Reptile Roundup update

[Engineer Ed]

Reptile Roundup update. October 31, 2004

OK folks, less than two weeks remaining before the largest Cobra gathering in the SE.
The turnout for this years event will easily surpass last year. I am looking forward to an awesome event, great friends, perfect weather and lots and lots of Cobras.

Hotel update: If you have not already made your reservations you may have a hard time finding a room in the area. The Microtel only had two rooms remaining on Friday.
I called around the Ocala area to a number of hotels and rooms are scarce.
I highly encourage you to secure a room now if you have not already done so.

Many thanks to Ruble Moore and Terry Lee who have been a tremendous help in making this event happen.
Another huge thanks goes to Reg Dodd of Backdraft Racing.
You guys have been a great help in organizing this event.

Before I forget, we need nominations for next years officers.
If you or someone want to run for office, please throw your hat into the ring.
Remember, we are having the DSCC annual meeting at this years event and the 2005 officers will be named.

Thursday’s drivers school is full. There are 4 drivers already on the waiting list. Looks like I will need to schedule another future drivers school.

Fridays open track event has 40 drivers signed up. I will allow for 4 additional drivers for a total of 44. If you are still on the fence, send in your check now! This track event is setup for the novice driver. Use this opportunity to check out the notorious Gainesville Raceway… I promise, you will get hooked!
If you want to join us for a later date, our club rents this track at least once a month from October thru May each year.

Here is the list of drivers for Friday:
Ed Kamptner, Steve Barkoviak, Paul Liparoto, Frank Herman Jr., Terry Lee, Bob Gassie, David Hintenlang, Kathleen Hintenlang, Ruble Moore, David Niblett, Terry Brannan, Reg Dodd, Chris Allen, Tom Wells, Robert Covell, Mike Ritter, Dave Wiedman, Robert Donehoo, Jerry Witt, Tom & Daisy Jones, Larry & Margot Hess, Jerry & Pam Miller, Randy & Peggy Dender, Chester Littlefield, Debbie Littlefield, Steve Bush, David Evans, John (Jay) Baranzano, Jim & Chass McGovern, Mike & Vickie Denton, Richard Meister, James Crandall, Ben Ramsey, Ken Collett, Steve Lee, Baron Lee, Richard Pike, Jerry Cowing, Jim & Lorrie Pomroy, Mike Dunkel

Friday night is the huge “Meet and Greet” party. We have ordered a keg of beer, food and a kick @$$ slideshow. The M&G will be held in the hotel parking lot after the track event. I expect the convoy from Gainesville to arrive sometime around 6:00.
I will arrive just before then to fire up the grill and get the beer on tap.
Join me and the crew as we welcome everyone to the show.

As of today, I have heard from roughly 100+ Cobra owners who plan on attending the car show on Saturday.
That is causing a huge grin to become plastered on my face. Man, I can’t wait.
A number of Cobra vendors are expected to also be in attendance.
Everett Morrison is also working diligently to get a car ready to debut at the Roundup.
I am looking forward to seeing their new Gen III Cobra.
Gemini Motorcars (hailing from Orlando) will also be a new manufacturer displaying their product at the show.
I have been receiving some nice items that will be added to the raffle, Mike Ritter is doing a great job with the T-shirts, Daisy is working out the dinner plans and David Hintenlang is almost finished with the poker run.
I am touching base with Boggy Creek next week to finalize lunch plans and camp tour.

All that remains is convincing mother nature to give me plenty of sunshine and temps is the lower 70’s.

If you have ordered your raffle tickets and have not received your stubs, rest assured, I am mailing them out this week. I apologize for the delay in getting them to you.
I have been busy trying to make final RR arrangements and trying to make a new lap timer for Fridays event.

See you all in a few days!

Ed

[aumoore]

Guys we are still selling tickets. I will be able to check for tickets sold on paypal up to the night before the event (Friday November 12, 2004).

Right now it looks like a 50/50 raffel unless we can get backdraft to donate the car. (Right now they are selling it way below cost to help out.)

Think of it this way for $25 you get a 1 in less than 4000 chance of winning a Cobra if we sell enough tickets. As it stands right now someone has a 1 in 250 chance of winning about $2500. Either way Boggy Creek will benefit.

[TampaFla]

Or, 1 in 50 chance if you buy 5 tickets (hope I counted right) and yes, I know its a "moving" stat, e.g. to be correct it'd be 5/255, etc.

Not bad odds, beats the lottery here by a long ways.

[aumoore]

I expect that we will sell a lot of tickets at the roundup. Ed has said that next year we may try to give away a smaller prize like a Engine or maybe a basic Kit and charge less for the tickets. I Guess everybody in the Cobra Community has a Cobra so they are not buying but they should as you can always sell the Cobra.

[TampaFla]

That's my philosophy too, sell if you win, buy more parts; besides its for charity too.

Hope to have pictures of ERA 2095 to go with the engine on display. ERA says its finished (build started in July-basic kit) but I don't expect it to be shipped (boxed up) before the Roundup. Still, the raffle would pay to upgrade the interior to leather before it gets on the delivery van.

