Northern Exposure '03

This year's running of the Car Craft Summer Nationals, sponsored by Flowmaster, set new attendance records, reaching 3,800 cars over the weekend. Saturday afternoon was obviously the peak, with so many cars and people that our golf carts actually became a burden, and we joined the throngs of spectators on foot.

Long-time musclecar fans will remember Berger Chevrolet as one of the dealers that produced special performance packages back in the heyday of the late '60s. Today, the Grand Rapids, Michigan, dealership is one of the few that have survived all these years, and it's once again producing special Camaros. Dennis Barker heads up that program for Berger, and he organized a caravan of Berger's ZL-1- package Camaros to St. Paul for the show. The Hugger Orange '02 in the background belongs to Jim Parks of DeForest, Wisconsin, and has just about every option, including the 427ci LS6 engine making 600 hp.

Troy Trepanier's latest wonder car is the Chicayne--a '62 Chevy Biscayne commissioned by Billet Specialties owner Glenn Grozich. The car has become the automotive equivalent of a rock star over the past few months, but you could have walked right up and licked it at St. Paul, though we wouldn't recommend it.

The Minnesota SS Club was out in force displaying its members' late-model B-bodies, wagons, and cop cars. Almost every car on display was modified in some way, usually for increased performance. Some of these guys have even taken these behemoths road racing.