Kansas City Auto Museum hosts second annual Kids Autocross

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Auto Museum hosted its 2nd Annual Kids Autocross event for students with special needs at The Underground this weekend.

“They drove me once and I got so hyper ’cause it’s too fun,” participant Rose Williams said.

Williams is one of the dozens of students from across the metro who had a blast showing off their driving skills at the event.

“It lets him feel so independent,” said Laura Burke, one participant’s mother.

“One of the things about his disability is that we don’t know if he’ll ever be able to drive, but today that doesn’t matter if he can get a driver’s license. Today, everybody’s a driver.”

Students got to take golf carts for a spin around a racecourse, which was a first-time experience for a lot of the students with varying abilities.

“We give them a little swag bag and it has a little checkered flag, like the winner’s flag and so she didn’t know what that was,” volunteer Dennis Butler said.

“And I said you’re a winner, wave that flag! And she started waving it, having a great time, so their reactions to all this is really the fun part.”

After a few fun-filled laps around the track, students were awarded a gold medal for giving it their all both on and off the course.

“It’s very rewarding, you know you’re doing something that does make an impact,” Executive Director of the Kansas City Auto Museum Alana Zimmer said.

“It’s fun for them, they see that and of course probably want to be doing the things their other friends their age are doing.”

This year, the event hosted three times as many students as last year, and plan to give even more kids the same experience in 2025.

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