Crystal Lake auto repair shop A Car Tune fighting through COVID-19 financial stress

In talking about local small businesses that the community cannot afford to lose to COVID-19, A Car Tune in Crystal Lake is a prime example of a local gem worth fighting for.

Owner and founder Nancy Lingway said weathering the storm of COVID-19 has been tough, but she is no stranger to adversity. When life gets tough, she gets tougher.

“I've gotten knocked off my porch a few times but I always come back because, you see, I know who I am and I know where I came from,” Lingway said. “I know that the people who took the time to teach me saw something in me that I didn't see.”

Lingway has been the proud owner of A Car Tune for 25 years, providing what she calls "old time" personal service with a level of care that keeps her customers coming back year after year.

Even with the support of the community behind her, Lingway said COVID-19 shutdowns have had a huge impact on her business. In the last month or so, this financial stress has reached a breaking point.

"I'm behind on some of my bills," Lingway said. "It's just the taxes and rent, but I need customers to start coming in so I don't lose my lease."

Lingway said she is hopeful that, as the state prepares to enter Phase 4 of Gov. JB Pritzker's Restore Illinois plan, things will start to get back to a new normal. She has applied for a few of the grant programs available to small business owners and, like many others, has yet to hear back.

When asked if she is concerned that she may end up losing the business she has worked so hard to maintain, Lingway said that, of course, she is concerned. But she doesn't linger on this idea for long before she is back to the stubborn optimism that keeps her going.

"We're going to be fine," she said sternly. "We'll get this thing straightened out, don't worry."

For Lingway, these aren't just empty promises. The legacy of her shop rests firmly on her shoulders with a whopping 60 years of experience in the automotive industry. She has been through many financial hardships before and has always come out the other side.

At just 15 years old, Lingway was already racing cars and working in the pits back when O'Hare Airport still had a speedway.

Back then, she competed in the "powder puff" races for female drivers in her '56 Ford Fairlane.

"It was a pink car with six beer cans welded to the roof," Lingway said. “That's where I really learned how to drive."

In the winter, when Lake Michigan froze over, Lingway and her friends would drive out onto the ice and slam onto the brakes, sending their cars into a skid to teach themselves how to regain control of the vehicle.

"That's how I learned to drive in the wintertime and that knowledge has saved my life more than once," she said with a chuckle.

At that time, she worked in the garage of an old family friend who she referred to as her uncle. Working in auto shops taught Lingway the value of hard work at a young age.

“I was given some very strong mentors,” she said. “I would fall down and they would pick me up, they’d dust me off ... and say do it again."

"And I would do it, I would succeed and I'd go on with my life," she added.

Lingway is recognized as a pioneer for being one of very few female auto repair shop owners in Illinois, but she said she doesn't see it as anything to fuss about.

"That was just the way I was brought up," she said. "My mom raised five kids by herself. She never once, never ever once, complained.”

Being raised by a woman who Lingway described as the epitome of strength, she was determined to strive for the same.

"If I could have half the strength of that woman, I think my life would be complete," she said.

She ran multiple other auto repair shops in California and Illinois before deciding to start her own independent operation in Crystal Lake in 1995, which she would call A Car Tune.

While many would call her brave for boldly going where few women had gone at the time, Lingway pokes fun at the idea with her shop's slogan: 'trust your car to a woman's care.'

Lingway treats each and every one of her customers like family because it's simply the right way to do business, she said. If she is changing the oil on a car and notices something off that is simple to fix, she doesn't think twice about fixing it free of charge.

“That's the way I was brought up and I don't vary from it," she said. "It's just the way it is. That's what service is supposed to be.”

Having spent much of her time in auto shops and on speedways since she was a teenager, Lingway is a little bit rough around the edges. She is a straight shooter, often called "brutally honest," but will never mislead a customer.

“My diplomacy needs work, but what I say – you can take that to the bank,” she said.

She is funny and kind, with an easy laugh that invites others to join in. Lingway brings a level of personalization and dedication to her work nostalgic of the "good old days" when cars were still more machine than computer and mechanics still knew all of their customers by name.

Rather than delivering diagnostics reports heavy with mechanical jargon, Lingway helps her customers understand what is wrong with their cars and how they can save money by avoiding future problems. She even posts videos on the A Car Tune website with answers to frequently asked questions as a way of helping customers care for their vehicles.

“It's not that we want to make mechanics out of them, but they have to understand why they're fixing what they have to fix,” Lingway said.

She is supported by the same team of mechanics that helped her open up the shop 25 years ago. A few scrappy young apprentices have come and gone, but Lingway said her crew is made up of guys who hold the same values of honesty and hard work that she does.

"I trust them with my life," she said.

At 75 years old, Lingway was beginning to think about her retirement, a goal which now feels hazy and out of reach given the current state of her business.

"It's just one day at a time," she said. "We're all going to get over this together and then we will do what we have to do."

Whatever the future brings, Lingway said she has no doubt that, with the support of her team, her community and her mother watching over her, A Car Tune will find a way to push through.

"The good Lord always provides," she said. "He hasn't let me down before, He's not going to let me down now."

A Car Tune is currently accepting walk-ins and Lingway said she will even drive customers home if they would rather not wait while their car is repaired. She invited anyone and everyone to stop by the shop with car troubles, questions, or simply to say hello to her and her dog, Benny.