We ended our session a little earlier so that we could race back to the hotel before the memorabilia exhibits closed. I was buying a small truckload of VOI and SRT stuff for a very good friend of mine and didn't dare miss a single trinket. As I waited for one vendor to box up my goods and another to verify my financial statement, I noticed this Viper in another booth:
No need for air conditioning here! After carefully loading the stuff into the car and dropping it off (I was relegated to another hotel), it was back for the awards dinner. While I neglected to take a picture of the first centerpiece, I did manage to get a shot of this one:
And yes my Canadian friend, I have both centerpieces ordered and paid for you... Many presentations were then done and the various brass received awards, some just for showing up (grin). Then it was time for the autocross awards, where Cheryl Long of our Kansas City VCA took 2nd place her division:
Cheryl is the second from the right. Fifth from the right is Yours Truly, having put on a few pounds and neglected the sun for a while. I still managed to squeeze into the SRT the following day. Next up we had an interruption from "Bob Lutz" to deliver the traditional "Ode to the Viper". Unfortunately, the genuine Bob is no longer in a position to be real friendly with DC, so we ended up with lesser impersonator, probably his brother...
Many laughs were had, including a few at our Illinois chapter's expense for their narrow loss in an autocross challenge to the PVO team. All of the banners escaped theft, except for the Illinois banner. Turns out that it is now in the position of Wolfgang Bernhard himself, who has challenged the Illinois club to "earn it back". We then received a nice review of upcoming DC products, including the SRT-4 Neon, the SRT-10 Ram, the Dodge M-80 pick up truck, the Crossfire, and even a Jeep Willys (looking very much like a Hummer H2). We then were treated to a shower of balloons and confetti:
Our surprise performers turned out to be......... not Aerosmith. Hey, we knew it was unlikely, but you can always hope. Instead we ended up with the very talented (and five time Grammy-nominated) Diamond Rio:
Perfect band for Nashville and an enjoyment for most. As one that tends to listen to the harder stuff, I wandered out a little early. Out in the lobby of the convention hall, they had brought in a new display: The Crossfire!
(continued)