Another year has come and gone as signaled by the Chicago Auto Show 2006, truly a production of glitz and glamour that rivals no other show. Sho-Link Chicago had two booths on this years’ show: Bridgestone/Firestone, a Derse Waukegan project returning for the third year and Mercedes Benz a new exhibit for Sho-Link.

     Bridgestone was a 70’ x 70’ extravaganza, which was highlighted with celebrities, three Indy Race League cars worth over a million dollars each and an antique race car that was priceless.

     The entire project was coordinated by John Fricke and his team: Alex Pruitt, Ken Aden-Buie and Dan Nelson. ”A challenge for John and his team was coordinating with Bridgestone Japan and Bridgestone America and facilitating their every desire in creating a seamless operation for us, which they did,” states Terry Hogan, Chicago Assistant City Manager.

     There were five celebrities on the booth, which included: Mario Andretti, (who needs no introduction), Ms. Sue Robertson who holds the world land speed record for the fastest female on a motorcycle (Bridgestone tires), also the, ‘05 Indy 500 winner/‘05 IRL Champion: Dan Weldon, plus Tennessee Titan Lineman Brad Hopkins. They all had special needs that were attended to by the crew leadman Terry Hogan and Michael DeGiacomo. The crew consisted of a ten man call, riggers, an electrical crew and stage hands for lighting issues.

     As always when doing an auto show, the booth has to be set twice: once for the press and black tie events and then reset for the public show.

     The highlight of the Bridgestone/Firestone booth had to be the 1911 Marmon Wasp, which is the actual car that won the 1911 Indianapolis 500. The car was on loan from the museum located in the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and was under 24-hour security.