Midwest Zone Rendezvous was a blast

[Viperrick]

Now that the event is over I have finally taken the car off the trailer. This is kind of an inside joke but all those who attended will understand. I would like to thank all the participant who came from far and wide to attend this event. If I am not mistaken there were representnatives from every regional club in the zone and that includes 9 (yes 9) clubs. The club long distance award has to go to those crazy Canadians from Ontario. As ussual they were the roudy group (a good thing). The participants from Nebraska also had to travel a long way. The hard luck trophy (if we had had one) would be bestowed upon Bob Woodbury from Illinois who had a spark plug eject from the head on his first run at the strip and then after Autoform Development got the car together he was rear ended by a motorcycle rider on the way to the reception banquet at the Empress Casino (friday night). I wasn't sure if the Casino was a good idea for a venue but, from the number of Vipers in the snake pit, there were many people who took to the boat that evening. For those who returned to the hotel they were treated to an improptu car show which broke out in the host hotels parking lot. Looks like the local cruisers heard about the Vipers in town and they all came to have a look. At one point there was a highly modified early 70's Corvette with a blower sticking out of the hood being surrounded by 5 Vipers with their lights casting an eerie glow. The flashes began going off and I don't know how many rolls of film were used. I did see some people climbing up on top of a trailer to get a better shot.
If I am not mistaken the winter issue of Viper magazine may have a good picture of the event (and hopefully a cover in front of the Empress).

Enough from me, lets see what other have to say.

 

[Steve-Indy]

AGREED !!! Great People, beautiful cars, and PLENTY to do !!
I was very pleased to see how HAPPY even the newest members were at this event...feeling an immediate "sense of belonging" and "inclusion" which is an unusual comment from newbies in my experience. People were warm, friendly, and very sharing of their Viper knowledge and expertise.

UNLIMITED THANKS are owed to the VCA Officers, the JR Thompson folks, the hosting Illinois Region, and ESPECIALLY to Rich for arranging this event for the rest of us !!!

Let's DO IT AGAIN !!!

Steve Fess Ind/Ky and ILL. VCA

 

[Viperrick]

It's enthusiam like yours that will be the determining factory on whether events like this one are organized in the future. We (VCA) learned somethings in hosting these first ever events. Some things will be done a little differantly in the future but, I think we have a good formula for the next go around of Rendezvous.
The car show portion of the event seemed to be a big hit with many of the participants. The Concours d' Elegance even enticed some fine examples to be bought out of storage. The Roanoke Motors owned '92 with 27 miles was truely a time capsule. I don't believe anyone has ever seen this car before. Tim O'Bryans black '94 was a shining example of what standards a street driven car must compete against.
Ron Adee and Mitch Wehrly are great competitors and the final 2 members of the VCA Autocross Team. I think the National Team may have a chance at getting the big trophy this year. Let's keep our fingers crossed that SVE doesn't get a bunch of ringers this year.

Thanks for the compliments on the event. I couldn't have done it without the help of some of the participants. Bill, Howie, Peggy, Brian, Tony, Fiona, Mark, Steve (from Indy with the security issue) and many others. A big thank you to all the participants. No reason to throw a great event if no one is there to experiance it.

 

[RoyV101621]

I loaned my camera for this fuzzy picture.
The photographer was upset to see his blown beauty had fallen in to the Viper den.
I wish I knew how to crop a .JPG photo.
http://viper.epikos.com/Uploaded/5100348PM1067.JPG

 

[SteveBCloud9]

Sounds like you guys had a great time. Bob, what happened? Sounds like a bad weekend for you. How much damage was there with the spark plug (hopefully none) and the motorcycle? Hopefully you won some $ at the casino to pay for the damage. How did the 1/4 times come out? Any good runs?

 

[RoyV101621]

The weather was poor for ET's. Just to **** HOT.
I remember seeing an 11.5
My best was 12.6 with bolt-on's

I failed tech. > no driveshaft loop.
A friend was asked if his Viper was auto or stick.

Everyone got to run.

 

[Viperrick]

I don't know if Bob got any runs because the plug popped on his first run and they spent most of the afternoon diagnosing the problem (it wasn't noticed untill they took a valve cover off and not finding anything wrong). The incident with the bike caused no damage to the Viper but the bike and driver didn't fair as well. The shot Roy submitted earlier in this tread captures some of the non scheduled events which took place over over the weekend. This one lasted for a good long while before the group split up.

