Carlisle, PA
August 26-29, 2010
Our 13th year, and still one of
our all-time favorite events!
Thank you Lance Miller: Because of your
continuing support and hospitality,
we were able to generate $1250.00 for the American
Cancer Society!
Plus, we celebrated the reunion with the original
Corvettes Conquer Cancer C5,
now owned by Richard Fleming of Plant City FL!
Tuesday, August 24
After a full day-job of work, I departed for
Carlisle @ 6:11pm
Spent the night in Knoxville, then went on to
Philadelphia for a brief visit with my Mom.
Thursday, August 26
Up at dawn for the quick drive from Philly to
Carlisle, where I was obviously an early bird @ 7:30 am.
We had the sign denoting our space, but no tent.
After strolling around the grounds visiting
friends & vendors, I returned about 10:00
to find not only the tent, but the trusty CCC C5!
It looked fantastic, totally belying its
203,000 miles!
And that last remaining space across the top of the windshield has been filled,
next to the Carlisle 2005 sticker.
Friday, August 27
Side by side: What a great sight! Richard had
gotten the C5's badly sandblasted front bumper repainted and matching decals
made for the hood.
Roger La Pierre signs the hood for his $25
donation to the American Cancer Society.
Visit to the NCRS Gallery
Friend and GM Powertrain engineer, Bill
Nichols' beautiful and multiple award winning 1962.
Chip Miller's timeless, totally original '53.
We were privileged to share the front apron with this car at
the 2003 NCRS National Convention in Hershey PA.
Norm Clemmer adds his name to the hood for his
$25 ACS donation.
Paul Eggermann joined us at the display. Paul
is the guy who envisioned and expedited
the fundraising and purchase
of the Corvettes Conquer Cancer C6 back in 2006!
He also designed and installed the graphics on the car.
Thank you Paul!!!
C5/C6
Registry Banquet
Speakers:
Lance Miller and Tom Hill.
Also
speaking was legendary Corvette racer, 94 yr old John Fitch, driver of the Cunningham
1960 Vette that returned
to France this past June to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their win at
the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1960.
John is seen here with 13 yr old 1/4 midget race champion Dan Schmook, Bryan
Webb and C5 Designer John Cafaro.
Our 50/50 drawing at the end of the banquet
generated $1175 for the American Cancer Society thanks to
the winner (whose name unfortunately I didn't get) donating his share back to
ACS!
Speaking of generosity, just before the drawing, Dan
Schmook (see above) came up to me with 2 $100 bills and asked if he could get a room-length
of tickets! Uh... you sure can! He didn't win, but his dad did last year... and
donated his share back!
What a great group the C5/C6 Registry is! Thanks
again for all your support!
Saturday, August 28
Oh-dark-30 at the Fairgrounds... Actually, 6:01
am!
Rich B signs on for his $25 to ACS.
This was my "Celebrity Pick" this
year: David and Kathleen Huber's 1-of-3 Gatorade Pace Car.
My comment on the form:
"LOVE THE OWNER'S SPIRIT & ENTHUSIASM! (THE VETTE LOOKS GREAT, TOO!)"
Sunday, August 29
This
is it, the '60 that John Fitch drove to class win @ Le Mans in 1960.
I would get a RIDE in it the next weekend!
Never thought I'd see the day, but I guess the
ol' girl deserves to ride in her new life...
All packed up and ready for the next event...
Monday, August 30
...which
was spending the morning at Lawrence
Chevrolet in nearby Mechanicsburg getting BOTH rear wheel bearings replaced!
....
As I exited the PA Turnpike in Philadelphia on Wednesday I had been rudely
awakened to the all-too-familiar sound of a rear wheel bearing on its way out.
The left rear had been replaced just before Carlisle last
year, so I assumed that this time it was the right side. While driving back and
forth between the Fairgrounds and the hotel during my stay I realized that the
noise was getting progressively louder, so waiting until I got home wasn't a
smart option. Many thanks to Bobby Tow for his diligence and cell phone time
Saturday morning locating a dealer that both had the part and
could schedule it for first thing Monday! Much to my surprise,
mid-morning, the Service Mgr advised me that yes, the right bearing was bad, but
replacing it only got rid of about 75% of the noise, because the left side
was also going out! They had a guy on the way to a Harrisburg warehouse
for another bearing. When I told him that the left bearing was only 1 year old,
with 24k miles, he asked if it had been done by an authorized Chevy dealer (yes)
and did I have the receipt (not with me). I offered to call the dealer, Lynn
Layton in Decatur AL, and have them fax the invoice. That was done and Lawrence
was thereby able to cover the cost of the year-old bearing, if not the labor.
The cost was still over $600, but would have been $1000!
Lawrence was great, and I was on the road home shortly after noon. On the way
home I contacted Art Spong (Group Manager, Performance Cars Brand Quality) to
update him in the situation. At his request I called the Lawrence Service Mgr
back to relay Art's request that they send the old bearings to him for analysis.
12:05
- ready to depart for home!
Nice sunset, before stopping for the night,
again in Knoxville TN.
Tuesday, August 31
Home
again, to a VERY happy cat!
(He'd been on his own a full 7 days!)
Note on that Trip Odometer reading: it resets to 0.0 after 1999.9, so that's
actually 2006.2 miles.
Between the $1175.00 from the 50/50 and the $25
donation x 3 hood-signers, we were
able to send the American
Cancer Society office in Carlisle PA a check for $1250.00.
Thank you Corvettes
@ Carlisle and the C5/C6 Registry
for making this possible!
Click to go
directly to next event!
