The "Bash" at the National Corvette Museum is always a great event.
This year was no exception, seeing old friends and making new ones.
Thanks to the C5/C6 Registry, the NCM and all the wonderful people attending, we were able to send
$2752.00
to the American Cancer Society's Bowling Green, KY office!
Tuesday, April 19
Leaving home in Maine.
Overnight in Philadelphia for a quick visit with my parents.
Wednesday, April 20
Early (!) departure for KY the next morning.
The Corvette Assembly Plant at the exit off I-65 in Bowling Green.
Some of the new displays I noted in a quick walk-through of the Museum:
The Auto Show C6-R that was first shown at the C6 Z06 introduction in January,
and the one and only Torch Red C6, driven by Joe Spielman.
Nearly 40 C5/C6 Registry members met for drinks and dinner at the terrific
Montana Grille. If you've never been there, do it. Where else can you reserve
space for half that many people, but still get flawless service, great food...
and SEPARATE CHECKS!
Thursday, April 21
Thursday morning we set up in the Atrium area of the Museum, at the entrance to the
exhibits. The same spot we have had for the last 3 visits. We were once again right
across from Dana Forrester. There I did the usual distributing of cancer information.
Thursday was focused on Corvette Racing and the C6-R team.
The weather was still beautiful as I prepared to leave the Museum
for the Corvette Racing Awards banquet.
At the banquet, I got to meet Gary and Robin Pratt. Gary is the Pratt of Pratt & Miller, the people who build the C5-R and C6-R racing Corvettes. Robin is a big supporter of the Race for the Cure for the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. She and Karen Hill recently did a 3 day, 60 mile walk for breast cancer, camping along the route.
The banquet was a lot of fun. Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell told a few stories, mostly at each other's expense, and kept everybody in stitches. Those two guys are as great a comedy team as they are a race team!
Out in the parking lot, 2 new Z06s were getting a lot of attention!
On the way back to my motel, I stopped by the Best Western for a beer
and a visit with Jake Delaney's "Lot Lizards". Here charter members
Jackie and Buzz Nielson model the "club" shirts.
Friday, April 22
Not a happy sight... but a happy outcome.
Click on the photo for the full story.
Friday evening hit us with one of those "Wrath of God" thunderstorms on the way
to the C5/C6 Registry dinner. Fortunately it let up just as I arrived at the restaurant,
where we were treated with this rainbow.
Corvette Assistant Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter presented a slide show on the new Z06, and talked about a lot of the activity behind the scenes in its development. Plant Manager Wil Cooksey and GM General Manager of Manufacturing Joe Spielman also spoke. You won't find a more enthusiastic or animated Corvette nut than Joe! Dave Hill also quietly wandered in and mingled.
Registry co-director Jake Drennon had asked me if I would do a 50/50 for just the Registry dinner, separate from the one I was selling at the Museum for a Saturday drawing. Of course I relented, and the pot for the evening came to $481. The wonderful lady who won donated it back, so the entire pot went to the American Cancer Society in Bowling Green. I'm sorry to say that I have lost the lady's name. If anybody can tell me who she is, I'll give her credit here.
Saturday, April 23
Saturday turned much colder, but the clouds had a silver lining: the traffic INSIDE the Museum picked up considerably. One of the items I have at my table to generate donations is the black 50th pin seen here. It is part of a set of 4 from Corvette's 50th Anniversary in 2003. I also have one of the "Nashville" pins, but I had never seen the full set of 4 until a lady brought in her hat to show me.
The closing Banquet and Auction was the usual feeding frenzy for 50/50 tickets.
Thanks to my table-mates, Frank & Betty Noerr and Larry Terrell, who held my dinner
and counted the money, I was actually able to eat my (albeit cold) dinner this year.
Here the ecstatic winner waves her roll of cash ($2219) as I thank the crowd
for their support of the American Cancer Society.
Sunday, April 24
If Saturday was cold, Sunday was downright FREEZING... literally!
Since I had been able to fully pack up the display the night before, I started for home directly from the motel, passing the Museum on I-65 northbound.
The sun was long gone by Lexington. Not far east of there it started to rain...
then snow. For 500 miles! All the way to Cumberland, MD. Fortunately the ground
was warm enough that the road was just wet, so it was only occasionally that
visibility impairment slowed me down. I made it to Scranton, PA by 9:00 that night.
Monday, April 25
Arrival back in Wiscasset, Maine. Record time, actually, in spite of 500 miles of snow: 70.4 mph average for the 1303 miles. 26.4 mpg isn't hard to take, either, especially @ 185k miles.
And... NO MORE FUSES!
(Note: these specs, other than the odometer reading, were all
reset to zero in Bowling Green as a result of the fuse issue)