SZ08 in the SE?

[csvtjohnga]

mis-read what you said earlyer pud

 

[csvtjohnga]

hell i would have loved to go but being unemployed sucks and thats my choice. leaving for San Antonio in a couple of weeks anyways

 

[cops_got_my_SVT]

Umm... "few scragglers" being the 10+ people that come from NE, NY, NJ?? ohh k.

Oh, you must be talking about the people that drove for 15 hours from georgia... No no, the 3 people that drove 24+ hours from Louisiana. OOOh or barge who drove for 3 days (?) to make it.

Hey what about me ? I drove 24+ hrs from Florida ! LOL

Attempt to set something up, draw up your plan and see if it will stick. if not, there is always the national meet (louisiana??). I think SZ will end up in the north again, I just hope you guys (Ya'll :laugh will come up and join us.

Look guys lets face it. It is not pheasable for some of us to travel 24+ hrs and thousands of miles for a weekend meet. Financially is it not possible for some. Taking time off work for seveal days also is not possible for some. The two most reasonable solution to this is like Alex said, draw up plans in details with a solid schedule and hope the interest is there or do a dual SZ meet. I have been on the boards for a long time and I hardly throw my .02 cents in but I have to on this one.

The SE has suffered from many meets with poor attendance. There have been several meets that members say they are coming and then dont show up or put up some bull$hit excuse why they did not show up. Who would want to comitt to driving two, three hours with the way gas prices are and wear and tear on the car plus food and lodging when the attendance will be one or two only and I am talking from experience because it happend to me. I drove down to Miami from Orlando with James, he has a '00 Modeo ST220 he imported, and only one other person showed up. The SE needs to get their $hit together and participate as one just like the NE does. More smaller regional meets with rotating locations. No BS about this or that just arrange the dates and meet. Beign a car enthusiats means taking part in meeting other enthusiats that share your love for the same car.

I am done bit(hing. I am tired and sleepy from 24+ hrs drive from SZ07.

Cheers,
Suriel

 

[LauraSVT]

I wouldn't have a problem driving from Massachusetts to Hot 'Lanta. Its about 1099 miles from Boston, making it only slightly longer than the run from Boston to Grand Rapids, MI (839 miles). The drive from GR to ATL is even shorter, at 836 miles.

One idea might be to go with somewhere like Asheville, NC or another location in NC. That state's got plenty of motorsports history, beautiful country, and will cut the drive a little bit for those northerners who pay a lot of attention to the odometer (746 from Grand Rapids, 906 from Boston). Its reasonable from the south, too, running 760 from Ft. Myers, for example.

The All-Ford Nationals also play a part -- this year, for example, I'm making the trip to Carlisle, but did not go Spring Zing. I like Michigan a lot, and am sure I would have enjoyed SZ '07, but am open to a lot of different locations. If I do both events next year, a beautiful, non-urban southern atmosphere sounds very agreeable.

Just some thoughts.

 

[Brent372]

Hey what about me ? I drove 24+ hrs from Florida ! LOL



Look guys lets face it. It is not pheasable for some of us to travel 24+ hrs and thousands of miles for a weekend meet. Financially is it not possible for some. Taking time off work for seveal days also is not possible for some. The two most reasonable solution to this is like Alex said, draw up plans in details with a solid schedule and hope the interest is there or do a dual SZ meet. I have been on the boards for a long time and I hardly throw my .02 cents in but I have to on this one.

The SE has suffered from many meets with poor attendance. There have been several meets that members say they are coming and then dont show up or put up some bull$hit excuse why they did not show up. Who would want to comitt to driving two, three hours with the way gas prices are and wear and tear on the car plus food and lodging when the attendance will be one or two only and I am talking from experience because it happend to me. I drove down to Miami from Orlando with James, he has a '00 Modeo ST220 he imported, and only one other person showed up. The SE needs to get their $hit together and participate as one just like the NE does. More smaller regional meets with rotating locations. No BS about this or that just arrange the dates and meet. Beign a car enthusiats means taking part in meeting other enthusiats that share your love for the same car.

