The weekend was “car show” weekend for me. By no means 16 any longer but I remain “bitten” by the “bug”. I confess – I’m a gear-head.

On Saturday we attended the car show associated with the Waubonsee Community College 60th Anniversary Celebration. Waubonsee CC is impressive on any number of accounts. The college offers valuable instruction in the automotive arts at a recently constructed state-of-the-art Technical Education Center. If I were young again that’s where I’d look seeking instruction.

I was especially pleased that friends from Oswego, Jeff and Dave Lumbert were at the show with their new 1967 Nova Pro-Modified Drag Car. I’m of the opinion a Pro-Mod car represents the epitome of automotive design blended with aerodynamic aesthetics, the quickest of full bodied cars in existence… Two thousand horsepower, naked acceleration, 6.5 seconds to finish, – two parachutes erupting to aid braking from over 200 mph. How does one brake a 200+ mph car? With a prayer!

A dialed-in Pro Mod racer thunders, a ground-shaking voice of a god! And a chaos that sings! Yes, it’s a show, and it’s physics; rubber pulling against asphalt, threshold of catastrophe – it’s like sex. I’m tempted to say more…

Then on Sunday morning I briefly visited Geneva’s Concours d’ Elegance. Today a good friend jokingly inquired if I discovered a Kia at the show? Well no I did not. I drive a Kia with pleasure, – but a Kia isn’t exactly a Ferrari.

As a matter of fact I do take note of the exotic, insanely pricey European luxury cars. For reasons that I am partly aware of they do not inspire me. I could not imagine affording one of those. Would I choose to have one, if I could afford one? I’m not sure I would.

At the Concours d’ elegance I look for automobiles from the Detroit of my youth. What happened to us when the Japanese, Germans and others arrived with products to compete with the “big three” Chevy, Ford and Chrysler? Perhaps we subscribed to a quasi-divine faith that others couldn’t equal or surpass American engineering, and business practices. It is common knowledge that we could not have been more wrong. (Which goes to my satisfaction with my Kia.)

So I look for the Detroit Iron of the 60s and 70s. The late 60s American manufactures were experimenting with engine combinations at race tracks as they competed with one another. Some of these cars were produced in very limited numbers, enough to pass “legal”, and these were dedicated to the teams with factory sponsorship. Those days are long in the rear view mirror- but I still remember.

This Chevy II captured my attention. A 1962 Chevy II Gasser built by Carly Stupar with considerable help from her father, Jeremy Stupar. Carly got the car when she was 14. She is 17 now, and does all the work herself. At a recent race her quickest quarter mile pass was 12.45 seconds, at around 108 mph. Sassy gets the job done!