(Words and photos by Doug Gregory) – Family drives us to do many things. For one teen the memory of his grandfather and the illness that took him drove the idea of a car show to raise money and awareness for ALS and to honor his grandfather.
Logan Lawrence might look like any other teen in the Midwest about to enter his senior year in high school. He’s been involved with racing since he was young, plays sports, is active in his community, has lots of friends, etc.
Logan has great memories of hanging out with his grandpa at the family business and the racing that was passed down from him to Logan’s father and then to Logan. Carlos Lawrence was definitely a gearhead of notoriety in the tri-state area (KY, IN, OH) and beyond. Carlos’ passing came fairly swift after his diagnosis in 2008 and in 2009 Lou Gehrig’s disease ended his struggle.
Bring on 2016 and Logan proposes the idea to his father – a car show to raise money for ALS research and to honor his late grandfather’s memory. Great idea, but his dad told him he’d have to do it all himself. Wow. Well planning began in November of last year and with some advice from friends Randy and Shirley Crouch the ball was rolling. Businesses from all over the tri-state area were sought to sponsor different aspects of the show so that as much of the money raised could be donated to an ALS research charity. Flyers were handed out at indoor and outdoor shows in the months leading up to the event.
The hope was they would get 200-250 cars entered for this first-year event. At the end of the day there were over 400 cars registered (425 final tally) and many more came and went throughout the day. The ALS Cruisin for a Cause far exceeded Logan’s (and everyone else’s) expectations. Once all the bills were paid a grand total of $15,000.00 was raised and a check presented to the ALS Association.
The show is scheduled for May 6, 2018 for the 2nd annual Cruisin to a Cure. Don’t miss it and support this cause.
The sun was bright and the air cool as we formed a plan for covering as much as we could. We decided on a row by row strategy first and by the middle of the show that plan dissolved. We’ve got 5 galleries showing some of the best stuff this area has to offer.
A few highlights from this entry:
We totally dug the green Pinto with turbo 4 power. Clean setup.
The #93 Saab was very clever and is a real driver.
My first sighting of a ‘ghettocet’ based on a Miata platform. Looks like fun.
A near-mint white Matador. I’m seeing more of these after many years of seeing none.
This killer, early C3 is like a day 2 build and has a hard-hitting big-block, side pipes, and a cool hood.
Enjoy.