I am done bit(hing. I am tired and sleepy from 24+ hrs drive from SZ07.

Cheers,
Suriel

I have heard about the crappy Florida meets, but since my coming to the boards late last year, I believe I have helped kick some people into the a$$ about doing meets. In 2007 we have one decent meet and one awesome meet. We have another planned in July. Right now we are looking at every 3 months rotating around the state. Some people say the get old, but I don't think they do. For most people that come to them, it is a good break from thier regular friends and hang-outs. A chance to see and "Schmooz" with people they normally wouldn't. The common thread being our love of the Contour. Something my everyday friends just don't get. For me it is a chance to see these people I otherwise probably wouldn't.

 

[pokat302]

Okay okay Compromise!!!!!! Have SZ08 in like.... Cincinnati Ohio or Lexington KY. generally half way between the north and south. *ALL* of us would have to get our act together an make an effort to attend in one of those locations.

 

[Brent372]

From here in South Florida, Atlanta is 1/2 to Michigan

 

[Pudmunkie]

You guys know what you need to do. You need to make a plan and post it up!

Things that give you a +:
Close proximity to: road course, drag strip, dyno
bars / restraunts near the hotel (think BWW at SZ 06)
"other" things to do (cruises, pasteyless nipples for elky, etc)

 

[SVTFLEA]

Hey what about me ? I drove 24+ hrs from Florida ! LOL



Look guys lets face it. It is not pheasable for some of us to travel 24+ hrs and thousands of miles for a weekend meet. Financially is it not possible for some. Taking time off work for seveal days also is not possible for some. The two most reasonable solution to this is like Alex said, draw up plans in details with a solid schedule and hope the interest is there or do a dual SZ meet. I have been on the boards for a long time and I hardly throw my .02 cents in but I have to on this one.

The SE has suffered from many meets with poor attendance. There have been several meets that members say they are coming and then dont show up or put up some bull$hit excuse why they did not show up. Who would want to comitt to driving two, three hours with the way gas prices are and wear and tear on the car plus food and lodging when the attendance will be one or two only and I am talking from experience because it happend to me. I drove down to Miami from Orlando with James, he has a '00 Modeo ST220 he imported, and only one other person showed up. The SE needs to get their $hit together and participate as one just like the NE does. More smaller regional meets with rotating locations. No BS about this or that just arrange the dates and meet. Beign a car enthusiats means taking part in meeting other enthusiats that share your love for the same car.

I am done bit(hing. I am tired and sleepy from 24+ hrs drive from SZ07.

Cheers,
Suriel

We are wroking on getting our "stuff" together down here. We have had two meets so far and have heard the same excused I am sure you have from those who say they are coming and dont. We more than doubled our attendance from the first one we went to to the second one we organized. As my husband said, we are rotating around the state about every 3 months and the people from the area they are from organize that area. Although we were the exception and managed to do one in Orlando while living in fort lauderdale. North Carolina is probably doable for SZ or even Nashville. We were considering going to one of their meets just to meet more enthusiasts. Most of the people who DO show up to ours, leave already planning the next one.
By the way, where have YOU been the past couple meets <wink,wink>

 

[WorldTour]

I'm going to put this in bluntly...
Spring Zing has ALWAYS been located in the midwest and it should stay there.
BurritaSVT, Ray, & myself have already started talking about putting together a CEG National meet down here in Louisiana for this fall and hopefully we can start some formal announcements within the next week or so. This should satisfy many of our southern members who were unable to make it to MI for SZ.

As for planning an event of this magnitude, I would feel comfortable saying that 90% of the people who whine about it not being in their area know how much time, money, effort, etc. is involved in putting an event of this magnitude together. If you're curious try shooting a PM to me (planned Spring Zing 01 & 02), Trapps (planned Spring Zing 04), BeyondloadedSE & Y2KSVT (Planned Spring Zing 05 & 06), and Todras (planned this years SZ) and ask about it because I think you'll be surprised whats all involved.

