Corvette Courier The World s First Corvette Club Celebrating our 62 nd Anniversary Year

Transcription

1 Corvette Courier The World s First Corvette Club Celebrating our 62 nd Anniversary Year President - Kelly Ryan February 2018 CCA social activities started off 2018 with a new president, in a new venue and with a new method for selecting the Dick Thompson Award winner. The Annual Awards dinner was held at Normandie Farms, a charming and intimate French style restaurant located in Potomac Maryland. The food, accommodations and service were enjoyed by members and their guests. All who attended were treated to Normandie s famous popovers and to-die for dessert selection. I would like to thank Van, Nita and April for their continued help and assistance in making this year s awards dinner memorable. Guests from both Sport Chevrolet and Radial Tire were able to join us in honoring this year s Dick Thompson Award winner Pat Roney. I believe both Jon and Van took a number of photos of people enjoying the company and activities. In previous years, the winner was selected on the basis of points accumulated in NCCC sponsored events. In as much as the club is no longer a member of NCCC, this year s evaluation included more subjective criteria. That criteria included an individual s contributions to raising the level of enjoyment and safety of competitive racing, as well as an individual s competitive performance. As a student of Pat s instruction on the track and seeing what he has done to promote Corvette racing I was extremely happy to see Pat recognized as the winner for The Club has a number of activities coming up to break up the winter doldrums. On Sunday February 25 members and their guests are invited to what is becoming an annual event Karting at the Autobahn in Jessup MD. Pat Roney is the go to guy for this event. There is more information about the event on the CCA web site and also in Pat s section of the newsletter. Jean Wade has organized a St Patrick s Day cruise and celebration on March10 at the Kilarney House. Again, check the events tab on the Club s website for details and to register for this early spring activity. Speaking of early spring, be sure to check the new competition director s (Bill Sandusky) article for details of the upcoming autocross season. Rumor has he s planning a time and tune session for club members only in March.

2 February 2018 Page 2 In closing this month s column, I would like to invite all members to join us in one of our many club activities. Whether it is an autocross, one of our monthly business meetings (second Tuesday night at the Green Turtle on Burtonsville), shop night (fourth Tuesday evening at Sport Chevrolet) or one of the many cruises and trips planned for this coming year, please consider coming and joining other members in enjoying life with your Corvette. Save the Wave! Kelly Ryan CCA President

3 February 2018 Page 3 Membership Director - Jean Wade CCA Membership Update MEMBER NEWS AND INFORMATION Welcome our Newest Members from January Found Us/Sponsor Michael Hubbard Mt. View, CA 65 R meadow wood yellow Web Jesse & Harumi McDaniel Leesburg, VA 18 GS yellow Web Allan Trusk Clearwater, FL 07 Z51 victory red Web James Rosso Brooklyn, MD 07 black Autocross Raymond Ramirez Homestead, FL No Vette Web Geo Barriel Naples, FL No Vette Facebook Steve Wukina New Carrollton, MD 04 Z06 black Web What our new members shared with us - Jesse is retired from US Air Force and he loves Corvettes. James Rosso tracks his car at Summit Point and VIR. Steve Wukina has a 2014 Mustang Convertible, Black Premium will show for shows. Shop on Amazon Smile and help the National Corvette Museum. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the Museum. Amazon- Smile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service. Designate the National Corvette Museum by clicking this link ( and log into your Amazon account. Maryland CCA License Plate Representative: Mr. Wayne Hatcher from Hagerstown, MD Looking for CCA Organizational Maryland Plates for your Vette or even maybe the daily driver? Wayne will help , Windsor Dr. Hagerstown Md license_plates@vette-club.org Want to sponsor an event for the club? Please contact me. If you know of any more cruise-in meet ups, please let me know. Check the following page for upcoming events. Don t miss out on all the fun!

