This coming weekend is the Northeastern Junior College Auto Techs Club’s annual car show. And, as is the usual tradition, an auto show queen has been named. This year’s title holder is a Jersey girl, hailing from Burlington, NJ. Rachel “Roxie” Lara has never been a queen before. This makes her especially excited for the weekend to arrive.
“I love cars!” she exclaimed when asked what she knows about them.
“When I was younger, I worked on cars with my dad all of the time,” she says. “I don’t know all that much about them, but I love them. I attended the NJC show last year and I have been to the New York City car show and I hope to go to the Denver car show this spring.”
Lara has an interesting calling in life. She is at Northeastern Junior College studying equine science. She hopes to one day be a professional stunt rider and be able to work in the movies. She originally came to Colorado and enrolled at Colorado State University in its equine science program. She met friends in Fort Collins who were planning to enroll at Northeastern and they convinced her that it would be a good move for her to do the same.
“I decided to come to NJC and take the same classes here that I was taking at CSU my first two years and save some money,” Lara explains. “I’m graduating in May and I will go back to CSU next fall to finish my bachelor’s degree.”
So what would Lara’s dream car be?
“I’d love to have a ’69 Camaro, all black with a manual transmission,” she describes in clear detail, “or, I’d take an old Dodge Challenger that is deep hot rod purple.”
She ooed and awed over the 1939 Chevy that Larry Hilty brought to campus for her to pose with for her official queen picture. Hilty’s car, which is as bright as they come in a color called “PPG Fast Red,” is one of many that will be on display at the show. Hilty, who owns Sterling Grocery Mart, is a member of the Flatlanders’ Car Club. A number of those club members always support the NJC show by bringing cars to the contest. This club also provides some scholarships for NJC automotive students.
The NJC Auto Show runs Saturday and Sunday, March 24 and 25 out at the college’s north campus located on Pioneer Road. It is an indoor show. It will run 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $2 for those over age 12, 12 and under attend for $1. There will be concessions on hand at the event. Like other NJC shows, this year’s show will also feature a model car competition. Visitors to the show are asked to vote for their favorite cars, life-size and model, for the awards ceremony which will take place at 3 p.m. on Sunday. The queen will be at the show to hand out the trophies.
The NJC Diesel Power Club will also hold a toy show on Saturday only in the adjacent building to the auto show. There is a minimal admission fee to this show as well. Toy dealers and collectors will be on hand to sell, buy and trade toys and other novelties.