 

[BWoodbury]

I am happy to report absolutely no damage from the plug removal. I had trouble with that plug when I put them in this Spring, so I don't think it was ever seated properly. I know it took Steve a good 20 minutes and lots of lube to get in seated correctly. We even re-used the same plug!

The Harley incident was pretty spooky too. The guy was leading a group of 5 or 6 bikes and was simply determined to merge between me and the Viper behind me. When he hit me he was not even looking forward, he was looking over his shoulder at the Viper behind me. I saw it all in my rear view mirror, but there was nothing I could do.

No damage to the Viper, again! But his bike is is pretty scraped up as he dropped it. A nice 2000 full dress touring bike. A real shame. Fortunately he was OK, although I suspect he will be limping for a few days.

It was an interesting moment when I first walked up to them as there were 5 or 6 ********* bikers all gathered around the damaged Harley and none of them looked to happy. I looked back for support from the 2 Vipers I was driving with and well... let's just say that the average biker is a lot more intimidating than the average Viper owner.

In the end though I got a solid apology, some concern for the state of my car, and a handshake. I gotta say that the bikers handled it just the way I thought they would. My car was OK and his bike could be ridden, so that was the end of the matter. No cops, no insurance companies, no exchanging of information past first names. I sure wish the rest of the county operated like that!

 

[Casey]

My first event, and was it Awesome!! Everything from the drags and autocross, to the dinners and photos!! But of course, it was the VCA members that made it all so much fun!! What a great group of people!! Of course, being a rookie there I forgot my Helmet!! So I should thank Dave, Eric and Mike for lending me their's at different times throughout the weekend!!
Thanks to everyone who set it up and made it so much fun from start to finish!
And to the Motor City Group--those FIBs throw a nice party!-lol!!
A few of you saw my smile after my first trip down the drag strip! Well, I am still smiling and I can't wait until the next event!!

 

[Y2KACR]

I know this post is a little late but it is the first chance I've had to say thanks for a great weekend. All of the Viper activities were a blast and meeting many people with a common interest in all things Viper was even better. But what I really want to say is thanks to all of people who offered to help me. I was the guy in the hotel parking lot late on Saturday afternoon with the flat tire. It looked like it picked up and threw a nail in the middle of the tread. At least a half a dozen people come over to offer help. Several offered air pumps and tools. Others offered to help find a tire repair shop. One guy even offered me his car to use to try to find a shop and/or a new tire. A few offered to call a friend to ask where to go for help. Eventually I found a shop that can handle 18 inch rims and located a satisfactory substitute tire to get me home. (I ruined the sidewall while driving to a safe place to put on the temp spare.) Thanks again to all who offerd to help. The members of the VCA are the best!!!!!

 

[Viperrick]

Well it sounds like there are some happy participants from this past weekends event. Now I need you to go back and tell the membership in your local VCA Regional Chapter the exciting time they missed. I then would like for you to tell you local president (if he didn't attend) that the VCA must continue to do these types of events. Maybe your local chapter should volunteer to host the next one in 2003?

Please answer some questions for me so we have a good idea of the type and cost of an event like this.

1) Did you feel that you got your money's worth.
2) Were the types of events planned for the weekend entertaining?
3) Were the accomodations what you would expect for the cost?
4) What did you most like about the event?
5) What (if anything) did you feel we need to change?
6) Additional comments?

 

[Y2K5SRT]

Rich -

Be sure to let me know who attended from the Kansas City Region (I know you said all regions were represented). I met with most of our members on Sunday morning at the Kansas Speedway and hadn't heard of anyone being able to attend from our area. It sounded fantastic and we REALLY wanted to attend, but we had already scheduled a pretty big event locally and most couldn't make it up to Chicago. Perhaps Norman scooted up there - he is pretty secretive from day to day.

We would have brought our autocross ringer - Randy was an SCCA instructor for years.

Be sure to post pictures and give us more details as you can. It sounded incredible and I would have really enjoyed it personally. I am hoping we can host a Zone event at some point in Topeka, home of Heartland Park. It offers a 2.5 mile road course and one of the premiere NHRA drag strips in the United States. Also has a heck of a parking lot for autocross! The central location should be ideal for many Viper owners. We shall see!

Congrats on a great event.

Chris

 

[BWoodbury]

1) Honestly Rich I can't see where we spent $250 per person. 1 lunch, 2 diners, 1 open bar. Did I think it was worth it? ABSOLUTELY! I had a great time and felt I got my money's worth! It just seems to me that it could have been done for half the price...