4 February 2018 Page 4 Upcoming Club Events & Reminders Calendar - February Business Meeting This is the club's monthly business and membership meeting with the Board and is open to all club members. Arrive by 6:30PM for dinner & discussion. Tuesday, February 13, 2018, 7:30PM 9:00PM The Greene Turtle Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville, MD th Annual Winter Karting Event The Corvette Club of America would like to invite all race enthusiasts to a Karting event at Autobahn Indoor Speedway in Jessup, Maryland. RSVP to Pat Roney (proney928@gmail.com). Flyer on page 6. Sunday, February 25, 2018, 9:30AM Autobahn Indoor Speedway 8251 Preston Ct., Jessup MD February Shop Night Bring your Corvette in to Sport Chevrolet in Silver Spring for a do-it-yourself shop night. Sport Chevrolet allows us to use their vehicle lifts; however, you must bring your own tools, fluids, etc. Tuesday, February 27, 2018, 6:30PM 9:00PM (arrive before 7:30PM) Sport Chevrolet 3101 Automobile Blvd., Silver Spring, MD St. Patrick s Day Lunch Join fellow CCA members for a St. Patrick s Day celebration at Killarney House! RSVP to Jean Wade ( or vettehon@aol.com) or online (link below). Flyer on page 7. Saturday, March 10, 2018, 12:30PM Killarney House 584 W. Central Ave., Davidsonville, MD March Business Meeting This is the club's monthly business and membership meeting with the Board and is open to all club members. Arrive by 6:30PM for dinner & discussion. Tuesday, March 13, 2018, 7:30PM 9:00PM The Greene Turtle Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville, MD

5 February 2018 Page 5 Cars & Coffee and Cruise-Ins Meet other CCA members and share your love for the club! The events listed below are believed to be year-round or will start back up on the date noted. Calendar - Laytonsville Cruise-In 9840 Olney-Laytonsville Rd., Laytonsville, MD Fridays, 5:00PM-8:00PM Katie s Cars & Coffee 760 Walker Rd., Great Falls, VA Saturdays, 6:00-9:00AM Church of the Holy Doughnut Greene Turtle Parking Lot Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville, MD All Year, Sundays, 7:30-11:00AM Clarksburg Cars and Coffee Clarksburg Village Center Sweetshrub Dr., Clarksburg, MD Every other Sunday, 8:00AM-?, starting back up in the Spring Annapolis Cars and Coffee Annapolis City Dock 69 Prince George St., Annapolis, MD Sundays, 9:00AM-12:00PM Shady Grove Cruise-In McDonalds Parking Lot Crabbs Branch Way, Rockville, MD All Year, Sundays, 9:00AM-1:00PM Bethesda Cars n Coffee Corner Bakery Café Westlake Drive, Bethesday, MD Saturdays, 8:00AM-10:00AM, starting again on March 24th Membership Director Jean Wade, vettehon@aol.com , 2000 Red Coupe, 1 Red Hot

6 February 2018 Page 6 What 9th Annual Winter Karting Event The Corvette Club of America would like to invite all race enthusiasts to a Karting event at Autobahn Indoor Speedway in Jessup, Maryland. This is an event we started several years ago and is being brought back again this year by popular demand. Younger racers that are 56" tall and 13+ years old are welcome to participate in the event this year. We are planning on having both a race group and Arrive and Drive sessions. There are a limited amount of spots available so please register as soon as possible. You will pay upon arrival (arrive before 9:30 to pay & check in). Contact Pat Roney and tell him which of the following two events you are interested in participating in or if you have any questions. ARRIVE AND DRIVE 14 lap session on the track. Minimum 56 tall and 13 years old. RACE 14 lap qualifier and 14 lap race. Fastest 10 racers go on to a final 14 lap race. When Where Sunday, February 25, :30 AM Autobahn Indoor Speedway 8251 Preston Ct. Jessup, MD Price Register (RSVP) The cost for this event will be about $60 plus taxes if you have not registered in the last year. For those that registered the day of the event last year, your registration is still good, by one day. and that will reduce your price to about $50 plus taxes. Many of us bought the 5 race package and still have races left on your account. Autobahn is still honoring those remaining races, so some may not have to pay anything this year. Don t waste a lot of time looking for your Autobahn card. When you give them your name they will tell you how many races you have left. RSVP to Pat Roney (proney928@gmail.com) Also see Pat Roney s article on page 18.

