CORVETTES AT CARLISLE 2008

A few of the major Corvette parts vendors were not in attendance this year because of Pennsylvania sales tax laws.  We hope this issue is resolved soon and all of the vendors return in 2009.

This year was the 50th anniversary of the 1958 Corvette.  There were twenty fine examples of the '58 Corvette located under a special tent.

Chip's Choice theme for this year was "Vette Rods".  There were twelve of the best looking, high performance Corvettes on display in building T.  Two were C1s, two were C3s and eight were 63-67 mid-years.  63-67 Sting Ray Registry members Jeff and Penny Montgomery from Arkansas had their beautiful '63 split window coupe in Chip's Choice display.  Their silver coupe is not only show car quality but they have driven it and enjoyed it all around the USA.  They were part of the group of 63-67 Sting Ray Registry members who met in Chicago in April for our Route 66 cruise.  Congratulations to Jeff and Penny for being a Chip's Choice Corvette in 2008!.

Our Registry Row was relocated this year and we had 60 spaces to park our cars.  We almost filled all of our spaces on Friday and on Saturday we were full early and had to turn cars away.  Just a reminder, when you register for Corvettes at Carlisle 2009 where the registration form asks for club affiliation you need to insert 63-67 Sting Ray Registry.

At 3:30PM was the third annual Corvette burnout competition in front of the grandstands.  It was entertaining to watch people shred their tires and other body parts from their Corvettes.

Saturday morning began with cars arriving at Registry Row very early.  In the afternoon, the Celebrity Judges began selecting their favorite Corvettes parked in the Fun Display areas.  At the end of the day, Celebrity Judges had chosen fifteen of our members' cars as their favorite Corvettes.  See the pictures of all the winners this year by clicking HERE.

As usual we again held our own Peoples Choice Car Show on Saturday.  We had a three-way tie so we drew for each place.  For third place we drew Pete Wolmack's name.  Pete has a '67 Marina Blue coupe.  Our second place winner was Gerald Buckner's with his '63 Silver Blue coupe.  Our first place winner was Reed Dambach's with his Mosport Green '66 roadster:

We gave away a lot of Meguiars car care products for door prizes.  We want to thank Meguiars for furnishing us with their fine products:

Gerald Buckner won a Corvette Race Team poster signed by all six Corvette factory drivers:

Doug Jones won the second Corvette Race Team poster signed by all six Corvette factory drivers:

Jim Hartenstein won the third Corvette Race Team poster signed by all six Corvette factory drivers and Dick Thompson who drove a Grand Sport when they were raced in the '60s.  Jim has a beautiful Grand Sport replica:

We would like to say a special thanks to those who participated in our Rt. 66 cruise in April AND also attended 2008 Corvettes at Carlisle.  Two big trips in one year (and some of them even did Bloomington Gold, too.)  Thanks again to Roy and Kathy Brotherhood, Doug and Mary Jones, John Meyerhoff, Mary Carol Plott and Jeff & Penny Montgomery.

On Sunday the Carlisle Celebrity Choice awards were given out and a winner was drawn for the Giveaway Corvette.

Carlisle Events co-founder Bill Miller stopped by our Registry Tent after the Giveaway Corvette was chosen.  Bill shared numerous stories about how he and Chip Miller started with just a car show years ago and what happened along the way to be what Carlisle Events has become today.  I'm sure all who listened to Bill share with us for more than an hour were glad they were hanging around the Registry Tent waiting for the traffic jams to clear the Carlisle area:

I want to thank all of you who helped out in the Registry Tent again this year.  We all missed Cindy's great organizational skills and look forward to having her back in 2009.  Be sure to note on your Fun Display Registration for 2009 that you put 63-67 Sting Ray Registry in the club affiliation blank.  We are all looking forward to another great Corvettes at Carlisle event next year!