President s Corner. What s Happening. Trivia Question

Transcription

1 VETTE NEWS Volume 27, Issue 03 March 2008 President s Corner What s Happening Hello Members, First, I want to congratulate Sam Iraci as our newest member of the Corvettes of Buffalo. Sam was voted in at the February meeting! Welcome Sam! We also welcomed three perspective members Pam O Brien, Rick Gorczyca and Dan Krakowski. It is always great to have corvette enthusiasts attend our meetings and learn about our club. I would like to report that we had 57 Members attend the Pizza Party after the February meeting. And it looked like all enjoyed the pizza, wings and social atmosphere. Thanks for joining us! March is usually a long cold month around the Buffalo Corvette area. But the good news is that we are getting closer to warm springtime weather! Soon our Corvettes can get uncovered, cleaned up and be ready to travel the motorways during another fun filled season of activities and events. While it s still cold and snowy, there is much work to do in preparing for the 2008 club activities. I just received the Clutch Artist s 2008 calendar, and the Activities Committee will be meeting to develop our COB calendar within the month. I had hoped to have this started before our March meeting but we didn t have enough time. The COB calendar will be posted on the web page as soon as the committee can finalize it. You will be able to print a copy from the web page but we also will have some copies available at future club meetings. Continued on pg 2 Monthly Meeting March 8th Installation Dinner Don t forget Saturday March 15 th is the Officer s Installation Dinner & Dance Installation Dinner & Dance- If you are planning on going to the dinner/dance, the menu & reservation form is on the last page of February s newsletter. Please fill it out and send it to Carol along with your payment. Please complete the reservation form and mail it with your check By Friday, March 7 th. Trivia Question Where was this photo taken? OFFICAL PUBLICATION OF CORVETTES of BUFFALO pg 1

2 Officers President Skip Polowy Vice President Frank Pastore Secretary Linda Bonus Treasurer Mel Skeide Board of Directors Pete Ricigliano Jim Bonus Jim Lawson Jim Brett Reas Graber Committees Membership Marianne Pastore Newsletter Jim & Linda Bonus Phone Comm. Nancy Graber Sunshine Comm. Ruth Mussehl Webmaster Jim Bonus Meeting every second Saturday of the month at First Presbyterian Church 9875 Main St. Clarence, NY Meeting starts 7:00 p.m. Corvettes of Buffalo is open to all Corvette owners and enthusiasts over the age of 21 Participation in Corvette club events should be one of the major reasons why you joined the COB. The club has had many members step up, get involved, and to have fun organizing or co-chairing an event. I would like to thank Carol Kinney, Lynn Ienco and Pamm Seifert for chairing the 2008 Annual Installation of Officers Banquet. I would like to thank Lee and Mike Buccelli that will be chairing the annual Christmas Brunch on December 7 th. Last year Reas and Nancy Graber did a great job chairing the club picnic, at the Clarence Town Park. Reas volunteered to get the same shelter for this year, while Karen & Lowell Rothenberger, Jim Lawson and Roberta Strychalski and Donna and Jim Gangloff all volunteered to co-chair the picnic. Thanks to all for your club participation and I know these events will be fun & well attended. For those that missed our February meeting, Bruce Mussehl presented that we will have a special guest attending and making a presentation at our April meeting. More details to follow, and thank you Bruce for setting this up! We still need help with activities for this year! We need help on the Super Cruise committee and the Caravan Committee. Please let any Board Member know if you are ready to get involved. Save the Wave! Skip Polowy Visit us at Send Articles To: Jim Bonus, 1012 Castlebar Drive North Tonawanda, NY mailto:jwbonus@roadrunner.com Submissions must be in by 26 th CORVETTES of BUFFALO pg 2

3 Flash Back Mike Yager and the Boys 2005 Mid America Trip Effingham Ill Special Guest Scheduled To Attend April s Meeting On our return from the NAIAS (auto show- Cobo Hall, Detroit Mich.) a former coworker/friend of mine, who is also a Corvette owner took me on a side trip to Flint Michigan and the home of Kenneth W. Kayser. Ken is a Buffalo born and educated engineer currently employed by GM in Michigan and the owner of numerous Corvettes which are both fascinating and rare, and also a member of several auto clubs. Ken is also the author of a book entitled "The History of GM's Ramjet Fuel Injection On The Chevrolet V-8 and it's Corvette Racing Pedigree" published in 2007 by the Tachometer Press.During our visit to Ken's garage and subsequent conversations, we mentioned our club (COB) and Ken offered to come to Buffalo and conduct a slide presentation on the history of the injection system and even display a genuine "air box". Mr. Kayser is a recognized expert on this subject and I am delighted to confirm that Ken will be at our April meeting. Ken's book will also be available and I'm sure he will be glad to answer any of your questions. Bruce Mussehl A Warm Sunny Day!! 2005 at Sylvan Beach CORVETTES of BUFFALO pg 3

