Philadelphia has officially turned parallel parking into a competitive sport.
Hundreds of spectators packed Headhouse Plaza for the city’s first-ever Philadelphia Parallel Parking Association Championship.
Nearly 900 people applied for a chance to compete, but only 14 drivers ultimately made it to the starting line.
And these were not your average parking challenges.
Contestants had to complete a one-shot parallel park with no corrections, squeeze into an extremely tight parking space and park while dealing with distractions designed to recreate the chaos of driving on a real Philadelphia street.
Backup cameras and automatic parking-assist technology were not allowed.
After several rounds, 46-year-old artist and illustrator Mario “One-Shot Mar” Zucca took home the title in his well-used 2012 Mazda.
For his elite parking skills, Zucca received a trophy featuring an actual piece of curb, $76 toward his next parking ticket and free parking in participating Center City garages for the month of October.
Apparently, parallel parking really is a serious skill in Philly.
So be honest: If someone put two cars close together and a crowd around you, could you parallel park without touching the curb?