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Have you ever struggled to parallel park? Well, imagine trying to do it in front of hundreds of screaming people, all of them assessing and evaluating your every single move. Reporter Andrew Stelzer was in Philadelphia for the city's first-ever Parallel Parking Association Championship, and here's how it went down.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: Let's get ready to parallel park.
ANDREW STELZER, BYLINE: They came from all over the city, driving all types of cars from Kias to Lexuses and everything in between.
CYNTHIA STRAWBERRY: My name is Cynthia Strawberry, and I do all kinds of parking. Anytime people can't park, I tell them, get out their car. Let me park their car for them.
SHAFIR MONDAL: My name is Shafir Mondal. They call me Pirate One Shot, and I'm here to win. I'm the king of parallel parking here in Philadelphia.
ANNA DE SOUZA: My name is Anna De Souza, and I'm here to represent all of the parents and their Cheerio crushers, because if anyone parks in distress and duress, it is parents.
STELZER: There were 14 contestants out of 900 applicants. They included a city bus driver, a former survivor contestant and Missy Phillips (ph), whose Instagram handle is MissyParksGood.
MISSY PHILLIPS: I did prep this week. I generally use my backup camera. I am pro-backup camera, but I respect the rules.
STELZER: Backup cameras and self-parking cars were not allowed.
PHILLIPS: I'd just, like, wait for a SEPTA bus to pull up behind me, and then I'd get into the tightest spot 'cause you got to do that under duress. Got to build up the tolerance for stress.
STELZER: Under Duress was one of three categories of competition. Volunteers with costumes and props acted as delivery vans, snowplows or tailgating football fans to simulate stressful parking conditions, while drivers tried to line up their wheels as close to the curb as possible.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Seven and five and a half.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Seven and five and a half.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Pretty good.
STELZER: There was also the One Shot category, back in and straighten out with no corrections. But most dramatic was Tight Squeeze, in which drivers had to maneuver into a spot only 18 inches longer than their car.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: She's going in smooth. She's going in smooth.
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: Oh, yeah. That's nice.
STELZER: Parallel parking competitions have also been held in Austin, Portland, Oregon, and Pittsburgh, which recently held their sixth annual event. But none of those cities has the same narrow streets and dense urban core as Philly, where parking is a frequent topic of conversation and frustration.
KINJA PATTERSON: So it's going to be more challenging because this city was not built for cars, right?
STELZER: Kinja Patterson (ph) and Ayande Satole (ph) are both Philly natives who came out to hoot, holler and enjoy a beautiful sunny fall day.
AYANDE SATOLE: You know that from being in the city, either born and raised or if you're a transplant, you have to learn how to parallel park.
STELZER: After three competitors advanced to the finals, the last round was scored on nothing more than style and parking with flair.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: The moment of truth - the best parallel parker in Philadelphia.
STELZER: The winner was One Shot Mar - street name Mario Zucca. He parked well but also worked the crowd with his race car driver's outfit and a giant No. 1 balloon trailing off of his 2012 Mazda 3 Hatchback.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: One Shot Mar.
STELZER: Mar took home a $76 prize and the trophy, a mounted jagged piece of Philadelphia curb.
MARIO ZUCCA: I have a spot already for it. Ready to go. I just hope my mantle is strong enough, 'cause that thing's really heavy.
STELZER: Next year, the organizers want to hold regional heats in the suburbs, leading up to a final competition in the city once again.
For NPR News, I'm Andrew Stelzer in Philadelphia.
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THE BEATLES: (Singing) Baby, you can drive my car. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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