63 - 67 Sting Ray Registry
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August 25-27, 2022
By: Dennis & Cindy Manire
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Corvettes at Carlisle 2022 40 Years of Corvettes at Carlisle!!! How exciting. We are proud that the 63-67 Sting Ray Registry has had a Fun Field row for 25 of those years. What an accomplishment, all due to our wonderful members that come to Carlisle every year. None of this has been possible without all of you. Thank you. The first day of the show was Thursday. Attendees are adjusting to having the show start on Thursday and run through Saturday. Total pre-registrations were 55. On Friday and Saturday the Mid-Year rows were full and looked awesome. As a special note, we would like to mention that during the VIP luncheon two of Carlisle’s special guests, Johnny O’Connell and Andy Pilgrim said a few words. Around the time of the Corvettes 50th Anniversary, it was Andy Pilgrim who gave us our first Celebrity signature on the glove box of our 1963 Grand Sport. He still remembers that day. We also have met Johnny O’Connell at a few of the tracks around the country over the years, when he was racing the Corvette. It was a special luncheon for us, seeing them both again. Last year we moved our “Annual” meeting from Saturday afternoon to Friday afternoon at 3:00. All members attending were invited. A few significant announcements were made during this year’s meeting. Dennis and I, along with many of you, are starting to feel our age. As the body grows old we lose some of our youthful agility and we are moving slower. Recognizing this reality has caused us to cut back in a few areas. 1) For over 20 years, our Registry has conducted its own “Peoples Choice car show.” Every member was asked to pick their three favorite cars (not including their own) within the Registry Row and submit the Ballot to be tallied. The top three winners are announced during our yearly meeting and they each received a nice trophy or plaque. Beginning this year, we will no longer have this internal car show. 2) Also, for over 20 years, we have solicited and provided door prizes to be given away to attending members during this Annual meeting. Beginning this year we will no longer have door prizes. If any members would like to see these continue, please volunteer to plan and organize them for future years. 3) In addition, we have asked any members present at this event to assist us with parking cars in our Row before the Carlisle a.m. cutoff time. This will help us ensure that only mid-years fill up our spaces and the Row continues to be an eye-catcher to those walking by. During the meeting we also reminded everyone to make sure when they Register for next year they put down for their “CLUB” that they are with the 63-67 Sting Ray Registry. All those registered before the Carlisle pre-registration cutoff date will facilitate our allotted parking spaces for our Row that year. Carlisle Car Adventures – Continued.. This year (2022) Carlisle again has its share of stories. However, we will begin by going BACK to 2021 and the story we “teased” you with. In our story #2 from last year, we left off that we had decided to return home through GA so that we could stop at Dennis R’s place and have him remove the staple and permanently fix the 67. 2021 - Cindy and Denny Story #3 Around lunchtime we decided to get off I-85 at Exit 41 at the Pilot/Wendy’s and have lunch. Unfortunately, there was no parking for our van and trailer so we left to head somewhere else. Unfortunately, it was a nightmare leaving the Pilot. We made a left onto the road leading out of the truck stop parking, a semi was behind us now. At the stop we made another left into a center lane, intending to move from that center lane to the right lane. However, when Denny looked into his rearview mirror the 67 was no longer on the trailer but on the ground. Denny stopped the van and jumped out. By then the truck driver behind us was out of his truck and next to the 67. Somehow the car had fallen off the trailer. A County Sherriff, who was waiting in traffic, saw the 67 in the middle of the road and was already out of his car and directing traffic around the 67. As Denny got to the car he asked the truck driver if he had seen what happened. The truck driver said the car was on the trailer and he looked away for a moment and when he looked back the car had all four wheels on the ground. He never saw how it got from up there down to the ground (a 2ft. drop). Denny also never saw the car fall off the trailer, when he was making the turn the car was on the trailer, after the turn it was on the ground. The Sherriff also saw the car on the trailer but did not see it fall to the ground. Denny walked around the car and could see no damage to it. How it fell off the trailer and got no damage is a miracle. Denny tried to start the car and it started right up. The Sherriff wanted us to clear the car off the roadway so we decided Cindy would drive the car and Denny would drive the van and trailer the last 20 miles to Dennis’s place. We arrived at Dennis’s place and he inspected