[Buzz]

The parade incident is an awful and tragic example of the danger and folly of doing hard launches and high speed passes on public roads or anywhere in close proximity to unprotected people, property and immovable objects. This is indisputable fact with numerous corroborating anecdotes, incidents and videos, etc. to support it.
Equating this, however, to simple, brief burnouts and rolling it out as a basis for condemnation of "burning out" in general is, to me, missing the lesson and more than a bit reactionary. Having enough power in a car to smoke its tires is (along with many other things) a basic part of the the whole muscle car culture. Anyone who owns a car like a Cobra and has never spun the rear tires anywhere outside of a racetrack or strip is a rare breed indeed (that's some Shakesparian prose right there) and correct from a fundamentally legal and moral point of view, but that does not make everyone else who has occasionally lit 'em up subject to their judgement as a menace to society. Like going a bit over the speed limit, it's all about judgement, intelligence and responsibility. The type of person who will race all out on the street or launch hard enough to lose control of the car has a problem and cannot be trusted with anything that can be dangerous if misused - like cars, firearms, powerboats, golfcarts and Segways; but making a bit of noise and smoke in a controlled, part throttle launch once in a while is not the end of the world. Is it noisy, smelly, antisocial, irreverent and obnoxious to others? Absolutely. But so is owning a Cobra.