Performance Unlimited Blog

Business took me down from Woodstock to areas south of Chicago last week. For those down that way, if you’re not familiar with Woodstock, we’re just beyond the Sacred Elephant Graveyard. In other words, we’re a bit off the beaten track. While casually cruising southbound on Highway 355 in my father’s Lincoln I suddenly smelled something akin to burning rubber as I saw a sign for the Route 34 exit. Then, the battery light came on just as I noticed an marked stiffness in the steering wheel. I know these symptoms of automotive malaise well. In fact, it was only 24 hours earlier that, like déjà vu, I experienced the same symptoms in my own car (hence the need to borrow my father’s car for the day). What are the odds of throwing a serpentine belt on two cars in consecutive days? It has to be some kind of a record. Contemplating the irony of the events was secondary to my immediate problem as I turned off of 355 onto westbound 34. The prominent issue plaguing my mind was what to do now. Whe...

Most people in the area know Denny Norton as the owner of Performance Unlimited, the auto repair shop at 5415 Austin Court, Ringwood, that keeps their cars safely on the roads. A few years back, however, it was just as common to see Norton behind the wheel of a stock car or monster truck. Norton made a name for himself as a competitive driver in the region. April 23 and 24, Norton returned to competitive driving, though in a less familiar arena – road racing. Merry Men is a name that conjures visions of robust men with long bows and English accents wearing green tights. For Norton’s return to racing, it represented the name of a team of racers, including Wayne Seely, Mike Recine, Ken Girard and Dave Johnson, who were racing for fun and to raise funds for Japanese Tsunami relief. Norton said that, while he enjoyed the more gentlemanly sport of road racing, he was just fine skipping the tights. “I was surprised the way some of the other drivers would politely move out of your way,” Nort...