the 67 from top to bottom and found nothing was damaged during the fall off the trailer. No one had any ideas how the car got from the top of the trailer onto the ground without suffering a scratch. Truly a mystery and a miracle. Dennis did find indications that the straps holding the 67 on the trailer had been compromised. As they put the cause together, it looked like when we had the blowout on the van going TO Carlisle going 75 mph, the van and trailer were all over the road. Stopping quickly must have put a lot of stress on the tie down straps and began to cut through the straps. When we loaded the car to come home after the show, we didn’t notice that the straps had been compromised. The final strap or straps broke when we pulled out of the truck stop. We are so thankful that the car did not fall off the trailer while we were on I-85 before we stopped for lunch or afterwards when we would have been back on the Interstate. That could have caused a multi-car accident with possible injuries or even deaths, and the car probably would have been destroyed and who knows what else. We thanked the Lord for watching over us and anyone else that could have been involved. Dennis then removed the staple from the Ramjet 502 engine and used the proper part to fix it permanently. Boy that little staple sure did it’s job. We all went out for dinner, purchased new straps and the next morning loaded the 67, tied it down securely with the new straps and headed to Florida. Denny spent a lot more time looking in the rear view mirrors as we traveled South. The END of another exciting adventure. Now let us move on to our stories for Carlisle 2022! Cindy and Denny Story #1 - 2022 Carlisle Aftermath On our way home from Carlisle, Sunday morning, Denny collapsed in a Wendy’s parking lot in Roanoke, VA (I-81S, Exit 150) at around 11:30am. The Ambulance took him to ER at CARILION ROANOKE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL. At 1:30 am Monday morning he was diagnosed with a “Saddle Pulmonary Embolism” which was a large blood clot in his chest where the two lungs come together. They immediately began treatment with blood thinners. I can’t say enough about the quality of care we received at this very large trauma hospital and also from the Marriott Suites I stayed at near the hospital. We were in Roanoke almost a week. It seems we never have a year at Carlisle when there is not some kind of excitement on our trip. Last year (2021) the car fell off the trailer (see the story above). This year Denny almost died. The doctor said 80% of the people that have what Denny had die. So we are very thankful he is with us today. Many angels of mercy ministered to us along the way. Bill’s (with friend Gary) Story #2 Carlisle 2022 Gary and his friend Bill attended Carlisle 2021 in Gary’s 64 . On the way home after the show they stopped in a restaurant in Oxford, PA. An elderly couple who were dining already at the restaurant saw them get out of Gary’s car. During Gary and Bill’s dinner they discussed Bill’s desire to buy an older Corvette but with the prices today he may have to get a C5 generation. Bill was paying the bill and the elderly man was behind him. The man told Bill that he had a real nice car there. Bill explained it was his buddy’s car and they got into conversation. Bill asked if he had a Corvette. He replied yes, a 1963. Bill asked if it was for sale. Yes he said. Bill and Gary followed him home to see the car. They waited as the gentleman got his garage key and opened up the garage. What they saw was a car almost a carbon copy of Gary’s car. It was a tan, 327/340 hp convertible. Bill and Doug looked the car over and found a few areas needing repair. Bill asked him what he wanted for the car and they discussed price. The price quoted was well below the market value. Bill made an offer and the gentlemen and his wife discussed it and accepted Bill’s offer. Bill put down a deposit and came back the next day to purchase the car and drove it home. Fast forward to Carlisle 2022. Bill and Gary are back at Carlisle with both of their tan Corvettes, one a 1964 and one a 1963. They look so good side by side. ** The exact price has not been disclosed for confidential reasons. Just believe us when we say it was a very, very good price. If you did not attend Carlisle 2022, please look them up in 2023/2024 and Bill will be happy to share more of his story. Yes ladies and gentlemen, continue to hope that maybe someday this will be a story about you and the special car you find.
63-67 Sting Ray Registry
1) Member: Alison Brown, 1963
2) Member: Mark Conrad, 1966
3) Member: John Davis, 1966
4) Member: Jordan Grant, 1966
5) Member: Jim Hartenstein, 1963
6) Member: Pat MaHanes, 1967
7) Member: Kyle Manseau, 1966
8) Member: Bob Matters, 1964
9) Member: Steve Riddle, 1966
10) Member: Scott Roberts, 1963
11) Member: Dennis Rosenthal, 1967
12) Member: Pat Ryan, 1963
13) Member: Bill Sheppard, 1963
14) Member: Dennis Webber, 1964 For all of you that remember: SAVE THE WAVE!! See you next year! Denny and Cindy 63-67 Sting Ray Registry
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