I really enjoyed meeting everyone and seeing the great cars, and finally putting faces to the many names of people we've met or heard about online over the years.
Steve Wolcott and Lisa Bodrey and the great team at NMRA were fabulous! And Melissa and Sharon and the people at the NMRA's PowerMall really helped make Steve and I feel at home as we dodged the storm during an autograph session on Sunday.
Hard to believe it's been 20 years for Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords, and it was great to take part in this anniversary with Evan Smith and the others who have contributed to this great publication over the years.
And I finally got to meet the great guys at JDM.
It was really nice to meet new people, too, who drove many miles after hearing Steve was going to be at Atco.
Both Steve and Liz really enjoyed visiting with the enthusiasts and seeing the great Saleens, and it was neat to see Steve grin as he sat in the great race cars and truck that msper, jcm (The Beast) and Doug Boring (the Sportruck) brought out. Steve and Liz were also were very surprised and pleased at the turnout for the SOEC/Saleen Locating Service dinner in their honor, and I think we all enjoyed the neat stories Steve had to tell and the hints at what the future holds for SMS.
Many thanks go to Greg Wackett of the
Saleen Locating Service for his support in organizing the dinner.
The attention that the SMS 25 car got by spectators was amazing! For Sunday's autograph session, Steve drove it over to the PowerMall and I followed him in my rental with the posters, and it seemed everyone stopped in their tracks and gazed as it drove by.
Other memorable moments include:
- Finally meeting Dave in person.
- Seeing Tim Cronin show his scrapbook to Liz, and watching her backing-up a page to tell him how she remembered typing up his Saleen paperwork on a pay-by-the-minute typewriter at the library with Molly sitting next to her in a stroller.
- Getting my picture taken with Melissa and Steve.
- Escaping from the rain in Betsy and Rudy Beyer's motorhome with Steve and Liz and the other Sunday die-hards, and then playing 20 questions about Saleen factoids (and then seeing Steve and Liz sometimes contradict each other).
- Finally being able to leave the airport, checking in to my hotel (with working Internet) and getting dinner at 10:30 p.m.
I'll certainly recap some more after I get out of this hotel in Philly and eventually get home to California -- flights got canceled because of the storm.