Y2K5SRT
Enthusiast
Sorry this is a little late, but I had to travel for work this past week and am just getting a chance to post a few pictures from last weekend's trip to Whiteman Air Force Base for their annual air show. The weather looked very iffy early on (weather radar showed big storms approaching), so most of the preregistered Vipers were a no-show. We ended up with about 17 of the 37 registered. I suspect the Corvette Club got wind of our projected numbers - they preregistered with 19 cars and showed up with almost 30. Oh well.
Anyway, here are some of the pictures along with very brief descriptions. First up, a stop at the park outside of the base for pre-entry inspection gives some folks a chance to clean up their cars from some damp roads:
Looking good!
On the move:
Inspection time!
Now time to enter the base (picture in a mirror, thus everything in reverse):
No mirror this time and we are now on the base!
Everybody settles in for the show to start so we can then do the parade:
Everybody leaves for the parade and to enter the flight line. What's this?! Seems one Viper didn't make the parade and for good reason: Having come the furthest for this show, our good friend from Mississippi inadvertantly locked his only set of keys in the car. We tried everything and finally had to drive about 30 miles to find an open Jeep dealership that could look up the key code and had a Viper blank - with proper ID and paperwork, of course. Thankfully the windows were down on the car and the passenger compartment open to get the registration, etc. We then got the local safe & lock company to meet us at their closed store and cut us a key from the code. I drove our fellow Viper owner into town for all of this while my lovely bride stayed behind to watch over the car. Which sat there all alone...
No worries, the new key worked like a champ and our friend made his way onto the tarmac to join the other Vipers. Of course when we arrived ourselves (sans Viper - it is currently getting some quality time with Doug Levin), we found that the organizers had once again given the Viper Club the top treatment: Hanger-side seats with plenty of shade available!
Now the Corvette Club was parked further out and was less than thrilled with where we ended up. It wasn't our doing. Another interesting thing was that there was a brand-new Z06 (paper tags and everything) parked closest to the Vipers. Alas, besides ourselves (many of which went over to admire it), just about everybody else passed it by. Here you can see folks looking towards - yep - the Vipers, while ignoring the monster in their midst. Too bad really.
And here is one final picture worth a special note. One of our local members has an RT/10 with an automatic transmission, and for good reason: He has a prosthetic arm and prosthetic leg. He also loves the Viper and shows it like nobody else:
Pretty cool, eh? He is thinking strongly of buying a new Coupe and getting the conversion done for the transmission on that. So for those of you that have been hankering for an automatic Viper (Gen II), you just may get a shot at his current car. Look for it at VOI 9 in Las Vegas!
Special thanks to the Gateway Club and the folks from other areas that took the time to visit us for the Whiteman event. Ironically we didn't get a drop of rain any time during the day, just a couple damp spots on the highway from rain the previous night. So maybe next time we will get all 37 to show up - or more!
Anyway, here are some of the pictures along with very brief descriptions. First up, a stop at the park outside of the base for pre-entry inspection gives some folks a chance to clean up their cars from some damp roads:
You must be registered for see images
Looking good!
You must be registered for see images
On the move:
You must be registered for see images
Inspection time!
You must be registered for see images
Now time to enter the base (picture in a mirror, thus everything in reverse):
You must be registered for see images
No mirror this time and we are now on the base!
You must be registered for see images
Everybody settles in for the show to start so we can then do the parade:
You must be registered for see images
Everybody leaves for the parade and to enter the flight line. What's this?! Seems one Viper didn't make the parade and for good reason: Having come the furthest for this show, our good friend from Mississippi inadvertantly locked his only set of keys in the car. We tried everything and finally had to drive about 30 miles to find an open Jeep dealership that could look up the key code and had a Viper blank - with proper ID and paperwork, of course. Thankfully the windows were down on the car and the passenger compartment open to get the registration, etc. We then got the local safe & lock company to meet us at their closed store and cut us a key from the code. I drove our fellow Viper owner into town for all of this while my lovely bride stayed behind to watch over the car. Which sat there all alone...
You must be registered for see images
No worries, the new key worked like a champ and our friend made his way onto the tarmac to join the other Vipers. Of course when we arrived ourselves (sans Viper - it is currently getting some quality time with Doug Levin), we found that the organizers had once again given the Viper Club the top treatment: Hanger-side seats with plenty of shade available!
You must be registered for see images
Now the Corvette Club was parked further out and was less than thrilled with where we ended up. It wasn't our doing. Another interesting thing was that there was a brand-new Z06 (paper tags and everything) parked closest to the Vipers. Alas, besides ourselves (many of which went over to admire it), just about everybody else passed it by. Here you can see folks looking towards - yep - the Vipers, while ignoring the monster in their midst. Too bad really.
You must be registered for see images
And here is one final picture worth a special note. One of our local members has an RT/10 with an automatic transmission, and for good reason: He has a prosthetic arm and prosthetic leg. He also loves the Viper and shows it like nobody else:
You must be registered for see images
Pretty cool, eh? He is thinking strongly of buying a new Coupe and getting the conversion done for the transmission on that. So for those of you that have been hankering for an automatic Viper (Gen II), you just may get a shot at his current car. Look for it at VOI 9 in Las Vegas!
Special thanks to the Gateway Club and the folks from other areas that took the time to visit us for the Whiteman event. Ironically we didn't get a drop of rain any time during the day, just a couple damp spots on the highway from rain the previous night. So maybe next time we will get all 37 to show up - or more!
I can't say enough about the hospitality of our Kansas City Viper friends. Chris drove me all over creation to get me a spare key....and it was in time to enjoy the majority of the show. The Vipers got a LOT of attention (of course) and the visitors enjoyed getting pictures of themselves in a real supercar! The show was a wonderful time for all and I highly recommend it for next year!
