Part of the joy in any hobby is finding community, and that’s especially true when you’re into cars. Whether you’re into motorsports, muscle cars, trucks, European sports sedans, sports cars, restorations, or stance builds sitting low on fancy wheels, your people are out there, and sometimes it’s wonderful to meet them at car shows and other events. In that vein, Slammedenuff Sevierville—formerly known as Slammedenuff Gatlinburg and informally known as Gat—has long been the pilgrimage for stance culture on the East Coast, a gathering showing off neat builds in Sevierville, Tenn. that draws people from far and wide. Unfortunately, due to actions around this year’s event, it doesn’t look like it will be happening any longer.
This year, things were different. In hindsight, one could’ve predicted that this would be the biggest Slammedenuff Sevierville yet, but it was hard to predict just how far south things would go when the evening of Oct. 4 rolled around. After the sun went down, the powder keg seemed to ignite in the parking lot of Jimmy’s Market & Grill, a privately owned service station in Pigeon Forge that’s previously welcomed small, low-key gatherings. This year was anything but small and low-key. Videos circulating on social media show people overrunning the spot, with the sort of chaos erupting that understandably required a police response.
Fair warning, the Instagram reel below does show a fight that happened at Jimmy’s on Saturday night, along with language you probably shouldn’t play through a speaker in a public environment. There’s no excuse for this sort of behavior to happen around an automotive event; it makes the whole scene look bad.
Mind you, the above scuffle seemed relatively quiet compared to some of the nuisance behavior on display. Burnouts, people climbing on buildings, drivers bouncing their cars off the rev limiters, the sort of stuff that’s likely to draw negative attention from both law enforcement and members of the public, even if they aren’t directly in the line of sight.
But wait, there’s more. In other found footage, police appear to seize a weapon removed from a Nissan Skyline, and two Lamborghinis appear to have a street race up the strip. It costs zero dollars for people to just not do stuff like this, so there’s really no excuse for it.
Unsurprisingly, this all resulted in quite a large police response. Squad cars, crowd control vehicles, even helicopters were called out to manage the crowds, displace them from places like Jimmy’s Market, and attempt to put a lid on the situation. As local news WBIR reports, displacing the crowds required multiple attempts.
Pigeon Forge Police Chief Richard Catlett said officers were called out several times to clear the parking lot. He said each time police asked the crowd to leave, they would come back even bigger.
Unsurprisingly, the efforts of law enforcement on Saturday night weren’t just focused on the crowd at Jimmy’s. As WBIR reported:
Police also said there were reports of a stabbing, but the injury sustained by a person did not occur at Jimmy’s Market. The person who said they were stabbed had a “minor” wound, and declined to be transported to a hospital by an ambulance.
Once a credible report of a stabbing surfaces, it’s probably a good time to make people leave. On Sunday morning, the Sevierville Police Department issued the following statement, which we also received after reaching out to the department for comment:
The City of Sevierville has made the decision to cancel the Sunday portion of the Slammedenuff car show scheduled at the Sevierville Convention Center. This decision follows numerous disturbances, safety concerns, and a significant strain on County-wide public resources directly related to activities surrounding this weekend’s event.
While the event itself is privately organized, the impacts on our community, ranging from traffic disruptions and reckless behavior to late-night noise and public safety challenges, have reached a level that is no longer acceptable or sustainable. The City has an obligation to protect the safety, peace, and welfare of our residents, visitors, and businesses.
Effective immediately, we are implementing a zero-tolerance policy for any nuisance activity, unsafe driving, or disorderly conduct associated with this event or similar gatherings. Violations will be met with full enforcement of all applicable laws and ordinances.
Individuals currently in Sevierville or the surrounding areas for the Slammedenuff event are strongly urged to vacate in an orderly and lawful manner.
The City will be conducting a comprehensive review of the event’s overall impact and will reevaluate its future viability at the Sevierville Convention Center. Any continuation of this event will depend entirely on significant and verifiable improvements in conduct and management.
We appreciate the understanding of our residents, guests, and business community as we act decisively to maintain safety, order, and the quality of life that Sevierville is known for.
Yep, day two of Slammenuff Sevierville was cancelled, understandably so. There was no room for this chaos to potentially go on for a second night, and even though it was unaffiliated with the formal show itself, it was inextricably linked to it, as the popularity of the formal show was part of the draw for these bad actors. Shortly after news of the cancellation broke, Slammedenuff issued a statement on Instagram:
The owners and staff of Slammedenuff do not in any way condone the actions that happened on the streets in the areas surrounding pigeon forge last night. We have always promoted a safe, fun, and friendly environment both in and outside of our shows. We urge the utmost respect to any city we host a show in, and hope our spectators and show participants will always do the same. There is no confirmation or evidence that the worst of the actions were perpetrated by individuals in town for our specific event or that they were even going to the show.
Last nights events are an embarrassment to the car community, and are the exact reason that events like ours are no longer welcome in a lot of areas.
The blatant lack of respect for law enforcement, private property and other people has taken away something we have worked to build and grow over the last 9 years.To our vendors, participants and spectators; we are sincerely sorry that the actions of others stopped us from being able to open the doors to the Sevierville convention center to you all today. We hope you all have a safe trip back to your homes.
We will be working diligently with the city of Sevierville to find a way around what has happened so that we can continue this long standing tradition.
If you were a part of last nights “festivities” you are not what the car community needs, and you are not a true enthusiast. You are a cancer to automotive enthusiasts everywhere. We do not need or want you at our events, and hope that you one day realize what you’re doing to the others who truly share this passion.
Harsh words, but fair, especially given what came shortly after. On Monday, City of Sevierville Alderman Joey Ohman announced on Facebook that “The Slammedenuff car show will NOT be coming back to Sevierville in the future.” Another long-running car show dead because people couldn’t behave.
While it’s easy to go online and see people pointing fingers at takeover kids, much of the bedlam seen online goes beyond that. From supercars filmed street racing to badly-behaved bikers to the aforementioned building-scalers, there isn’t one demographic to blame for this insanity, but rather, one group of behaviors. The same sort of acts that led to the cancellation of car shows like Southern Worthersee for 2016 and Ocean City-based H20i in 2019.
So what incentivizes people to act out like this? Attention might be a motivator. Videos capturing the mayhem on social media often have hundreds, if not thousands, of likes. If there’s a dopamine hit to be had from that, chances are some people will chase it. Granted, we can diagnose until the cows come home, but the real trick lies in prescribing so that this sort of thing doesn’t happen to your favorite local car event. Let’s use the example of owning a bar here: You’d love to let everyone in, but if you let in people who are only there to pick fights, pretty soon people won’t want to come to your bar and the place will attract some police attention.
As such, to ensure the bar continues to be a place nice people want to go, you’ll need to eject the punch-up types. Likewise, if the car community sees anyone bouncing their car off the rev limiter, ripping burnouts, or just generally acting a fool in a place where it’s not appreciated, it’s the community’s duty to kick the offending party out of not just formal car shows, but any gatherings.
If we don’t put a stop to reckless behavior in the community, we’ll likely end up with a significantly smaller number of events left to attend, which would make the hobby worse for everyone. The more actual illegal behavior is tolerated around car shows, the more likely people are to think of us as nuisances, or worse, criminals, even if we’re being respectful, minding our own business, and taking care to be great guests.
Top graphic screenshots: Instagram/Kruziuzi
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The post ‘You Are A Cancer To Automotive Enthusiasts Everywhere.’ Chaos Cancelled One Of America’s Coolest Car Shows appeared first on The Autopian.
