Run N Gun Important Announcement

[Clois Harlan]

After several years of leading Run N Gun, Dean Lampe, Mat Twiehaus, Jay Nordstrom, and I have decided to pass the torch to George Anderson and his staff. The bottom line is we are all tired! The planning and organizing an event like Run N Gun takes a tremendous amount of time and personal resources. We believe we have done the best job we could as stewards of this 24 year old event and the time has come for some new ideas and energy to take Run N Gun to the next level.

We hope the entire Kit Car Community will embrace and support the efforts of George Anderson and his team to put on the best Run N Gun event ever in 2011. The scheduled dates for the 2011 Run N Gun will be September 22-24, 2011.

The event transition should be seamless since George was part of an earlier team that was in charge of Run N Gun 1999-2004. We hope we have not dissappointed anyone over the past six years with our direction of the event. We honestly approached every aspect of this event with the majority of our participants interest in mind. From the beginning we wanted a fun and safe event and on our watch we think we accomplished just that.


Thank you all for your support and we trust you will continue to support Run N Gun through George Andersons leadership. As a closing note we want to thank the following people that have helped us over the years and Never expected any kind of recognition or consideration:

My Wife-Sharon Harlan-The MOST organized part of every event who would pick me up and help me make it year after year. Honesty, integrity, and very accurate with those all important driver TIMES.

Jay Nordstrom-The backbone of RNG over the years and also my sounding board

Rick Lake-One of the best friends an event could ever have and a good friend of mine

Hershel Byrd-Artist, designer, team player and a big part of Run N Gun for 20 of the last 24 years

Lisa Lampe, Kim Nemitz, Mary Hughes, and others have played a supporting role over the past six years.

Bill Frimpter-A real team person that is not only fair but a great guy

David Nemitz-Always willing to lend a hand wherever needed

Mark Earl-web designer and good friend

Lew Payne-He loves to make margarita's and the first friend I made at my first Run N Gun

Sincerely,

Run N Gun Directors 2005-2010
Clois Harlan
Dean Lampe
Jay Nordstrom
Mat Twiehaus

[Randall Thomas]

It's comforting to see the event carried on by George Anderson, because we know it's in great hands, safe and sound. All he talks about is how excited he was to get the Run and Gun to come to Middle America in the first place. Instead of making it just further for Easterners, it will be smack dab in the middle for West Coasters to get in on the fun as well as the Northern and Southern Border states too.

I'm glad to have made my First run and gun with the Clois/Dean/Mat crew as well as meeting the guys and for the friendship of the Hurricane owners and staff for letting me hang around their pit most of the day. Lots of fun by ALL brands, and who had what mattered little. It was really all about the guys and gals.

But, Clois... does this mean you won't let me drive your car next year now?

Good luck guys, and you deserve the rest. The Run and gun has been around forever, and now, it's a pretty good bet it will be around forever to come. Pretty cool legacy to all those that got it this far. Wow. Amazing, everyone.

We have next year's Run n Gun weekend already on our calendar. See you there!

Randall

[Clois Harlan]

Thanks for the compliments Randy and yes you can drive my car next year. I will be in a white one for sure. Probably a bit faster and more in tune with the track. I'm thinking I will be in the high 30's or low 40's. I'm excited to get to drive again and see how I stack up against the rest of the lot! John Meyers, Robi Fuller, Scott Holley and a few others have nothing to worry about.


Run N Gun could have gone on for a long time as it was, but this will allow some fresh ideas to surface and be tested. Run N Gun is in good hands and George has a track manager (Casey) that will a perfect fit.

If you have never been to a Run N Gun event you owe it to yourselves to experience this annual event. Believe me it will make you a much better driver, no matter what you drive. The track experience is so important to becoming a safe defensive driver plus you will learn a lot about yourself and more about your car. Plan on joining us next year and I can assure you that it won't be your last.


