Off-Season Intensity!
- John Santiago
- 15 minutes ago
- 2 min read
This off season has been a whirlwind of activity. We’ve been VERY busy with little time to post, so here are the winter highlights.
The Community Garage and The Trade Collective have been working with our local high school to promote trades as additional career pathways. For February, we focused on automotive-related trades. Our “Automotive Month” kicked off with a bang as we snuck a car into the halls of the high school!
Getting this little guy through some tight doorways was a challenge…
HUGE thanks to the Autobarn Mazda of Evanston dealership for helping to make this happen. Autobarn has been incredibly supportive of our work.
The programming we helped develop for the Automotive Month can be seen here.
The capstone for the month was a Tire Competition in which teams of students got to compete against the clock for the fastest tire rotation. With more than one team coming in under 10 minutes to do all four corners, they were learning the meaning of hustle!
More thanks go out to industry friends, Jason Nelson of Greatwater 360 Auto Care and Mike Spano of Victory Honda who supported the Tire Competition by serving as our pro judges. Special recognition and thanks go to Victory Honda who also agreed to take on an ETHS student for a week-long job-shadow.
The winning team of Jesse and George scored highest in overall knowledge and correct skills while posting the second fastest time. Their top prize: a free track weekend!
Before, during, and after Auto Month, the boys and Dr. John have been busy getting Spec Iron Sally prepped for the 2026 race season.
We’ve gone through most of the systems on the car and taken care of heavily worn items:
· New brake calipers
· New radiator hose
· New shocks
· New tie rods
· New windshield
· Fresh trans fluid
· Fresh oil
· Fresh power steering fluid
· Oil cooler installed
· Power steering cooler installed
· Fuel gauge installed
· Quick-release bumper fabricated
· And much more…
Overall, Sally is ready, our driver is eager, and our shop manager wants us all to hustle up and get back to the track!
Our first event coming up soon. We’re going to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with NASA Great Lakes! We are bringing two cars to this one! Zsa Zsa is coming back to the track after long months off and will be piloted by a brand new driver! We can’t wait!
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