Hot Rodders Savor Season’s Last Run To Norma’s

Surrounded by hot rods at Norma’s Burger Barn, Joe Felice whipped a wallet from his hip pocket. He flipped open the leather billfold and “family” pictures spilled out.

Kids at the park? Nowhere to be found. A picture of his blushing bride? Only if you count the one of his wife sitting at the wheel of a racey red 1930 Ford roadster.

“We were married in that car,” Felice explained.

And the 1946 Midget Racer, a one-seater race car on the next page?

“Race cars are my real weakness,” he conceded.

The Spokane Valley car enthusiast is one of many who attended weekly summer car rallies at Norma’s. Tuesday night’s rendezvous at Norma’s was the last run of the season, ending a third summer of rallies at the fast food restaurant in Otis Orchards. The season began in in April.

“Hot rodders and street rodders like to get together and talk,” said Bennie Sawyer, who owns Norma’s. “This is a good excuse for them to do that.”

And if the cars were not enough of an incentive, Norma’s offered a free hamburger to drivers.

“They’re the best burgers, that’s the key,” said Joey Shankman, Felice’s wife.

The ambiance, both inside the restaurant and out, doesn’t hurt either.

Pictures of hot rods adorn the walls of the quaint burger joint on the corner of Harvard and Wellesley.

Outside, the parking lot was filled with the low rumble of hot rods coming and going. On this particular Tuesday, nearly 60 cars strolled gingerly through the gravel lot. Paint shined on the rows of hot rods as the sun peeked below the clouds and through a soft rain on its way out of sight.

“Everyone sits around and kicks the tires,” said the 52-year-old Sawyer.

Including Sawyer’s son, Jake. The 10-year-old investigated a neon purple glow from under Mike Shiflett’s 1937 Ford coupe and dreamed of owning a car of his own.

“A fast car,” Jake Sawyer said. “A ‘67 Mustang.”

Though most at the rally were four and five times Jake Sawyer’s age, they had not outgrown his youthful passion.

“They’ve just finally reached the point in time where they can afford it,” Shiflett said.

“It seems like the older you get, the more you regress back into things you liked as a child,” Felice added.

Felice has regressed a long way. Just how far is hard to say, however, because of the 52-year-old’s reluctance to reveal how many cars he owns.

“Too many,” said Felice, who has been building cars for about 30 years. “I started building a couple every two or three years. I have a family.”

Hence the wallet full of photos.

With so many cars, deciding which one to drive must have been tough, right? Not on this drizzly October evening.

Felice’s yellow and white 1955 Chevy was the natural choice.

“It’s the only one with windshield wipers and a heater,” he said.

“And windows,” quipped Shankman.

Don’t let Shankman’s sarcasm fool you. She has also spent time under the hood during an affliction of hot rod fever.

“I’ve built two and now I’m cured,” Shankman said. “It’s like putting someone through college. It takes about four years and costs thousands of dollars.”

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