2007 National Meet & Route 66 Mother Road Festival Sept 28th thru 30th 2007

[opeljohn]

I had planned to wait until after the first of the year to start a thread on this but have had others suggest that with it being the 07 National Meet the sooner the better. I know I will need some imput from those of you who plan to attend on what you wish to do. More about that later.
First things first.

Where : The International Route 66 Mother Road Festival , Springfield IL.
When : Sept 28-30 2007? I'll get to why I put a question mark after the dates later.
Club Hotel : The Route 66 Hotel and Conference Center , 625 E. Saint Joseph St. Springfield IL, 62703. For reservations call ( 888-707-8366 ) or ( 217-529 6626 ) Route 66 Hotel Conference Center Banquets Meetings Conventions Hotels Springfield, Illinois. We have a block of rooms reserved under the Opel Motorsport Club. Room rates are ( 72.00 + tax reg room ) ( 130.00 + tax Executive Suite ) per night.The Hospitality room is tied to one of the Executive Suites, room 147. We do need one of our group to rent that room. There is another Exec. suite on the other side of the Hospitality room #155 that would also be good to have one of our group in. If anyone wants it a third Exec. Suite is available room #171. 30 rooms are held in that block as of this writing.

Info on the event will be at Route 66 International Festival but has not been updated as of this date. Basically this is a three day event that is part Car Show part Downtown Street Festival. Friday evening there is a cruise from an eastside location to the downtown area. Saturday and Sunday the cars are parked along the downtown streets for the public to view and for the folks who hold the event to judge.
What we as a club have typically been doing the last four years goes like this. We try to meet at the club hotel on Friday by 4.30-5.00 pm and drive to the Maverick Steakhouse for dinner. Those who wish to be in the Cruise then drive a short distance to the staging area at the D.O.T. building. Once the Cruise begins we have the option to go all the way downtown or bail out as we pass the hotel. Sometime during the evening the Hospitality room is opened for an informal meet and greet session. Adult beverages have been known to be consumed at that time.
Saturday morning we try to get everyone to meet at the club hotel and drive to the downtown show area together. There is a nice Breakfast Buffet at the Hotel and other places close to grab something. If you can't make this early morning meeting no sweat. Just show up at the gate, register if you need to and tell them you are with the Opel Group and they will park you with us. Later that day we do a door prize drawing and an Awards Presentation. This is one area that will need to be talked over. Last year we had 5 awards, Best Opel, Best GT, Best Manta, Best Kadett, and Farthest Distance driving an Opel. Carlisle and the OMC picnic both had more categories. I think we can get more awards if we look to have a large turnout. The next problem is dinner on Saturday night. Once again if we have a large number of people I will need to explore some options. We have used D'arcy's Pint the last couple of years but it may not work for lets say 50 or 60 people. Last year after dinner we came back to the Hotel and some folks worked on cars in the parking lot while some kicked back in the Hospitality Room. That brings me to why I put the question mark by the dates. Since this is the " National Meet " how many would be interested in showing up Thursday night and doing some Tech stuff and some parts swapping in the Hotel Parking lot Friday before the Cruise. Just an Idea for you all to chew on. We will go down to the Show Field again Sunday Morning and the show is over early in the afternoon which would leave some time to do something as a group for those who can stay.
So I guess what I need right now is for those who think they are going to make it to do your reservations, and post on here so we can start to get an Idea of how this is going to shape up.
Thanks
John Dickerson

[tomking]

I plan to be there John and begining thursday is OK with me.

[heimue]

I'll be there with my Manta, probably from Friday to Sunday.

Dieter

[Ooooner]

John,
I plan to be there as well. Probably Friday through Sunday morning. It may work out so I can be there on Thursday but that is a "game time" discission. Looking forward to it!

[dcm013]

I plan to be there but not until Friday late afternoon. Rt 66 hotel is a good location.
Don

[opeldean]

I will be there with "Celeste...a 70 gt".

