I'm not what you would call "a car person". My car career has consisted of five vehicles, the fifth being my current and more than likely the biggest beater of them all.

There's a running list of things wrong with my little '90 Honda Accord. Aside from obvious outside cosmetic problems (a plethora of dents and rust), the back windshield leaks when it rains, the trunk smells of mildew due to the leaky windshield, the key will not unlock the passenger side door, the radio presets automatically reset to whatever they were when I bought the car every time the engine is turned off, the clock automatically resets to one o'clock when the radio is turned off and when the engine is turned off, the automatic seatbelts don't work unless the radio is turned on, the driver's side window only goes down about two and a half inches, the tape deck doesn't work anymore, the antenna had to be replaced, the clanking on the front right wheel makes a lot of noise (but isn't dangerous) and. . . Is that it? Oh, and the mild oil leak.

But, despite all of the things I've just listed, I love my Honda. It's got almost 170,000 miles on it and still runs fine, even if radio preset number one will always be on radio station 87.7. But I'm not gonna be driving my little maroon sedan to any car shows.

Or so I thought!

This weekend, my boyfriend was asked to DJ at the Indiana Truck Bash at the O'Reilly Raceway Park. He asked me to drop him off and I thought nothing of it, was happy to drive him, no harm done. He'd received a VIP pass for us to drive through to the stage.

I didn't realize a truck bash also attracted the aforementioned "car people".

So just imagine in your mind my little Honda, beat to hell, several rust spots, hail dents, etc., with a bright red VIP pass stuck to the inside of my windshield. Imagine this beautiful little beater driving through the park early in the morning with me inside, unshowered and still in pajamas. Scattered around the park are pimped out cars, vintage cars and tricked out pick up trucks - I don't even want to consider how much more these automobiles were than my own .

I was to drop my boyfriend off at the stage in the middle of these parked vehicles. Fantastic. So after two minutes of driving, he was out of the car with his gear and I was left on the one-way track. In front of me was a line of cars driving at a snail's pace in order to show off their cars. And then there was me in my old Honda with its VIP sticker.

I've never gotten that many stares in my life. Death stares. Stares of "Why in god's name is that car VIP?" Lots of comments directed at me, including, "I wanna get me one'a them cars!" and "See? Now look at that Honda. There's just no ego in that car. I like it. Let's go get an Accord. But only if it's made in the early 90s."

Good lord. It took me 40 minutes to drive through all that. I was embarrassed and I hated that I was embarrassed because of how cars look, how fast they go - these are not things I value. I really do value my Honda because it will last me for another 40,000 miles if I take care of it.

So boo to you car people for making fun of my car! Growl.