The Dunedin Big Cruise involved 400 cars and about 1000 people from around the lower South Island travelling from a gathering point in Andersons Bay out of the city to the Taieri Plain and Mosgiel.
Senior Sergeant Steve Aitken said an accident on Castle St about 1.30am on Saturday involved one car taking part in the big cruise and a Dunedin Holden Commodore racing at speed south along Cumberland St.
The driver of the Commodore lost control of his vehicle when he swerved to miss two pedestrians crossing the street, Snr Sgt Aitken said.
The car slammed into three fences, a Toyota Prado and flipped around before catching fire after its petrol tank was punctured.
"It's phenomenally lucky no-one was killed. It's meaningless destruction," Snr Sgt Aitken said.
The 30-year-old Dunedin driver and his passenger escaped the vehicle and ran off. The police dog unit located a man in Grange St.
He had a breath-alcohol level of 912mcg, more than twice the legal limit of 400mcg, and would appear in Dunedin District Court on Friday, he said.
Dunedin Area Road Policing manager Senior Sergeant Dunedin Phil McDouall said extra police had been rostered on during the weekend and manned checkpoints around the city on Friday and Saturday nights.
"A strong police presence meant that these people were not able to undertake any dangerous driving manoeuvres or do any damage in the area."
About 22 cars were ordered off the road for various defects and a "number" of infringement notices were issued for driver and vehicle offences.
Checkpoints were also set up on Saturday night, including one at Queens Gardens to detect drink-drivers and any other vehicle or driver offences.
Details of those checkpoints were not available yesterday but Snr Sgt Aitken said there were very few boy racers out in the city on Saturday night.
