America Sports Car Publication of the NCM>>

[ZR1Vette]

Just got my NCM magazine about the "THE BEST C4/ZR-1 GATHERING EVER?"

I was not in the inner circle of planning this event but I did attend...yes it was a great gathering of the clan C4/ZR-1/GS and I know soooo many folks worked to make this event a great success (I have organize national car events and know the efforts that go into pulling these things off) and that leads this to my comments>>
The magazine and articles give specific recognition to many folks (you all know the main historic figures (Morrison, Heinricy, Minneker etc) and the GS folks for the very nice $15K contribution to the NCM. I would love to be corrected, but I saw no recognition to the ZR-1 Registry or the Registry as a whole...that means the great contributions of Dave J and others in the board. It just seems a major oversight IMHO since so many of the ZR-1 attendees were there because of the Registry efforts.
If I am missing something I do apologize and if not...well someone writing the article missed a very import recognition of ZR Registry folks who worked hard to pull this event off and my hat off to Dave and the ZR-1 Registry folks.

[secondchance]

Although I was not there I am fully aware of Registry guys' effort even beyond the gathering.
This is unfortunate...

[JThomas]

I will speak with Dave about the oversight and after that conversation determine if I should bring it up to the administration at the museum. I noticed the same thing and thought it peculiar there was no mention about the dinner at Jim VanDorn's shop. Although JVD's event was not technically an NCM event, I believe that dinner brings alot of the brotherhood together for this event. :cheers:

[XfireZ51]

The drag racing with the GN guys would have been icing on the cake. Unofrtunate.:(

[Blue Flame Restorations]

That's a real shame.:confused: Dave J and others worked hard to make the event a success.

[ZRWON]

I will speak with Dave about the oversight and after that conversation determine if I should bring it up to the administration at the museum. I noticed the same thing and thought it peculiar there was no mention about the dinner at Jim VanDorn's shop. Although JVD's event was not technically an NCM event, I believe that dinner brings alot of the brotherhood together for this event. :cheers:
Thanks Joe, The continued ignoring of everything JVD is petty and smacks some historic event probably based in jealousy. Saturday night I thought JVD and Roc Linkov had put that crap to bed and moved on as a team working toward a common goal.
Obviously there are still some people at the Museum who need an "Attitude Adjustmen". The Museum auction that raised all that $$ Sat night was at least successful because JVD took the left overs of Tommy's BBQ contribution to the Museum and much of that $2000+ was the result!
I remember Thursday about noon when Tommy pulled into JVD's shop that we all were trying to clean for the BBQ that night. Tommy popped open the back and said something like he cleaned out some old storage and thought JVD could use it for HIS BBQ auction and anything left over could be used to help the Museum at the Sat night auction.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/zrwon/BG20THANNIVERSARY008.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/zrwon/BG20THANNIVERSARY009.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/zrwon/BG20THANNIVERSARY011-1.jpg
Damn shame the museum staff couldn't have burried their competitive dislike of JVD and at least mentioned the 140+ ZR-1 people who generously contributed over $5000 for one of the best causes on earth.
Well at least all of us involved in JVD event know what WE DID. The results prove... We don't need ta few words in the museum's rag to make us feel good; the following is enuff:
'It is hard for me to describe how much this all means to us, basically strangers spent there hard earn money to support us over here, and it is hard to describe what we are feeling, the only thing we can say is, THANK YOU!!!!
SFC Eric Egelstad
Platoon Sergeant
D co 3-187 IN
101st Airborne (Air Assault)
Rakkasans

PS: The frosting on the cake was that Eric's mother, dad, wife and daughters were at to BBQ Auction and there was not a dry eye in Eric's family or other ZR-1ers that night!
Man I am proud of all you folks!

[jrd1990zr1]

I've got to agree with the folks above. Without the hard work of the registry board and especially David J., I doubt the event would have drawn the crowd it did. Many Thanks to them!!!! :cheers:.

I too am disappointed with the way the NCM handled the write up in the magazine. I am also disappointed in the way they no longer acknowledge the NCRS chapters when they remodeled the museum. They used to have a map showing the locations of all the Chapters.

My $0.02

[ZZZZZR1]

Here is the magazine article....

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t199/pennstatefootball/NCMpage1.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t199/pennstatefootball/NCMpage2.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t199/pennstatefootball/NCMpage3.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t199/pennstatefootball/NCMpage4.jpg


I am very dissapointed that the NCM makes no mention of the ZR1netregistry and that 80% of attendee's were ZR-1 owners? No mention of JVD's contribution either?

