saturday, September 12, an illegal sideshow was held on southwest boulevard and West 26th street. 
Video from the scene showed hundreds of bystanders and dozens of cars. The drivers performed stunts through the busy intersection, endangering hundreds.

Five days later they returned this time as they were in the middle of drifting someone opened fire, killing one woman and injuring another. 

Mayor Quinton Lucas says reckless events like this breed tragedy. 

“I don’t like having to express condolences to people time and again when we have events where perhaps a better security presence could have helped us out some bit more.“ Lucas said.

He said laws need to be obeyed because they are created to protect the safety of others.

“Look, rules are here to make people safe,” he said. “Rules are here so that, if a car spins out of control and hits a bunch of people in the crowd, there is some level of insurance to make sure the hospital bills are paid for. Rules exist so that we actually know that we can shut off streets to make sure that it is a safer environment.”

Desmound Logan is an advocate for legal sideshows. He hosts “Smoke the Tires, Not the Homies.” 
He said creating a space for these drivers to legally perform will cut down on the illegal shows.

“Well, the illegal sideshows are illegal. They are just doing it because they have nowhere to do it. I have been trying to tell them that,” Logan Said. “When I started on 59th and prospect, we contained them at the car wars.”

Sideshow hosts are asking the city for a place where they can legally perform.