JANUARY 2020 FREE
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Father/son road warriors
On the runway
Township native races ’67 Chevelle that he rebuilt with his kids By Madeleine Maccar
There’s a 1967 Chevelle somewhere in Ewing right now with a story that spans three generations. The vehicle might look like it’s seen better days, boasting a rust-colored exterior that matches its battered visage. But that same vehicle has ushered a father, nephew, and son to Ewing High School since the late ‘80s—and most recently, it traversed a five-track, three-
state journey to hold its own in the recent Hot Rod Drag Week before taking a figurative victory lap around some painstakingly preserved vintage autos to be the sleeper hit at a local car show. Lifelong Ewing resident Scott Franks Sr. says that when he was born, his birth was announced at the legendary Old Bridge Raceway Park (better known as Englishtown Raceway) because that’s where his father was. It was an early indicator that he was destined to inherit his dad’s and uncles’ love of cars—which would include that very same ’67 Chevelle nearly two decades later. “My love of cars and racing
is definitely a family thing: My father and a lot of his brothers and cousins are into drag racing. My father was at Englishtown the day it opened to race his mother’s vehicle—she thought he was at the drive-in movie theater,” Franks laughs. Under his dad’s tutelage, Franks learned the ins and outs of making a vehicle hum while fostering a genuine love of cars. But when that Chevelle came into the family, he knew it was something special. “I was thrilled when my dad started working on another car: I never wanted him to cut that Chevelle up into a racecar because I had always hoped I’d own it,” Franks says. “After my See HOT ROD, Page 6
Winter hiking makes for happy trails Ewing resident leads workshop on navigating the outdoors in the cold By JOe eMansKi
jemanski@communitynews.org
Think that winter is the wrong time to break out the backpacks and hit the hiking trails? Ewing resident John Lambdin might advise you to think again. In fact, if you go to his Winter Family Hike workshop in Rosedale Park in Hopewell later this month, he will do more than advise it: he’ll take you on a hike himself, and see if he can convince you. The kid-friendly workshop is scheduled for Sunday Jan. 19 from 1 to 3 p.m. — weather per-
mitting, of course. Signup is free and can be done online. Lambdin is a social studies teacher at the Burlington County Institute of Technology high school in Medford. But on weekends, you might find him at REI in Mercer Mall, the outdoor recreation store where he also works. REI offers the Winter Family Hike workshop in conjunction with the Mercer County Park Commission. Or you might just run across him in the park. Even in wintry weather. “I’ve been involved in outdoors practically my entire life,” says the North Jersey native. “I was a Boy Scout, and I carried that into adulthood, doing backpacking and hiking. It’s just something that I love.” The first thing Lambdin likes to go over with inexperienced winter hikers is the gear that they
HEALTH
Ewing High School freshman Leah Hurst models a dress by fashion designer Elizabeth Cordelia at New York Fashion Week last year. She has been a professional model for more than a decade. To read her stor y, turn to Page 12.
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HEADLINES B I - M O N T H LY N E WS F R O M
are going to wear. He is a big proponent of layers. “When I’m working in the store and helping somebody get outfitted, I tell people: you’re the source of heat. You’ve got to slow down the heat transfer out. If it’s just one layer that the heat has to get through, it can be easier for that heat to find its way out. But if you’re wearing layers, it slows that down.” He adds that when hikers wear too few layers and start to overheat, they can only remove so many layers before they run out. “When you’re wearing layers, it’s easy to shed one layer,” he says. In cold weather, the most important parts of the body to keep warm are the head and torso, where the organs are. But the places you’ll feel the cold most acutely are the hands and See HIKING, Page 11
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