You wouldn’t normally associate a child care worker with the burning rubber, tyre smoke and the gleaming metal street machine festival that is Summernats but Sharon Rosser has that passion.
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Every year her summer holidays have involved a family trip to Canberra for Summernats.
And now Ms Rosser from Orange has gone one step further than just watching – she’s joined in the competition and become a two-time trophy winner.
When Dad showed me the Escort I just fell in love with it.
- Sharon Rosser
“I got the same trophy last year,” she said.
“We were actually shocked that I’d won it this year as there are so many nicer cars entered than mine.”
The judges didn’t see it that way and she took third place in the Top Tudor section, an award for the best two-door car with a pillar, for the second year in a row.
She won with her own 1978 two-door Ford Escort which with its deep blue paint job, cool white interior and a play on the model name, gives it the nickname of the Esky.
“I’m a huge Ford fan. I’d love an XY [Falcon],” she said.
But her dream of owning the brutish big Ford was put aside when her father found the little Escort.
She said it was a wreck rescued from the panel beaters.
“When Dad showed me the Escort I just fell in love with it.”
They have put a lot of work into the car with Ms Rosser putting money aside for each project to rebuild the car into an example good enough to show at Summernats.
“My car has pretty much been built from the ground up,” she said.
“I’ve pretty much built it how I want it.”
She gained the car when she was 16 and has now entered it three times at Summernats.
“I’ve been going to Summernats for 25 years,” she said.
“I’ve been brought up with cars. It’s my tradition to keep going every year.”
It was only natural to take the next step.
“My dream as a little child was that I wanted to show my own car at Summernats, to show it off,” she said.
“That ticked the first box and now I have the won the trophy that’s double-ticked the box.”
But she is not planning on going for three-in-a-row next year, choosing to have an overseas holiday instead.
“Next year I’m going to Thailand,” she said.
“I’ve decided to drop the pin for Summernats.
“I’ve been going for a while.”