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NASSAM 2020 Rapid City

22K views 133 replies 29 participants last post by  mysolst 
#1 ·
Hello, welcome to the NASSAM 2020 thread.

As was announced at the 2018 NASSAM banquet, those who brought you NASSAM 2015 (Pacific Northwest Roadsters - PNWR) with some help from Ohio, Arkansas, Minnesota and the wonderful province of British Columbia are happy to bring you the 2020 version of NASSAM, this time hosted in Rapid City, South Dakota.

This thread in no way is an intent to take focus and planning effort from the 2019 event (some of us are working on that one too), but rather to simply let the community know that there is a 2020 event planned for June 21-26, 2020. As this constitutes a long drive for just about everyone, so we thought we'd get the word out and perhaps folks could plan a once in a lifetime trip to see Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer National Park, Devils Tower and my personal favorite, the Badlands of South Dakota.

Best regards from PNWR and our cast of thousands.

Hope to see you in 2020.
 
#38 ·
I like the updates

For Blackhawk we paid per person registration. Cars were tracked separately so we could plan parking assignments and make sure people could park together if they wanted. We also auctioned ten spots closest to the elevator and helped out our charity

Events were open to all registered attendees but limited to the number of cars per cruise. For safety and to reduce catch up syndrome

To enter the car show, there was no signup or fee. You picked up a voting bucket, wrote the number of your car on the bucket and put it in front of your car. All registered attendees got to vote for the car of their choice by dropping an event poker chip in the bucket. One class per night kept it simple and no issues with the judging as there were no judges or rather everyone was a judge. Worked well for us. Spread the car show over several nights by class. And allowed everyone to participate

It also reduced our work load as we only had to issue car numbers once and after that, the events and shows were self regulating
 
#41 ·
As was stated on the Sky forum, my only "issue" was the wording of the posts, and is the reason you were getting questions about the non-functioning website.
Updates are always good, and you only have 50 more weeks to keep people interested.
 
#42 ·
Hello Everyone. As promised it is July 15th and our 2020 website is up and running - https://www.nassam2020.com/. Please feel free to read through the "Basics" page for the who, what, when, where and how much ($$). The registration page works just like any other online store. Click on the link to that page, and then by clicking the "Registration" button you can walk through the process of signing up, choosing whether to buy t-shirts, posters, coins and patches. The hotel reservations page has a link to the hotel website, just choose your dates and you should be on your way. You may also call the hotel directly with the information provided on that page. And don't forget to check in once in a while to see if there is anything new by clicking on our "What's New" page. We'll update that as any plans change or any updates are made. And, of course, if you need any help or would like to comment just contact us at nassam2020@outlook.com. Hope to see you in Rapid City in 2020.
 
#43 · (Edited)
I found the site easy to use and helpful. I signed up for two rides on Monday and Tuesday. Monday is the badlands and Tuesday is Needles highway. I have never done the badlands run but I KNOW the Needleshighway is a world class run.

We are arriving on Saturday to have plenty of time to unload, get into our room and explore the local area. Sunday will be setting up the cars, unloading and getting the maintenance class area ready to go.

The room reservation link worked well. It shows ONLY a 2 queen room, but they have lots of different configurations. You can call and ask for the room you want or put it into the notes on the registration page.

Looks like a fun time. Hope we can take a lot of club members as its very close geographically and a great area for site seeing and gambling!


We are taking the truck and hauling the cars and gear.

We have 9 cars committed on day two.

I am hoping we get 12 RMSSC cars to show up. Eventually will need to coordinate on group parking. Plenty of time for that
 
#44 ·
So a bit of a side note. I did the Mt. Rushmore trip last year...it was fabulous. Go at night to see it!! I also just got back yesterday from a week long trip to Yellowstone. INCREDIBLE! Those of you that have the time/money and haven't seen Yellowstone....if you're going to the SD meet, take an extra 4-7 days and go to Yellowstone. It's only about 450 miles away. Maybe even get a group to go together! There's a lot of twisties in the park too! ;) We spent 7 days there. 3 days at the Old Faithful Inn (very rustic and, eh um...kind of run down) and 4 days at the Canyon Lodge (brand new this year!!). The issues with lodging at Yellowstone is this: No internet and very little cell service. No A/C. No TVs. But it gets down into the 40s and 50s at night...usually. It's not cheap (about $375/nt inside the park for lodging), and you have to book almost a year in advance to get rooms in the park at almost any of the Lodges. There was also one other one called the Lake Yellowstone Hotel and Cabins that we visited and it fit somewhere in between as far as star ratings. There are several others to stay at... But it would be fun if you are "mobile" and can do some walking. I will warn anyone that's thinking about this, the park is at an elevation of about 6000 feet and goes as high as almost 10,000 feet, so it does get cooler and does take the wind out of the sails when you do something strenuous. But, there is a cool wagon train dinner out in the middle of nowhere that we took that included an incredible steak dinner (all you can eat by the way!!). We saw countless buffalo, bears, coyotes, eagles, a Wolverine (the only people in several years to see one!!) Elk and lots of other animals. If you'd like to know more or one of the organizers of the SD trip wants more info, PM me and I'd be glad to share all of my experiences, information and of course my opinions! (I'll add some pics in a seperate thread labeled Yellowstone pics)
 
