Bob Widuch doesn’t venture out onto his front porch much on Wednesday nights since the weekly car and motorcycle shows began at nearby Buck Hill in Burnsville.
Starting at 4:30 p.m. and continuing for at least four hours, cars come and go at the weekly car and bike gathering on wheels, screeching down Buck Hill Road at high speed, revving their engines and generally making a lot of noise, he said.
“It’s like a cockfight. They want to come out and show their feathers,” Widuch said. “The truth is in the tape. There’s rubber all over it.”
Widuch, who owns a townhouse northwest of Buck Hill, a popular ski resort that hosts off-season events, is one of several residents who say the noise is unbearable and worry that speeding could cause an accident He said he believes the event has gotten out of hand.
“It’s a damn nuisance,” said James Berndtson, whose son sometimes finds himself awake at car show nights. “It’s literally vibrations inside the house.”
The show started in mid-May, said Nate Birr, Buck Hill’s chief operating officer. It’s a free event that attracts families and features up to 400 cars and 200 motorcycles in the ski hill parking lot. There’s food, live music and a different local brewery selling beer every week until September 13th.
Hundreds of car and motorcycle owners mingle with the spectators, marveling at the engine of a shiny 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle or supercharged 2008 Honda Civic.
Birr said the event has grown tremendously since it started in 2021. “We get people from all different ages, all different backgrounds, all different walks of life,” he said.
Although Buck Hill employs a two-person security team and posts “No Burnout” signs, Birr said he understands how neighbors might find the gathering too noisy or accuse the drivers of drag racing.
“But that’s not our intention,” Birr said. “Once they leave our lot, there’s not much we can do.”
Drivers sometimes rev their engines once they get to nearby Interstate 35, he said, and people blame Buck Hill for the noise.
Birr said organizers welcome Burnsville police officers, who sometimes stop by. He said he wished they would come more often.
Police response
Burnsville Police Capt. Matt Smith said he hasn’t been to the meeting and hasn’t seen any speeding or noise-related calls made there or in the nearby community of Stonewood Terrace.
But on May 24, the second week of the event, three officers were doing extra patrols in the area, and one parked there after hearing cars speeding by. Smith said it was unclear where that complaint originated.
“We can totally understand the concerns about noise and speed,” he said. “We are proactively patrolling and I would encourage anyone to call 911 if they see anything illegal.”
Whether someone is breaking the law can be difficult to determine, Smith said. Sometimes cars can appear to be speeding up but aren’t, he said, while at other times screeching tires or revving engines give the impression that a car is moving faster than it is.
Smith said Minnesota’s vehicle noise law is “very vague.” It only requires cars to have mufflers and not be able to make “a popping or screeching sound,” he said.
Smith said police will continue to conduct additional patrols Wednesday. He wrote an information note in the department’s online system so other officers will also be on patrol.
David Peterson of Lakeville, who brought his maroon 1967 Chevrolet Camaro to the meet, said Buck Hill has done a lot to improve the atmosphere and discourages speeding.
“We see a lot of familiar faces every week,” she said. “It’s fun to see the next generation showing an interest in car collecting.”
Craig Banham, the security guard at the entrance to the meeting on Wednesday, held a paddle telling drivers whether they could bring their prized wheels into the show or leave them in the regular car park.
“Everybody follows the rules, and I make sure of them,” he said. “Every once in a while someone might pop the tires, rev the engine, but there’s no drag racing.”
Banham drove a golf cart onto the sidewalk of Buck Hill Road, tearing through spectators who had gathered there to watch the cars go by. Their presence, he said, only encouraged reckless driving. The crowd dispersed.
But moments later, two black cars revved their engines and drove past. And around 8:25 p.m., with the event officially over, people lined up again to see the cars leave.
Justine Politz, who has lived nearby for nine years, said cars go up and down Buck Hill Road. It’s dangerous, he said, and you have to be careful when walking near it.
Jesus Lopez, who lives in the Sunny Acres mobile home park south of Buck Hill, said his car was dinged by a car that left the event last year. The other driver did not stop, he said. Luckily, Lopez was not hurt. “There are people’s lives at risk,” he said.
Bill Schorn, another nearby resident, said he “wishes it was quieter.”
“When the company moves too far into the community like this, it’s simply infringing too much,” Schorn said. “There needs to be a little more accountability on Buck Hill’s part.”