7 February 2018 Page 7 What St. Patrick s Day Lunch The Killarney House, in Davidsonville Maryland, features Irish food made from family recipes using fresh, local ingredients. In addition to their family friendly restaurant, the Killarney House also has a pub side. Where you can always get a perfectly poured pint of Guinness or other fine draft from their quality selection. When Saturday, March 10, :30 PM Where Killarney House 548 W. Central Ave. Davidsonville, MD killarneyhousepub.com Price ~$20 per person. There will be separate checks and you will pay there. A menu will be posted on the website soon. Register (RSVP) RSVP online or to Jean Wade by March 8th or vettehon@aol.com

8 February 2018 Page 8 The Corvette Courier Editor Jon Thorn Corvette ramblings As Kelly mentioned, the club enjoyed a terrific Annual Awards Dinner at Normandie Farms and the main event of the evening was presenting Pat Roney with his well deserved Dick Thompson Award for Perhaps the only snag of the entire evening was handing me a microphone and allowing me to start talking about club history. Fortunately, they were also able to get me to stop! Van and I were snapping some photos during the evening and you ll find a selection of them at the back of this issue of the Corvette Courier. I also played around with my camera a little before returning the Dick Thompson Award Perpetual Trophy to its home in the display case at Sport Chevrolet. If you have been following the CCA closed group on Facebook you probably have already seen this picture. In case you have not seen the photo, you are missing a lot by not joining the CCA private, closed group on Facebook. There are often interesting, and even serious, discussions about Corvettes and club activities. And sometimes, we even have some silly items like this Lego C7 model and its driver enjoying our Dick Thompson award. The silver bowl was presented to Dick in 1957 as the over all winner of the first SCCA National Event at Marlboro Motor Raceway. The Thompsons gave the bowl to the CCA to create the Dick Thompson Award. If the history of the club interests you, there is an article beginning on page 22 that you will want to see. I located a story on the CCA that was published in the Corvette News magazine in This was a magazine published by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors. The GM Heritage Center scanned the magazine as well as a lot of other GM publications and makes them available on the web. Speaking of history, I often wondered what became of John Ralph. He, along with Charles Eyre, were the two founders of the CCA in Following the 1959 NCCC organizational meeting, convened by the CCA, he was also appointed the first President of the NCCC. While doing some snooping around on

9 February 2018 Page 9 Google on one of the nasty weather days in January, I came across the following obituary from the Washington Post. I still have no information at all on Charles Eyre so if we have any other historical sleuths in the club with part of his story please let me know. John William Ralph On October 8, 2005 of Flint Hill, VA. Mr. Ralph was retired from the Kennedy Center as a stage technician. After retirement he moved in 1980 to Flint Hill and became a building contractor. He was a co-founder of the Corvette Club of America. He is survived by his wife Peggy Ralph; one son Michael Monetta of Amissville, VA and three grandchildren Halie and Nicholas Monetta and Lauren Freeman. A Memorial service will be held on Friday, October 14, at 1 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, Washington, VA. Interment Flint Hill Cemetery. Memorials may may be made to the Hospice of Rapidan, P.O. Box 1715, Culpeper, VA Published in The Washington Post on Oct. 12, 2005 Rambling on, Kelly asked me to post this picture of the CCA parking lot banner at the NCM. The club has participated in the banner program for five years that I know of and we will continue again this year. The photo is also significant for the fact that the club sharing the light pole with us was the Battlefield Corvette Club in Fredericksburg, VA. We coordinated with them during the 2014 NCM Caravan and we will be doing it again for the 25 th Anniversary 2019 NCM Caravan. CCA members Van Vander Haar and Nicholas Nucci will be representing the club and helping Frank Sancineto, the Caravan Captain for Maryland, North Carolins, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. I am sure that Van and Nicholas will be looking for some volunteers from the club so please keep it in mind. Continuing to Ramble while trying to connect the dots, one of the two Corvette road trips I have planned for this year is to attend the NCM Le Mans Viewing Party in June. It turns out that Battlefield Corvette Club President, Jack Whitis, and several of their club members will also be at the NCM for the Le Mans race. This should give those coming along with me a good chance to meet some of the members of the BCC. I have been loosely connected with them for a couple of years now and I am a member of their closed group on Facebook. It will be fun working with them again on the Caravan.

