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National Meet Discussions:

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#1 ·
National Meet Discussions:
@rob the elder @JohnWR

Broken record on:

I'll said it before and I'll say it again. I've never seen the sense in driving several hundred miles to a destination, and then having to go on driving events. Plus having to drive several hundred miles back home. But then I'm old. Of course now that I think about it, there's nothing saying you can't just hang around the host hotel parking lot watching Kappa's come and go all week.

Regardless, distance is the main reason I've never attended any events, now if I owned a truck and trailer maybe I'd consider it, but I don't. Since we live in Michigan, Canton was the only one I had planned on attending, but then family health issues put a stop to that. Which I can't help but notice was the largest attended event, but that was back in 07.

Point being, I think a central USA location would bring more participants to a NASSAM event; like Indy. I know they don't have mountains and scenic roads of the east and west coast. But what it lacks in scenery is made up by it's central location. I mean if the point is to try and get as many participants as possible to attend a nationals then I think a more central USA location would seem to be a logical choice.

Now back to it: :lurk::lurk::lurk:
I have only been to one National, Nashville, in 2007. I did not have a particularly good time. However, I would attend another if it was relatively close, say 500 miles or so. Corning, NY is about an 900 mile drive, which is a bit more than I want to drive.

That said, let's continue the Nationals discussion here, rather than in the statistics thread.

Thank you all for your consideration.

DaveOC

:thumbs:

.
 
#2 ·
I have been to several. They do involve travel and expense and are not for all. But I have enjoyed attending and hosting on two occasions. It's fun for us to visit with friends and enjoy the company. And to share time with a gaggle of new people many of whom will become new friends.
 
#3 ·
Yeah other than the runs it's really a case of getting out of it what you put in it. Looking forward to Corning and both I and my copilot are planning on having a blast!
 
#4 ·
I have removed my posts from the statistics thread, and suggest others do the same. Dave has a good point about de-cluttering that thread. In retrospect I wish I had cut and pasted my post here, but ...

I agree with Rob that it is good for people to be interested in hosting the meets, but also that there should be a general east-west swing to the location and that some discussion really should precede the announcement of where it will be.

By convention, 2022 should be somewhere west. Is anyone out there interested? Now is the time to start talking about it.

Regarding broken records, why would one inject a "why I don't go" post into a discussion about the meets? It seems rather pointless.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I'm not sure what convention is being used because most of the events so far have been mid to east...well, geographically speaking anyway. I believe there have only been three that I (from Seattle) would have considered "west"...those being Las Vegas, Flagstaff and Portland. So, from 2013 to 2015 it went west-east-west. Everything else is at least 1300 miles from "west" as far as I can tell. That said, I consider 2020 being put on by us (Seattle Roadsters and Pacific Northwest Roadsters) to have been claimed by the westerners. I thought that with 2019 being Michigan (Middle) that 2022 would be east (say WV), or at least east of the Mississippi River. But it is up for grabs! :)
 
#6 ·
I've never been to one yet - either too far or didn't have the time free - but I intend to go to this years at Corning.

I won't be going because of the runs or other 'events', but simply to meet people I've only ever interacted with on the fora, and meets some again (here's looking at you Sly Bob!) that I haven't seen in a while.
 
#8 ·
I have been to nine nationals. I agree it requires some driving in order to attend but I've totally enjoyed going to places I probably never would have seen. I go to the national events to do the cruises. I've had forty years of car show and don't intend to enter ever again. I've done road race tracks and drag in the past and not interested in them. I think the Nationals issue is who will put in the time and energy to create an event. A couple years ago it looked like no one would step up. If flip flopping east and west doesn't work out, then maybe there should be regional yearly meets. We get very few vendors attending and our cars are getting older, for the long mileage travel. I'm looking forward to Corning to see the country and great cruising roads. I'm planning to attend S. Dakota in 2020 since I've never been there. It appears Michigan is planning 2021. Let's just hope this great group continues to survive.
 
#12 ·
Using the geographic center of the US is less useful that the population center, since you want to be the most equitable to the most people, not to the most dirt.

The median center of the US population is Pike County, Indiana.