2) Events were great. Drag racing, autocross, and the early morning run to the speedway for the photo. I have never seen 60+ Vipers all running together for 15 miles. It was especially fun to run the red lights after we got off they highway. Who needs a police ****** when you have over 24,000 HP!

3) Hotel was fine for $100 a night.

4) I really liked driving the factory cars. The 2001s just felt smoother and more responsive than my 1996.

5) Lower the price. We spent $700 before we even got there. Once again I think we could do almost as good an event for $125 a person. Next time could we have T-Shirts instead of golf shirts?

6) I sure hope the ******* photographer did not get paid for the terrible job he did on the photo.

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Bob, I think there may of been a few more costs to consider. The SCCA has a fee, the event needed insurance, and there may have been a small cost to get the Viper's into the Mopar event? Not sure what those costs were, but they probably added about $50 per head. I am sure there are a few others, but this at least gives you a better understanding of where these prices come from.

Sorry I missed it

 

[Sam Vipeme Brasile]

Rich, job well done. Had a fantastic time in ILLINOIS, I'm going to try to make it at Gingermans as a spectator. Lets do this again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brian if your out there I know how to say it now (inside joke)

 

[TorQ Junkie]

A suggestion regarding the fee - how about a spectator fee for those who want to do the social events and get a cool memorabilia bag in addition to the full fee for driving participants? i met a couple gateway members who drove their cars to the event but didn't get to go to the dinners or get in the group photo.
The hotel had a spigot but no hose for us bug smashin travelers. luckily the zaino spray took car of that.
I was surprised that so few vendors showed up. Were they not invited or is the audience too small. Autoform seemed to do well by being there.
Finally, how about a spring or fall event instead of the horse power shrinkin summer get-together? Perhaps the best time is right after school gets out.
I had fun with my first Viper event despite the spin out into the grass during the autox (which of course the above mentioned ******* photog seemed to get plenty pics of...)

 

[Viperrick]

Bob, it seems like you had wished that we could make the event more cost effective. I assure you that everyeffort was made to make this the least expensive event of all the Rendezvous acroos the country. Just to let you know we tied for least expensive with the northeast event at $250. The hidden expences all have to be accounted for and nothing is thrown in for free. I spent countless hours trying to come up with a budget before we sent out the registration packages. Once they went out I was commited no matter what the turnout was. If we had 50 people show up the base costs were going to be the same. Once we hit our predetirmined count than I began using any moneys left over to give back to the participants. If i am not mistaken before we arrived $247 of the $250 was already spent and then there are always small incidentals.
I don't know if you have ever planned a wedding but this is what it was like. Remember the cool centerpieces on Saturday? The cars alone run about $60 each and then we had to add the Rendezvouse engraved plate. The Michelin tires were a cool door prize don't you think. I am sure we were the only Rendezvous event that gave a set away.
Sure we could have cut some corners and maybe saved some dollars here or there but I don't think it would have been substantial enough. The figure of $125 would have ment McDonalds for everyone. I felt Viper Owners wanted more than that if we were going to be compared to a mini Owners Invitational.
Thanks for the suggestions though and we will look into it when we plan the next ones in 2003. I wanted t-shirts but when the rest of the Rendezvous went the polo route I was out voted. It is a nice shirt though.

 

[Y2K5SRT]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Viperrick mentioned some of this very cool stuff:
...cool centerpieces...cars alone run about $60 each and then we had to add the Rendezvouse engraved plate...Michelin tires were a cool door prize...gave a set away...nice (polo) shirt...
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

DETAILS! While we didn't get to attend this is this kind of thing we LOVE to hear about. I am sure there will be more details in upcoming magazines and/or notes, but this is what many of us want to hear more about and there is no better place than on the Net. I know there were problems with the web page for this particular rendezvous in advance, but did anyone shoot any nifty pictures or want to share more details?

I remember some guy posting a lot of photos and commentary from VOI6 in St. Louis and making a number of people WISH they had gone (and sure not to miss the next one). I know the goal is to beef up the attendance and support of these Zone events. I also know I won't miss the next one if I had any idea what I missed this time. This is the first I heard of giveaways, vendors displaying, etc. While it would have been tough to reschedule our event on Sunday here in Kansas City, I am sure there would have been more interest in the Rendezvous if we knew what it entailed. Sounds like it was a blast!

