Brittany Webb
Staff Writer
The Parkland Motorsports Car Show went on this past weekend in the M and W parking lots of Parkland’s campus. There was also autocross fun by the Champaign County Sports Car Club, where cars zipped through a traffic cone course. A swap meet was held in the W2 parking lot, as well as an RC Car demonstration, according to the blog post on Parkland’s website.
Sunday, May 3, more autocross was held in the parking lots and the Parkhill Applied Technology Center demonstrated their dynamometer. On Monday, May 4, for the first time ever, there was an automotive career showcase featuring Hot Rod Magazine. It was an opportunity for students to connect with local automotive industry partners and learn about the skills employers want to see. Jeff Dahlin, publisher of Hot Rod Magazine was on hand to make an exciting announcement about the Hot Rod Power Tour, which will be held at Parkland College June 7.
There were many participants in the auto show, ranging from Model T’s to new Mustangs and Corvettes. One participant, Jim Samson, has been entering his cars in the show since 1999. He brought only one car this year.
“It’s a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner,” Samson said. “And this is the best area show.”
Students were among those in attendance to the show. A collision repair student, Jake Wyatt, says the show is a great one. He has been coming a few years now.
“With the turnout and the autocross, it’s really nice,” Wyatt said.
Also in attendance were the Respiratory Therapy Club students at Parkland College. The club wanted to provide the community with information about occupational safety awareness.
“The demographic of people who come to the show are people who are exposed to carbon monoxide, auto body and body work,” said Respiratory Therapy major Mitch Cortas.
The club wanted an opportunity to raise community awareness, along with club funds. The students were selling raffle tickets along with snacks and drinks. The club hopes with the money raised they can put on more events and raise awareness in the future, explained advisor Molly Martian.
The respiratory therapy students were hoping to also raise awareness about lung cancer and the importance of early intervention.
“Lung disease is debilitating,” said Martian. “So we would rather intervene early and let people know about the hazards of the possible exposures.”
Many members from the community and surrounding areas came out to the car show this weekend. Since the event was open to all, there were many families and groups of friends in attendance. Community members are always excited about this show because of its size.
There were 17 classes of cars to be judged at the car show. The cars were divided into two categories, and then broken down further in those categories. Stock cars were cars that had less than three modifications, while custom cars had three or more modifications (there was no limit to the modifications). There were 3 awards given to each class.
Parkland automotive students also had the opportunity to do some judging of their own. Twelve of the car show entries were selected and directed to a special place in the W parking lot where they were to have pictures taken and will be featured in the next Parkland Motorsports calendar.
The Parkland Motorsports Car Show is held each spring on the west side of campus. For more information, contact Jon Ross at jross@parkland.edu.