[lezliewk]

I am going to be there, Sat and Sun. Maybe Fri also, depends on work

[greenopelgt]

I'm there whenever. I know from my experience this past Route 66 show that Opels will make an impact.

Regards,

Tom Adkins

[manta73wi]

I'll certainly be there again this year in one of my Mantas. The Routee 66 Show is top notch show in a great location. The 66 hotel worked out well this year. If folks are thinking of going, I would HIGHLY recommend it!! Not sure when I'll be arriving, but probably sometime Friday afternoon. Thanks again for getting us organized, John. You and Connie do a great job!!
-Jeff W.

[scrapman]

I am planning to be back again. With any luck, I will have my GT running and hopefully restored by then. If not, I will bring the Manta.

Hope work decides to cooperate!

Rick

[kevinfier]

Chris and I will be there Friday afternoon thru Sunday.
Kevin

[vikesman101]

I'm in!

Probably Fri-Sun and if needed I can grab an Exec room. Just let me know.
Not sure which one I will bring, but that depends a lot on what I bring to Carlsile, I would want to bring a different one.

Tom
71 GT
72 GT
73 GT
98 Catera
Vikes 17 Packers 23.... I think coach Childress wanted to give Farve a early retirement present.

[GoinManta]

I will be there as well.. deciding wiether to tow the Manta with the GTO. Or since Ben will have his license (by a scant month) habve him drive it. Driving the Manta for that long last time was a killer.

Depending on the condition of my Kadett might drive it..

[timemachine]

I plan to be there too, hopefully Fri.-Sunday am.

[badbradgt]

I'll have to check my schedule for school... that just might be durring one of my 1 week breaks.. (well.. hopefully). So just maybe, I'll have to show off my GT.

[opeljohn]

Hi All
I thought I would put a little post together since I had some free time. I am sure most Opels in the north are napping in the garage as I write this, but the show season will be on us before we know it and folks are making plans for the year. I think a lot of Opelers are at least considering making the 07 Route 66 Mother Road Fest. There are some things I am still trying to make decisions on. Last year we gave out five awards by participant voting. The OMC and Carlisle shows had more categories and used judges. For instance at Carlisle there were awards for Best GT stock and modified with I think three places. Same for Manta /Ascona. Also an award for Kadett and Grey Market. I think we will have at least one pre-1960 Opel at the event. I would like to know if you guys think there will enough entrys in some of these categories to justify an award. Also are there some BRAVE Opelers who would perhaps work as Judges. I will tell you I approach this whole issue with some fear. I know that Awards, who gets them and who does not get them can cause serious friction. I am looking into some other stuff and will post more later.
thanks
John

[Ooooner]

John, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Once the judges do their job, it's not in your hands anymore. The judges are usually 99% fair to everybody. Sometimes, the cars are so close in some catagories, that the judges have to flip a coin. It's not an easy job. The only way to make everybody happy is to give everybody an award. Then, what are awards for?
At the AutoFair in Charlotte, we usually give the ones who don't win, a nice plaque that says they were a "Participant" at the AutoFair. Everybody walks off with something in their hands.
Just my two cents worth... I'm not coming to win an award anyway. I am coming to just meet fellow "Opelers" and have a good time!

[sawdust]

Looks like I can make it. Friday thru Sunday.

Anyone from WI, MI, IN & IL want to form a caravan to Springfield ?

[Wolf Spyder]

Are the dates correct? Sunday through Tuesday?

[heimue]

Originally Posted by Wolf Spyder Are the dates correct? Sunday through Tuesday?

I don't know where you got those dates from, but any sources I looked into (this site and their site) say it'll be from Sept. 28th - 30th 2007. Car meetings from Sunday to Tuesday are only held when the organizer wants to keep all trophies for himself - because nobody would show up.

Dieter

[Wolf Spyder]

DOTL!!! I was looking at the wrong month!