TOUCH OF GLASS CORVETTE CLUB NEWSLETTER Volume 11 - Issue 1 - January 2012 TOGCC 2011 Christmas Party VETTE CHATTER This year, once again, we held our Christmas party at Napolis Restaurant in Kilgore, TX. As expected the food was very good. From this reporters perspective, where we meet and what we eat is not as important as getting together with friends. I have a couple of observations I d like to share here. At this time of the year there is a lot going on. Company parties, school activities, family get to gathers and who knows what else. In the club we have more than a hundred members and spouses that I refer to as friends. Yet I wonder how many think that these are acquaintances I don t really know these people, all we have in common is our love for the Corvettes. I have even heard some think that we are some sort of click, that we don t really fit in with the others in the Club. With my wife and me this was the case. We even thought we re not like those people. We decided to go to a few club events, why we could always drop out if it was really something that we did not enjoy. Most often after whatever event that we participated. Linda will comment how much she enjoyed the people and what we did. This year after dinner, at Napolis, we played this gift exchange game, where everyone drew a number and when called selected an un opened gift. Then when each new number was called you could select an unopened gift or take what someone else had gotten. (rules apply) This was a Touch Of Glass Club Event (Annual Christmas Party) that had nothing to do with cars, just the opportunity for friends and acquaintances to get together for and enjoyable evening. Look at the smiles on the faces of these members in the following pictures. If you were unable to make this event, we will be looking for you through out this coming year. TOGCC SPONSORED by Gladewater, TX Visit Us On The Web www.mckaig.net
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Vette Chatter page 4 There are no clicks here, just a group of people drawn together by their love of Corvettes. The friendships grow by the activities in which we participate. In addition to the Christmas party we have our monthly club meetings, dinner cruises, car shows, day long cruises, overnight cruises and maybe a summer vacation cruise. We have our new officers in place for this coming year with many chances to grow our friendships while enjoying the Corvette lifestyle. Dennis It is time for a new year with TOGCC membership renewals are due in January. Come join us for another EXCITING year. Membership dues will be $25 for all members renewable each year January 1st. Any member joining after November 1, 2011 will be exempt from paying dues the following January. Any member not renewing by March 1, 2012 will be dropped from the club roster, Monthly Newsletter, and weekly e-mail. Why not bring your check to the January Club meeting January 3rd to Jalapeno Tree. Or drop it in the Mail to Touch of Glass Corvette Club, P.O. Box 4581, Longview 75606
Vette Chatter page 5 John Pauls Man Cave In these pages of the TOGCC newsletter we have recognized some of the great shops built by Club members. First, many members have been to and had much work done by or with the guidance and help of very talented Russ Shepard in his beautiful Busted Knuckle shop. Second, new president Jim Spearman built his very own shop. Now John Paul has taken a wasted piece of real estate and put up his one of a kind Man Cave. From here forward I ll let the pictures do the talking. For those of you reading this article as an e-mail, you may want to blow this up to see the amazing detail
Happy New Year! As your new President of TOGCC I am looking forward to serving the club during the next year. I know that many of you have a lot of exciting ideas for the club in 2012. Since this is our club, member input is important to make the club stronger. As a charter member, who has served in a variety of roles, I have seen the club move through many stages of growth. It takes all of us working together to build a strong foundation and a better and more dynamic base for TOGCC. I would like to invite anyone who has a suggestion for making our club stronger to contact any of the club officers. Your input will help us work with you to increase our active membership and to provide club activities that draw involvement from more of the members. Any other ideas you may have to strengthen our club will be welcomed. I know there are lots of new things to do and places to go to show off our beautiful cars! The love of Corvettes brought us together so let s stick together, support each other and build our club into the best in the area! I want to thank our outgoing officers for their time, commitment, and dedication to TOGCC and to Dennis Dick, Linda Spicer in their continuing role for continued success of the club. Let s all work together to strengthen our membership and encourage others to take future leadership roles. By working together we will continue to enjoy our friendships, and most of all share our common interest CORVETTES! Thanks again, I m looking forward to 2012! Jim Spearman Big Daddy Z06 Vette Chatter Page 6
