Saleen Club of America2007 Midwest Regionals |
By Jason Smith, Central Region Director
With the SCOA Nationals only two weeks in the rear view mirror, it was
time for Central Region to do it all over again for the 2007 Midwest
Regionals. As we’ve come to expect, this 4th
annual show kicked off on Friday evening with a cookout at the scenic
overlook of the Falls Of Ohio. With thirteen Saleens parked at the
shelter, it was the largest gathering to date for the Welcome Party -
Following
the cookout it was off to downtown Louisville, KY and down to River Road
for a scenic cruise to the local Dairy Queen of Prospect. This is always
an enjoyable cruise along the Ohio River, which at one point even features
a one-lane bridge! Alas, turning north onto highway 42 allows the perfect
opportunity to mash the gas through second gear - nothing gets the locals
attention like the sight (and sound) of six Saleens roaring into the
parking lot! Our trip back to the host hotel this year was met with a little surprise – an awesome fireworks show over the river as part of the conclusion of the AAA Louisville Bat’s baseball game. While awesome to watch, what we experience next was a little frustrating – having to crawl through all the pedestrian traffic as we drove by the stadium. But none-the-less we made it back without incident and were able to pop open the chairs (and brews) and relax for the rest of the night with some typical trailer park chats! Now to clear any confusion, these evening festivities earned the name “trailer park” a few years ago since we always converge near all the support vehicles & haulers. The show
on Saturday featured a total of 22 cars, including two late model Mustangs
and one early model. For the first time at the Midwest Regionals we had
examples of non-mustang Saleens – two different S-331 SC Sport Trucks
showed up, as well as a Focus N2O! After awards it was back to the hotel to clean up (I guess I failed mention it WAS hot out!) and get ready for a nice dinner at Rocky’s Italian Grill. This is a fantastic restaurant with a great view as it sits along the river bank. With
everyone’s appetites satisfied, it was back to the hotel for another long
night of “trailer park” talk. This is always a great evening of
relaxation, hanging out with friends and sharing pictures, stories and
cold beverages as we wind down from a long day.
Sunday morning featured the Road Ralleye with Joel Lakstins & Patti Akers taking first place, while the team of Stu Akers, Marc Allen and Ken McDowell were all but disqualified for
finishing 22 minutes UNDER time….in a Ford F-250 Super Duty! With Stu at
the wheel, it was probably the worst MPG that truck has ever seen. The SCOA Midwest Regionals usually signal the end of the show season for most of us, so now its time to relive all the fun we had this summer and look forward to the Shelby Spring Fling in Nashville next May. Thanks to all that attended and made this year’s event another success. We hope you all are looking forward to the 2008 SCOA Nationals to be held in Indianapolis, IN. Until then, get out there and enjoy those Saleens and remember to talk up the Saleen Club of America! To see all of the pictures from this great event be sure to visit Central Region's Slide Show
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which
always proves to be a great time to catch up with old friends and get
acquainted with new ones! This year we were honored to have Jeff Clark of
Saleen, Inc. join us in his demo S-331 SC Sport Truck with his beautiful
kids, and former SCOA President (and honorable member for life) Mike
Chessnoe in his S-281 SC Speedster – who just so happened to drive 1200
miles overnight with the top DOWN to join in the fun (talk about a bumper
full of bugs)!.JPG)
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There was the usual array of Fox, SN-95 and S-197 vehicles but the
highlight was once again the display put on by the trio of Indy Fox
enthusiasts: Stu Akers, Marc Allen and Ken McDowell (see
“Spotlight”). This year’s feature was the ’85 cars, with three early “Big
Wing” cars and one late ’85. Two of these cars were ground up
restoration, concourse quality examples and one was a very rare T-top car
with leather SVO seats, and the first ever supercharger installed by
Saleen! Gary Alsobrooks (Tennessee State Rep) was set to add his ’85 Big
Wing car to the display but electrical concerns forced him to drive the
’87 Convertible to the show – nice to have options!.JPG)
These
sessions tend to get more interesting ever time we get together, and this
year was no different: we were introduced to parking lot drag racing
(sprint-offs), beer bottle trickery and more. Next year we’re going to
have to figure out how to do a live web-cam so you all can join in!.JPG)
