Nonagenarians

I'm finding it a bit surreal that some of my closest Beltsville Shell buddies have become nonagenarians!

90 years is a major milestone.  In addition to celebrating Bob Vollmar's 90th Birthday at the end of 2020, Nan and I got to experience two 90th birthdays in recent months for two legendary guys.

The first was for Bonneville legend, Lou Bingham.  Below is a photo from 2016 at the Salt flats -- Lou on the left, Thomas Payne -- who is a champion of Beltsville Shell and the guy who introduced me to Lou -- and yours truly.

Lou's daughter, Denise, arranged for a surprise party and Nan and I were lucky enough to be on the guest list.  We snuck into a lively spot on a Sunday afternoon -- Societe Brewing Company -- along with dozens of Lou's friends.  

 Although we didn't know anyone there, everyone was so friendly and many people told us their stories of long-time friendships with Lou.  This guy is majorly loved by the many, many lives he has touched.

Denise had arranged for one of Lou's friends to bring him to the brewery at the appointed hour.  Everyone was careful to park their street rods a few blocks away so as to maintain the element of surprise. Here we are awaiting the entrance.

The planning was perfect, and Lou was completely surprised!

This is the card we prepared for the party -- before we arrived.  After being there with his friends and family, and hearing all the many testimonials to Lou and his life, I guess the card got it just right!

Plus, we included a Beltsville Shell Sticker as a gift!

Thank you, Lou, for including us in your very special day!

The second party wasn't a surprise, but was equally enjoyable.  This time the birthday boy was Bill Hatch, our neighbor and the original owner of a 1957 Corvette.

[Author note: Cary swears that Bill holds the World Record for the longest period of ownership of a Corvette by the Original Owner.  Bill bought his 1957 Corvette from his local Chevy dealer in April 1957 and still owns the car today -- 65 years later!] 

Here is Bill with his two greatest loves -- his wife Marylyn, and his 1957 Corvette.

Marylyn and Bill's daughter, Lisa, arranged for a wonderful evening at the Seabird Resort, at the water's edge in Oceanside.  The guest list was small -- just immediate family and three couples -- Nan and I were honored to be included in this intimate setting!

Greeting the guests were Lisa, Marylyn, and Bill's Grand daughters Lindsay and Sarah.

We were first treated to champagne and a classic winter San Diego sunset.

Bill greeted all of us with his ever-present smile.

Next was a delicious meal in a private patio.

And the evening ended with birthday cake and a heart-felt speech from Bill.

Bill is about as good a friend as you could ever find.

To Lou and Bill -- I'm looking forward to celebrating #100 with both of you in about 10 years!

Cary

The C8 Z06 Reveal

This week the much anticipated Reveal of the Z06 version of the mid-engine Corvette took place on Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM at the Peterson Automobile Museum in Los Angeles.  Nan and I watched the 42 minute recorded video and the panel discussion that followed.  Wow!  What a car!  

Don and I figured that we needed to go check this car out for ourselves in person.  Both of us had been to the famous Peterson Museum before and, since it is only about 100 miles away, we decided to drive up on Wednesday morning in his C7 Stingray to capture all the excitement.  

We expected a mob of people to be there, so we left early from Carlsbad, arriving just as the museum opened its doors at 10:00 AM.  When we entered the lobby we were astonished to find ourselves in a nearly empty building.

We raced to the second floor and quickly found the site of the Reveal.  There, sitting on the same pedestal as in the Reveal program, was the red Z06 convertible.

(If you missed the Reveal, you can see a replay here: C8 Z06 Reveal )

Other than three docents (who kept telling us, "Don't touch the car!"), there were just a handful of Corvette fanatics in the large room.  We found the beautiful Z06 convertible pictured above, a cut-away display of the Z06 frame, and another cut-away of the new LT6 twin overhead cam engine.  For two hours we had all the Z06 beauty and mechanicals that we could handle.

We loved the C8 to begin with, but what the Corvette engineers have done with the Z06 is truly exceptional.  From every angle, the car is just magical.  

I'm a big fan of the side "wishbone", a feature needed to feed lots of air to the mid-engine power plant.

 

 

 

And I'm happy that for the Z06 they have gone with the centered four exhaust pipes -- similar to our C7 Z06.