Vette Chatter Page 7 Corvette Museum News Build Your Own GS or ZO6 Ticket 601 of 849 sold of 1500, Won By Steve Parrish, of Jeffersonton, KY Build Your Own GS Ticket # 112 of 1165 of 1994 Sold, Won By Dale Traylor of Starke. FL Build Your Own GS or ZO6 Ticket #725 of 893 of 1500, Won by Robert Carter of Wayzata, MN Build Your Own GS Ticket #191 of 1329 out of 1994, Won by Chad Igo of Cordell, OK Upcoming Raffles 1. Build Your Own ZR1,2nd $1,000, 3rd $500 Thursday January 5 at 2pm. Select ZR1 or take $80,000 cash Limited to 500 tickets $500 2. Build Your Own Grand Sport or $50,000 Cash Option. Thursday January 12 at 2 pm. Limited to 1994 Tickets $100.00 3. Build Your Own Grand sport or ZO6 or $60,000 Cash Thursday January 26 at 2 PM. Limited to 1500 tickets $150.00 4. 2012 Torch Red Coupe Raffle, 2nd prize Corvette Quilt. Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 2p.m. Torch Red Exterior, Transparent Removable Roof Panel, Cashmere Interior with crossed flag embroidery on headrests, 3LT Package with Navigation, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, Bose premium 9-speaker system, Dual Mode Performance Exhaust, 6-speed Automatic Transmission with Paddle Shift, 5-Spoke Chrome Aluminum Wheels, Memory package, recalls 2 driver presets for 6-way power seat, outside mirrors, Battery Protection Package, Museum R9C Delivery Program, Unlimited Tickets $10 5. To see full details on these raffle Corvettes please check with the National Corvette Museum web site at: http://www.corvettemuseum.com/raffle/ index.shtml
My Story Vette Chatter Page 8 Like Dennis stated in a previous newsletter everyone has a story and I offered mine up for this month. I started my wild childhood in Michigan. Like most guys from the motor city (Detroit) my dad was a huge car and motorcycle guy and gave me history lessons all the time on car makes and models. There was always a test on the way to grandma s house during the one hour ride. I knew more about car models at six then most people at twenty or thirty. I could pick out a 37 Ford, 35 Chevy, or 59 Pontiac you get the picture. By the time I was about eight my dad bought me a mini bike with a four horse power Tecumseh motor on it but he had to have one with a five horse Briggs and Stratton. We would go out all the time, after he came home from work and on weekends. I don t know how he found all those great trails right by the house but he always did. Well that s where it all gets started about going fast needing more horse power and inspiring a competitive drive. We went form mini bikes to dirt bikes, go carts, snowmobiles on to road bikes and cars. We raced go carts in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. My dad was very competitive and trained me how to be competitive and win. I will never forget the first go cart race, I got to into the lead and was driving hard. I had a huge lead over second place but didn t know it because my dad was on the side of the track waving his arms every lap like I should be going faster. On the last lap I clipped a tire they laid in the corner to keep you from cutting the corner and flipped upside down. Obviously I did not win and my dad ran over asked if I was all right, when I said yeah he said good cause now we have to fix the cart before the next race. I would not trade the experience for anything as he taught me what my limits were (the hard way), started me on the mechanical side of things and how pay attention to detail. We shared my triumphs throughout the years and I am proud to have had a dad that had such an influence. Later there were so many kids living in our area the schools were over crowded and there was no room for us in the middle schools so they shipped us all over the high school in the eighth grade. It was tough in the beginning with all the older kids but it also made you grow up a little faster. The great thing about it for me was they had a great vocational program and I got all the shop courses starting in the eight grade that you wouldn t normally get until two years later. I was like a sponge, metal shop, auto shop, drafting. I was in heaven! Yeah I had to take all the junk like English, Science, History and Math but I liked them all. This means that I had vocational training for five years. Here is about the time I bought my first car, I was fifteen and found it while delivering papers on my paper route. A 1964 Chevy Impala two door. By my senior year I only had to go to school for half days to make the required credits to graduate so I participated in co-op and worked in the afternoons. I sold the Impala and got a 1969 RS Camaro to have during my senior year and to drive to work. I worked at a small manufacturing facility making go carts and mini bikes. It doesn t sound like much but the owners also had motorcycle dealerships so we got to test ride the latest releases in dirt and road bikes and race snowmobiles in the winter because that s what they sold during the off season. That is where I met Joe Ruttman, he was racing ARCA short track cars in the north east and was building them in the back of his brothers manufacturing shop. He asked me if I would be interested in working with his crew on the race cars at night and on weekends. Are you kidding me work on a race team. It doesn t get any better than this. For all you history buffs Joe s brother Troy Ruttman won the Indy 500 in 1953. That is how I started down a career path of working on race cars. As years progressed I worked for several professional engineering companies dedicated to racing and some of the best people in the industry. Again I was like a sponge taking in everything I could learn, only now the expectations were extremely high. The quality of the work you were capable of was how you progressed to higher level projects. I was definitely up to the challenge and had a great time doing it.