[Engineer Ed]

Renee and I just got home from the Roundup.
Wow, what an awesome weekend. I am exhausted!
I know a lot of you are wanting to hear how things went, how many cars, how the events played out, etc….
Please give me one evening to rest my head I will post an “official” report tomorrow.
Last night put a hurtin on me as we sat with some good friends until almost 2:00am.
I’m too tired to even watch Football…..

Ed

[Engineer Ed]

Roundup Recap:

Before I get started I think it is best to thank all those people who helped me with this event.
First and foremost, Reg Dodd of Backdraft Racing. We need more manufacturers like Backdraft Racing. Reg goes above and beyond what is expected of a manufacturer and the DSCC is truly grateful. I only wish we could have raised enough money to award one of his cars.
Second on my list is my wife Renee and son Cameron. All the hours I spent on organizing the Roundup could have been is go used to spend time with my family.
I foresee an expensive Christmas as repayment…
Ruble Moore – I cannot afford to lose you as our treasurer. Your management of our finances is flawless. I know pre-registration created a bunch of work, but overall, allowed us to make this event better. An early headcount makes our jobs so much easier.
Thankfully his wife works at a bank!
Terry Lee – his ideas really made this years event awesome. Terry, I need you as an officer. North Carolina is about to get a super Cobra guy moving into that area.
Southern Automotive Engines: Not only did you send a raffle prize, you also helped us with expenses… I’m sorry you couldn’t join us. Bill will more than likely be providing next years raffle grand prize.
Cobra Accessories… Every year you always seem to amaze me. What wonderful raffle prizes you sent us, this year and every year. Folks, these are truly wonderful people who are first on my list when it comes to Cobra parts and accessories. They should be yours too.
Big Daddy Don Garlits. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I hope you welcome us back every year. What a great place to have our event.
There are so many other people and vendors that deserve recognition, but I know you are tired of me rambling on… let’s get to the recap….

Cobras began descending on Gainesville on Wednesday afternoon. A group of 15 of us had dinner at a local restaurant and talked about the activities that were approaching.
Of course, beer drinking went on until late and we welcomed in some old and new friends.

Thursday’s driver’s school was all it was hoped to be. Great instruction from Don Robertson and his crew of talented instructors that led us on a day full of valuable driver education. “You ran out of talent before you ran out of pavement”. Well said!
15 students are needed if we are to schedule a school for next year. Believe me when I say, “It is well worth it”. Don is also offering an “Advanced” school for those interested.

Thursday night was a pizza party in the parking lot. Again, the beer was flowing as we welcomed in the next batch of drivers for Fridays open track event.

Friday started off early as we headed to the track at 6:30am. 41 Cobra’s converged on Gainesville Raceway and enjoyed a day full of racing fuel, squealing tires, smoking brakes and delighted drivers. Mother nature decided to end our day early so we packed it in around 2:30. Lots of track time was still had and everyone is looking forward to next year to do it all again.

Following the track event, the Cobra convoy headed south to Don Garlits museum in Ocala. More Cobra owners joined the party as our Meet and Greet party kicked off. A keg of beer was killed as we enjoyed an evening of new friends, great food, and cool slide show as we watched the number of Cobras increase.

Saturday’s events started at 9:00am as we got ready for the largest Cobra show in the South East. A total of 89 Cobras outshined the overcast weather and DSCC members, old and new spent the day remembering why we own these cars…. GREAT TIMES!
The only sad part of the day was knowing that we fell short of our needed goal to award the Backdraft Cobra. At 2:30pm, we awarded a $5,000.00 check to Rob Sapsford of Acworth, GA. Congratulations to Rob for winning the grand Prize of the 50/50 raffle.
Boggy Creek also wanted to say thank you to the Cobra community for their generous donations. Many wonderful children will certainly benefit from you generosity.

48 Cobra’s embarked on a 3-hour poker run following the car show.
If you have never been a part of a huge Cobra convoy, you have not lived.
Ocala’s collective heart stopped as 48 venom filled snakes slithered around the numerous horse farms and twisty country roads. I cant think of a better way to spend three hours…. Can you?
Daisy Jones deserves more credit that I gave her for arranging a truly delicious banquet dinner. What a great way to end a spectacular day for the remaining 83 guests.
Following dinner the DSCC conducted it’s annual meeting. Old and new business was discussed, as were new ideas to make next year’s event even better.
2005 officers were elected as we welcomed in a new Vice President, Paul Liparoto.
Ruble and I was entrusted to again lead the DSCC in 2005. With the assistance of Paul and Ruble, I know we can make this an exciting and eventful year for the DSCC.

Saturday night was a final night of power beer drinking as a few hard-core members gathered in the parking lot until almost 2am. Friends smiled and said goodbye as we concluded a whirlwind weekend of snakes and good times. We are already looking towards next year, as it’s hard to believe it all ended so quickly.

Thank you to all who helped make this event happen. I am truly blesses to have so many good friends with a passion to enjoy our cars and who are willing to travel numerous miles to visit with us. Wow, you guys are awesome!
My fingers are tired of typing so I’ll conclude this thread for now.

OK, looking forward to next year….
November 10th-13th… mark your calendars.

Ed