>>28674362 (OP)
Everyone wants to chalk this up to clout chasing but doing that misses the other and I would say bigger part of the issue, which is that nobody at the entry level of the hobby has anywhere to go or anything to do.
Anyone who's gone to a parking lot meet knows that there's only so much excitement that can be had from standing around in a parking lot looking at the same cars from your neighborhood for the 10th time. If there's nobody new to meet, then it's pointless, and nobody is actually using their cars as intended. Track days are too expensive and often too restrictive for the cars that people have, and other than that there are practically zero venues in most places in the US for "doing things with cars."
So you have a bunch of people who really want to use their vehicles and no outlet for them to do so. The obvious result of this are takeovers, swimming, street racing, etc. Even the "respectable" street racers who block off intersections and have spotters and so on while doing this in bumblefuck nowhere in the dead of night aren't doing it because they really really really love racing on roads in particular, they're doing it because there are no other affordable options. Hell, Japan's most famous aspect of car culture is illegal street racing, and they're hardly known for having bountiful circuits and cheap track days.
The unfortunate reality is that cars are an expensive hobby and the expenses only continue to pile up if you want that hobby to be anything beyond simply owning a car in the first place. This issue is going to exist for as long as there are no affordable and accessible places to drive fast and / or dangerously.