On another note, Hutch did such an incredible job in raising money and painting his "dome" like a skunk!!!! =D>


Thank you to all who came, displayed cars, and contributed to make this the 20th Anniversary of the ZR-1 so special!

:cheers:

David

[gbrtng]

IMHO, there are several NCM employees who just have a job, not a passion for the Corvette like we do. I've attempted to contact Rick Montgomery about errors he has made in his articles and never got a response. And I thought JVD and Roc had buried the hatchet after Saturday night. It would be better if the NCM would submit magazine copy to the various event folks for comment before publication. Let's try to make that happen ...

[ZRWON]

IMHO, there are several NCM employees who just have a job, not a passion for the Corvette like we do. I've attempted to contact Rick Montgomery about errors he has made in his articles and never got a response. And I thought JVD and Roc had buried the hatchet after Saturday night. It would be better if the NCM would submit magazine copy to the various event folks for comment before publication. Let's try to make that happen ...

:mad: This is not the 1st time they failed to recognize JVD. At the 2009 Gathering Jim was asked to present a seminar on Pirate Racing.
Many who attended his hour long presentation requested a copy of his video.
Jim provided that great historic dvd to us, asking we only send him a donation for some local charity. The next issue of the Museum"s RAG covered the gathering but not one word was said about JVD's seminar!
I saw RED and sent an Emai to Musem expressing my anger at their stupidity...never even got a reply but their year in review issue did include a one liner about JVD's Prirate racing years presentation...
...BFD
:censored:

[John Boothby]

One of these days the ZR-1 will be recongnized for what it was, the first real WORLD CLASS vette! Not some limited addition with special decals with mild performance upgrade, but a genuine ground up world class sports car!!

[John Boothby]

By the way, I just got home from a weekend trip to Cedar City, Ut with my ZR-1 with 75K miles, and it ran flawlessly! Drive em guys!!

[XfireZ51]

One of these days the ZR-1 will be recongnized for what it was, the first real WORLD CLASS vette! Not some limited addition with special decals with mild performance upgrade, but a genuine ground up world class sports car!!


HERE! HERE!=D>

[John Boothby]

Just gassed up after the trip back from Cedar City. Drum roll please, 26.66 mpg! Thats with a/c and full power on, altho I mostly stayed within the speed limit of 75.

[Scrrem]

David,
Do you know where I can get a copy of the magazine issue?
Rich

[ZZZZZR1]

David,
Do you know where I can get a copy of the magazine issue?
Rich

Rich,

The NCM sends it to members and anyone interested in it.

:cheers:

David

[tomtom72]

Just gassed up after the trip back from Cedar City. Drum roll please, 26.66 mpg! Thats with a/c and full power on, altho I mostly stayed within the speed limit of 75.

You know I kept track of my gas on the round trip from NYC/metro suburbs to the 20th at BG......I did the math three times and then used a calculator three times because I couldn't believe the answer that I ended up with, 26 mpg. My trip computer in the DIC said different. My record keeping was for the entire round trip, including the running around down in BG too.

Either we both stink at math or these cars are very efficient for antiques!

I guess I'll take your lead and keep piling up the miles of smiles. Mine's a young punk at 43k compared to yours. :)

:cheers:
Tom

Oh Dave? Hey man thanks for all the work to make our 20th at BG a fantastic event!salute

[A1990]

My thanks to David to for his efforts to make, and I quote the magazine, "The best C4/ZR-1 Gathering ever!"

I am sure the Gatherings in the early days were huge too. I have been to 3 Gatherings and this one will be remembered for a long time.

Since this is a NCM publication, they are going to be biased. We here all know what is what!!!

I have another reason to like this particular issue of America's Sports Car...page 25. :mrgreen:

[JThomas]

My thanks to David to for his efforts to make, and I quote the magazine, "The best C4/ZR-1 Gathering ever!"

I am sure the Gatherings in the early days were huge too. I have been to 3 Gatherings and this one will be remembered for a long time.

Since this is a NCM publication, they are going to be biased. We here all know what is what!!!

I have another reason to like this particular issue of America's Sports Car...page 25. :mrgreen:

I noticed that Dennis, Congrats!

