BG 2007 Planning

[rkreigh]

I’d like to bring up many of the suggestions from our board meeting and extend them out to the club. All of these suggestions at this point are “unofficial” because we haven’t talked to the vendors just yet or made arrangements. It’s the perfect time to bring them up for feedback and run to ground the ones that everyone is most interested in.

The Gathering at Bowling Green

May is right around the corner and it’s time for us to flesh out the schedule. Some members have complained that there isn’t much going on at BG and it’s the same old thing. Time for a new coat of paint to keep it fresh in my opinion as I tend to agree!

First on the list is the cookout at Wendell Strode’s place. Although it’s news to me, the NCM got some feedback that many folks aren’t that interested. It’s a long drive, the gravel road, same old thing, several voiced that they were tired of it. I’d like to hear from you. The one thing I’d like to do is sponsor OUR OWN food. Let’s do some burgers dogs and steaks. You essentially sign up for what you want and pay accordingly. Yes, we’ll have to do our own cooking and plates serving but isn’t that part of the fun? Back to old school when the club was young and we did it ourselves. The catering is convenient, but I think the cost would be the same or less and the quality would go way up.

Road racing. Last year we proposed on Wed road racing. It’s going to take about 25 people to step up if you are interested to get a decent deal on it. I know most can’t make it on wed so how about we move this to Thursday or Friday? Since it will be a small group of people we’ll have parallel event but the real question is anyone interested and we’ll need to get them to prepay if so.

Drag Racing. We’ll rats! There may be a snag with us joining the National Muscle Car Association this year. Not sure what it is yet, I’m going to investigate. This is a big part of the event and been a major bummer the last few years (rain, conflicts with other groups, ect…). I’d like to first propose we move the date of the gathering either later in the spring or to another time (not mothers day if you ask me) to where we CAN drag race. The NCM is talking about this too and I think it’s a good idea. Nothing really sacred about the date if it interferes with letting the beast eat for a romp down the 1320. I’ll also find out what the deal is with the NMCA for sure, maybe we can join them. I want to thank Dwight for doing this last year. We didn’t get as many runs as I would have liked but it was still a blast seeing all the fast cars. I would even propose we just go hang out and watch this year with a “corvette corral” at the drags as many seem a bit hesitant to flog their car and risk breaking it. Let me know what you all would like.

Autocross with a twist. The autocross is a lot of fun but again, participation is down. I’d like to spice it up a bit with adding RC Nitro cars and offering a prize (to be determined) for the fastest lap. We can even just set up some cones on the NCM parking lot if they are OK with it and do this at a different time. It’s a great way to roar around without risking your own car and if you’ve never done it before, it’s pretty challenging and fun. These little rascals will hit 60 mph just as quick as we do which is a scale 600 mph!

Owners night out. Again, the dinner at the UPlaza is a bit costly and the food although pretty good, with all the BG restaurants and our club size shrinking a bit, I think there are several that could accommodate us. Like to hear from you on this. We’ll still do the free beer at the UPlaza afterwards so you won’t be tempted to get smashed at the restaurant. A few places were suggested and I think this might be more fun as we need to get out more!

Poker run. I honestly have never done one of these but those that have think they are a lot of fun. Again we’d offer a registry sponsored prize for the winner. It’s a nice twist on the standard cruises which everyone seems to enjoy. Seeing a whole line of ZR-1s out the road isn’t something you see everday.

A ZR-1 Corvette Calendar. I think the NCM would be the best location for this. We could shoot 12 ZR-1s that the crowd votes for and get two pics, one with the owner, and one with some of those sexy girls that seem to always be hanging around. Sam of SexyVettes.com and I have talked about it, but we need to see what interest level there is to see if it’s worth it.

A ZR-1 “light mod” party over at Jim VanDorn’s new place. Again, I haven’t even talked to him yet but my bet is that he would be willing. We could cook out, throw an exhaust and chip on the car, or even a ported plenum, and do before and after dyno runs if we can get Backstreet dyno down there or Jim has one. This would be feasible only for a couple of cars do to the time involved. Might even be able to do some “before an after” chip installs for those of you with light mods already done. I’m pretty sure I can get Mr. Haibeck interested in that too. But again, I need feedback to know if this is worth pursuing.

Invite the Callaway owners formally. With our numbers shrinking a bit, it would be cool to get the B2k and SuperNatural guys out there. They are our neighbors at Carlisle every year and I think we should extend a warm welcome to them and naturally the Grandsport owners as we always have. Getting the numbers up there allows us to keep the event alive, adds some new things to learn and discuss, combining the resources of the clubs just makes sense to me.

A “dyno challenge”. Not too many folks have taken advantage of the Backstreet dyno and they don’t even meet expenses. They won’t likely return unless we get the numbers up there. The challenge could have a few categories, most hp and torque, most improved, most consistent, ect.. Again, we’d throw in some ZR-1 Net Registry sponsored prizes to attract the participation.


Most of all, what would you like to see that’s new? The Gathering is your event, and it’s wide open throttle to do anything you want. That’s the beauty of our club. Our charter and purpose is to keep the legend alive and well, and have fun with those that appreciate the ZR-1 for what it is, a world class supercar that got the Corvette back on the map and openly challenged the world. I’ll be posting a lot over on our website as it sorely needs some traffic to generate interest there too.

The club will either prosper and grow, or wither and die. I for one am going to make sure it’s the former not the latter. We have a great opportunity to have a lot of fun and learn more about the ZR-1 and why it’s held in such high regard. Please join me and share your thoughts and desires so we can work together to help make them happen and make this years gathering a notable and enjoyable event.


Ron Kreigh
Typing at 7400 rpm
President, ZR-1 Net Registry