10 Febuary 2018 Page 10 Ok, one last topic for the month (but the dots are all still connected ). I received the following from CCA member Bob Witten. It turns out that this will be an extra special year for the LeMans race. Not only will we have members again attending the NCM LeMans Viewing Event but we will have a member in the crowd at LeMans! I hope that he can bring the team the same luck that Evelyn and I did back in Incidentally, continuing with a small world theme, Bob is in Missoula now which is less than 50 miles from Hamilton. Hamilton is where one of my cousins has a ranch and it was the site for our 2013 Cousins union. That was a 6159 mile trip in the Corvette that covered 12 states and just over 30 days. It was also the reason there was no newsletter in August of 2013! Hi, Jon, I m going. and our two sons are joining me. We'll already be in Paris for my wife s High school reunion.(she grew up in France and attended the American School in Paris). Its the same weekend as the race, so she suggested I go to the race while she did the reunion. A no brainer.. Its taken some doing to arrange accommodations. Got a place in Le Mans on the tram circuit. I wanted to camp in the infield but just too expensive! Race tickets booked, now working on train or bus from Paris to Lemans. Number one on my bucket list and having the boys with me is an unexpected bonus. Just wanted to thank you for your info on your experience. It helped guide me through the maze! All the best from snowy Montana. I think I mentioned Deb is the Visiting Professor of Journalism at U Montana in Missoula, for this semester. Alls going well. Back in late May. Bob I ll just close out with a 2011 picture from LeMans that illustrates the spirit of the fans. If you want to locate the Danes in LeMans just look for orange jump suits or Jan Magnussen. And here is a favorite advertisement from that race. It is Tommy passing the Ferrari in the rain for the eventual win after chasing it all night long. One final note if I can squeeze it in here. The NCM announced that there will be no Museum in Motion trip to LeMans in (See page 21.) I think this has to do with the WEC Super Season announced for 2018 but I will check on it. Jon Thorn, CCA Courier Editor

11 February 2018 Page 11 Competition Director - Bill Sandusky Corvette Competition Competition Report - February 2018 Not a whole lot going on now, but our first event for club members only is coming up March 25, As of this report, we still are awaiting final approval from the Board at Lincoln Tech. This event will give us a good dry run of our new procedures and hopefully yours truly will have a course laid out that will be fun for everyone from novice to veteran. I would like to take this time to encourage our new members and any others who may not have participated in an autocross to come try it out. Bring your corvette or your daily driver, it doesn t matter for this kind of event. Our autocross is low speed, meaning you might get up to 30 mph for a short distance. Vision, braking and turning are what autocross is all about. There is something to be learned for everyone that you can employ driving out on the road. There will be plenty of seasoned veterans on hand to show the novices how to get thru the course. Not a fan of driving autocross? How about helping run the event. We are always in need of club volunteers to assist with the tasks reserved for CCA members to make the event enjoyable for all the participants. So for now, keep an eye on the website for registration to open and by next month, we will be hounding you with the newsletter and s that will entice you to come out. Bill Sandusky, Competition Director Corvette Club of America, Inc. competition@vette-club.org,

12 February 2018 Page 12 HIGH PERFORMANCE DRIVING EVENTS by Pat Roney 9 th ANNUAL WINTER KARTING EVENT This fun for all karting event is coming up the end of the month, February 25th. It is filling up quick so please send me an if you can make it. We will make sure all have fun with events for the racers and also for the ones that just want to drive around the track. More information is at the end of my report. THE 3 RD ANNUAL INSTRUCTOR SYMPOSIUM 1/21/2018 Dave DuBois, HPDE Instructor for the Northern Virginia Corvette Club, organized the Instructor Symposium in 2016 to discuss issues that HPDE instructors see on the track, as well as safety equipment, methods of instructing, how instructors can help event organizers, and the Motorsports Safety Foundation. A group of 30 instructors, drivers, organizers and chief instructors attended the event. Our own Bob Couse introducing the presenters while Dave DuBois looks on.

13 February 2018 Page 13 Dave had a full schedule with many pertinent topics to discuss as evidenced by this schedule. The symposium was action packed from start to finish with most of our sessions going over and cutting into our lunch time and quitting time. Thanks to Dave DuBois for a great choice of topics and presenters.