Chris

 

[Viperrick]

Torque ******, I know that in the Northeast they tried to provide a spuce package which didn't include the driving portion, a spectator package and even a one day package. It was a logistics nightmare so we didn't want to make the same mistake. Sure there were people who may have wanted to go ala carte but in the long run I think that those who saw the value in the event attended. I am sure there are those who wished that they did attend once they found out exactly what was included. The gentleman who came up from St. Louis made the trip without finding out the particulars and I had to get my dinner counts in a week prior to the actual event. It would have been impossible to add them. The items in the goodie bags were ordered on a as needed basis. Remenmber that little Hot Wheels car? You can't order those cars in mass numbers (trusst me I tried to go through Mattel). One of the Illinois members who is a avid collector went and bought all of those at store. Countless stores and countless trips one at a time. Sometimes he got luckey and got maybe two on one trip. Now we had to have 130 of them at the event. Think of the monumental task in just getting those cars. Trust me when I tell you that we didn't get them for 99 cents each.
Regarding the vendors i wish we could have gotten more but there was a seperate issue with that. Before you want to make vendors commit you have to prove to them that they will have an audiance. With the 6 week (short) notice we gave owners on this last Rendezvous it was hard to guage participation. By the time we had 100 people it just didn't give us enough time to get those vendors who were far away. Heck i even had some who were down the street who had prior commitments and they were unable to attend. This is definately one item we will look at long and hard.
If I was to do anything over it would have been the photo at the track. We were to have one hour to make that shot. We were also suppose to have the grandstands in the backround not the garages. We were right on time but it looked like the Petty NASCAR Experiance people had some sort of problem with us being there. Once we arrived we were told we had 10 minutes. That sucked! There were people entering the track and I had to tell them they were late and they had to turn around. Major bummer!

If I had known that this was going to happen we would have done a shot in front of the convention center and it would have been perfect. The worst part about it was that I wasn't dealing with some lackey when we set this up. I went to the director of the track. This photo op took 4 months of planning and the Petty group screwed it up in 5 minutes. I was major disappointed when I saw the final product but it wasn't anyones fault.

All in all I think it came off pretty well. We learned some things and the next go around will only be better.

 

[Viperrick]

Y2KGTS, Regarding the polo I don't know if there are any left and what sizes may be on hand. I would call Viper headquarters to see if there are any over-runs. The cool little die struck pewter looking lapel pin is available so you can get one of those if you beg enough and come up with the $5.00.

I was way to busy with the event to take any pics and even if i had i wouldn't have a clue on how to put it on the web site. Rick Rinzler took pics so maybe he can download some. By the way his Steel Grey GTS with the customized pieces was my favorite in that show class.

 

[BWoodbury]

I have pics, but not much time. Look for photos in a few days.

Rick Rinzler's GTS was definately the class of the field. It remined me of a well done Harley. Anyone can buy a bunch of stuff and stick it on, but it is much harder to make it look like it all belongs there. Even my wife commented that it looked like the car came that way from the factory.

Rich sent me a complete breakdown of the costs for the event. I am now amazed that they got it all in for only $250 a person. There was a lot I simply missed. Hey I didn't win the complete set of tires so they did not enter into my thoughts on costs. Lots of stuff like that...

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Isn't it amazing. I know I missed a bunch of stuff in my earlier post. The cost savings that no one talks about are when all the members pitch-in and help put the event together. Those people save the members about $100 a head on an event like that. And the best part is they do it for free and love doing it! But that is what it is all about.

It's really good that Bob W. had a good time, since he more than anyone would have had grounds for a bad weekend.

 

[RoyV101621]

3) Were the accomodations what you would expect for the cost?
This was a wonderful brand new hotel and the kitchen was not ready for the demands of the Viper Club. Both with Saturdays mornings breakfast before 7:00 am, and only 5 servers at the banquet. The Hotel needs to be more prepared to serve us more quickly.

 

[BWoodbury]

Roy,

I talked with the servers at the Hotel Saturday. I think the fault here lies with us. What hotel expects to have 100 people wanting breakfast at 6:00 AM? I think that if we had let them know we were all leaving at 7:00 AM they would have been better prepared.

Another leason learned for next time.

 

[Steve-Indy]

The BIG picture:

Cost of the event per member....$250.00

Value of time, effort, insights, dedication of Rich Hamielic...PRICELESS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Viperrick]

Steve do you have a name and number for the member from KY who had the painting for sale? Looks like we have a serious buyer.