[Bob2.0]

Hi,

My name is Bob, and I'm the editor of America's Sports Car magazine. Joe Thomas suggested I come here to see what you guys were thinking and I'm glad I did. Technically I work for you guys and want to know what my bosses think of my work.

To clear up a few things, I do have a passion for Corvette, especially for the C4 as I currently own one. (Not a ZR-1, but a 94 coupe.) I love the car and drive it every day. Many of us here have Corvettes in fact... Vince, Karen, Roc, Gary, Adam, Lori, Doug, Ron, and etc., with some of us having two of them.

Rick Montgomery does a great job but sometimes even source material can be wrong. He wants your feedback but doesn't actually work from the Museum. Feel free to send me your corrections, and I will make sure he gets them. Once an article is printed it's pretty much done, so there's not a lot that can be done to correct errors, but for our archives we'd like any input you have.

Speaking of feedback, any comments, suggestions, complaints or compliments can be sent directly to me at editor@corvettemuseum.org. I want to know what you are thinking and look forward to hearing from you.

I like your suggestion about running articles by people and often do. Whenver I do a member feature or write something about Corvette Racing, a club or whatever, I typically send it to someone there to review for accuracy. I don't do that so much with event coverage though, as I am here myself and know first-hand what happened. I'm not always aware of the behind the scenes work that people do however, so if you think someone deserves honorable mention for your event, email me the story. I want to know.

Now to some of your other posts...



IMHO, there are several NCM employees who just have a job, not a passion for the Corvette like we do. I've attempted to contact Rick Montgomery about errors he has made in his articles and never got a response. And I thought JVD and Roc had buried the hatchet after Saturday night. It would be better if the NCM would submit magazine copy to the various event folks for comment before publication. Let's try to make that happen ...

[Bob2.0]

I actually apologized to Jim for omitting the seminar from my coverage as soon as I was made aware of my mistake. I thought it had been cancelled and left it out completely on accident. I then set out to make it up to him by mentioning it in the "Year in Review" issue, and included two pictures... one of JVD and one of the Pirate Racing cars along with a caption to make good.

I apologize for not getting with you directly ZRWON.



:mad: This is not the 1st time they failed to recognize JVD. At the 2009 Gathering Jim was asked to present a seminar on Pirate Racing.
Many who attended his hour long presentation requested a copy of his video.
Jim provided that great historic dvd to us, asking we only send him a donation for some local charity. The next issue of the Museum"s RAG covered the gathering but not one word was said about JVD's seminar!
I saw RED and sent an Emai to Musem expressing my anger at their stupidity...never even got a reply but their year in review issue did include a one liner about JVD's Prirate racing years presentation...
...BFD
:censored:

[JThomas]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I spoke with Dave about this matter and I thank Bob for addressing it in this forum and joining as well.

The museum does recognize the hard work of individuals that do the "behind the scenes" work, but as mentioned in a previous post, WE know who those people are.

The museum's recognition may not always be in print, but those that contribute are always thanked and appreciated in some way.

Bob has indicated to me that some pictures he shot and information he gathered at the BBQ, held at Jim's place, will be used in an article written by another automotive journalist, not affiliated with the NCM.

The administrative staff at the NCM recognizes the registry and even though JIm's BBQ was not an official NCM event, it added greatly to the success of the overall event.

I thank Dave and Bob for their conversations regarding this matter and with the continued support of the registry towards the NCM, I am confident that next year's event will be bigger and better still.

I know I will be there and the "REL1C" too! :cheers:

Joe

[RICKYRJ1]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I spoke with Dave about this matter and I thank Bob for addressing it in this forum and joining as well.

The museum does recognize the hard work of individuals that do the "behind the scenes" work, but as mentioned in a previous post, WE know who those people are.

The museum's recognizition may not always be in print, but those that contribute are always thanked and appreciated in some way.

Bob has indicated to me that some pictures he shot and information he gathered at the BBQ, held at Jim's place, will be used in an article written by another automotive journalist, not affiliated with the NCM.

The administrative staff at the NCM recognizes the registry and even though JIm's BBQ was not an official NCM event, it added greatly to the success of the overall event.

I thank Dave and Bob for their conversations regarding this matter and with the continued support of the registry towards the NCM, I am confident that next year's event will be bigger and better still.

