Cars,Cars,Cars(Op-ed draft)

Cars are a very important part of every day life. It gets you to work to back home; you can do about anything if you have a car. But is a car just a car? Does it matter what kind of car you drive? I think it does matter; people look at you if you have a nice car with every thing you get on it. If you got a car that barely runs people will not look twice. Sunday February 17 marked the 50th running of the Daytona 500. Not everyone cares about car racing. Everyone cares about cars. The car you drive, the cars you have driven, tell the world a little about who you are and who you’ve been. They are a fingerprint on your history, a little bit of metal and plastic DNA. They are, often, the first items young professional athletes buy when they become suddenly and overwhelmingly rich. Everyone has a car story. Most of us have many: First car, worst car. Best car, car you drove on the first date, car that died on the way home from work, car that made you sit a little taller in the seat. It’s debatable whether driving is a sport, even driving 170 mph. It requires coordination. So does the polka. It requires endurance; so does a Stairmaster. Some say driving is a skill, not a sport. Regardless, all say driving is an essential part of who we are. We love our cars. My first car: ’99 Ford Ranger black, CD player, manual windows. It was rear wheel drive and did not drive that good at all during winter. My worst car: ’98 Chevy Caviler green, manual windows, tape play, air conditioner didn’t work. I watched some of the Daytona 500 Sunday. I marveled at the technology that allows a car to move at 175-plus, while holding steady on a 50-degree banked turn. Still, I would rather have my car. Let’s see Tony Stewart’s hyper-engineered metal beefcake figure the Lytle Tunnel at 4 on a Friday afternoon. How much of that 700 horsepower can he use on I-80 through Cleveland at 8 in the a.m.? The I-71, during a snowstorm: Who wins? Stewart’s 358 cubic-inch beast master engine, pulling 3,400 pounds? Or my baby with the all-weather radials and four-wheel drive? My mom drives a caravan its got enough room for five kids, a dog and a bag of soccer balls. It’s fold-down seats. Does Stewart’s vehicle have fold-down seats? That would be a negative. Does he have cup holders and power outlets? Air conditioning, childproof locks, heated leather seats? GPS? I do not think so. Odometer, trip meter, extra-deep cargo bay, DVD player, ashtrays, map light? We do love our cars. Even when we want them dead. Gentlemen, start your Suburban.