by Lynn McKinlay
It is nice to belong to an organization that has so many great members. You put up with the email address and me thing in which some of you got multiple email address sheets!
We are now in the process of updating the mailing list and birth dates. This is going much smoother. The email has helped greatly.
Through this process of upgrading I am seeing a need for making the machine run smoother. We have gone from a club of 12 to 20. In the last four years we have gone from 20 to the present of 51. I can see in the future where we will be nearing the century mark. My Masters Degree is in Administration. From that I can see some areas that may need delineation. All of you have ideas of how to make a club run smooth through GROWTH. I need your ideas so we can grease the skids for a smooth ride through the century mark and beyond.
I was talking with a Street Rods member this morning. When I told him of our mission at Christmas he was touched with our loving and caring attitude.
I see many Corvettes around. I cannot get all of them pulled over to invite them to join us. With all of us doing the same we will meet the century mark and beyond.
Greatness comes though service.
That is all from the Bald Eagle this month
June Meeting Minutes
By Betty McKinlay
The club met at Big Jud's in Archer on June 14. There were 38 in attendance.
Club President, Lynn McKinlay, called the meeting to order. The first item of business was whether the club should pay half of the Internet services for the web site. Bev and Brian Novak keep the web site updated. Great job! We appreciate what you do, Bev and Brian. The club has paid half the cost in the past. The club wondered why we only paid half when it is our web site. If it's our site we should pay the whole fee of $119. Rick Stiles motioned to pay the whole fee and Wanda Hughes seconded. All were in favor.
Guests were introduced (Steve and Becky Hadlock's son and daughter-in-law) and new member Tommy Taylor was introduced.. Wayne Valentine discussed the next matter of business. He mentioned the 4th of July Parade in Rexburg. Those who want to participate are to meet at the Viking Stadium at 8:30 a.m. We will be right after the horses. (Just kidding! There will be no horses.) Wayne needs a count of who will be in the parade. We will eat at Taco Time afterward.
Randy Wagner discussed the Parade and Rodeo on June 16th at Rigby. Judging the cars starts at 8:30.
Richard Morris brought everyone up to date on the Vette Fest activities. Things are coming along fine. The poker run for the sponsors will be June 30th. It will start at Kicks 66 at 10 a.m. and will end at the City Park in Rexburg for barbeques, etc.
We have a new sponsor ... .Press Box. We will go to dinner there in September.
Farrell Davidson reminded us of to road trips that are coming up. On June 22, we will leave Taylor Chevrolet at 4:00 to go to Helena, Montana. July 13 will be the trip to Beartooth. We will leave at 6:00 a.m. Call Farrell for more information on these trips.
For your information, Bill Waters accepted to do the short runs.
Debbie Morris said that at the last Vette Fest meeting, the question was asked if people who have businesses in our club could advertise in our newsletter? Why not? Go for it! We should support our own. Send your advertisement to Jim.
Birthday's for June were named. Happy birthdays to you all in June.
Steve Hadlock thanked the club members who helped with driving the kids to school. A contest was held in reading If each student did so much reading then he or she got to ride in a Corvette to school.
Meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Next business meeting will be July 12 at Taco Time in Rexburg.
Check the calendar in this newsletter for more meeting dates with our club. This is a great club to belong to. We have 54 members. Can you believe what a sight that would be if all 54 members to met at Scotty's on July 5th and all 54 Corvettes cruised around town? Come on out and have fun with us. See you all at Scotty's at 6:30 p.m.
| Bonnie Fikstad | 22 |
| Rick Stiles | 29 |
There are a few people in this world that I do not trust. One such person is a kindergarten dropout running an air gun at the local tire shop. Now why would I not trust this nice fellow in neat coveralls? Read on my friends.
He was not much of a problem back when we had drum type brakes. Then along came the disc brake system and WAM problems appeared. Disc rotor sales went through the roof. Most of the problems are traced to over-tightening wheel lug nuts, by the kindergarten drop out. In his hand he holds a nice air- operated air gun that is capable of tightening the poor lug nut so tight that you can bend a standard lug wrench trying to get the nut loose. Try that on some cold winter night and you will have the urge to kill, our air wrencher.
Besides not being able to remove the wheel, over-tightening (torqueing) a lug nut is sure to warp the brake rotor, and then you get to buy a new one.
How to avoid this? Well in the past 10 years, I bring the car home, and re-check the wheel nuts using a hand torque wrench. I can say at least three fourths of the time they were over tightened. Since doing this I have never had a warped rotor. Paid for the wrench long ago.