I know I will be there and the "REL1C" too! :cheers:

Joe

Nice Job Joe! Thanks for your efforts, you make a great diplomat. Great seeing you again in BG :cheers:

[FU]

Well said Joe :thumbsup:

[jrd1990zr1]

I actually apologized to Jim for omitting the seminar from my coverage as soon as I was made aware of my mistake. I thought it had been cancelled and left it out completely on accident. I then set out to make it up to him by mentioning it in the "Year in Review" issue, and included two pictures... one of JVD and one of the Pirate Racing cars along with a caption to make good.

I apologize for not getting with you directly ZRWON.


Bob, I want to thank Bob for stepping up and writing to us on this issue. One of the issues I found most troubling was essentially no recognition of the Registry's involvement in the event. This compounded with an article about the Corvette Forum on the cover just did not set right with me.

I want to suggest that in the future the NCM should at least speak with a
ZR1 registry officer when they write about the C-4/ZR1 gathering. I don't get the sense this happened.

Bob, again thank you for your responses. :cheers:

[Z Factor]

Hi,

My name is Bob, and I'm the editor of America's Sports Car magazine.

Hello Bob and welcome to the forum. :handshak:

It is refreshing to see your acknowledgment and hopefully this will lead to better communication between the NCM and the ZR-1 Net Registry.

:cheers:

[Bob2.0]

Thanks for welcoming a guy with a regular coupe to the group. I'm looking forward to working with the ZR-1 Net Registry and encourage you all to email me with any input you might have. Your support keeps the Museum going and makes it possible for me to have a pretty cool job in the process which puts me in your debt. This should be a lot of fun.

[DaveK]

I didn't know anything about the 'history' between the museum and JVD - however I would like to point out that when I first arrived at the Gathering this year I went in to the museum for some help finding JVDs - my GPS was getting confused. I knew that Automasters was very close to the museum however and expected that being so close and knowing JVDs legendary status that they would be able to point me in the right direction.

To my surprise, all of the staff I spoke to claimed to not have heard of either Jim or Automasters!

[Bob2.0]

I didn't know anything about the 'history' between the museum and JVD - however I would like to point out that when I first arrived at the Gathering this year I went in to the museum for some help finding JVDs - my GPS was getting confused. I knew that Automasters was very close to the museum however and expected that being so close and knowing JVDs legendary status that they would be able to point me in the right direction.

To my surprise, all of the staff I spoke to claimed to not have heard of either Jim or Automasters!

None of the admissions/front area staff have Vettes, so it really doesn't surprise me that they didn't know who you were talking about. Your best bet for information is always to go to the Library and Archives and ask for Bette. I've yet to stump her on any question. You can always ask for me too at the front desk and they can page me.

[Blue Flame Restorations]

I would have to agree. Bette is the best! She is the best Ambassador (unofficially) for the NCM. She's priceless in my book. She was also the first full time employee back when the Annex was first opened.

Brett Henderson

[DaveK]

None of the admissions/front area staff have Vettes, so it really doesn't surprise me that they didn't know who you were talking about. Your best bet for information is always to go to the Library and Archives and ask for Bette. I've yet to stump her on any question. You can always ask for me too at the front desk and they can page me.

That sounds fine in theory, except I don't know who you or Bette are either... and no-one directed me to either of you. I asked several people and all claimed not to know anything about Jim or Automasters, which considering his involvement, reputation and location (a thousand meters from the Museum??), his prior support for the museum etc. is a very poor excuse so far as I'm concerned.

The museum wouldn't even be there if it wasn't for the likes of people like him from what I can see.

I became a member of the museum years ago, before I owned a vette and let it lapse because I felt I was getting extremely poor value for my money. I rejoined at the gathering because I felt I should try and support it more, but hearing your response I think maybe that was a mistake.

Whether your staff own Corvettes or not, I would expect them all to be indoctrinated in the knowledge of people who made their jobs exist.

[JThomas]

That sounds fine in theory, except I don't know who you or Bette are either... and no-one directed me to either of you. I asked several people and all claimed not to know anything about Jim or Automasters, which considering his involvement, reputation and location (a thousand meters from the Museum??), his prior support for the museum etc. is a very poor excuse so far as I'm concerned.

The museum wouldn't even be there if it wasn't for the likes of people like him from what I can see.

I became a member of the museum years ago, before I owned a vette and let it lapse because I felt I was getting extremely poor value for my money. I rejoined at the gathering because I felt I should try and support it more, but hearing your response I think maybe that was a mistake.