 While the exterior is captivating, the interior is inviting.

Don and I are always interested in the engine and mechanical parts of the car, and the Reveal provided plenty of material for even the most inquisitive enthusiast.  The LT6 engine is unlike any Chevy small block we have ever seen!  We poured all over the cut-away engine pondering its unique design.

Here is a great article describing the LT6 engine (thank you, Gary Rodemeyer, for sending this to me!):

LT6 Engine Article from Hagerty

If ever a passenger car's frame resembled that of a race car -- this is it.  We marveled at all the detail of each cast piece and the creative and light-weight ways that the car was reinforced to be able to take all the forces of racing.  Don told me that the tight packaging of the Z06 reminded him of the time he saw the F18 fighter up close with a see-through skin -- his memory was that, ". . . there wasn't enough spare room to put a pack of cigarettes anywhere in the aircraft!".

Since we were already at the museum, we went to the other floors to see the many displays.  Our favorite was the James Bond display -- showcasing the cars, boats, airplanes, and submarine-car from the many movies.  No one has ever seen so many crashed Aston Martins in a single room.  If you are up in LA sometime soon, this is a must-see!

Before we headed home, we went back for a last look at the Z06.  

I think someone I know really needs this car!  Orders can be placed in the Summer of 2022 -- it is going to be difficult waiting that long!

 

Sonny at the Corvette Museum

 The passing of our life-long friend, Sonny Boteler, a few days ago, hit us all hard at Beltsville Shell.

Remembering Sonny

So Canon and I decided to dedicate a National Corvette Museum Brick in Sonny's memory.

The brick will be placed in the walkway outside the Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, leading to the entrance.

The brick lettering (they only allow 13 letters/spaces per line, 3 lines maximum) will read:

Sonny Boteler

Mr Beltsville

1966 Corvette

 Cary & Canon, August 17, 2021

 

Buff Goes to Bakersfield

After a great time in Riverside in February with the VKA event, we took Buff (the yellow Fox Kart) to Bakersfield (for the first time) in April.

The April event was sponsored by VKCA -- the Vintage Karting Club of America.  This year they put on a very special event -- in addition to the usual Kart judging and track time, they held a celebration of life for recently deceased Karting Pioneer, Faye "Ladybug" Pierson.  

Faye Marye Pierson was born on July 11, 1928 and passed on March 6, 2021.  She drove a Go Kart for the very first time on Christmas day, 1957.  Instantly hooked on Karting, Faye and her husband, Tom Pierson, enjoyed Karting as a hobby at first, then they began manufacturing Karts for sale, leading to the creation of Bug Engineering -- one of the most successful brands for many years.  Faye won races and championships, traveled across America and Europe to race, and even earned her pilots license.  Known as the "Queen of Karting" Faye continued to attend vintage Karting events up to the very end. 

VKCA Remembrance of Faye Pierson

Nan and I were lucky enough to meet Faye at various Karting events -- here she is in 2019 at the Adams Track in Riverside with her (and our) dear friend, Louie Figone.

Gary Crawford served as the promoter of the event assisted by Bill Parun and Steve Shaw.  The attendance was very high and the pits were jammed with vintage Karting fans.  Gary reports that there were 80 karts 51 drivers in attendance.  In addition to the usual awards, Bill presented the inaugural "Faye Pierson Best Bug Kart of the Show" -- a beautiful silver cup.  Following the awards ceremony, all the Bug karts in attendance conducted a Faye Pierson Memorial Lap, filmed from above by drone camera.  We are sure that Faye would have been pleased.

Before we headed to Bakersfield, I decided that Buff needed something for good luck.  Most of you know about "Jake" -- the mascot of Corvette Racing since 2004.  Legend has it that Jake brings Corvette Racing good luck.  

The Legend of Corvette Racing's Mascot, "Jake" 

I have Jake on our yellow Z06.  So I decided to put Jake on Buff too!

Buff had a good day.  It ran well on the nicely resurfaced Bakersfield Kart Track.  

When it came time for the Kart judging, we were overjoyed to learn that Buff won an award for "Best Restored Original Kart".

Many thanks to Gary, Bill, and Steve for a great event, and to the judges, Vince Hughes, Michael Jewett, Jack Murray, and Tom Thorin for the recognition!