ATLANTA — A community is frustrated with what one neighbor said is a frequent meetup of drag racers, creating large crowds and chaos in Atlanta. Now this neighbor is exhausting all options in hopes that police, the city or businesses do something to put a stop to it.
"Music is playing loud, they're doing burnouts, they're doing drag racing up and down the driveway here," Chuck McClain said. "And it's very disturbing."
McClain lives near Moreland Avenue in southeast Atlanta. He said the drivers typically meet in the parking lot between Wells Fargo and Aldi off Moreland Avenue SE and host meetups between 11:45 p.m. to 2 a.m. or longer. The gatherings are happening at least every other weekend, if not more frequent, and drawing crowds nearing 100 people, McClain said.
"I was just shocked, I've never seen it before. I've never lived anywhere where they did it before," he said. "I've heard it happening in other places in the city and across the country, but I didn't think they'd do it here."
It's not that authorities don't know, McClain said, explaining that when the Atlanta Police Department is called officers usually show up in about 10 to 15 minutes and clear out the crowd. Georgia State Patrol has even shown up, he said.
However, it doesn't seem to deter drivers from coming back.
"I was dead asleep, and I heard all the noise and thought 'Oh gosh, not again,'" he said. "I look out my window and you see the donuts or whatever you call it -- spinouts they're doing over there."
McClain said he and his neighbors are fed up. He's called Aldi and CVS, which is also near the parking lot, corporate offices with officials from both companies saying they're aware of the problem but the issue is out of their hands, adding it is up to law enforcement and city officials to resolve.
"I can't believe they're allowed to do that first of all because it's after hours," he said, adding that people take over the store lots and park on private property to watch.
Beyond the meet-ups being a nuisance, according to McClain, it's dangerous.
"The first time I saw it there was some gunshots," McClain said. "Yesterday, three of them almost collided 'cause they were going around in circles at the same and one of the two almost collided into the other."
He explained that as many as three cars could be doing donuts, fearing that if one spins out too far it can crash into drivers or people watching nearby.
McClain believes setting up speed bumps leading into the parking lot could help keep the alleged drag racers away. Adding security cameras with lights could also help prevent the meet-ups, he said.
Georgia has been working to address drag racing. Counties have created their own consequences for drivers caught laying drag and the state passed House Bill 534 in 2021, which expands what could be considered reckless and dangerous driving while working to suspend one's license if caught street racing or the like.
11Alive has asked APD about its response to these incidents. The agency has not yet responded to inquiries.