Well, I went. Went without the car - it's still apart in the garage. A few observations: The track in Utah is first rate and Larry Miller (track owner, 32 year SAAC member) is an excellent host (plus has an incredible car collection!) The weather was hot, but with the exception of one gust front, was cooperative. The host hotel and the airport were easily accessed and about 30 minutes from the track. The 2 night programs at the host hotel were great - Bob Bondurant and Pete Brock stole the show and had lots of great stories. However... I'm not sure it's the best location for the convention. While Larry Miller is a full on Shelby nut, I don't think there were all that many members in the local area and that contributed to the reduced attendance (my perception). Lot's of folks were leaving by Sat night and the track was sparse on Sunday - I didn't stay for Monday. The biggest detractor in my mind was the Vintage race was on Sat instead of Sunday – leaving out a weekend day of great open track/racing. My .02 cents is SAAC does well on the east coast or in California, but is a more difficult draw in the middle. I had a great time and would do it again. Bryan
It's gonna be on the East coast, but I don't remember where. I didn't recognise the name of the track. They also announced a "winter" SAAC event that will be in Florida...
Could someone who does remember post where SAAC33 is going to be. I just checked the SAAC website, and they don't have that info yet. I'm dying to know so I can start making travel plans
I went and had a ball. I did not make the dinner but did open track for 3 days. I also had the Super Snake there but just on display and in the Concours. They did have the new # 1 Super Snake there and I was going to get a pic with my orig one next to it but the dirt storm had everyone packing up. I thought the attendance was great even though it was slowing down by Sunday. My hat goes off to Larry Miller. His facility is first rate. Literally 100's of cars and thousands of people and not once did I see a full garbage can or a dirty restroom. I am used to going to events where the restrooms are trashed by mid day but at this place there were restrooms everywhere and they were always being cleaned by someone. It is not something that I focus on but this just stood out. I would go back to a SAAC event at that venue in a minute. It was hot but you could always find somewhere with AC if you needed it. I was on the track when the dust storm hit and the track dissappeared on me. Meanwhile the SuperSnake was parked outside with the hood open and the windows down so it is now completely full of dirt. Great time...thanks SAAC and thanks Larry Miller for the first rate facility.
SAAC-33 will be at the new track in New Jersey, Thunderbolt, aka NJ Motorsports Park. It is supposed to be finished by June '08 and SAAC might be their first major event The fall-back, if they are not finished, will be back at VIR
Here is a link to all the event photos from PhotoMagic. They were there all 4days & got some really good shots. http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=2999528
Here's a link to some pics Pete took (and a little publicity for my car) http://www.thecoralsnake.com/SAAC32
Nice car Tim. Well done on the Gold award. From memory you took out a silver award last year? I'm definately going to make the trek to next years convention...
I went and had a very nice time - I have never been to a SAAC event, before, and found the cars and folks to be very nice. Had my car on display at the Shelby Collection trucks (dark blue 9,000 original mile 1967 GT 500) and then the car was moved inside Larry Millers private Shelby area in the main showroom on Monday. My hats off to the folks that worked so hard to put the show together. Very nice, indeed. SGB
I really wanted to see the hood open. Saturday it was up as I was driving out and Sunday was closed again. Nice car and my favorite color. I can't believe he originally wanted red.
Although it is popular in magazines today to bash red Shelby's and say stuff like "another red Shelby" red was a rare color in 67. Less than 100 GT 500's were red that year. I would keep my car the original color no matter what that color was, it is just easier when it is a nice color like red.
It certainly is not a "bash". I just happen to think nightmist blue was the nicest color ever put on a Shelby. And thats coming from an Acapulco blue owner (2nd nicest color ) Because of all the 68 factory photos of Acapulco blue cars a lot of people find my color undesirable as they think it is ultra common. Fact is there were less than 40 Acapulco blue GT 500 4 spds made. I think red gets a bad rap from the fact that about 1/2 the 67/68 lime gold cars are currently red. And I like lime gold too.
I'm also a big fan of original colors and believe that when they are done right, they all look good. My painter tried unsuccessfully to get me to paint my car red, but I said no way. After the car was done, he agreed and was glad that I stuck to my guns. I think for regular Mustang production in 1967(not Shelby), the most populus color was LimeGold - how many are painted that way today?
Back to the original topic...I was at SAAC-32 and found it hot, fun, hot, a blast, hot, loaded with great cars and people, hot, one of the better dinners that we have had in years, great speakers (though some need to prep themselves better to tell their stories in a shorter time). Our table noticed that Carroll Shelby was never acknowledged during the openning. We didn't really expect him due to his health, but had hoped for a phone call greating. The track, garages, Miller Museum, food vendor, and display areas were one of the best. Wedid Fri-Sat-Sun, leaving Monday to the SVTOA group. This was my 12th convention since 1987, plus six Vegas mini-conventions. All have been terrific. My favorites still are super tracks like Lowes (Charlotte) and California (Fontana) for the combined road course and high bank speedway and high viewing areas to watch the vintage races. Our Aloha Mustang and Shelby Club of Hawaii "We Is Nuts" group gave out over 250 packs of macadamia nuts this time. We reunited with old friends and made many new ones. I did I mention it was hot? Our temp in the garage was 103 on Sat. A spot thermometer in the next garage read the track temp at 127 degrees.B)