CORSA 2012: NECC: Next Year

Wed Aug 15 09:51:54 EDT 2012

I think we got their Wed and we gave them our Sat or Fri that year.

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 15, 2012, at 8:28 AM, "O'Neill, Brian M CTR US USA" <brian.oneill1 at us.army.mil> wrote:

> We sold a Wednesday to Mercedes.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Terry&Alexis Stafford [mailto:terry_alexis at yahoo.com] 
> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2012 1:24 AM
> To: O'Neill, Brian M CTR US USA; Vairtec Corporation
> Cc: neccexec at corvair.org; conv-2012 at corvair.org
> Subject: Re: CORSA 2012: NECC: Next Year
> 
> Funny how we all remember parts of the demise of the car show at Lime
> Rock differently. I think the records show a gradual decline in
> participants over the last few years we had the show. But I remember the
> year we (traded) sold our weekend-attached date to Mercedes as the
> beginning of the end. I think we even tried to have a Tues Evening car
> show at the Sharon Motor Lodge that year. That sort of broke the
> attention span of the car show guys, and some thought we sold them out.
> We did have a pretty successful car show at the first Corvair Olympics,
> but didn't even attempt one last year. Maybe we broke our own attention
> span too.
> (Don't forget, the second to last year we ran Lime Rock, we had only 9
> or 11 Corvairs on the track. The last year was much better only because
> we advertised it nationally as the "last" Lime Rock.)
> 
> I for one will not drag my car several hours north or south (or west)
> and stay in a motel 2-3 nights to attend an autocross. I rarely commit
> 8-10 hours to attend local autocrosses to get only four 40 second runs
> in my car. (The National Convention was different.) That is why Time
> Trials appeal to me. I think we will get only a few very local race or
> high performance cars at the type of event being suggested but will give
> up most or all of the traveling HiPo cars at a non time trial event. I
> am suggesting that NECC consider a non Time Trial event, epically a
> multi-day event, as only a secondary event, and maybe only once in a
> while as a support to a local club event.
> 
> 
> I think we need a recurring track event as a foundation to build on.
> 
> 
> Maybe I and John Egerton were the only non local NECC cars the NECC
> Convention. (and we both had to be there anyway to work, and it was the
> National Convention.)
> 
> Terry Stafford
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> From: "O'Neill, Brian M CTR US USA" <brian.oneill1 at us.army.mil>
> To: Vairtec Corporation <vairtec at comcast.net>; Terry&Alexis Stafford
> <terry_alexis at yahoo.com> 
> Cc: neccexec at corvair.org; conv-2012 at corvair.org 
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 3:37 PM
> Subject: RE: CORSA 2012: NECC: Next Year
> 
> 
> To suggest that somehow NECC just gave up on the car show does not tell
> the whole story. Yes, once upon a time the judged show was serious
> enough to earn credit toward CORSA Senior Division status. However, that
> procedure no longer exists. Years back, we wanted to have a
> min-convention with a CORSA sanctioned concours. Bob, if you remember,
> we were required to fund travel and lodgng the CORSA Concours Chair and
> required to use CORSA judging procedures.  Unless, my memory fails me,
> you were in agreement that we should not do that.  In fact, as I
> remember, you then wrote the judges' instructions still in the NECC
> procedures manual.
> 
> In addition to what we then considered unbearable financial and
> procedural; support for the car show waned.  It became harder and harder
> to get works to work as judges.  Finding a location as the Interlake
> continually raised their rates. Became almost impossible.
> To say that the loss of the car show has been 'self-defeating' is
> overstating a complex issue.
> 
> Although I do not agree with you and terry that we need a name change
> nor do I believe that we should give up on the Olympics which have been
> very well attended and profitable; your idea has merit.  Unbelievable as
> it may be; I have been day dreaming about a long weekend event in the
> off cycle years between Bay State's Clark's show. My plan was for an
> autocross, low key rally and a car show. The event would be focused on
> fun and friendship.  To quote a friend of mine---" Make everything else
> "just for fun.  Not everything has to be a serious contest -- our slow
> drag races proved that."A New England location would probably be the
> most suitable but could move among the northern states.
> 
> So, my vision for the path forward is a minimum of one track event in
> 2013 with the hope of a south eastern Olympics and the long weekend
> event in 2014.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: conv-2012-bounces at corvair.org
> [mailto:conv-2012-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Vairtec Corporation
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 3:09 PM
> To: Terry&Alexis Stafford
> Cc: neccexec at corvair.org; conv-2012 at corvair.org
> Subject: Re: CORSA 2012: NECC: Next Year
> 
> Terry provides interesting food for thought.
> 
> I like the nomenclature, "Corvair Triathlon" but I would suggest that 
> along with a new name there is a need for a new mindset. Just as we were
> 
> trying to re-invent the convention this year, we should consider 
> re-inventing the signature NECC event.
> 
> For a long time the NECC did the track event at Lime Rock in conjunction
> 
> with a judged car show that in some years was serious enough to earn 
> entrants credit toward CORSA Senior Division status.  In later years the
> 
> car show became less formal.  In recent years the car show at NECC 
> events virtually disappeared.
> 
> There is a great deal that can be said about the age of the cars and the
> 
> age of their owners and the diminishing Corvair participation in track 
> events.  But the loss of emphasis on the car show and then the loss of 
> the car show itself has been self defeating for the NECC.
> 
> I would suggest that an annual "Corvair Triathlon" should consist of:
> 
> (1) a track event.  Whether it is a high-speed event such as the NECC 
> has done for so many years or a reasonably fast autocross such as the 
> convention autocross at Stafford Speedway, track events are the 
> foundation of the NECC.  However, while some of us may not want to admit
> 
> it, an event like the Stafford Speedway autocross is far more accessible
> 
> to far more Corvair owners, and therefore far more likely to succeed.
> 
> (2) a road rally or driving tour.  The road rally at conventions is 
> typically the best-attended moving event, and today more and more 
> Corvair owners are participating in AACA driving tours. Maybe we should 
> take the hint.
> 
> (3) a car show.  Car shows are a big part of why people own Corvairs 
> today.  The cars are no longer daily drivers, they are hobby cars, and 
> hobby car owners like to go to well-organized, well-run car shows.
> 
> If we were to situate such an event in New England, I would suggest that
> 
> it become an every-other-year thing, alternating with Bay State's "Fall 
> Classic at Clark's."  This would prevent each event from "cannibalizing"
> 
> the other and would in fact allow them to support one another.  This, of
> 
> course, means that we would be planning for 2014, not next year.  (This 
> does not mean that the NECC cannot do something in 2013, it just means 
> that it ought not be in New England in 2013.)
> 
> As an aside, I have not heard about the road course plans that Terry 
> mentions at Thompson Speedway, but I will take it upon myself to ask the
> 
> track owner about this.
> 
> --Bob
> 
> 
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