#45 ·
Night drives

One word of caution. Night drives in South Dakota are beautiful and magic. BUT there is a LOT of wildlife out at night....antelope, deer, etc, and they cross roads at high speed. At night you have almost no warning. Hitting a deer or antelope can total a Solstice or Sky, and injure the occupants. My point is everyone should enjoy their night drives, but be vigalent. And have fun...
 
#46 ·
Here is your fun fact for the week. We have 37 registrations all paid in full. If the 6 folks who made hotel reservations all get registered (please do as soon as you can firm up plans)...that will give us six more. And add to that 2 folks who have requested runs (again, please register when you have a chance)...we have a total of 45 cars showing up. That's the news until next Monday. :)
 
#47 ·
Here is your fun fact for the week. We have 37 registrations all paid in full. There are 6 folks who made hotel reservations all get registered (please do as soon as you can firm up plans). And add to that 2 folks who have requested runs (again, please register when you have a chance)...we have a total of 45 cars showing up. That's the news until next Monday. :)
 
#48 ·
I just made a hotel reservation. I will not be registering until Jan 2020 at the earliest as I need to work on
getting plans for this trip into reality. :)
 
#50 ·
Hello Everyone: Hey, someone submitted a question pertaining to our items for sale. We have offered the event poster, t-shirts, a coin and a patch...so the question was raised about whether we considered offering hats as well. That has been done in the past and has represented a lot of work. That said we did think about offering hats and decided against it for this year. But thanks to the individual who asked. We appreciate the interest.
 
#51 ·
BUMP...Hey, just a friendly reminder. Please take a few minutes to book a room. It would be helpful if you register, but at least grab yourself a room.
 
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#52 ·
has anyone had problem getting on the Nassam2020 web site? Can not get it open so I can register
 
#53 ·
it is working now guess just my computer thanks
 
#55 ·
From the folks planning NASSAM 2020 we'd like to wish everyone a happy holiday season, and remind you that everything you ever wanted to know about our event next June is out there at http://www.nassam2020.com. You can also email us at nassam2020@outlook.com. And please note that you can find NASSAM 2020 along with over 400 followers over at Facebook, the link is https://www.facebook.com/groups/1102256869915619/. Come join us there for a little chit-chat with some messages from our vendors.

Again, happy holidays and we hope to see you in Rapid City in June.
 
#61 ·
I think you should consider doing NASSAM instead of the car show this year.
 
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#63 ·
I’m a new Solstice GXP owner and am glad to see the posts on this page regarding NASSAM. As some have already acknowledged, it will always be a long Drive for some people. I was wondering if there are Regional events around the country in addition to the National event?

I just sold my BMW Z4 and have been a member of the BMWCCA (BMW Car Club of America) and ZSCCA (Z Series Car Club Of America) since 2015. If there is any interest around the country/world, I would be willing to work with others to build an organization to support Kappa Owners in North America and Worldwide. As a retired 30 year GM Engineering Manager, I have always had empathy for the Kappa owners and feel they deserve more. I live in the Nashville, TN area. I recently inquired about the GM Roadster Club and found out it is defunct. So sad.

I look forward to hearing if anyone else has an interest in building a Kappa Club Organization.
106557
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Sports car Pontiac solstice
 
#64 ·
I’m a new Solstice GXP owner and am glad to see the posts on this page regarding NASSAM. As some have already acknowledged, it will always be a long Drive for some people. I was wondering if there are Regional events around the country in addition to the National event?

I just sold my BMW Z4 and have been a member of the BMWCCA (BMW Car Club of America) and ZSCCA (Z Series Car Club Of America) since 2015. If there is any interest around the country/world, I would be willing to work with others to build an organization to support Kappa Owners in North America and Worldwide. As a retired 30 year GM Engineering Manager, I have always loved the Solstice & Sky and have empathy for the Kappa owners. I feel they deserve more. I live in the Nashville, TN area. I recently inquired about the GM Roadster Club and found out it is defunct. So sad.

