32nd Bloomington Gold
Pheasant Run Resort
St. Charles, IL
June 24-26, 2004
This was our 7th year for Corvettes Conquer
Cancer as a guest of Bloomington Gold. As usual, my bodyguard and co-pilot, Gary
Readio,
accompanied me for the trip. This event in Bloomington in 1998 was our
first major national event, and the good folks there, headed by
Cathy Storm,
have continued that tradition. This year Cathy served us above and beyond the
call of duty by giving up her staff room at the
Holiday Inn Express for us to
use, and by bringing her own tent to use at our display. Cathy, you're the
greatest!
Wednesday, June 23
Heading out:
Mallett's
We stopped for the night in Middleburg Heights, OH. After checking into our
room, we cruised the 3 miles over to sponsor Chuck Mallett's shop
in Berea to
see if anybody was there. Arriving about 8:30, this is the sight that greeted
us:
Chuck
and his crew were furiously working on this black Cadillac CTS-V, with some Mallett
"enhancements". These included a supercharged 435ci LS6
engine (out of
his "Green Car"), brake upgrades, bigger wheels & tires. The car
produces 715 hp at the rear wheels!! Through perfectly quiet mufflers.
The car
was being prepped for a Car and Driver Magazine "0-150-0 Shootout" for
street cars the following weekend at Michigan International Speedway.
They would
be competing
against, among others, BMW and Mercedes teams - the Caddy's target market. Their
task this evening was to make the car
"less violent", to make it a
little easier for driver Jim Minneker to get the power to the ground.
Some
serious tires under this car!
Chuck
tweaks the blower pop-off valve, takes it out for a quick road evaluation,
followed by the debriefing.
So
how did they do in the Shootout? 1st in Sedan class, 5th overall. Plus a special
award for "fastest acceleration from 100-150".
Here's a link
for an in-depth report.
Thursday,
June 24
After 90 minutes of stop
& go on I-90 around Chicago, we arrived at Pheasant Run in St. Charles, the
last 1/2 hour in the pouring rain.
Scouting
the cold, wet grounds for our yet-to-be-assigned space, we found
this C6 in the Chevy display.
The rain had stopped, but you can
see the sweatshirts & jackets.
Friday,
June 25
First up in the wash bay
at the HIE. That's 5:40 am local time!
Some
random sightings around the show:
"As
found in barn..."
Some
of the Callaways featured in the "Special Collection."
This,
the last of 10 Callaway Speedsters, owned by the late Chip Miller.
This
one is owned by friends Randy & Judy Flock. The ONLY Callaway
Grand Sport!
And look, there they come driving by our display in a golf cart!
The
food court was extremely popular. The stand at the right edge of the picture had
incredible apple dumplings, which Gary & I found to be a daily requirement!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Friday
Evening:
The American Cancer Society
"Relay For Life" of Kane County
Held at Elfstrom Stadium in Geneva,
home of the Kane County Cougars baseball team.
This
was the highlight of our trip to St. Charles this year!
Thanks
to Cathy Storm of Bloomington Gold, we were invited by Karen Breier of the ACS
Kane County Unit to participate in this very special event.
Our first time at
Bloomington in 1998 also coincided with the Relay for Life there,
where Sandy was invited to speak at the opening ceremonies
and she walked
the Survivors' Lap. That one blew our minds as it was so far beyond anything
we had seen at home in Maine.
This one in Kane County far outshone any other Relay
for Life I have ever participated in!
In
coordination with the Relay, there was another show going on that evening where
the Chicago Corvette Club was fundraising.
They left that show and brought all
the Corvettes to the stadium about 10:00 that evening with the money they
raised.
We had our own spot, the only
Corvette inside the stadium, right inside the entrance.
It turned out to be a
popular photo op for some of the Relay teams.
The
opening ceremonies kicked off, quite literally, with a cancer survivor dance
studio owner speaking,
then encouraging the crowd to dance in place as her star
pupil danced to the BeeGees "Stayin' Alive".
To say that got everybody inspired
and pumped up is a serious understatement: Just look at the crowd!
Still
on the Kicking theme, here the captains of 2 competing high school kick-dancing
teams told about
combining their efforts to jointly raise money for this event, then
demonstrated their routines.
This one team of high school girls raised $33,500 for the American
Cancer Society!
Another
moving feature of this event that I had not seen before:
for the Survivors' Lap, they first emptied the stands to line both sides
of the track to honor the Survivors as they took their lap.
Here,
the Luminaria lining the track have been lit.
As
scheduled, the Chicago Corvette Club arrived from the other event around 10:00.
That's Karen Breier gathering up their collection cans in front of CCC Pres.
Mike Mandarino's Corvette.
The
relay teams and the spectators were treated to a spectacular fireworks display.
Gary
with Allen, Corvette guy, cancer survivor and new friend.
He insisted on buying
us coffee and a box of Krispy Kremes before we left!
Oh,
so what did this event raise?
At last tally, the Kane County Relay For Life raised
$432,000
for the American Cancer Society.
Congratulations for a job extremely well done!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday,
June 26
This was our spot this
year: beautiful waterfront,
between the lake and the golf cart path, with Cathy's tent, tables & chairs.
The "Gold Tour"
While waiting for the Road
Tour to start, we exercised the radio control C6 and posed for pictures with
Sonny Kilgo,
retired from the Corvette Plant, and Mike Mandarino, Pres. of the
Chicago Corvette Club, and their wives.
Random
sights along the 50 mile road tour, and some of the 1200 Corvettes
participating.
The tour through mostly farm country was led by a group of 1954 Vettes followed
by the blue C6, then the rest of us.
We were #15, after the GM cars, as you can
see in the shot at the traffic light below.
The Tour ended at a shopping center
near the start for an informal display before everybody scattered for dinner.
Sunday,
June 27
Steve Tribble, Gold Tour
organizer and all-around good guy,
stopped by to visit our display the next day as we were about to pack up.
Loading
completed, Gary & I hit the road for home a little before 1pm local time. We
took a back road runaround
recommended by a native vendor to avoid major delays
on I-90 around Chicago. We'll never know if it saved any time or not,
but it was
a pleasant change of pace, and at least we were moving!
We
stopped for the night in Middleburg Heights again.
Monday,
June 28
The last day on the road
we were treated to a 1¼ hour stoppage on I-80,
followed by another 15 min. stop a few miles later. Oh, and it rained most of
the day.
Aside from that, no problem...
These are
the final stats back home again.
Many thanks to Bloomington Gold, especially Cathy Storm,
to Karen Breier and the
Kane County Relay For Life,
to Gary for his help and support,
and to Cheryl and
Taylor, his wife and daughter, for sharing him with me for the trip!
Click
to go directly to next event!
