A long running “Ford versus Chevy” rivalry that usually plays out in parking lots and online comment threads spilled onto an Indiana roadway and ended with handcuffs instead of bragging rights. Police say two men from the State of Indiana turned a familiar American brand feud into an illegal speed contest, racing side by side until officers clocked them at highway speeds on a city street. What might have felt like a lighthearted stunt to the drivers is now a case study in how quickly car culture can cross the line into criminal behavior.
The race that turned a rivalry into a crime scene
According to investigators, the confrontation began when two Indiana drivers lined up a Ford pickup truck against a Chevrolet on a local roadway and treated public asphalt as their personal drag strip. Authorities from the State of Indiana describe the episode as a speed contest rooted in a historic American grudge between Ford and Chevy loyalists, with the pair allegedly accelerating aggressively and jockeying for position as if they were at a sanctioned track. One report notes that the men framed their behavior as brand based antics, but officers on the scene saw a dangerous race that put everyone around them at risk.
Police accounts indicate that the drivers pushed their vehicles far beyond any reasonable speed for the area, with one related incident on St. Joseph Ave involving cars caught at “80-mph-st” and another description citing “80 m” on the same stretch of Street Joseph Ave. In the Evansville case, EPD officers said the racers’ rides were impounded after they were stopped on St. Joseph Ave, and one of the drivers allegedly told Police they were “just being stupid” and doing “Ford vs. Chevy” antics. In the newer incident involving the two men from the State of Indiana, officers again linked the behavior to the Ford and Chevy rivalry, underscoring how a familiar brand joke had escalated into a criminal speed contest that ended with both drivers under arrest at the scene.
From roadside bragging rights to criminal charges
What the drivers may have viewed as a quick way to settle a Ford versus Chevy argument now sits in the criminal justice system as a textbook example of illegal street racing. Police say the two Indiana men were engaged in a speed contest on a public road, a violation that typically triggers charges related to racing, reckless driving, and in some cases additional counts tied to endangering others. In coverage of the arrests, the men are identified as Indiana residents whose decision to pit a Ford pickup against a Chevy in live traffic transformed a casual rivalry into a set of formal allegations that can carry fines, license suspensions, and potential jail time.
In a separate but closely related enforcement action, EPD officers in Evansville reported that two drivers involved in “Ford vs. Chevy” antics on Street Joseph Ave had their vehicles seized after being clocked at “80 m” in a zone that was nowhere near a racetrack. One of those drivers reportedly tried to downplay the situation by telling Police they were simply fooling around, but officers treated the behavior as a serious offense and impounded both cars on the spot. Another recent case near Bloomington, where State police arrested 27 year old Koby Wer and a second driver for street racing on a highway near the Lawrence County line, shows that Indiana authorities are increasingly willing to treat these contests as criminal matters rather than youthful indiscretions.
Indiana’s broader crackdown on street racing
As I look across the recent cases, it is clear that the Ford versus Chevy episode is not an isolated burst of bad judgment but part of a broader pattern that has drawn the attention of Indiana State Police. In a separate enforcement push, Indiana State Police described a major bust in an illegal street racing ring, explaining that troopers had made near continuous arrests over several days as they targeted organized speed contests and so called street takeover gatherings. That operation, which focused on groups coordinating races and stunts on public roads, underscores how law enforcement now treats unsanctioned racing as a systemic problem rather than a series of one off traffic stops…