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SUNDAY: Early arrivals toured the are and we
met at the Stamm House
Restaurant, 6625 Century Ave., Middleton, WI. for a
pre-convention dinner. About 40 people had superb home style
chicken-n-dumplings.
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MONDAY: Visit Performance Plus, the key SHO repair shop in the Midwest!
Tours of Performance Plus went on from noon to 4pm. A V6 and V8
motors were torn down so people could see maintenance and other repairs in
process.
Address: Performance Plus, 5380B King James Way, Madison, WI 53719. Phone:
608-277-8161
MONDAY: Registration in the lobby of the Madison Mariott West, from
9am to 5pm.
MONDAY: Reception at the Mariott in conference room E. from 6pm
to 8pm.
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MONDAY: Capital Brewery Tour.
Three special tours were arranged with beer tasting (soda
for non-drinkers/ minors) at the end of the tour and ywe got to keep a
miniature glass beer mug souvenir
glass!
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TUESDAY: Annual SHOw, at the host hotel: 8am to noon.
Over 80 super nice (and a few "drivers") made for a great day
of viewing and tough decisions by the judges. We also had several
interesting display cars including the famous Aluminum Cow (1992 Sable that
originally had a SHO V6 ATX driveline with ALL aluminum body) from the
University of Wisconsin. This dual fuel, diesel/electric car is a
multiple national champion at college competitions for
economy/performance. The U of W also brought their current national
champion Expedition with a similar dual fuel driveline, but no aluminum
body.
- TUESDAY: Tech and driving school session: 1:30pm to 3pm
Tech session in the hotel with Doug Mellum of Performance Plus, followed by
orientation session and instructions for ALL drivers for the Blackhawk
Farms event.
- TUESDAY: Drive and dinner 3:30pm to about 8pm
Over 50 cars took the caravan tour, with others going before and
after so they could set their own pace. Great roads, beautiful
scenery and a lot of super food for almost 130 SHO fans at the end of
the drive made for a pleasant and fun afternoon, evening with time
left over for some fun on the town.
- WEDNESDAY: Lapping session, track day at Blackhawk
Farms Raceway 6am to 5pm
What can you say about 80+ SHO's and some interesting guest cars
(Viper, Cobra Mustangs, etc) taking to a fun 1.9 mile track that
challenges the driver and brakes! The new NOVICE class was a
super hit with the class starting out at 50 mph with a pace car, and
the group voted on how to proceed after each session. Sessions 3
and 4 were without pace car and they got up to speed and made their
"instructor" VERY proud coming up to realistic speeds safely
and with huge grins on everyone involved. Other classes were
very fast, fun, and exciting with a few cars having minor mechanical
difficulties but no hurt people, and no bent sheetmetal. Overall
a superb day by this group of SHO people that know how to drive and
how to have fun the safe way.
- WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Dinner at Fitzgeralds
After our day at the track, we visited a favorite spot of Doug and Cathy Mellum of Performance
Plus. Fitzgeralds restaurant was only about a mile from the host
hotel, in Middleton. Great food for 120 close friends and SHO's
all over the parking lot and street.
- THURSDAY: SHO Drags at Great
Lakes Dragway
60+ SHO's and some non-SHO's met for 1/4 mile runs. Threatening
stormy weather held off as we crowned a new SHO champion. Group
picture was taken at the track with about 70 SHO's and the drag
winners, including the Ford PowerStroke diesel truck of Doug Lewis
that was the overall drags king of the hill!
- THURSDAY NIGHT: Banquet and charity auction
We gave away some nice door prizes, raised over $4000 for the Red
Cross, handed out 45 awards for the SHO, Drags and more. A
damaged wheel off a car from the first Atlanta convention was awarded
to the Hard Luck award winner. The San Francisco Convention
(#12) was announced for 2004. Check this web site for news and
information soon.
- FRIDAY: Head home or some extended their vacations:
The Mallinson's found a superb winery (Wolersheim
Winery) where we had a wine/cheese/cracker/sausage picnic with new
friends from the "Convertible Club" of the Chicago
area! Went on a ferry ride, and ate some great hand dipped ice
cream (at the ferry landing on the West side of the river) and found
more great river roads.
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Having fun with the 2003 Convention location and
slogan. (NOTE: Wisconsin residents and fans should not take this
seriously. We make fun of EVERY state in the SHO Club, all in good
fun, after all I am from Peoria, IL! --Ed. )
With tongue firmly in cheek, SHO owner and SHOclub member,
Joseph Van Oss offers this:
Ahem. Top Ten rejected ideas for the convention motto:
10: SHOw off your "cheese slicer" wheels.
9: You'll have a Gouda time.
8: Nunnally's SR71 will fit right in among the Wisconsin Amish.
7: You know, this cheese would be good with some beer.
6: Having a party? Need cheese? Ask about our balls.
5: Be There or Brie Square.
4: Holy Roquefort, You Bleu the Differential!
3: Arthur Andersen: "I said shredder, you idiots! Not Cheddar!"
2: Oh, What a Friend We Have in Cheeses.
1: When we pose for the group photo, do we have to say "cheese"?
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SHO National Convention #11 is a Prairie Sage Enterprises, Inc. Production
Don Mallinson, President, SHO Club
Prairie-Sage, Inc.
902 S. Main
Washington, IL 61571
309-444-8570
309-444-2540
SHOClub.com |