Whether your staff own Corvettes or not, I would expect them all to be indoctrinated in the knowledge of people who made their jobs exist.

Dave, you hit the nail on the head when you stated, "I felt I should try and support it more."

The museum exists because of people with passion for the Corvette, such as yourself. Not every employee at the museum are car enthusiasts, although we would like them to be just as passionate as we are. There are a select few "gearheads" at the museum. People like Gary Cockriel, who runs the R8C Delivery program, Roc Linkov who coordinates the events, Adam Boca and several of the delivery personnel, who give the orientations of the new vehicles.

These are the people to reach out to because they know Corvettes and the different shops in Bowling Green to point you to. But one could only know this if they take the time and interest to get involved and meet the workers at the museum. Expecting every employee to know all things about Corvette is like asking any employee at a "Fine Arts Museum" to tell me about this or that Picasso, it's not going to happen and it's too great of an expectation.

The people at the front desk could have offered you a telephone directory, and then you could have looked up AutoMasters and made a phone call.

My suggestion, as I've said before, is continue to support the NCM, and when you are in Bowling Green, get to know the players behind the scenes. A lot of the volunteers are true enthusiasts like you and me. Some have worked for GM and have connections, some are from Bowling Green and know the local shops.

Bob is the museum's photographer and editor for the magazine. He has been employed at the museum for, I believe just over two years. He has worked to address this issue and has become aware of this site and doing his best to become more familiar with the Brothers of the Beast.

Joe

[jrd1990zr1]

It sounds to me that the front staff needs to be educated on these types of issues. If this is the museum's reception area they should have the pertinent information or at least attempt to aquire it from others. It would go a long way to assist new NCM members and visitors to the site.

Maybe some of the more knowledgable people could create a "cheat sheet" the less knowledgeable staff could refer to??? Or have at least a listing of knowledgeable people reception could contact.

Where I work the front desk security guard has a listing of pertinent people, phone numbers, locations areas and folks to contact for more information.

[Bob2.0]

If you'd like to make a list of pertinent information, I'll be more than happy to submit it for them to hang on to at the front desk. It might be fun to see how long the list will grow as more people chime in on what they think is important. The people in admissions are actually very nice and can handle tours and general information, but if you need something more specific outside of thier area of expertise, you can always go to the Library and Archives for that kind of info.

[JThomas]

It sounds to me that the front staff needs to be educated on these types of issues. If this is the museum's reception area they should have the pertinent information or at least attempt to aquire it from others. It would go a long way to assist new NCM members and visitors to the site.

Maybe some of the more knowledgable people could create a "cheat sheet" the less knowledgeable staff could refer to??? Or have at least a listing of knowledgeable people reception could contact.

Where I work the front desk security guard has a listing of pertinent people, phone numbers, locations areas and folks to contact for more information.

The only concern I forsee with this is that some people would view the museum's "Cheat Sheet" as an endorsement for the repair facility. What recourse would the individual have if the repair is not to their satisfaction but was on the NCM's list?

Provided the individual would not hold the museum responsible for the repairs, I could see this cheat sheet including things such as Automotive repair and tune ups, Body/Paint shop and repair, Tire and Wheel facilities, Wheel alignments, and local Chevrolet Dealers, or facilities specific to Corvette/ZR-1 etc.

Beyond that I can't think of anything else one would need, while in Bowling Green. Most cars coming to an event are typically in good working order. We would just want to prepare for the ocassional "oops" that may happen while travelling. JMHO :cheers:

[jrd1990zr1]

The only concern I forsee with this is that some people would view the museum's "Cheat Sheet" as an endorsement for the repair facility. What recourse would the individual have if the repair is not to their satisfaction but was on the NCM's list?

Provided the individual would not hold the museum responsible for the repairs, I could see this cheat sheet including things such as Automotive repair and tune ups, Body/Paint shop and repair, Tire and Wheel facilities, Wheel alignments, and local Chevrolet Dealers, or facilities specific to Corvette/ZR-1 etc.

Beyond that I can't think of anything else one would need, while in Bowling Green. Most cars coming to an event are typically in good working order. We would just want to prepare for the ocassional "oops" that may happen while travelling. JMHO :cheers:

Joe, I had not thought of that, you make a good point. Maybe all that needs to happen is to make sure the front desk knows about Jim/Automasters. Or if they are going to have a more inclusive list a disclaimer might be in order.

Sorry if I have made this issue bigger than it needs to be.