Ready, Set, Crash? Flat Rock Speedway’s Night of School Bus Destruction

CultureShift took a field trip to meet the bus drivers whose job it is to take a beating.

Shiraz Ahmed

Chants fill the night air and the crowd is energized as they await Flat Rock Speedway’s Night of Destruction, where school buses take a whip around the race track. 

The annual event, also known as the school bus figure-eight race, features big, colorful buses literally crashing into each other, flipping over and giving the audience one heck of a show. It’s adrenaline-pumping and exciting. Dangerous? Well, that depends on whom you ask. 

“Most people would think it’s dangerous,” says Jack Franzel, a regular racer at Flat Rock. “But if you’ve been doing this your whole life, compared to what we used to do, this is like slow motion to us.” 

Click the player above to hear CultureShift’s Amanda LeClaire trip down river and see photographer Shiraz Ahmed’s images below.


Shiraz Ahmed

Shiraz Ahmed 

Shiraz Ahmed / WDET
Shiraz Ahmed / WDET

 

Shiraz Ahmed

 

Shiraz Ahmed

 

Shiraz Ahmed

Shiraz Ahmed

Shiraz Ahmed

 

Authors

  • Amanda LeClaire
    Amanda LeClaire is an award-winning host and producer of CultureShift on 101.9 WDET-FM Detroit’s NPR station. She’s a founding producer of WDET’s flagship news talk show Detroit Today, and a former host/reporter for Arizona Public Media. Amanda is also an artist, certified intuitive and energy healer, and professional tarot reader.
  • Shiraz Ahmed
    Shiraz Ahmed served as Digital and Audience Engagement Editor for 101.9 WDET from 2019-2020. His favorite salsa is Marco’s Mexican salsa, a now-defunct chain that produced the salsa of his childhood.
  • LaToya Cross