Cruisin Ocean City Video Goes Viral – Car Does Donut and Burns Rubber on Coastal Highway

Cruisin’ Ocean City has become one of the most popular car shows in the area. Cruisin’ event draws more than 3,500 hot rods, street machines, and customs.  The spring event brings in thousands of automobile lovers to the resort area each year.

One of the highlights each year is a daily boardwalk parade, in which cars promenade down the boardwalk in the morning, as crowds gather to enjoy what is essentially a living museum.   Additionally, spectators line up along Coastal Highway in lawn chairs, beach chairs, and all-out tailgating camps, from dawn until long into the evening.  Car and truck drivers enjoy showing off their automobiles and revving their engines, as spectators take pictures and cheer them on.

With so many attendees and the lure of showing off, driver behavior runs the gamut – burning rubber is a common occurrence.   Sometimes a driver draws enough attention to spark controversy.

The driver of this blue Chevrolet Corvette, Matthew Huntsman, decided to make a grand entrance onto Coastal Highway by doing a donut and burning some rubber:

WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX 21 –

The video went viral in only a couple of hours, and while this may have been the only viral video from the weekend, this was happening all over town.

Huntsman is back over the bridge in his hometown, much like many other visitors that came down for the weekend. These drivers come to Cruisin’ to have a good time, show off their cars and burn some rubber. Although Matthew declined to comment to WBOC, he mentioned on social media that he felt he was completely comfortable pulling off this maneuver:

There were many people left in town that had mixed emotions about the event. Nathan Jester is an Ocean City local who couldn’t believe how out of control the weekend had become.

“Every place that you went there were cars, the traffic was unbelievably heavy, and they were spinning tires everywhere,” Jester said.

While Jester said he expected it to be loud, he could not believe the other things he saw. Jester added that Cruisin’ is probably a good weekend for business, but it is very dangerous. After showing Jester the viral video of Huntsman doing a donut, his facial expression was one of shock.

“You know, that video that you just showed me, that’s unbelievably unsafe,” Jester said. “I didn’t see quite the presence that I thought I would of the police this weekend. I saw a lot of bike cops on the street, but I can’t believe people were able to get away with that.”

Jester was directly affected by this weekend, when he said he was almost struck by a car while crossing a downtown street.

“Somebody ran a red light. I watched the light turn white to walk across, and when I looked up to walk across the street, there were like seconds left and a guy had just missed me by like a foot,” Jester said.

Although many locals thought negatively of this weekend, there were some who felt the event had a positive outcome.

Matt James is an Ocean City councilman, as well as a property manager for the Carousel Hotel. James said he had seen a lot of burnouts similar to the one in that viral video over the weekend.

Speaking from the perspective of a town official, James said having special events in Ocean City is a great way to increase business around town. He says the more people in town, the better the businesses do, and the better Ocean City does.

“With the weather being nice this time of year, there’s a great turnout for the car shows and the Crusin’ event,” James said. “It gives people a good opportunity to enjoy the weather before the summer starts.”

According to James, last weekend was also great for all five of the properties he manages. He also said it helps the restaurant business as a whole.

“The back patio at the Carousel opened up for the first time of the year and the restaurant did really well this weekend,” James said.

The Cruisin’ event has been going on for 25 years. Many of the same concerns come up each year and Ocean City Police Department takes steps to keep them under control. Here are some examples of what the OCPD put on Twitter this weekend:

Evidence of burnouts are left on the streets of Ocean City following the event:

UPDATE:

Statement from the OC Police Dept:

“Ocean City police have charged the driver of the blue Chevrolet Corvette that performed a “donut” and burnout on Coastal Highway on May 16 during the OC Cruisin’ event.

Police initiated an investigation after a video of the incident surfaced online. With assistance from numerous tips from citizens regarding the incident, officers were able to identify the driver of the vehicle as Harry M. Huntsman, 25, of Millersville, MD. Huntsman was subsequently stopped in Ocean City on May 30 for an additional traffic violation and was issued the citations for the May 16 incident at that time.

Huntsman was charged with the following traffic offenses:

1)    Driving motor vehicle in a manner intended to cause skidding

2)    Driving spinning wheels

3)    Driving motor vehicle in a manner intended to cause excessive noise

4)    Failure to drive right of center

5)    Negligent driving

6)    Reckless driving

The Ocean City Police Department is reminding residents and visitors of Ocean City that negligent and reckless driving behavior is extremely dangerous and could quickly result in tragedy. In an effort to keep Ocean City streets safe for motorists and pedestrians, similar driving behavior will be met with strict enforcement and zero tolerance.”

Huntsman posted this picture on his Facebook after he received the tickets:

There is a viral article making the rounds this week about the movie, “Top Gun.”   In it, the author proposes “Iceman was right about almost everything”.   Let us know what you think about this case in the comments below.

https://medium.com/message/the-iceman-list-5df51be135d6