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August 2008 Hello to all members. Now that the dog days of August
are upon us, that means the fall part of the 2008 car show season is not far away. August is a quiet month for car shows,
although car cruises seem to be all the rage this month, but come September and October there will be too many car events
to attend. It won’t be long now before I start talking about storing your GTO for the winter. But, until
then, enjoy any of the events you attend.
Last month, from Tuesday July 15 to Saturday July 19, the Electric City
GTO Club hosted the 2008 GTOAA International Meet in beautiful Saratoga Springs, NY. This was quite an event, with over
200 GTOs from the classic 1964 to 1974 model years to the modern 2004-2006 GTOs either in the hotel parking lot for the participant
vote competition or inside the convention center vying for concours awards. The Delaware Valley Old Goat Club was well
represented with 18 club members there at one time or another and ten cars. Our club members garnered several trophies
at the awards ceremony, proving once again how beautiful the GTOS of the Old Goat Club really are.
I would
like to congratulate the following club members for winning first place awards in their respective classes. Don Simione’s
1968 GTO in the stock 1968-1969 GTO class, Frank Balsama’s 1966 GTO in the 1964-1967 convertible class, Ronnie and Joe
Bartha’s 1969 GTO Judge in the stock Judge class, Steve Laughlin’s 1973 GTO in the stock 1973-1974 GTO class,
and Tom Szymczyk’s 1972 LeMans in the A-body and X-body 1964-1974 stock class. I would also like to congratulate
our second place award winners, Ed Korejko’s 1970 GTO in the stock 1970-1972 GTO class (Eddie was there too),Rich Simberg’s
1965 GTO in the Mild Modified 1964-1965 GTO class and Tom Razzagone’s 2005 GTO in the Mild Mod 2005 GTO class.
Chuck Catalano took third place in the stock 1966 GTO class with his Brother Russ’ Mayfair Maize 1966 GTO hardtop.
In addition, congratulations go to former club member Nick Massaro for his Concours Gold Award for his beautiful 1967 GTO
hardtop. Nice job everyone for representing our club in a most professional manner.
In addition
to the club members who entered a car in the show we had a few people drive to Saratoga Springs to see the show. Those
members were Dick and Pat Rudley, Bob and Marie Price, Tim and Nancy Moore, Bob and Donna Axtman, Tony and Lynn Czarzasty,
Frank Scholl, Rob Marks, Dominick Rinelli and Barb Schmidtner and I. That was quite a turnout for an event that was
a five hour drive for most of us. Thanks to all for being at the meet. I appreciate the support that you all have
shown the club.
I would like to thank Frank Joie for organizing the 2nd Annual Golf Outing. Frank tells me
there were twelve people who took their chances with their golf clubs at this fun time.
There
was one more past event that I would like to mention before I move on to what we have in our future. On Sunday August
3, we hosted our second of three Crispin Square Car Cruises. It was a magical night for us as we shattered the event
attendance record with 173 cars. Needless to say this was a very successful event for us from a car and monetary standpoint.
Part of the 50/50 proceeds we collected we donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Thank you very much to all
of the club members who wee able to support this very large turnout. We will host our last cruise of the year there
on Sunday October 5.
Coming up next week is the GTOAA East Coast Regional Meet held in Parsippany, NJ.
This annual get-together is hosted by the Garden State GTO Club. Although the event itself is a one day affair on Saturday
August 23, many participants make it a long weekend arriving early for the unofficial Friday evening festivities. I
know that Tom Szymczyk will be there representing the GTOAA on Saturday. If you plan on attending you might want to
get with Tom if you have any questions.
A little bit farther into the future will be the 10th Pontiac Fall
Nationals at Atco Raceway that we will once again host. We are scheduled for this event on Saturday November 1.
So far Burns Pontiac has agreed to donate 100 event t-shirts to the show and Frankford Plating has generously donated a very
nice amount of money plus their usual gift certificates. However, we still do need any additional sponsorship we can
get. So, if you know of any business or organization that might like to donate money or goods to our show please let
me know. As I get more information I will be sure to let you know.
I guess that will do it for this month.
I hope you all enjoy the last of summertime around here and the events that you decide to go to. Until then, keep the
sunny side up.
Mike Laskowski
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