By Pat Hammert/Staff Writer

The Friday night block party was fun, the Saturday night car cruise was a blast and the classic car show shined.

But the drum roll of the weekend was given over to the only legal burnout in 50 states, the highlight of “A Small Town Weekend” held on historic Route 66.

At high noon on Saturday, the sun was blazing down and the smoke was thick.

“It was wild, way hot,” said officer Matthew Pierce, an El Reno Fraternal Order of Police member who worked the burnout. “The wind was weird, blowing the smoke everywhere but straight east away from us.”

The crowd weathered the smoke, noise and heat as kids sprawled on the grass to view the excitement and older people cheered from lawn chairs. Gina Thomas, who registered the event, said the interest in it is always high.

“El Reno really turns out for the burnout; it’s awesome the number of people lined up to watch,” she said. Seventy-six cars and pickups entered the event this year, Thomas said.

Spectators gamble their hearing and dragsters sacrifice tires — just for the fun of it. Brakes are locked, tires spin and smoke curls in a re-enactment of 1950s Saturday night drag races on country roads. Judges decide the merits of the event through how much rubber is laid and the thickness of the smoke, organizers say.

The burnout is “legally” sanctioned, with the El Reno FOP overseeing the event. Burnout contenders can enter as many times as time and tires allow, said Michelle Lloyd of El Reno Cruisers Car Club, sponsors of the weekend event.

“They can enter again and again — I guess, until therubber is gone,” she said. Trophies were handed out, but the complete list of winners was lost in the shuffle of cleaning up, Pierce said. The People’s Choice trophy went to Kenny Tinsley, whose shiny black pickup was entered in the burnout and the cruise later in the evening.

Only street-legal 1982 models and older classic cars participated in the closed route cruise on Saturday evening, another well-attended spectator event.

Pierce said the weekend was a big success.

“I thought it was fantastic. The car count was up, spectators were up … Motels were full and the restaurants had lines,” he said.

On Friday, “Small Town Downtown Friday Night” was held as a block party and free concert offered by a slew of entertainers, not the least of which was an Elvis impersonator.

“We had a whole lot of people this year,” Lloyd said. “I’d say at least 1,000 people milling around at the burnout and car show. We had a total of 309 cars entered for the burnout, registered for the car show and the cruise.”

The only glitch in an otherwise fun weekend was a case of heat exhaustion at the classic car show on Sunday. An Enid woman, overcome by heat, was taken to the emergency room.

Thankfully, Lloyd said, Parkview Hospital emergency room was a brief ambulance ride across the park.

El Reno Cruisers, a classic car club, has organized “Small Town” since 1998.

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