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Sept 1999
Volume 1, Issue 9
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Inside this Issue
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1
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1999 Rocky Mountain
Roundup Driving Event
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2
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Ross’s Rants and Raves
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3
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Upcoming Events
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4
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Membership Information
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Upcoming Meeting
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Saturday, September 18
Maggie Mae’s Restaurant
5:30 Dinner, 6:30 Meeting
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Rocky Mountain Mustangers
P.O. Box 7102
Colorado Springs, CO
80933
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Rocky Mountain
Mustangers
1999 Rocky
Mountain Roundup Driving Event
The 1999 Rocky Mountain Roundup was held on the
Friday prior to the Car show in downtown Steamboat Springs. The event was held
on the Tennis Meadows lot and was a quick double lap course with a couple of
decreasing radius turns and a short final slalom that made
things
interesting. Once again the weather gods were kind. The day was sunny and mild
and an afternoon storm held off until after the last car had run. The
participants were wowed and got some instruction from the demonstration runs
Mark Petty ran in his blazing yellow 64 ½ Mustang ‘CP’ Coupe. Mark made several
runs in the 52 second area which would stand to be the fastest times of the
day.
The Rocky Mountain Mustangers were well represented
with 10
drivers. Actual fast time of the competitors was a
56.372 second
pass turned in by the RMM’s Glen Outcalt in his
Unlimited class 1985 GT. Fastest lady of the day was RMM’s Kris Chambers with a
57.156 second pass in her Unlimited class 1995 Cobra convertible. RMM trophy
winners were Kris Chambers (1st) and Sara Sugrue (2nd) in
women’s Unlimited, Hap Schadler (1st) in men’s Early street
prepared, Phyllis Shroyer (2nd) in women’s Late stock, Glen Outcalt
(1st) and Pat Chambers (2nd) in men’s Unlimited, and Jim
Reeder (6th) in men’s Early stock.
A great BBQ and concert followed that evening which
allowed all participants to do some additional bench racing and to discuss
their performances from earlier in the day.
Ross’s Rants and Raves
By Ross
Shwyhart
I hate September! Labor Day in particular. For me it
always means the end of summer and the end of top down days and nights is
coming. I always find that I start beating myself up for all the things that I
did not get done. I always have a list of things that I want to do and by the
time September comes I find that I have not done a third of them. But this year
I wanted to see if could break the mould and have something to look forward to
each year and I think I found it! The International Mustang Meet.
The morning of Tuesday August 31 came early, 4:50 am
to be exact. After the morning blast of coffee I started to get things ready
for the trip. Even when you do not drive your Mustang every day they sure seem
to get dirty. I got my errands run, the car detailed as much as I could, and
was down to the hard part of packing for the trip. Two people’s luggage and the
overgrown glovebox that Ford called a trunk make for some very creative
solutions to packing.
September 1 started just as early as the day before.
I wanted to get to Bob and Mary’s house before the morning rush hour. Mustangs
in Motion, the group that I was caravaning to Cody with was to meet at
Johnson’s corner north of Denver at 9:30 so we could have one the their world
famous, garhugeic cinnamon rolls and get to know new members and renew old
friendships. As with most all Mustang functions things got started a little
late. After getting everybody’s CB handles we were off to Casper. Tom Kay is
Underdog, his wife Lynn is Spot, Beth is Silver, Mary is Mustang Mary, Bob is
Hinie (because he liked being the last car) and me Whimpy (not because the car
is whimpy but because of my love of hamburgers)
There were seven Mustangs 2 early cars and the rest
were late models. We had an easy drive to Cheyenne where we had lunch and
picked up another Mustang from Canada, Tom and Pat Kennedy the Webmaster.
If you have never caravaned before I recommend that
you think about trying it. With a good leader or wagon master like Underdog it
is a ball. You know well in advance of upcoming things via the radio and you
can talk back and forth with the others to keep things from getting boring.
By 6 pm we were safely in Casper after having to
stop because the rain was very heavy and we heard from passing truckers that
the dreaded hail had been seen. Later we learned that the storm also sported a
tornado!
