A year after Memorial Day weekend crash, Lincoln car enthusiasts are urging safety

LINCOLN, Neb (KLKN) – After last year’s deadly crash on Memorial Day weekend, car enthusiasts in Lincoln say they’re looking to start a new show.

The crash on O Street killed two people and injured 20 others.

It happened during an unsanctioned cruise.

Todd Francisco, president of the Midwest Rollers Car Club, said people who truly care about their cars should take racing off the streets and avoid putting lives at risk.

Francisco has been working on his 1970 Ford Thunderbird for over a decade and said it’s one of twelve still around in the U.S.

He loves to show it off but said he “won’t even take it down on O Street because it’s very one off car, and it’s very rare.”

“And if I were to get in an accident it would be very hard to replace,” he said.

SEE ALSO: 200 cars rev up for Lincoln cruise raising money for survivors of O Street crash

Francisco said that especially after what happened last year, he’s hoping that people will take safety more seriously.

He said many young people want to get out of the house and drive down O Street, which is what he did when he was younger.

“I would always want to go cruise O Street; that’s the cool thing,” he said. “It’s just cool, you know. And I think that the car is a way to release that frustration sometimes in people. I think it goes down to parenting on how the parents handle their kids and how they teach them how to drive.”

SEE ALSO: Omaha teen pleads not guilty in fatal Memorial Day weekend crash

Francisco suggests that if you’re into racing, take your car out to a racetrack in the Lincoln area.

Dan Cummings, owner of Bombers Garage in Lincoln, said after last year, he doesn’t expect there will be many people cruising this weekend.

But he and Francisco are still asking everyone to be safe.

“I really hope that if this unsanctioned cruise does happen, that people aren’t going to be, for lack of a better term, ‘morons,’ about it,” Cummings said. “Because nobody thinks you’re cool ’cause you’re going 80 in a 35. Nobody likes that. Nobody wants to see you blow up your tires and spin out in the middle of O Street.”

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Cummings and Francisco said they’re trying to get more official car shows put together so people can show off their cars safely.

They’re working with other auto groups to do a car show that’s sanctioned by the city next year.

The two said there will likely be an event on the road behind Pinnacle Bank Arena sometime in early June 2024.

Midwest Rollers will be having an event this summer, on June 24, to show off their cars and raise money for Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha.

SEE ALSO: Lincoln residents near O Street say show-off drivers are a persistent problem