When my brother returned from Vietnam in 1968, one of his Army buddies, was the son of Hulett Chevrolet in Camden MO. He bought a 1969 Corvett 350HP 4 Speed. At 13 I thought it was the coolest car in the world. I would go out early and sit in the car waiting for the bus to pick me up for school. In 1982 I bought a Mazda RX-7. My first sports car. Now the NSX is in the stable, my second sports car. I heard the hype about the looks, stares, compliments, people slowing down on the interstate, pacing a length or two behind to look or take CP pictures, or kids running up to the car wanting to know what it is or those that do, want to see and touch. The list goes on and on. I'm at a point where I pretty much drive and not look, to see if anyone's looking. There are more times than I will ever know where the car gets its deserved looks. But there was one that stood out.
My birthday was in August. My wife's present was a Jeff Gordan driving package for Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte NC. We drove into the infield, stopped took some photos of the car and went to the parking area. After checking in, there was about 90 minutes before my turn came up to drive the M&M #18 car. As you approached the pit wall, there are three guys fitting you with a helmet and testing the earplugs. The guy helping me, about 20, sees me and the first thing he said was, "You're the guy that drove the NSX here." I replied yes. He said the NSX was his favorite car.
Thinking about it later, it wasn't the surroundings that made the comment, it was that the person not only looked at the car, he looked at who I was and after 90 or so minutes, remembered me driving the NSX. That encounter reminded me why the NSX was the right choice and why I love its look today, even though its 14 years old.