From left to right: Automotive tech students Matt Toohill, Randall Luttrell, Brandon Heath, and Collin Clark pose with the 1989 Fox Boey Mustang that they are working on for the upcoming car show.
EvyJo Compton
Staff Writer
Parkland College will be hosting its annual car show, complete with awards, food, live music, and door prizes, on May 6.
“The registration for the show starts at 10:30 [a.m.],” Jon Ross, the automotive program director, says. “It will continue through the day. One group of awards will be held at three. Students will announce their top 12. The top 12 will receive special parking, an award and will be featured in our calendar. The rest of the awards will be held at four. We will be focusing on the next generation. We also have specific awards for the rest of the competitors. There will be 25 awards for those under 25, or the next generation, and of course 25 awards for those over 25.”
The car show will be held on Parkland’s property near the Parkhill Applied Technology Center. Any person can enter the show.
“It will be located in the M parking lots near the Technology Center,” Ross says. “Anyone can enter. It is $10 to preregister, and $15 to register the day of the show.”
Other events going on during the show include an engine-building contest and an opportunity to tour the Parkhill ATC.
“There will be an auto-cross from the Champaign County Sports Car Club,” Ross says. “It will be in the M parking lots for viewing. There will also be an engine building competition put on by the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow; it will be inside the Parkhill Tech Center.”
The engine building competition is open to high school teams. They will have to un-build and rebuild an engine in an allotted amount of time.
“High school teams from Indiana and Illinois will compete,” Ross says. “There will be teams of five racing against the clock to un-build and rebuild a Chevy small block engine. They will have 33 minutes to finish the rebuilding. Whoever wins will qualify for Nationals.”
There will be a variety of cars to be viewed. Everything from imports to hot rods could be represented at the show.
“We’ve seen everything, though,” Ross said. “We can see things from the early 1900’s to modern day cars. We see the typical show car—a muscle, sporty car. You know, like Camaros, Mustangs, or Corvettes. Sometimes we see imports…such a cool piece because of the variety that people bring. You’ll see things from all over the world.”
The Parkland car show has been an annual event for over a decade, and has been a staple event in the community since then.
“It really all began in 1999,” Ross says. “Brad Gillette, a former student, said, ‘Let’s have a car show,’ and it’s been around since then. It has been annual since 1999—we haven’t missed a single year.
“It has been run by students in the automotive program since 1999, and that’s what makes it special. This year, students will display cars, but not enter. Some will show the cars they have built, and others will show the cars they now own.”
For more information about the car show, go to parkland.edu/academics/departments/agest/carshow.aspx, or contact Ross at jross@parkland.edu.