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15 February 2018 Page 15 ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA PARTY Jan. 27 & 28 CCA members Tony and Marnie hosted a party in Pennsylvania as we cheered on Corvette Racing. Tony and Marnie s new home is beautiful and has so much personality. What a great place for enjoying relaxation time and a great house for a party. It is well off the beaten path and almost impossible to find. Once there negotiating the uphill winding drive way is intense. Thank goodness someone was moving their truck so that I could find a place to back into, because backing down that driveway in the dark was not going to happen. This driveway would be a very challenging go-cart track, maybe even better than the one that Ricky and Jordan Taylor had to practice on. You knew right away upon arriving that you were at the right place for a Corvette Racing party as soon as you walked into the garage. Tony s yellow Corvette C6 Z06 with his Corvette Racing helmet is just in front of 4 very famous racing suits. The one far right as we view them Tony wore as part of Corvette Racing s pit crew for a Petit LeMans and both Baltimore Grand Prixs. The suit to the right of the Corvette Racing suit is the one that Dan Binks wore as the crew chief of the Chevy Intrepid GTP that Tommy Kendall drove back in the 1990 s. Dan Binks, crew chief for the #3 Corvette Racing car, told Tony that if he quit smoking for a year that he would give Tony his Intrepid GTP fire suit. Tommy Kendall signed the race suit that same day at the IMSA 6 hours of the Glen. The Jaguar suit to the right of that one was Tommy Kendall s from the Lexus GT Team. It seems that Tony Gentilozzi lost the bet that Detroit would beat Baltimore in the 2014 playoffs and this driving suit was the prize.

16 February 2018 Page 16 Marnie and Tony. Marnie as the flag girl for the #3 Corvette Racing car.

17 February 2018 Page 17 Our Corvette Racing group cheering Corvette Racing on. Wait, where is Gina? Gina is Tony s sister and is a real Corvette Racing fan. At her young age she has been to about 10 pro races all over the country. I couldn t find a good picture of Gina at this party so here is a picture of Marnie and Gina from one of Tony s Oktoberfest parties. Gina is wearing the red dress.

18 February 2018 Page 18 THE CORVETTE CLUB OF AMERICA INVITES YOU TO THE 9 th ANNUAL WINTER KARTING EVENT TO GET READY FOR RACING SEASON. When: 2/25/2018 9:30am Where: Autobahn Indoor Speedway, Jessup, Maryland. The Corvette Club of America would like to invite all race enthusiasts to a Karting event at Autobahn Indoor Speedway in Jessup, Maryland on Sunday, February 25th starting at 9:30am. This is an event we started several years ago and is being brought back again this year by popular demand. We are planning on having both a race group and Arrive and Drive sessions. There are a limited amount of spots available so please sign up as soon as possible. Please respond to proney928@gmail.com to let me know if you are interested and which event you are interested in from the following list: ARRIVE AND DRIVE 14 lap session on the track. Minimum 56 tall and 13 years old. RACE 14 lap qualifier and 14 lap race. Fastest 10 racers go on to a final 14 lap race. Autobahn Indoor Speedway 8521 Preston Court Jessup, MD Ph The cost for this event will be about $60 plus taxes if you have not registered in the last year. For those that registered the day of the event last year, your registration is still good,, by one day. and that will reduce your price to about $50 plus taxes. Many of us bought the 5 race package and still have races left on your account. Autobahn is still honoring those remaining races, so some may not have to pay anything this year. I look forward to seeing you all February 25 th at Autobahn. Please me and let me know if you can make it. Pat Roney, Proney928@gmail.com

19 February 2018 Page 19 MOTORSPORTS SAFETY FOUNDATION INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATION The MSF has been working for a couple of years to help make the HPDE s safer. As a matter of fact, the MSF was at Sebring back in January 2016 offering Simpson Hybrid Neck Protection devices and helmets for participants to try out. I rented one and had the opportunity to see if it would work for me. I do recommend neck protection for all in this sport. The MSF Mission/Vision is: Improve the standards and operations of HPDE schools, Instructor training programs, and Instructors to provide a safer and better quality experience for performance driving students and Instructors MSF has developed an Instructor Certification program and Chin Trackdays has been heavily involved working with MSF on this. There are 5 Levels of Certification: Level 1: Online Instructor training program Level 2: Hands-on Certified HPDE Organizer Instructor Training Program (for Level 1 certified Instructor Candidates only). Level 3: Classroom Instructor. Level 4: Remote instruction using data acquisition and video. Level 5: Chief Instructor, with focus on operations and organization of a HPDE event, as well as the management and mentoring of instructors. Chin Trackdays has been working with MSF for a couple of years on developing the Level 2 program and is now one of just a few organizations certified to offer Level 2 training and certification. Chin s Level 2 program has 2 classroom sessions and 6 on track roll playing sessions. I am honored to be one of the first to have achieved Level 2 certification. NEW CCA HPDE PAGE ON OUR WEBSITE Our Website team let by April has been working their magic on our CCA website and has upgraded the HPDE page. She has added a schedule of events our members are planning to attend as well as a list of tracks and videos that our members have done. I am really impressed with the excellent job she has done. Thanks for all of your hard work and creativity April. Here is a link to the new page:

