INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana State Police recently announced dozens of arrests and even more stolen cars recovered from illegal street racing and "spinning" events.
Spinning is when a large group gathers late at night in a park, parking lot, street, or even interstate and does "donuts" with their cars. Nine people were arrested in the latest investigation, and police said more arrests were expected.
The trend has car club owners, like Jacob Ross, frustrated that it could give car lovers a bad rep.
"A lot of car enthusiasts do not approve and do not like those events. Takeovers, spinnings, or whatever you want to call them – they're just bad news," Ross said. "People get hit at them. They start doing donuts – people gather in a circle. Sometimes they bring out gasoline – set things on fire. It's ridiculous and unsafe."
Ross owns Indy Hood Rats Car Club in Indianapolis.
"Going on our fourth year now, and we do a lot of different types of events. We do road rallies, car shows," Ross said.
Ross said his group features everything from the exotic to the muscle cars. He recently heard about ISP and IMPD's crackdown on illegal spinning events.
"It really tarnishes what the car community really stands for and what we want to do in Indianapolis," Ross said.
Ross said legit car clubs run their events legally with permits and permission. He even plans some of his events six months in advance.
"At our events, I pay police officers to be at our events and to do them – just to make there's no drama, there's no spinning, no burn outs," Ross said.
State police said the illegal events have caused thousands of dollars in damage to local businesses. For Ross, he makes sure his car club insurance properly covers any type of damage at his events.
"So, if I'm at a shop, hosting an event there – if somebody does something to their shop, busts a window, or does a burnout, messes up their parking lot – we have insurance to cover that," Ross said. "So, all of our stuff is by the book 100 percent no shortcuts."
While Ross continues to set a good example, he's hoping the wrongdoers can be held accountable, so the car community doesn't get bad light.
"This is taking over everywhere and they're going to curb it, one way or another they will shut it all down," Ross said.
In total, police said they've arrested more than 40 people and recovered over 80 stolen cars from these types of gatherings.