Independence Township resident and North Oaks Corvette Club member Dave Barran almost had his Woodward Dream Cruise hopes dashed by an injury which occurred sometime in the winter, months prior to the nostalgic event.
Barran guessed the injury happened last winter while he was tobogganing, and it developed into a case of Sciatica. The pain travels along the path of the sciatic nerve down the back and into the leg, according to the Mayo Clinic Website.
‘I just can’t work the heavy-duty clutch,? Barran said of his 1974 Corvette. ‘It hurts too much.?
Typically, Barran heads to the Birmingham area and volunteers to help traffic control during the Dream Cruise. He was concerned this year, the 11th annual event, would be the first he would have to miss.
Mere days prior to the cruise, a friend came through with a 1979 Corvette with an automatic transmission, appeasing Barran’s injury.
Barran thinks the commercialization that is attached to the cruise since its humble beginnings in the mid 1990’s is both good and bad. The money made on the event helps keep the Dream Cruise going and offsets the cost of additional personnel needed by the different municipalities along the cruise route, Barran said.
Barran said limiting the cruise to strictly classic cars would be nearly impossible since Woodward Avenue is a public road. However, Barran doesn’t think the event can get any larger.
Barran said he doesn’t think that the event can get any larger than its current state.
‘I just hope it can continue as is’I think its reached a crescendo,? Barran said.
Barran remembers the classic cruise days with much fondness, ‘I go back to the days when I actually cruised? along Woodward Avenue.
Barran remembers the drive-in restaurants he used to frequent while cruising the strip as a 20-something from the eastside of Detroit.
‘That’s where boys met girls, drags were set up and a lot of cheeseburgers were eaten,? he said.
He remembers when he would meet people out-of-state and when they learned that he was from Detroit they would ask him two questions: ‘Can you tune my carburetor? And is Woodward Avenue really what it’s cracked up to be??