Thread: It's not your mom's mini-van

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-minivans_28jul28,1,7399927.story?page=1&ctrack=1&c set=true

[size=12pt]It's not your mom's mini-van[/size]
With rust and wood paneling concealing the menacing turbo-power hiding under the hood, no one would expect that old Dodge Caravan to rule the drag strip
By Ted Gregory | Tribune staff reporter
July 28, 2007

Sporting bib overalls, gnarly beard and grimy baseball cap, Paul Smith looks nothing like a champion of the thoroughly domesticated.

But he becomes their hero every time he works his stout frame behind the steering wheel of his dragster: a 1989 mini-van with rust bubbles on the fender, faux wood grain on the sides, 185,000 miles on the odometer and a turbocharged engine that rockets the van down the track at 106 m.p.h.

"A lot of dads walk up to me after a race," said Smith, 43, of Seneca in north central Illinois. "They're just shaking their heads. They can't believe it. They shake my hand and say 'thanks.'"

A husband and father of three with a trailer sales business, Smith drag-races mini-vans.

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That sounds cool, I would like to see a mini van demolition derby.