BUILT TO LAST 3 DECADES LATER, REO SPEEDWAGON STILL REVS ITS ENGINE.

Byline: Jennifer Cho Salaff Staff Writer

With 17 albums, 13 top-40 singles and more than 40 million records under their shiny rock 'n' roll belts, it's refreshing that the guys of REO Speedwagon are as down-to-earth today as they were more than three decades ago.

The band with humble beginnings in a rented Chevy station wagon has worked its way up the music industry food chain - from playing gigs at local bars in Champaign, Ill., to commanding the attention of thousands of loyal fans in amphitheaters, stadiums and arenas across the globe.

There's no slowing down in sight for the group, which has been touring and recording since 1971 and spent the first half of 2003 on the Main Event Tour with fellow classic rockers Journey and Styx.

On Sunday, the Speedwagon cruises into the Fairplex, closing out the L.A. County Fair's End of Summer Concert Series with a nostalgic performance of their greatest hits, including ``Can't Fight This Feeling,'' ``Keep on Loving You'' and ``Time for Me to Fly.''

``It's going to be one big sing-along,'' lead singer and songwriter Kevin Cronin said via cell phone from an L.A. Toys ``R'' Us store. Cronin, who has three young children, confessed to doing some last-minute shopping for his twin boys' fourth birthday.

``As a songwriter, it's a great feeling - all these songs we're playing and I remember them when they were just an idea I had,'' Cronin said. ``Now thousands of people come together to sing them. It's exhilarating. That's one of the reasons why we keep going. People react so enthusiastically.''

REO Speedwagon (which includes Cronin, Neal Doughty on keyboards, Dave Amato on lead guitar and vocals, Bryan Hitt on drums and Bruce Hall on bass guitar and vocals) has proved the importance of a massive, faithful, grass-roots following that breaks through the generation gap.

``When we look out into the audience, it's a good mix of people, which I dig,'' Cronin said. ``We see people who have been with us from the beginning, we see people in college and everything in between. It's pretty remarkable that college kids are turned on to us. For a lot of these kids, their parents listened to us when they were kids. We love that our music brings people together.''

The founding members of REO Speedwagon back in 1968 included Gary Richrath, Terry Luttrell, Alan Gratzer, Gregg Philbin and Doughty - the only original member still in the lineup. According to legend, the band got its name after Doughty, then an undergraduate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, got inspired after a history of transportation class.

``They were learning about the REO (Motor Car) Co., which produced fire trucks and tow trucks,'' Cronin said. ``Neal's professor wrote `REO Speedwagon' on the chalk board and he thought, 'Wow, that would make a cool name for a band.' ''

Ironically, the band's name would reflect its place in music history.

``Those trucks were reliable, they were built tough, and they lasted a long time,'' Cronin said. ``It was a little foreshadowing of things to come, I suppose.''

Traditionally, rock 'n roll bands don't enjoy a lengthy life span. But perhaps one of the reasons REO Speedwagon has enjoyed a 30-year-plus music career is the members' humble attitude.

``Five guys on stage get all the glory, but there's a lot of people who help make it happen,'' Cronin said. ``To me, it's about appreciation. We appreciate our managers. We appreciate our crew. We appreciate the fans. I look out into the audience and think, 'Wow, it's amazing that thousands of people come out every night.' So I try to return that.''

REO SPEEDWAGON

Where: Los Angeles Newspaper Group Grandstand Stage, Fairplex, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona.

When: 8 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: Free with regular fair admission. Reserved seating tickets may be purchased at Fairplex credentials office, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., at www.lacountyfair.com or at Ticketmaster's Web site, www.ticketmaster.com. For information: [phone] or www.lacountyfair.com.

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