4 MARCH COB BIRTHDAYS 1 ST Bob Kaczmarek 19 TH Jim Gangloff 26 TH Lynn Ienco COB ANNIVERSARIES 1 ST Sharon & Charlie Eckert 9 th Lynn & Pat Artieri Attention Members There is a petition being sent to Washington to request that June 30 th be designated, National Day of Recognition for the Corvette. All Corvette owners should Drive your Corvette to Work, on June 30 th. If you re retired, then plan a day of cruising around town to show off your ride! June 30 th should be a day to recognize & celebrate America s Sportscar the Corvette! If you would like to support this petition, send a letter to your local Congressional Representative! Save the Wave! Frankenmuth, Michigan For anyone who is interested, l am planning a trip to Frankenmuth for the weekend of July 11, 12, & 13 th. There is so much to do in the area that l picked a weekend free of festivals. Some of the activities include A visit to the world s largest Christmas store A paddlewheel river boat ride Tours of a brewery and a winery and A woolen mill and a sausage factory. You can also see a kite making operation or roll your own hot pretzel. A Military & Space Museum and a 1/4 scale train ride Friday night racing at Dixie Motor Speedway. A factory tour at the Lionel train factory near Detroit. In case you can t get enough shopping in all the little shops in Frankenmuth, there is a huge factory outlet mall in Birch Run which is right at the exit for the city of Frankenmuth. There is something for everyone - including lots of great restaurants for every meal. Ed and l hope that you will want to go with us, it should be quite a fun weekend. Pamm Seifert CORVETTES of BUFFALO pg 4

5 Corvette History March 2, 1990: At the Firestone Test Center near Fort Stockton, Texas, a team of drivers set a dozen land speed records with a Corvette ZR-1 and a Corvette L-98. Cars were in near stock condition, minus mufflers and catalytic converters. Records include 5000 miles in a time of 28:46:12.462, 5000 km in a time of 17:40:53.748, and miles in 24 hours. Average speed for all record runs were MPH. One driver is Corvette Development and Validation Manager John Heinricy. March 6, 1996: Corvette's Chief Engineer, Dave Hill makes the final decision to stop C4 model Corvette production and put all emphasis on C5. June 16 is set as the last day of building C4 Corvettes. March 7, 1997: Chevrolet begins selling the 1997 model Corvette. March 14, 1977: The 500,000th Corvette drives off the assembly line. March 23, 1957: Chevrolet enters four Corvettes in the 12 Hours of Sebring race in Florida. The Corvette SS (Super Sport), driven by John Fitch and Juan Fangio, runs only 120 miles before being retired on lap 23 due to erratic brakes and faulty rear suspension. Richard Thompson and Gaston Andrey in No. 4 finish first in GT Production class, 12th overall. A third Corvette wins Modified Production class, 15th overall. The fourth Corvette takes 16th overall. 12th place is the best showing for a car in GT class at Sebring. March 23, 1992: General Motors applies for a registered trademark of "STINGRAY". March 27, 1978: The Wall Street Journal runs a front-page article about the 1978 Corvette Indianapolis 500 Pace Cars, indicating they would be excellent investments March, 1960: A Corvette finishes first in class at the 12 Hours of Sebring race. Two Corvettes of the Camoradi racing team, driven by Jim Jeffords and Fred Gamble, finish second and third in GT class. March, 1964: A Corvette finishes first in GT category at the 12 Hours of Sebring race March, 1983: The 1984 Corvette goes on sale in the US, except for California. March, 1989: Chevrolet introduces the Corvette ZR-1 at the Geneva Auto Show in Switzerland. March, 1990: Dennis Amodeo, winner of 36 Corvettes through a 1989 VH-1 contest, sells the collection to artist Peter Max for approximately US$1.5 million. March, 1992: Ground-breaking ceremony is held next to the Corvette plant for a permanent home for the National Corvette Museum. CORVETTES of BUFFALO pg 5

6 P. O. Box 161 West Seneca, NY ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED CORVETTES of BUFFALO pg 6