new 7/30/01
Well, Jan and I made it back from SHOklahoma on Sunday afternoon, after taking Friday to enjoy some of the sights we didn't have time for the rest of the week. We took 2 days to get home so we could do some of the wonderful route that Paul Thomas put together around the lakes in NE OK. Then we stopped by Jan's mothers for some family time before coming home Sunday to Pizza and a visit by Ken and Jodie and new grandson Ethan! (WOW, babies can sure change in a week!).
First, thanks to each and every one of you that made SHOklahoma one of the best conventions ever! What a great group. I said it at the banquet, and I meant it. You are my extended family and you make these events what they are.
Sure the SHO Taurus is what brought us together, but it is the people that keep us together!
Hallet was probably one of the best track events we have had. It compares to Mid-Ohio in fun factor if not outright speed. And what about that heat. Really, except for a few fall events, I can't remember but one or two race events I have ever been to where it wasn't hot! And now that I am back in Illinois (102 heat index, and 100%! $%^*%^ humidity) I realize that we had it GOOD in Oklahoma.
There were a few cars that had minor damage (at least that we heard about), a couple were disabled, one due to suspension damage on public roads, no major damage at Hallett. Several cars had A/C failures, but if you have to have A/C trouble, Tulsa in the summer during the week is one of the places where you can find help easily, and with all the good gearheads we had in the group, most people were back in the cool by events end.
To read a very brief story and see some initial pics of the convention, visit SHOclub.com and click on the link on the main page near the top to read more.
The Summer issue of S.H.O. Club magazine will be out in a few weeks with some luck, look for it mid/late august with a full convention story and pictures, to be followed by even more on the web site.
A huge THANK YOU to Jason Brown, Paul Thomas, Sarah Locker and the entire SHOklahoma group and all our volunteers for helping make this one of the best conventions in history.
Thanks to all our SHO business friends for contributing to the Red Cross event. We raised a very nice total of $3120.00 for the Red Cross National Disaster Relief Fund. That will be turned over to them soon.
We had lots of nice door prizes and I think most people got at least one item.
Thanks to everyone for making this a great convention and a real vacation for Jan and I. We enjoy doing this, and every year that we get our act together, we work to make it less "Work" for both the volunteers and ourselves. THe point is for eveyone to have fun. and I hope everyone did. We got good reports from virtually everyone. The couple of complaints we got were noted and will be discussed, but it is impossible to put on an event of this size without making at least one person a little upset, and the complaints we got were really very minor in the grand scheme of things.
As Paul Thomas said: "Think of the thing you enjoyed the most at SHOklahoma, and when people ask, tell them that, instead of "it was HOT!" :)
For those that missed it because of things beyond your control: We missed you and hope you make next year.
For those that missed it because they just didn't think it would be fun: Boy did you mess up! ;)
NEXT YEAR is already well planned:
SHO's East (working title) July 22-25 (firm dates) Frederick, Maryland
Annual Car SHOw (firm) Summit Point race track (firm) Mason-Dixon Dragway (firm) Host hotel (to be announced in the next week or so as we get their reservation system updated with our group) and more to be announced.
A Prairie-Sage Enterprises production with SHO Club. LSHOC and MASHOC as local Co-host clubs.
I think I speak for not only everyone who made SHOklahoma but also for the many who wanted to go but could not. Thank you and congratulations for a job very well done too who made SHOklahoma a great sucess.
Buford