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SCSN Caravan 09 eNewsNo. 12 - 11/19/07>>>TOP STORY<<< HOTEL RESERVATIONS For the last couple of months, "Commander" Ron Cohen, who directs the Southern California/Southern Nevada Caravan Organizing Team's lodging efforts, has been reserving blocks of hotel rooms in cities we'll visit during the five day trip to Bowling Green. While the room blocking project is not complete, Cohen tells the eNews that the SCSN OT will be ready to book rooms for all SoCal/SoNev Caravanners in the second quarter of 2008. All these rooms will be available to all our Caravanners at a discount. Ron Cohen's Gorilla Travel Network will be able to book your entire trip. With one phone call or email, you'll be able to reserve rooms in all four cities we'll visit on the Caravan: Flagstaff AZ, Tucumcari NM, Oklahoma City OK and Little Rock AR. In addition, if you want a hotel room at Ontario CA on Friday night prior to the start of the Caravan, we'll have rooms blocked at a hotel right near the starting point. There is no need for Caravanners to hassle with booking rooms. We can do it for you and get you a deal on the room in the process. We'll be ready to book hotel rooms in the Spring of '08. We'll post the procedure in the eNews when we're ready to go. >>>Other News<<< >>SoCal/SoNev Continues to Lead Registrations<<On 4 November, the NCM released the latest 2009 Caravan registration information. Our Caravan Section continues to lead the nation in registrations by a wide margin with 54 cars and 89 persons registered. Captain Hib Halverson said in a statement released Sunday afternoon, "I'm amazed to see so many people stepping-up so soon to register. Clearly, this is going to be a record-setting event. Seeing how registrations are trending so far, I've already revised the estimate I've been giving other members of the Organizing Team to 300 cars. Obviously, I'm elated to see this level of interest, 22 months before we leave." >>Automasters' Wednesday Evening Attitude Adjustment<< Jim Van Dorn, owner of Automasters of Bowling Green, and SoCal/SoNev Caravan Captain Hib Halverson are putting together a heck of a party on the final night of the Caravan. The "Automasters Attitude Adjustment" will begin about 5 PM on Wednesday after we arrive in Bowling Green. It will be an invitation-only soiree for Southern California and Southern Nevada Caravanners only. It will include drinks, a catered dinner, a live band and dancing. The event will be free to all SCSN registered Caravanners. Automasters of Bowling Green is the #1 Corvette service and tuning facility in the region but has ties to Southern California, being formerly located in Palm Desert. Automasters also has ties to the SCSN Caravan having prepared the 1995 ZR-1 which was the Lead Car in the '03 SoCal Caravan. Our Caravan Captain was an associate sponsor of Pirate Racing, the SCCA World Challenge Team owned by Van Dorn which, in 1999 and 2000, was the last to race a C4 ZR-1 in professional competition and one of the first to race a C5 in World Challenge road racing. It's these strong ties which had Van Dorn and Halverson partnering to organize a party all our caravanners will remember. >>Organizing Team Goals for the First Half of '08 Announced<< It's hard to imagine the SCSN Organizing Team working on the Caravan for over a year. We figured, in honor of that milestone and because our Caravan Organizing Team had it's final business meeting of '07 this past weekend, we thought it a good time to sit down with our Caravan Section Captain and get an insight to his plans for the first half of next year. "One of my key goals for our Team in Q208," Halverson told the eNews, "is what you're reporting elsewhere: getting hotel bookings started. I think Ron Cohen is well on the way to meeting that goal. I don't want to give any more details of our lodging plan right now but, once we announce the full program, I think all Caravanners are going to be happy with the deal on rooms." "I want to continue to secure corporate sponsorship. A five-day, traveling event for 600 people costs a lot to put on. We have equipment to buy, social events to stage, caterers to hire, prerun trips to fund, t-shirts to purchase, printing to buy, logos to design and a whole host of other expenses. Back before the '03 Caravan, Captain Paul Mariano and I had only six months to organize the trip. I figured we needed around five grand to do it but Paul and I, also, knew it would be impossible to raise that much in time--even if we both worked full-time