20 February 2018 Page 20 WANT TO TRY YOUR CAR OUT ON TRACK? Please remember to keep it to the speed limit and stay alert on the street as, in my opinion, it is much more dangerous at the speed limit on the street than on the track at speed. If you would like to hear more about the tracking experience, please feel free to ask myself, or any one of our tracking group about how easy it is to give it a shot. Tracking Schedule (Keep an eye on this schedule as it will be updated regularly) March 5-6, 2018 March 16, 2018 March 17-18, 2018 April 14, 2018 April 23-24, 2018 April 28-29, 2018 May 4, 2018 May 14-15, 2018 May 31, 2018 June 4-5, 2018 June 25-26, 2018 June 29, 2018 July 20, 2018 Aug , 2018 Sept. 3-4, 2018 Sept. 7, 2018 Oct. 13, 14, 2018 Oct , 2018 Nov. 4, 2018 Nov. 17, 2018 Chin at VIR FATT at Summit Point Ckt Audi Club of Annapolis at Summit Point FATT at SP Shenandoah Ckt NCM at NCM MSP Chin at NCM MSP FATT at Summit Point Ckt Chin at Watkins Glen HOD NE at Summit Point Shenandoah Chin at VIR NCM at VIR FATT at Summit Point Ckt FATT at Summit Point Ckt Chin at Summit Point Chin at Watkins Glen FATT at Summit Point Ckt Chin at NCM MSP Chin at VIR FATT at Summit Point Ckt FATT at SPC Instructor Apprec Pat Roney Corvette Club of America Runner?? It was a victory lap.

21 February 2018 Page 21 NCM Ambassador - Terry Popkin National Corvette Museum Report Not an NCM Member? Become one! Learn More! Terry Popkin, NCM Ambassador, ncmambassador@vette-club.org,

22 February 2018 Page 22 A Little Piece of Corvette Club of America History By Jon Thorn, Corvette Courier Editor I am not sure if you have noticed but this has not been Corvette weather lately. One cold January morning I decided to exercise my computer mouse by scouting around the web looking for bits of CCA history that I had not seen before. It turned out to be a very interesting morning. I stumbled onto a copy of the Corvette News from 1958 at the GM Heritage Center. It was a quarterly magazine published by GM and Volume 2, Number 3, contained an article on the CCA as well as information on the upcoming 1959 Corvette models. There is too much information to cover all of it. But, if you would like to see the full issue of the magazine, it is located here on the web: For me, a very interesting thing was spotting pictures of the timing equipment that the CCA developed in We have a written record of the progress of the development from club meeting minutes but I had never seen a picture of the system, let alone pictures of the system in actual operation. I have already covered some of this material in the CCA s closed Facebook group. If you have seen that post, please keep reading because there will be additional cool information here. In fact, I will start out with some details from the magazine that have nothing to do with timing equipment. A significant portion of the magazine was dedicated to providing information on the 1959 Corvette which was the next thing coming at that point. I recommend going to the link above to get those details because I will not have room here to cover them. The link above directs you to a PDF file of the magazine. Thankfully, the GM Heritage Center has also scanned a rich collection of their other historical documents. A good link to start with is below. But, fair warning, a GM fan can spend hours here: This is what the magazine cover looked like back in 1958 for the issue that I ll be covering here. The GM Heritage Center did an excellent job of scanning the originals and both medium, and high resolution PDF copies are available.

23 February 2018 Page 23 This was an interesting page in the magazine. Notice that the only club listed for Maryland, DC, and Virginia as of 1958 was the CCA.

24 February 2018 Page 24 This is the cover page for the article on the CCA. I will include the article itself on the following page.

25 February 2018 Page 25

26 February 2018 Page 26 Here is an enlarged view of the timing and scoring station in the photo collage on page 24. According to the club minutes the CCA provided timing and scoring support at Marlboro, Andrews AFB, and for the Greater Metropolitan Area Sports Car Council in addition to numerous autocross events. The timing equipment appears to have been powered off of 110V AC provided through extension cords.