Clois Harlan
2011 Run N Gun Participant

[WildBill3]

Thanks Clois,Dean,Jay,Matt for all the sacrifises you have all made over the years We have never had so much fun and met such great people than at RNG, its truely a great event thanks again for your commitment to the (Event of the Year) for us!

[SSSammy]

Clois, Dean, Jay, and Mat ... ditto what Bill said. It seems a natural evolution to hand off to George. I hope George has many successful years as the RnG host!

Thanks again for all you have done, and I am looking forward to you guys getting all the track time you can stand .. now that you are not having to run the event!

See you there

Sam

[RICK LAKE]

I would like to Thank Sharon H. for the hours and hour of work needed to make this event run for 4 days. The lack of sleep, the grumps that have problems that have to be dealt with. All the paper work on each car needed just to start. Her list is endless at times. She is a trooper. Since they took over in 2005 The event has been rained on, 40 degree days, 30 mile an hour winds, 90+ degree days. Humitity in the 90%. She Always smiles and is trying to help everyone. THANK YOU SO MUCH. There are others with Deans Wife also helping, Mat and others.
I am sorry and happy for Clois to stop and pass on this event into great hands. This year he only took out his car for a couple of laps in 4 days. IMO this is not exceptable and told him before knowing he was passing the event over to George he was going to get alot more track time next year. I have told some people that this was to be my last year. With loss of my mother, Deb has all the animals to take care of by herself plus working all day. She is alone at home. This is not one of the easy thing for her to do. Cell phone has helped but the 1,448 mile trip one way still causes issues. Solo driver.
I have been called already and committed to returning another year to help out. Not sure if car will be coming at this time. Was asked to help with teching cars again. I am very happy to see that everyone is working on improvement and there are less and less issues with teching cars. This will give me more time to prevent MY car from future smoking issues.
George put on a super event. When it rained we had class trips into town. Taking a trip around the track in the school bus in the evening is a must thing to do. This event is only going to get better. The track is big and alot of safety thought went into the building of it. Autocross was super on the back side of the track. Got to drive around the track backward for cooling down the motor. Barrel racing is fun and there are a couple of other ideas for the event for next year. I would like to hope that more people make it next year. You have the new dates and a whole 48 weeks to get the car and tow rig ready. There may be a couple of class change rules for next year. We are looking into going back with a novice class again to bring new people to the event and not put pressure on them to over drive themselfs and cars. This is still a fun event. Safety and people having fun are the most important things about this event. Some of the people I have meet over the years also keep me coming back. Having CRAZY Jay N. come each year with something new to drive is worth the price of coming alone. A twin motorcycle motor Can-am car was cool. We had a Lister that was bullet fast but had drivetrain failure on the first day. Looking forward to see if the track record falls next year.
I think next year is the 25th anniversary of R&G, I would like to hope that some of the people who couldn't make this year, WILL return for the 25th event. You guys know who I am talking too BILL P. Lew P. Stacy P. Dave S. John C. You all have 48 weeks to prep for this. You guys are also a big reason for the return trip to R&G. I know that money is tight and times are hard, but this is a great vacation to have. Hasting is a great town also. People are great, food was SUPER, they are still working on the Italian thing with taste. Hotel was great and there are plenty of places to eat. The hotel is 100 yards from Walmart and ACE hardware store that has any nut,bolt, spring, hardware part you can think of. Time to track is 5 minutes, cross highway on side street and you come to the track entrance that quick. I liked Gateway very much except for a couple of riot acts we got from dumb driving on the track. MPH is no different except for the one on one time out. It is nice to say that nobody got a time out or talking too. This is a first. The track crew was excellent and able to handle this large track. The run off areas are huge. George will give you a small bill for running over his grass.
If anyone has any other ideas for the event, PLEASE drop George a line. I REALLY hope for next year to be bigger. We are hoping for a 50-70 car event next year. The dinner and lunch in town where super. I know 1/4 mile is something you guys where looking for. The main problem is safety with this part of the event. Most cars don't have full roll cages and cars are running in the 10's. The insurance companies would have a field day with this. I guess there is a different between roadracing and 1/4 mile drag racing in there eyes.This track got some rain and is well engineering for run off of the water. The whole track was dryed after a heavy rain in 20 minute with only a small puddle in one spot that was not any where near the race line. Looking and hoping some of you guys we have not seen in a couple of years return. Just in case you want to use the old age thing, Pete Tork came back and was running better than ever with a blown SB motor, that's right BLOWN. Rick L.

