Classic cars turn downtown Henderson into Surf City

By Ron Kantowski

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009 | 3:49 p.m.

NOW

I went to the classic car show on Water Street in Henderson Friday night. I felt like rolling up my dungarees and slicking back what's left of my hair, it was that cool and authentic. I kept waiting for John Milner to challenge Bob Falfa to a drag race, like in "American Graffiti."

The Jan and Dean Experience, or however they billed it, was slightly less authentic. For starters, Jan wasn't there -- he died in 2004 and never fully recovered from the near-fatal injuries he suffered upon crashing his Corvette eerily close to Dead Man's Curve in 1966.

The show opened with about a dozen Beach Boys songs, none of which Jan and Dean made popular. Although the crowd didn't seem to mind, by the time Dean Torrence and the other guys on stage got around to "Surf City," "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" and "Dean Man's Curve," I was standing in line for a funnel cake behind a guy with greasy hair and glasses who bore a faint resemblance to Terry "The Toad" Fields from the aforementioned "American Graffiti."

Two girls for every guy? I don't think so. At least not that guy.

THEN

In the strangest of coincidences, two sons of former boxing world champions have suffered potentially debilitating neck injuries almost one year apart while playing high school football in Las Vegas.

Green Valley's LaQuan Phillips, who was temporarily paralyzed last September, is the son of Vince "Cool" Phillips, the former junior welterweight world champion.

Shadow Ridge's Zak Hill, who injured the C-1 and C-2 vertebrae in his neck last Friday, is the son of Virgil Hill, who held world titles in both the light heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions.

One can only hope that none of George Foreman's five sons named George learned to tackle with his head.