For example, let's say the spec for your Vette is 100 ft lbs. When our "drop out" uses just an air gun, and not a hand torque wrench, he can with ease tighten the nut to 175 lbs. It's very easy if he is checking out the cute lady Vette owner while running the air gun.
So my advice to all of you (if you don't own a torque wrench) is to insist that the "drop out" use a hand torque wrench as the final check for lug nut tightness.
Happy summer driving with smooth brakes.
It's hard to imagine the feelings the late Zora Arkus Duntov would have at this moment. His dream of entering a Corvette and winning the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race began the day he went to work for General Motors. Today, somewhere, Zora has to be smiling, laughing, and having the biggest celebration ever... Corvette finished fist and second in the GTS class of the 2001 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans! Corvette Number 63 driven by Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell, and Scott Pruett finished first in Class and 8th overall, followed by Corvette Number 64 driven by Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins and Franck Freon.
Located 150 miles west of Paris in Le Mans, France, this legendary racing event is an absolute endurance test of both man and machine. By becoming part of the rich history and tradition of Le Mans, automakers take the challenge to prove their "global" expertise in automotive engineering and design. This year's race was a very unique race in the history of Le Mans with intense and steady rain from the beginning to the very end. Of the 48 original starters, less than half were still running at the very end, and the bulk of those that fell out did so over direct or indirect damage from the massive water on the course and in the car's electronics.
The rain was one of the race's big stories, but so was the problem-free performance of the Corvette team. The No.63 lead the race virtually from the beginning while the No.64 steadily overcame its small problems to maintain the 2nd place position.
2001 has indeed been an exciting year for CORVETTE! At the Rolex 24 hour race in Daytona, the #2 Corvette ran a near flawless race, taking the lead of the 79-car field at the end of the 22nd hour and held on with relative ease to the end of the race -- not only winning the race in GTS class but beating out the LMP and GT class as well. This victory was followed by another in Texas.
"The Team Corvette win comes on the heels of last month's first overall victory in the fabled Rolex 24 at Daytona and continues the winning tradition that has made Corvette "America's Performance Icon."
In the third race at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the #4 Corvette, driven by Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, and Franck Freon, finished second behind a Saleen S7R, a new entry in the series. "It was a very long race," said Pilgrim, "and a very hot race. Losing is no fun after working as hard as we did. I like to win and finishing second is, well you know…"
"For the Corvette Racing team, Sebring has been our Bermuda Triangle", said team manager Doug Fehan as the faulty starter, two penalties, and other minor problems hampered the two-car effort for most of the race." (It should be noted that due to rule changes after the Corvette C5- R was designed and built, the Saleen S7R, really a car closer to the LMP class, was allowed to race in GTS Class.) Going into Sebring with two wins, including a first overall in the Rolex 24 Hour of Daytona, the #3 Corvette had run trouble-free for over 3,000 miles of competition. In fact, the hood of #3 had been opened just once, to add two quarts to the transmission during actual racing. How's that for dependability!
Corvette Racing should be very proud. It would be hard to imagine a more professional performance than what they put on at this Le Mans 24 Hour race.
Knowing the CORVETTE drivers, and members of Team CORVETTE, I can imagine the party going on in France this evening! Congratulations Guys, well done!
Side note: The best the once-dominant GTS Vipers could do was 20th overall and 4th in GTS, with the No. 58 GTS Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper GTS-R driven by Christophe Bouchut, Jean-Philippe Belloc, and Tiago Monteiro. When the race began there were four Vipers, three Saleens, and two Corvettes. At the finish there was one Viper (25%), one Saleen (33%) and two Corvettes (100%).
When you support our sponsors or see them, please tell them THANK YOU for their support of our club and the car show:
1987 Corvette Coupe, red, grey interior, 56,000 miles, excellent condition, 406- 282-7608.
Don't Forget
Sponsor Poker Run on Saturday, June 30. Starting point is Kicks 66 on Broadway in Idaho Falls at 10 a.m.
Everything is coming along great! We still need door prizes. Please help. Richard will be contacting committee chairpersons individually this month to go over details and items in the trailer.
The next show meeting will be July 24 with a trip to West Yellowstone. We will leave from the Fred Meyer parking lot at 8 a.m. All committee persons please try to attend. The following meetings will be August 8 and August 15 at Freeman Park at 7 p.m.