I couldn't find a population median for North America, but to include our Canadian brethren we can probably just move that point north a bit, although that is more likely to land it in the middle of a corn or bean field.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I would have gone next year to Rapid City, but was there last summer, just before the announcement was made of where 2020 will be.... It is a bit far to drive (about a 22 hour drive from Detroit), let alone in a 2 seater. For all the peeps coming from the east, the highway has an 80mph speed limit in SD! ;) So make sure you've had the coolant flushed and got good tires!! I do agree with maybe more "regional" meets, if we can get people to step up and do some planning. Then people could actually choose. Maybe one year someone from the east would travel west. Or maybe, just maybe, have a national meet once every 2 years instead of every year and regional in between to keep the club going. Not sure how the Corvette club does it, but last year in Rapid City, the Corvette club had their national meet there and every hotel lot was filled with Corvettes. Now I know Corvettes out-number Solstice/Sky but still....never seen so many Corvettes. The cars are getting older and that's my biggest concern of traveling anywhere more then about 400 miles from my house with it.

Let me suggest something. I know we have moderators on the forum.... I think our community is big enough and old enough now to maybe have volunteers and a board (if we don't already have a board). I know RTE is a lead member on the forum. Have the board members "geographically" located. Say 1 from each state and then of those, have 5 or so that are "regional" and that discuss what the state leaders bring to them. And this "board" would make decisions together. There are computer programs like "gotomeeting" where the 10 members can discuss plans and items. Maybe even get the vendors involved in this that are still around...like DDM and PAW and Windrestrictor. Maybe this all goes on already. I know that my manager at the body shop was the Porsche club President for MI, and he had monthly meetings with MI, IL, IN, OH, and WI. And bi-yearly meetings with all of the states to discuss meets and activities.
 
#14 ·
Let me suggest something. I know we have moderators on the forum.... I think our community is big enough and old enough now to maybe have volunteers and a board (if we don't already have a board). I know RTE is a lead member on the forum. Have the board members "geographically" located. Say 1 from each state and then of those, have 5 or so that are "regional" and that discuss what the state leaders bring to them. And this "board" would make decisions together. There are computer programs like "gotomeeting" where the 10 members can discuss plans and items. Maybe even get the vendors involved in this that are still around...like DDM and PAW and Windrestrictor. Maybe this all goes on already. I know that my manager at the body shop was the Porsche club President for MI, and he had monthly meetings with MI, IL, IN, OH, and WI. And bi-yearly meetings with all of the states to discuss meets and activities.
Let me try to put this into some form of perspective. In 2018, Porsche sold approximately 55,000 automobiles in the US. The total, world-wide production of Solstices and Skys was just a tad over 100,000.

Hmm . . . there's a LOT more Porsches around than Solstices and Skys. We couldn't support a structure such as the Porsche Club maintains.

Just some food for thought.

:thumbs:

.
 
#15 ·
You can have all the board members , you can get, but usually the persons making suggestions want someone else to organized and do the work. With our small group , 100+ kappas at a national meet, it has been difficult to get volunteers. Organization of a national meet is a tremendous amount of work. Just putting together a good cruise route is work. Many want to participate but few want to do the work involved. Unfortunately it ends of falling on those that continue to contribute. This falls all the way back to the local clubs. Many of the kappa state clubs have folded or do very little. Maybe before we get into east west discussions there should be some groups that show they are willing to sponsor the event. It appears to me we are doing regional meets already. Very feweast coast Kappas attend the west events and vice versa. just my thoughts!!
 
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#18 ·
So, why waste time responding to something by saying that you aren't going to waste time responding to it?
Seems to me it's all about the numbers, like DaveOC stated, 100,000 produced.
So.......google Fiero events. Fiero total production was a little over 136,000.
The search finds "NO" events billed as National.
Even their 35th Anniversary event in Illinois does not include a "National" badge.
There are active clubs scattered across the country, but the bulk seems to be midwest.
It appears that they still have enough events to have many decent gatherings to keep the loyalists happy.
Let nature take it's course, If there is an event within your comfortable range, support it!

Field of Dreams..........Build it and they will come!!!
Actually, if you google Kappa events you will also find "NO" events with a "National" badge.

North
American
Solstice
Sky
Annual
Meet

Nothing national about it.

Kappa density follows population density to a large degree, so with the population center in Indiana it should be pretty obvious where the meets are going to get the largest attendance.
 