I look forward to hearing if anyone else has an interest in building a Kappa Club Organization. View attachment 106557 View attachment 106557
 
#68 · (Edited)
Posted on Facebook March 11:
Hello Friends: Sooner or later someone was going to ask, and it happened today. A query came up pertaining to the potential impact of the coronavirus on our NASSAM 2020. For those who may not know, my wife Karen and I live just south of the county in Washington State hardest hit, and I work in that county. The situation is a very real concern to folks in Western Washington, but despite what you may have heard Washingtonians are really quite calm about the situation. Sure, it is a little hard to find some items at the supermarket like disinfectant, but there was some left at the store last night when we went shopping. In the three counties here, that have been most affected, government officials including the governor and county councils have cancelled or postponed events of over 250 people. You may also know that the NCAA has made the decision that only immediate family and a few others will be in attendance for men's and women's basketball tournaments. This will affect the men's tournament in Spokane about 300 miles from our home. Many schools, colleges and universities are now holding classes online, that is generally true here in Washington State as well. Karen and I are currently in a dialog with the hotel in Rapid City to determine what this can potentially mean 90 days from now primarily with regard to our contractual obligation to the hotel. The contract does include a clause pertaining to cancellation due to "acts of God and nature". We'll try to keep you posted. For now, we continue to plan forward hoping that things will settle down and we'll get to see you all in June. Lastly, I'm going to moderate comments to this post to try to keep things on point, so please don't be upset if you see some edits. Best regards, Rick and Karen.
 
#69 · (Edited)
Posted on Facebook March 12:
Hello again folks: Just a little update, we received a couple of additional registrations so we're approaching 120 cars. Let's hope we get to spend some time together in June, the potential spread of the Coronavirus notwithstanding.

On that subject, here in Washington State where Karen and I live, schools have been closed completely through of April 24 (as a teacher my sister gets a month of vacation she hadn't planned for). Many folks are telecommuting, oddly enough toilet paper still seems to be a big purchase item (this isn't dysentery after all). But for most of us we head to work each day, and go about our daily business.

A few folks (you'll see the thread below) have said somewhat adamantly they plan to go to Rapid City in June. Fair enough, but since I don't have an ability to predict the future I choose to wait and see. Remember, Karen and I are right in the middle of it all, so we do our best to figure out what is prudent based upon direction of our state health department and government officials. For those out there who are adamant about going to Rapid City...perhaps you'd reconsider if you were in our shoes. We've already lost one friend to this, and another is on shaky ground. We live in a state where travel restrictions have been proposed, so we'll see what comes of that. At least one university in the mid-west has told students that if they return home to the Seattle area for spring break they may not return to campus. I'd like to think that I'm not over reacting. As an engineer I pride myself on balanced judgement...I'm hoping that is still working.
:)
We'll continue to work out the details with the hotel and keep you posted. For the moment we do hope to see you in June. More later. Best to everyone.
 
#70 · (Edited)
From Facebook March 13:
Things move fast around here, I hope this latest update doesn’t make anyone’s head spin.

Karen had an excellent call with our contact at the hotel this morning. The Best Western (really the owners of this particular Best Western) have made the decision to waive all cancellation fees, including room percentage usage and food primarily. The outbreak falls under the contractual category as an "Act of God". This hotel has had all events through the end of March cancelled. Currently they are not under a 250 person group rule for gatherings as we are here at home in the Puget Sound region.

As for South Dakota, illnesses thus far are on the east side of the state, in particular in the Sioux Falls area with none in Rapid City. In fact, Rapid City is hosting the State A basketball tournament, but only players are attending; no fans.
Karen and I plan to be in communication with the hotel as we go through this week to week. As the hotel has any changes in Rapid City they will let us know; if we have changes here in Washington State we will let them know (and all of you as well).
As for a timeline for a decision of when to cancel; we will take that one step at a time, but it is currently our decision to make. Were the gathering here and now in our area, the event would have been cancelled by direction from authorities. We must consider this to be a potential possibility in Rapid City in June.
The hotel owners and staff could not be more understanding and helpful, and we have been and continue to be very thankful for their assistance. We have some details to work out in case of cancellation and room reservations. Once we have that we'll let you know.
 
#71 · (Edited)
From Facebook March 13:
To add a bit...from an email query. I was asked "If you cancel the event will we need to make new reservations for that week?" The direct answer is "yes".

That said, it is unlikely that we will cancel the event. South Dakota authorities may cancel such events as they have here in the Puget Sound area. Were that to come to pass the entire block of rooms will be cancelled. Given whatever your travel restrictions that may be enacted and your choices for vacation you would need to make a new reservation in that circumstance as well.

Lastly, if you do not wish to come to the event for whatever reason, you will need to cancel your hotel reservations.
 
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