TRANSPORTATION : Public Gets Revved Up Over Auto Show

Attendance at the Orange County Auto Show isn’t likely to hit a new high this year, but organizers say that despite recession and war, it is running close enough to last year’s record of 201,000 to keep them happy.

“We’ll probably be off by a couple of percentage points,” publicist Barry Greenberg said. Final figures won’t be available until after the show closes Sunday.

The exposition, which features cars and trucks from 33 manufacturers, is being held at Anaheim Stadium.

Greenberg said one of the hits of the show has been the futuristic Pontiac Banshee concept car, which draws a lot of admiring stares “and several offers to buy it,” Greenberg said. “The Pontiac people say they had one guy who just wouldn’t take no for an answer and kept insisting he had to have it and would pay cash.”

But he was finally dissuaded when it was pointed out that the car isn’t a working model.

Another popular display is the Chevrolet area, Greenberg said. Still playing off its cars’ starring role as NASCAR race machines in the Tom Cruise movie, “Days of Thunder,” Chevy has set up a slot car race track and is letting kids of all ages try their luck.