#17 ·
Seems to me it's all about the numbers, like DaveOC stated, 100,000 produced.
So.......google Fiero events. Fiero total production was a little over 136,000.
The search finds "NO" events billed as National.
Even their 35th Anniversary event in Illinois does not include a "National" badge.
There are active clubs scattered across the country, but the bulk seems to be midwest.
It appears that they still have enough events to have many decent gatherings to keep the loyalists happy.
Let nature take it's course, If there is an event within your comfortable range, support it!

Field of Dreams..........Build it and they will come!!!
 
#20 · (Edited)
If we assume for a moment that 2019, 2020 and 2021 are spoken for and accepted...2022 is open. I've seen or heard two serious proposals, those being West Virginia and Northern California (I'm not sure Lebanon, KS and Indianapolis, IN were serious...just proposed geographic and population centers).

Having said that, there are those who have been anywhere from uncomfortable to critical of the way recent years were announced, for 2022 what comes next given the two...four suggestions?
 
#21 · (Edited)
This is a good spot for discussions.

So far:
2020 has been announced for Rapid City, South Dakota.
2021 has been announced for Bellaire, Michigan.
2022 - I have seen something about Beckley, West Virginia.

The current state of affairs: If you or a group has a spot to have a big get together (more than 100 cars or so) and you can finance the up front costs, you can host the national. After all, who is going to tell you you cannot. We have no national governing body, just a bunch of rag tag enthusiasts.

Let her rip.

Discussions are open.

:dthumbs:

.
 
#22 ·
Looks like it's time for a West Coast location... maybe for 2022 or 2023 what about Reno? Centered north/south, I80 access east/west, plenty of hotel rooms and great drive opportunities (Lake Tahoe). Does one club have to run it or could it be a group effort between West Coast, Pacific Northwest, Seattle, So. Cal, Vegas, Phoenix and Denver clubs?
 
#24 ·
We've started kicking this one around for Reno which could be a real kick given Virginia City, Lake Tahoe and so on. I'm hoping to be down to SoCal for the San Diego run in the fall to kick around the idea...likely for 2023. I'm going to need some recovery time from 2020! I'm guessing we're all heading to WV for 2022.
 
#27 ·
WickedMike created this neat map of all of the National Event locations:



 

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#30 ·
Based on in person discussions at NASSAM last week, assume WV is at best a backup plan for 2022.

Reno / Tahoe has logistical and traffic issues with runs (like two lane roads in Tahoe at rush hour), but there are other better options out there...
 
#35 ·
I think your correct liquid! Sirwm stated I did this but I didn’t. You get the credit for publishing this. Nice job!
 
#36 ·
WM, has the Michigan Kappa Group ever discussed holding a regional type show? It seems like there are enough MI members to make it happen. I could see a Michigan Regionals draw participants from Ontario, Ohio, Indiana & Illinois.
 
#37 ·
Dan: I guess we will find out with how the nassam 2021 in MI goes. We could also sponsor something in WV because 30 of us did it last year and have all the cruises and focal points sellected. MKC has short day cruises about every other weekend all summer. This year the weather hasn’t been nice to us, so far. Come join us sometime! Drive those cars!
 
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#40 ·
Captain Obvious here, the reason I suggested MKC is to keep it local along w/offering different experiences other than going on long cruises. For example visiting the Henry Ford Museum Complex, Belle Island (great place for a car show), Green Field Village, & Renaissance Centre. Throw in an autocross and swap meet and cars for sale area, etc at a host hotel.

BTW, I'm not suggesting a week long event, more like three days. Also not suggesting a regional event anytime soon, just something to discuss and think about to keep it local in in the future. Because I do believe holding a regional in the same place every year would encourage more and more people to attend an event that they know is going to be in the same place every year.

BTW, our great city planning department pulverized our asphalt road last Saturday, and then left. We haven't seen hide or hare of one road crew person all week. Add all the rain we've received and we have ruts, mud puddles and now road dust stirred up by people ignoring the road closed signs. Point being, cars haven't been moved for about two weeks now, but my insurance company is happy to keep reaching their payments.
 
#38 ·
We are planning on bringing several club cars to Michigan. 6 to 10 is my current guess
 
#39 ·
I attended NASSAM for the first time this year. It was loads of fun. I also saw how the organizers were really doing a lot to make the event a great thing. I would like to volunteer for the upcoming years. I am not sure I can make it to Rapid City due to distance and work, but I would be very eager to help behind the scenes if needed.
 
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