These days, Dominic Liberio’s 1964 Ford Fairlane sits in the driveway or garage of his Kenmore home quite possibly with a higher gloss on it than when it rolled out of the factory more than four decades ago.

And thanks to the car (and his driving skills), Liberio has a rather large trophy to show off along with his rebuilt hot rod, not to mention a $1,500 college scholarship.

Liberio and his ‘64 Ford brought home the top prize in a scholarship bracket race — dubbed the High School Drags — held last month at Pacific Raceways in Kent.

A senior and soon-to-be graduate of the Northshore School District’s Secondary Academy for Success (SAS), Liberio, 18, beat out some 300 other cars and drivers from around the state in the car he and father, Joe Liberio, rebuilt themselves.

“I’m just really proud of him,” Joe Liberio said. “He’s a good kid, he’s a smart kid… He really put a lot of effort into that car and it’s really paid off.”

For his part, Dominic Liberio said he can’t remember a time when he didn’t like cars. He was 13 when his dad bought the Fairlane for him.

“The car was basically a shell when we got it, no motor, no nothing,” Liberio said.

Restoration took about five years. Liberio said he was able to keep most of the original body in tact, from the doors to the fenders. He did replace the car’s hood with a fiberglass model.

Regarding the interior, Liberio said, he completely rebuilt it with new upholstery and so on.

“It was fun,” he said of working on the car. “I really liked it.”

“It was something we could do together,” Joe Liberio stated. He doesn’t work on cars professionally as his son hopes to, but as you might expect Joe Liberio, has worked on cars in the past. For example, with some help from his son, he redid a 1962 Galaxy.

According to Dominic Liberio, the father isn’t into racing anywhere near as much as the son. As for Dominic, he took part in the high-school drag two years ago in his father’s truck. He spent plenty of time last summer in Kent for their Friday-night drags.

“I love it to death,” he said of racing.

Liberio said it took him eight runs to win Pacific’s High School Drags. As those familiar with drag racing will know, for bracket races, each car is also put through a couple of runs to determine the car’s initial time. Once the competition starts, cars with slower times are given a head start. No driver is allowed to blow past his initial time or face disqualification.

Basically, the effect of bracket racing is to place an emphasis not so much on the car, but on the driver’s control and skill.

“It’s a challenge,” Liberio said. “There’s some strategy to it.” He still had his qualifying time of 15.1 seconds marked on the Ford’s side window.

For his next challenge, Liberio is rebuilding a 1989 Nissan 240 SX.

A bigger task might await him next year as he plans on attending Kirkland’s Lake Washington Technical College to study auto-body repair. Regarding the Northshore School District, Liberio said he got a lot out of the automotive program at Bothell High School.

Still, without prompting, Liberio said he really enjoyed and feels he benefitted considerably from spending his senior year at SAS.

“I kind of wish I’d gone there earlier,” he said. “It’s just a totally different experience.”