81 / 113
Following the past few conven-
tions where we got carried away by
planning four, five and even a six-day
event. We listened to the feedback
from members who were telling us it
had become just too expensive for
them to take upwards of a week off
work and then have to spend money
for almost that many hotel nights. The
schedule we arrived at was registra-
tion and Fast Track school on Friday,
along with early registration, tech in-
spection and swap meet set up. Satur-
day was dedicated to the open track
and parts swap. On Sunday the con-
cours and popular vote shows were
held along with more open track.
Initially we planned to hold the
dinner and evening program on Satur-
day night at the local Shriner’s Lodge
(about a half mile from the main hotel)
but at the last minute there was a
scheduling mix-up. A wedding recep-
tion had also been planned for that
evening and rather than ruin some-
one’s wedding, we opted to swap
nights and have our dinner and
evening program on Friday night. We
had originally scheduled a literature
and memorabilia show for Friday
night at the hotel, so we just moved
that to Saturday night.
About 500 people attended the
dinner which was followed by guest
speakers Lee Holman, independent
Cobra driver Mel Wentzel (CSX2127),
Cobra Team driver Bob Johnson and
keynote speaker William Jeanes, then
editor of
Automobile
magazine.
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Winter 2016 78