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Instead the 3-year-old focused on something a little more his size.
He was strolling around the park with his father, taking in all the 11th annual Lacey Summer’s End Car Show had to offer, when he saw the pine wood derby in action.
“He was walking around and said, ‘I want a car,’ so you know I had to find him one,” said the boy’s father, Joseph Rancia.
The elder Rancia had entered his 1989 Nissan 180SX into the show. He smiled, knowing his son could be following in his footsteps.
“I loved cars ever since I was little,” Rancia said. “I’ve been building them since I was young. Then the hobby became a lifestyle.”
Rancia shares a similar story with the 283 entries in Saturday’s show, making it the second largest in event history, according to organizers. The largest year attracted 300 entries.
Sponsored by the City of Lacey in cooperation with the Cool Creek Nites car club, a portion of the proceeds go toward buying defibrillators for rural fire departments. Griffin Fire Department was selected for this year’s donation.
“We have prided ourselves on providing a fun, family-oriented event,” said Graeme Sackrison, former Lacey mayor and president of the auto club. “It’s a place you don’t have to spend a lot of money – you don’t have to spend any money.”
Dominic Jeffery and his 5-year-old twin brother Cameron were impressed by the offerings at the show, but not completely satisfied.
“My favorite car is the Charger – red ones,” Dominic said. “We saw a Charger, but it wasn’t my favorite color. My favorite color is red.”
No one could miss an orange 1929 Ford Roadster driven down from Tacoma by J.R. and Jude Nelson. The couple has traveled 70,000 miles in the showpiece, attending car shows in Los Angeles and at Utah’s Bonneville Speedway.
In the business of pinstriping for 40 years, J.R. Nelson said there isn’t much he doesn’t know how to do on his own vehicle.
“As a kid I learned to do a lot of things, and I didn’t want my stuff out of sight that long,” he said. “When it comes to things like the transmission, I have friends that do that, but welding and fabrication is what I do.”
Nelson developed a passion for roadsters at 13, but became sidetracked by a 1929 Ford Coupe.
Soon, he went back to his first love.
“Roadsters are always the main thing that’s on my brain,” he said.
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