The next day all the Mustangs in Motion folks gathered
in the hotel parking lot for an informal driver’s meeting and some instructions
on what was happening that day. We were now up to thirteen Mustangs. After
breakfast the first stop was Hell’s Half Acre there was some debate about
having tops up or down but for most of us it was too cold. After an hours drive
we broke for lunch and then started on to Cody again. During the afternoon we
stopped in a small town for a break and to let out all the rented drinks from
lunch. I think we made history in the place since most of the locals came out
to see our fine line of ponies. I doubt that there will ever be that many
Mustangs in the town at one time again. The convertible folks decided that to
keep up appearances we would go topless on into Cody. To heck with the cold.
Wrong answer! About 2 miles down the road we on the side putting up the tops
just in time to miss yet another heavy rain storm.
Arriving in Cody we checked in to the cabins and got
the lay of the land. It was neat to see all cars from all over coming in. They
were really neat old cabins that look like they were built in the thirty’s. The
insides were lined with knotty pine and the TV’s did not have remote controls.
September 3 arrived and with it more cloudy weather.
Try as hard as I might I finally had to wash off all the road junk from
Jennifer. It was nice we had a water faucet in Bob and Mary’s cabin next door
and the hotel had plenty of rags on hand for us to use. That afternoon we found
out at registration that tech inspection was being held right in front of our
cabin so we got a sneak peak at all the cars and a chance to meet some folks.
As you well know it is really cool to see a car like yours. I was lucky enough
to find another ’83 GT convertible from Canada. We also ran into fellow club members
John & Claudia and Bryan & his wife.
Saturday the forth, show and shine day dawned sunny and warm. Proving
once again that God really does like Mustangs and their owners. Once the cars
were parked Bob and I set out to look at all the cars. There were over 200.
When the ‘judging’ sheets were turned in we spent time talked to others in our
class. We met a young couple from Oregon with a ’79 couple that needed some
parts that we have. That’s what is fun about this hobby meeting new folks and
exchanging war stories about cars and parts etc.
Sunday about 70 of us went on a 60 mile cruise on
the Chief Joseph trail. Sally, my sister and I had some discussion on whether
wearing shorts was smart. I reasoned since the sun was shinning and it was warm
shorts were ok. On the overlook on top of the mountain with my leg hairs
standing straight out I had to admit that she may have been right on her
selection of long pants. We sure did see some beautiful country and it was fun
to see all the different Mustangs winding up the pass. We were on our own
coming back so there was time to check out the handling, if one is so inclined.
I spent some time in front of the other ’83 GT and he spent some time front of
me. We both agreed that it was neat to see what our cars looked like on the
road.
That evening we attended the awards dinner.
Congratulations to John and Claudia McKnire on winning first place in the
modified Boss 302 class and to Mary and Bob Goward on winning second place in
the 83 to 86 modified convertible class. One thing I really liked was that
before the dinner the host club had sent out a person with a digital camera and
they had taken pictures of all the cars so during the awards a picture of the
winners was shown so you could refresh your memory.
Monday, the day the show ended came way too soon. I
always feel a little sad when the end of a fun time comes. I know that every
thing must end but I sure hate so see the end of such a fun weekend and to know
that I will not be seeing my new friends for another year. The trip home was a
bit more exciting than
the trip to Cody but that tale is for another time.
We were the winners again over the Pikes Peak AMC
club. This time the sport was volleyball. The scores were 20 to 22 (we let them
win so they would feel confident that we didn’t have any ‘ringers’ on our side)
22 to 3 ( the real Mustangers come out) and 22 to 11 (ok so we were getting a
little tired) Much thanks to all of you came out and supported the event and
the club. Thanks to the young lady from the AMC’rs who helped us field a team.
It’s not to early to think about next year’s club
officers. The club needs them to keep things running. Please think about it. We
need new blood to keep new ideas in front of the club.
See you at the meeting
or on the road…………..Ross