[BT SNAKE]

WoW!!
Great post Mr Lake! I couldn't have said it any better.
Sharon was absolutely the top player in those administrative details. She and Lisa were a good team.
I so much appreciate their efforts as well as Clois and all the others that chipped in to make things work.
I believe the Clois did the right thing by passing it over to George. He will do what ever it takes to keep R&G going. He is one of us and loves this hobby we share together. With George you never know what will be coming up but you can bet it will be entertaining and fun. I cannot think of a better place to have our National event. Georges facility has room for more than just track work. I'm sure he is already planning things that will suit others who may not want to track. Who knows maybe they will bring back the show and shine or the cruise. Whatever George does it will be with flare.

Hersh

[Clois Harlan]

I would like to thank all of you for your kind words; you humble me with your praise.

While Clois and Dean worked all year on the event my participation was usually just a week or so long. I remember the first year I was terrified, I was told I would be working with someone from the track, she didn’t show up so I was on my own. Thankfully the excitement of the event outweighed the frustration of my lack of experiences. After getting though the first year I looked forward to the event, making new friends while keeping the old.

Rick Lake, thank you for your hard work at each event, when you brought me a tech sheet it was always complete with class, car number and drivers name (sometimes the signatures are hard to read), but most of all thank you for your friendship.

Hershel we depended on you a great deal to design a new tee shirt each year, you never disappointed us, we received orders for shirts before people had even seen them and at each event drivers and spectator are wearing shirts from current and previous years. You always do a wonderful job with very little recognition. Thank you for everything.

Thank you Mark Earls and your wonderful cobra group you made such a difference with your willingness to help with what ever needed to be done.

Thank you to Lisa Lampe, Kim Nemitz, Mary Hughes and others over the years that helped with registration, posting times, tee shirts, and trophies. Mary even had to leave Bill under his car working one year to run me over to the drag strip when Clois forgot me at the registration office. (If I had walked over he would have probably made record time down that strip.)

I became a part of Run n Gun because of Clois and his good friends Dean, Jay and Mat, my doing the paperwork enable them to do what they loved most, race and visit with the other racers, but it became a part of my life also I looked forward to Run n Gun each year and will miss the event and most of all the people involved.

We could not have given Run n Gun up if we didn’t feel that it was in good hands. George is a good person and has a passion for the sport; I know he will do everything he can to ensure Run n Gun lives on.

Thank you for the wonderful memories.

Sharon Harlan

[john chesnut]

I want to add my thanks and appreciation to all that have made Run n Gun possible. I know that it must require an extreme amount of work to put it on. I can't always make the event because of a conflict with my business schedule. But I am always there in spirit and have a great time when I can make it. Every body is friendly and helpful. Rick has pulled engines with me and worked with me until the early morning hours trying to help me get my car on the track.
The gentleman with the Lister, Robie, called me about my lower, wider Lister inspired car. He felt he had maxed out the potential of the Beck Lister and was hoping to build one of mine. I met with him in California last week and it looks like he is going to take over my car and start producing it. I am putting a lower Lister bulge back into my hood. If so it may be at Run n Gun in 2011! 800hp with full aero package! Too much for me to drive but I'ld like to see it go.
I agree that the event is in great hands with George. I hope to make it next year. Best to all, John. Rick I've lost your number. Call me at 603-504-4106. Maybe we can hook up and you can ride out and back with me.