27 February 2018 Page 27 At the right is another view of the timing equipment showing the display. The five vertical slots contained decade counters that provided the numerical readout. Below right is a typical decade counter display from a 1957 Hewlett Packard catalog. Depending on the pulse count, one of the ten numbers (0-9) would be illuminated in each of the five columns. The cabinet would have contained a stable oscillator that generated pulses. The start and finish line sensors were photo electric devices that could start and stop the oscillator pulses from going to the decade counter displays. Crossing the starting line would enable the pulses to be sent to the counters. The counters themselves were cascaded together allowing a full counter on the right containing a count of nine to pass a single pulse to the next counter on the left when it received the 10th pulse. It would also reset the full counter back to zero. With five decade counters they were able to count up to 99,999 pulses before it would roll over back to zero. There was probably a switch selectable divider on the output of the oscillator that would allow selecting the pulse rate going to the decade counters. By carefully setting the frequency of the oscillator and applying the selectable divider they would have been able to cover a wide range of time measurement with pretty good accuracy. The display would easily be able to show time in seconds from to by adjusting the divider. For a typical autocross course like we use today they could have set the divider to read up to seconds. In fact, if pulses were only sent to the counter array every second from the divider they could have measured more than 27 hours with 1 second accuracy so it would have even worked as a timer at the Rolex 24-Hours! The timing system still would have been very basic compared to what we are using today in the club. For example you could only time a single vehicle. There was no ability to do split timing. You could only measure the time for one car on a drag strip or road course and you could not have more than one car at a time running an autocross course. By the way, those are vacuum tubes on the back of

28 February 2018 Page 28 the decade counter. No transistors, integrated circuits, or anything solid state in those days. It was also interesting to see the photo detectors that were used to tell when a vehicle crossed the start and finish line. Here are a couple of enlargements of the pictures on page 24. The principle was very much the same as we use today, sixty years later. The car would break a light beam sending the signal that it had crossed the line. The system would use two boxes. One contained a light source and the other a photo sensitive detector. But the similarity ends there. The 1958 version would have been sensitive to light level changes. They could have potentially had problems with background light changes like the sun coming out from behind a cloud and they certainly would have had problems in the rain. Our current photo sensors take advantage of using very narrow spectrum light from an ultraviolet laser diode rather simply looking for a level change in white light. In addition the laser light is not a steady signal like turning on a regular light bulb. It is modulated with a particular pattern that the photo detector expects to see. This means that you could take another ultraviolet light source (like the sun) and it could not interfere with detecting that the light beam had been broken by a passing car. Technology certainly has advanced in the past sixty years. We now have the capability of not only displaying your autocross time on your cell phone but the times of all the competitors as well. Imagine what the CCA members above, sitting in their chairs around that big equipment cabinet, would have thought if they had seen what we can do today! Still, the CCA can be proud of the fact that the club was making major contributions to motorsports in the Nations Capital area in No other club or organization (including the SCCA) had the capability of providing their own electronic timing system in those days.

29 February 2018 Page 29 A CCA Awards Dinner Story "I never win." Can't say that any more! My 2004 Convertible still has the original Goodyear Eagle tires. The car is always garaged, and with only 5000 miles, the tires still look brand new, including the factory stamps. The problem is, as most of you know, rubber degrades and weakens over time. The elastomer components become less flexible and less durable. So even though tell-tale cracks may not be visible, older tires are simply less reliable and more failure prone. This, coupled with the likelihood of driving the car more this summer (including some trips in the boondocks), led to the decision to get new tires. The 'where to get' part was easy. Radial Tire in Silver Spring had recently installed tires on my wife's Miata and my SUV, and both experiences were pleasant and problem free. The 'clincher' of course was that Paul of Radial Tire has been a great friend of the CCA for years. Knowledgeable, helpful, very fair, and just a genuinely nice guy. So I called Radial Tire to check on availability and price. Eric handled those items because Paul was in Daytona for the Rolex 24. I was in no hurry anyway, so I figured I'd wait before signing up, and I wanted to confirm the correct tire pressure sensors as well. But then, a couple days later, it occurred to me that Radial Tire was putting up a $1000 gift certificate to raffle off at the club's upcoming Winter Awards Dinner, and, since there was no rush -- what the heck -- I'll give that a shot and see what happens! You guessed it. I bought some chances for the certificate, and after dinner, the drawing was held. Bingo! Its one of my numbers! Amazing. I think Joe was up there watching out for me. And now, thanks to the CCA and Radial Tire, I'll soon be riding on stronger, smoother, safer tires! Cal Milans

