Madison Motorsports revvs up for car show

Madison Motorsports and the Shenandoah Valley community start their engines at noon this Saturday for the second annual motorshow.

Students and community members will roll out in style to the ISAT C10 parking lot to show off their wheels and vie for a prize.

Senior Gerald Irish, co-founder of Madison Motorsports, said, "The best thing about [Madison Motorsports] is the friends we've made along the way."

"We've made friends at JMU, friends at the club racing level and even friends at the professional level, and all of these people make everything we do all the more fun and rewarding."

Junior Mike Collins, president of Madison Motorsports, said members of the club have been distributing fliers to the owners of the hottest cars, coolest bikes and other unique vehicles they have seen around town and on campus.

"Word has been spread [about the show] by Harrisonburg locals and Madison Motorsports around campus, on the Internet and around the area," Collins said.

"We're hoping this year's show will draw all types of vehicles ranging from imports, domestics, sport bikes, race cars and antiques."

Registration for the show begins at 11 a.m. Saturday and the show will begin at noon. 

There is a $20 charge for exhibiting a vehicle, but spectators admission is free. Vehicles will be grouped by import, domestic and European classes, according to Irish.

Local store owners and professional race car drivers, selected by the club officers, will judge the cars' classes at 2 p.m. Cash prizes will be awarded to the first place winner of each class at 3:30 p.m., Irish said.

According to Collins, this year's motorshow will showcase Toyota Supra turbos, a Ford SVT Cobra and Lightening, a Honda S2000 and a Bimmerworld touring car, in addition to many more. Bimmerworld is a racing team based out of Blacksburg — a member of the team is a JMU alumnus.
Irish said he expects to attract 20 to 60 particpants to the show. The club's first car show, held last year, was a great success with a turnout of 300 spectators, according to Irish.

"We had a great time last year," senior Ryan Jenkins said. "We had over 50 cars, five local dealerships and gave out prizes from over a dozen local retailers. This year's should be bigger and better."

Madison Motorsports is in its second year of existence. The club has around 30 members who travel to racetracks along the East Coast to watch, flag and race in road races and autocrosses, obstacle courses for cars.

The club also participates on crews with professional race teams, exchanges mechanical expertise and experience and hosts an annual car show, Irish said.

Visit www.mmsports.org/ index.html for registration and general information.