Vette Chatter page 9 I started with Joe Ruttman and in ARCA moving on to NASCAR Modified and then USAC stock cars. Then I was picked up by design engineer Bob Riley to work on the AJ Foyt Coyote Indy car project, after completing four cars for AJ we moved on the John Greenwood Corvette. During this project I met Zora Duntov during test sessions at TRC just prior to going to Daytona Speedway where this Corvette set a closed circuit land speed record. This sixteen year span was an exciting time for me, you just don t get jobs like these everyday, I felt very fortunate. Here are a few of the race cars I was involved with. Oh yeah during that time I met Herman (Dianna).. Ya ll know Herman. We met in high school and I could not have ended up with a better lady. We got married two years out of high school and have been together thirty-eight years now. I always had a goal of owning my own business by the time I was thirty. Well just before turning thirty I had an opportunity to move to Texas and start up a machine shop as a partner in the venture. Yep Herman and I packed up and came to Texas. The partnership didn t work out well and eventually ended up with the job I currently have. After sixteen years in Houston including a two year project in Africa I transferred to Longview. I bought my first Corvette in August of 1998 so I had it when Herman and I moved to Longview. Then one afternoon Wayne White spotted me and asked me if I was interested in joining a Corvette club. I went to a few of the Saturday morning breakfasts and met some of the members to see what it was all about. Herman and I decided to join and it has been great. We have established friendships with all of TOGCC s members and it has been wonderful sharing in the camaraderie and enthusiasm. We now have three Corvettes and hope to add one more if I have my way! Russ Shepard From the Outgoing President I would like to thank all of the TOGCC officers and members for their support this year. I am sorry that I missed a big part of the year but it was pretty much out of my control! We were able to finish out the year with a bang with the Busted Knuckle Shrimp Boil thanks to Russ Shepard, the elections of new officers, and the Christmas Party. Deb and I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year, I also want the new officers to know that Deb and I will continue to work with you and help out any way we can. Let s make 2012 a great year for the TOGCC Corvette Club. Let s roll. The Big Dog
Vette Chatter Page 10 Is this the C 7? This is the 2012 Corvette Daytona Prototype: Chevy s new Grand Am racer. This car will be racing in the Grand-Am Road Racing Series in this 2012 racing season.
CLUB ACTIVITIES Jan. 3rd Jan 7th Jan 14th Jan 21st TOGCC Monthly Meeting @ Jalapeno Tree To Be Announced To Be Announced To Be Announced Upcoming Events Vette Chatter Page 11 For those who can make it, We Get Together every Saturday Morning for Breakfast at The Butcher Shop @ 7:00 AM First Tuesday of each month join us at the Jalapeno Tree Restaurant in Longview, Texas for the Monthly TOGCC Club Meeting. Restaurant is at the intersection of highway 259 and highway 80. Come early and join us for dinner and great company. Restaurant starts seating at 5:45 pm and the Club Meeting starts at 6:30. See you there!!!!! Interested in advertising your business Please Contact Linda Spicer TOGCC Advertising WEEKLY E-MAIL NOTICE: If you are not receiving your weekly Club Activities e- mail, please send an e-mail to larryrada@sbcglobal.net and we can update our address.
VETTE CHATTER The Monthly Newsletter of the Touch Of Glass Corvette 2010 TOGCC Officers / Other Positions Jim Spearman President cell 903-918-2515 Evan Spicer Vice President cell 903-238-6521 Russ Shepard Website Administrator cell 903-237-8274 Sheryl Caraway Secretary cell 903-522-1260 Linda Spicer Treasurer cell 903-235-2019 Website: TOGCC.org The deadline for all newsletter articles will be the 20th. of each month. E-Mail to dennis.dick@sbcglobal.net All Contributions Welcome Russ Shepard NCM Ambassador cell 903-237-8274 Dennis Dick Newsletter Editor cell 903-736-4537 John Paul Activities Director cell 903-985-3131 Larry Horn Club Shirts cell 903-738-2869 Deb Rada Court. Card Coordinator cell 903-360-2589 Touch Of Glass Corvette Club P.O. Box 4581 Longview, Texas 75606-4581 Why not take this opportunity to check our web site? www.mckaig.net SPONSORED by