30 February 2018 Page 30 CCA Awards Dinner Photos February 3 rd, 2018 Pat Roney receiving the 2017 Dick Thompson Award

31 February 2018 Page 31 A terrific venue this year, excellent food, good friends, and lots of Corvette talk. Pat, our Dick Thompson Award winner flanked by Nita (Treasurer) and Kelly (President) who organized the event.

32 February 2018 Page 32 An excellent turnout from the membership! The room was full. The CCA Web Team, Paul and April, with Nita. Raffle sales benefitting charity going very well.

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34 February 2018 Page 34 Bob, President gets a well deserved award! Honored guest, Paul Moorcones of Radial Tire Lots of raffle items thanks to all of the work from Van. And then the winning ticket holders showed up!

35 February 2018 Page 35 The Corvette Courier The Corvette Club of America is proud to be exclusively associated with Sport Chevrolet. Be a Sport fan too!! 3101 Automobile Blvd Silver Spring, Md Contact Kyle Bacon, General Sales Manager for a new or used car - (240) The Corvette Club of America was founded by John Ralph and Charles Eyre who organized the first club meeting on July 17, 1956 at a Chevrolet dealership in Arlington, Virginia. By the end of 1957 the club changed its name from the Capital Corvette Club to the Corvette Club of America, since it was the intent of the members to make the club a national organization. Before the end of the following year the club had over one hundred members. In 1959, the Corvette Club of America held an organizational meeting of Corvette clubs at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. The result was the formation of the National Council of Corvette Clubs which today has about 19,000 members and is the largest non-profit association of Corvette Clubs in the United States. For a variety of reasons, the CCA did not join the NCCC until July of 1966 and was awarded club #1 for its efforts in establishing the organization. In July 2016, the CCA notified the NCCC that it would terminate its 50 year membership at the end of the year. There were a number of factors but the CCA felt that focusing our limited resources on the National Corvette Museum would provide more benefit for the Corvette Community as a whole. The Corvette Club of America is a very active club today with a strong mix of competitive, social, and charitable activities. Through the years the CCA has seen many fine members come and go; however, one thing remains unchanged. The membership is composed of individuals both male and female, young and old, that share a common interest, America s Sports Car - The Corvette! President Kelly Ryan (240) Vice President Art Bell (410) Secretary Paul Vale (301) Treasurer Nita Armstrong (443) Membership Director Jean-Marie Wade (301) NCM Ambassador Terry Popkin (301) Competition Director Bill Sandusky (301) Parliamentarian Jon Thorn (301) Vendor & Club Relations Van Vander Haar (410) Webmaster April Hussey Member-at-Large Bob Atwell (240) Non-Board Member Positions Courier Editor Jon Thorn (301) The Corvette Courier is published monthly by the Corvette Club of America, Inc. P.O. Box 3355, Gaithersburg, Maryland Copyright 2018, Corvette Club of America, Inc.

36 February 2018 Page 36 Business & Membership Meeting Location: The Greene Turtle Sports Bar & Grille Old Columbia Pike Burtonsville, MD (301) Second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 PM Next meeting: February 13 th CCA Monthly Meeting Locations Shop Night Location: Sport Chevrolet 3101 Automobile Blvd. Silver Spring, Maryland Fourth Tuesday of each month except December when it will be the THIRD Tuesday because of holidays. Shop Night begins at 6:00 PM. You must arrive no later than 7:30 PM or the shop may be closed. Next Shop Night: February 27 th

37 February 2018 Page Corvette Simply the Best Tony Avedisian, Owner 7500 Rickenbacker Drive Gaithersburg, MD Since 1976, Radial Tire Company has provided the Washington D.C. area with quality tires and the finest service. We have earned a reputation as the premier specialist in hard-to-find performance tire and wheel applications. We stock tires from all of the top manufacturers for whatever you drive, from small economy cars to SUVs and trucks. Our mission is to assist you in getting the most out of your tires and car Brookville Rd Silver Spring, MD Contact CCA Tag Leader Wayne Hatcher