"It's more convenient for going to the grocery store," he said.

He's betting that enough car enthusiasts have similar habits to let him launch a new business.

In what would qualify as one of the more unusual career switches, Kong, 34, aspires to leave medicine and operate a club for fanciers of fancy cars.

Members would pay dues that give them access to a variety of expensive cars for a few days at a time.

Joining the club would be something like buying a time share in a Florida condo, except that the time share would go from zero to 60 in four seconds.

This is not for the poor and reckless: Prospective members would have to pass a credit check and a driving-record check, pay an initiation fee of $3,000 and ante up dues of about $18,000 a year.

That would buy 50 to 150 days of access to cool cars.

Kong started out thinking the club, called the Octane Group (theoctanegroup.net), would offer cars such as high-end Mercedes and BMWs. But his initial research revealed that people with the money to join his club already have those kinds of cars.

So he's aiming higher:

Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati. He needs to sign up 25 individuals or corporations to make the club work; he has three.

Does central Ohio really have enough wealthy people to make such a club feasible?

"It's very clear from published documents that there are probably 500 to 600 people that would have a level of income that would go with this," said Ward Hill, a Capital University finance professor who is advising Kong.

"The tougher part is how many have the same passion for cars that Jerome would have."

Kong is the son of immigrants from Taiwan and Hong Kong. They had certain expectations for him.

"I was strongly encouraged to be a physician or an engineer," he said.

Kong, who grew up in Houston, has been in central Ohio since completing his medical residency in 2003. Despite the degree, he finds himself drawn more strongly to cars than medicine.

"I would love to make a business of cars but not be a car dealer," he said.

Clubs similar to the one he envisions have been estab-lished in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San

Francisco.

"We started in 2000 and nobody in the country was doing anything like it," said George Kiebala, a Chicagoan who operates the Exotic Car Share club. "All of a sudden there's like 16 companies doing it."

Kiebala, who formerly

raced cars, got the idea after renting warehouse space to the owners of expensive vehicles. He noticed that the cars were rarely used and hatched a time-share plan that has since expanded into several variations.

Hill, who teaches courses in entrepreneurship, said Kong has a sales job ahead of

him if he is to make the concept successful in central Ohio. But he has a passion that should sustain him as he pursues his goal, Hill said.

"Jerome's a pretty interesting person. He is crazy about cars."

Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist

jblundo@dispatch.com