on just fund raising--using the methods many other Caravan Sections used which were, primarily, selling merchandise. Because, in the process of my work with the automotive aftermarket, we had access to a number of companies who had an interest in Corvettes, Paul and I decided to use that access to raise the money we need though sponsorship by automotive related businesses. Well, that proved successful. In the end, not only did Paul and I raise the necessary money--a little under 6500 bucks--but we ended-up with a surplus which we donated to the NCM. I decided, shortly after I was appointed in September of '06, that we'd raise money the same way for the '09 event." "We had a very successful 'Start-Up Sponsor' program which ran through September of this year and provided us with the seed money we needed to get the Organizing Team going and to attend the National Captain's Meeting at the Museum last April. I can't tell you how much I appreciated the support we got from all our SSU Sponsors: Software Liaison, Brent and Marilyn Hicks, Gorilla Travel LLC, Jerry and Judie Cochran, Spring Mountain Advanced Driving School and Jumbo Distributing." "Going forward, 'Commander' Hicks and I are working on several fronts to secure additional sponsorship from a number of businesses in Southern California and other places which have an interest in Corvette enthusiasts. Some of these will be our friends who sponsored the Caravan in '03 while others will be new to Caravan support. We have two regular sponsors already, Santa Barbara Bank and Trust and Envisage Design Lab. We've also got a number of proposals which are probably going to be decided upon in the near future. We'll be announcing other sponsors soon." "My goal for '09 Caravan fund raising is $20,000. I hope we can do the event for 12 or 15 large and then donate the rest to the Museum. I'd like to have half that money in the bank by July of next year." "The final key goal I have for the first half of '08 is to prerun most of the Caravan route as far as Adrian, Texas. We did no prerunning in 2003 because Capt. Mariano and I just didn't have the time. I don't think that hurt us in any major way, but I think we can do a better job in 2009 if we prerun some parts of the route. I've got two prerun 'expeditions' planned for next Spring. One of them will be run by Brent and Marilyn Hicks to Flagstaff or maybe Gallup, and my Wife, Sandy, and I will do another, covering the stretch from Flag over to Tucumcari and then on to Adrian, where we'll hand over the lead of the Caravan to Capt. 'Tuna' Dobbin's Oklahoma Section. The main tasks of these prerun trips will be to scout any sections of the route which are different than we ran in '03, visit persons and groups along the way who will support the Caravan and to time certain parts of the trip." >>Help Wanted<< The SCSN Organizing Team is looking for a local leader in the Las Vegas/Henderson, Nevada area to organize and lead a "feeder caravan" which will leave Las Vegas and meet the main Caravan in Kingman, AZ. This person must reside in the Vegas valley and needs to be experienced with planning and organizing Corvette events and leading caravans of 25 or more cars. Anyone interested in this job should contact Captain Hib Halverson at captain.socalcar@charter.net >>That's Racin'<<Finally....congratulations to Jimmie Johnson, the Lowes Team and Hendrick Motorsports for winning their second consecutive NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Championship. Johnson drove the #48 Lowes Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS to a 7th place finish at the final event at Homestead, Florida on Sunday clinching the Championship. His teammate and car owner, Jeff Gordon, who many thought would win the Championship, finished fourth in the race and second in points driving the #24 Dupont Chevrolet. It's hard to say who of those two dominated the sport the most. Gordon finished second in points with an unprecedented 30 top-five finishes. Johnson won the Championship and had 20 top-fives. Hendrick Racing had three teams in the top-five in points at the season's end. Chevrolet rules! Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Best regards, ______________________________________ Going on the Caravan? Don't go braless. Professional installations by the 3M factory-trained Installer in California most experienced with Corvettes: Envisage Design Labs. Call (310) 613-4691 or email Envisage at: envisagedesignlabs@yahoo.com
SoCal Caravan 09 eNews |
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