'Gear-heads' flock to car, truck show
by Ken Lewis
The Times-Union

While the car-lovers of Jacksonville feasted their eyes on hot rides like the Lotus Exige and the Ford Cobra, 6-year-old A.J. Woods went to the races.

With a controller in his little hand, the Jacksonville boy raced a tiny car around the Crazy Eight Raceway on Saturday at the Jacksonville Internation Car & Truck Show. He thought it would be slow, but the cars zipped around with surprising speed. "It was cool," Woods said.

The show continues today at the Prime Osborn Convention Center. Tickets are $8 for adults, $4 for children ages 6-12, and $5 for military members with identification.

Earl Hannah of Jacksonville helps his son Zachary, 3, run the 1:24 scale slot race cars at the Crazy Eight Raceway, a portable slot car track operated by Clifton Walker also of Jacksonville in the Kids Fun Zone area. Hannah's other son Landon, 2, is sandwiched between the two.

While adults focused on the Audis, BMWs, Chryslers, Dodges, Fords and more, the tykes checked out the Kids Zone with the NASCAR Moonbounce, the Sun Trust Adrenaline Jam, slot car racing, face painting and a virtual speedway game.

Samantha and Jonathan Fitzgerald, 5 and 3, had been waiting for the event since attending last year's, said their mother, Michelle Fitzgerald. "They've been talking about it for a year," she said.

Samantha, 5, had some advice anyone [for] using the controller at the Crazy Eight Raceway. "Squeeze it hard," she said.

Three-year-old Zachary Hannah and his brother had fun too. But maybe not as much as his father, Earl Hannah.

"They love cars," Hannah said. "They're like their daddy. They're gear-heads."