Breaking a world record is an arduous way to achieve global recognition. It takes skill, dedication, organization and knowing who to call to witness your act of wonderment and confirm that, indeed, your beard of bees is the heaviest or your 300 skateboard kick-flips in a row are indeed the sickest.
It makes sense that massive, large-scale burnouts are a thing, because of course they are. In 2015, 103 cars in Australia (of course) showed up to ring in the new year with some tire smoke. And last weekend at Bandimere Speedway near Denver, Colorado, 170 drivers showed up for their shot at immortality.
They assumed they would fill the track with smoke and squealing tires, knock out the record for most burnouts occurring at the same time, then head home knowing they were part of something great. However, at the moment, these daring drivers seem to have been thwarted by that enemy of disorganized people everywhere: paperwork.
See, to be considered for a Guinness World Record, you need to apply with the organization. It helps if you have an official Guinness World Record adjudicator in your corner as well to help set up the attempt, witness it, weigh it and record it. But the Bandimere people skipped that part. In fact, a new application from Bandimere to the Guinness people to topple the current world record holders could not be confirmed, Motor1 reports.
So, currently, the previous Guinness World Record holder for most burnouts performed at once still stands. That record belongs to 126 Australian (again, of course) enthusiasts, who blew smoke all over the annual street car festival Summernats earlier this year. For now, they are still the mighty reigning champions of melting tires.
Unfortunately, unofficial records are like a third nipple—totally useless and better forgotten. There is hope, however. It seems that the record can be recorded after the fact. The priority application will cost the folks at Bandimere Speedway $800 to file and the judgement on their attempt could take as little as five days if they submit all the required evidence. But if the Bandimere Speedway had worked with an adjudicator in the first place, they’d already be in the history books.
So let that be a lesson to you: before you attempt to smoke the most cigarettes at once of all time or juggle the largest amount of goslings, tell somebody official about it first.