-Mark

 

[Brent372]

I'm going to put this in bluntly...
Spring Zing has ALWAYS been located in the midwest and it should stay there.
BurritaSVT, Ray, & myself have already started talking about putting together a CEG National meet down here in Louisiana for this fall and hopefully we can start some formal announcements within the next week or so. This should satisfy many of our southern members who were unable to make it to MI for SZ.

As for planning an event of this magnitude, I would feel comfortable saying that 90% of the people who whine about it not being in their area know how much time, money, effort, etc. is involved in putting an event of this magnitude together. If you're curious try shooting a PM to me (planned Spring Zing 01 & 02), Trapps (planned Spring Zing 04), BeyondloadedSE & Y2KSVT (Planned Spring Zing 05 & 06), and Todras (planned this years SZ) and ask about it because I think you'll be surprised whats all involved.

-Mark

We put together a regional meet here in Florida (in Orlando but planned it from Ft. Lauderdale) and that wasn't easy so I can imagine how much work goes into something of the scale of SZ. So why not try a multi-location SZ. Plan one here in the SE for the same weekend, same activities... Just an idea.

 

[WorldTour]

How about no... That completely goes against what SZ is about and if two meets were planned for the same weekend it would adversely effect both events. One thing you never want to do is dilute your potential attendance.
Like I said (both in the past and in this thread) if you want to try and put together a large meet then great there is no problem with that, but trying to hijack an existing event (which is currently the largest this community has and many people have put a lot of effort into keeping it that way) just isn't the way to go about it. Be creative, be original & be willing to keep at it for a couple years.

 

[Brent372]

Fair enough and understandable. It was just an idea (somebody else's I might add)....

 

[WorldTour]

I know, but this is a topic I feel pretty strongly about. Especially since we're working on a full blown national meet here in the south for this fall. We've already lined up a dyno, dragstrip & road course. Potential banquet locations, hotels, activities, etc.

Midwest can kick off the year with SZ and we can bring it to a close with the National Meet.... sounds like a good thing to me.

 

[Brent372]

Sounds excellent.

 

[cops_got_my_SVT]

In 2007 we have one decent meet... Right now we are looking at every 3 months rotating around the state.

The attendance and frequency of Florida meets has increased. It takes an effort from everyone to make a meet sucessful. Rotating the meets throughout the state is a great way to bring the enthusiams back the way it used to be but once again it takes an effort from every one.

By the way, where have YOU been the past couple meets <wink,wink>

I have been a no-show.


Well regarding SZ08 or a National meet in the SE area, I for one can not take the responsability to arrange it, my type of work is unpredictable so I would rather contribute financially to cover the expenses.

Ok lets get some dates/locations posted so vacation slips can be submitted.

Cheers,
Suriel

 

[Kremithefrog]

First of all, a regional meet, which really in the case of what has been discussed in this thread is really a state, dang near local meet, is far from what SZ is about. And then from what I've seen haven't even been that great other than our tail of the dragon meets, which most of the people posting in this thread haven't attended. A few hours drive and a day or two meet is far from what is many hours drive and near a week long meet.
Second, I don't know about SZ needing to stay in the midwest. A southern SZ could trumpt all other SZs for a multitude of reasons, but realistically, I doubt anyone will follow through with the planning involved. I'd be willing to help a great deal, but no, I've got too much going on to do what todd did and take it on nearly all on my own. The SE disappoints me and I don't trust them to put on a good SZ unless I see some more commitment (sorry new guys). And a two location SZ would suck, screw that. I'd probably go to the one further away if that even did happen. Like that chicken wing zing crap.

O, and the national meet is something I plan to attend and be completely drunk at. If people at SZ thought I was a drunkard, they have much to learn if good bars are involved.

 

[Brent372]

Let me say this.
I like some of the ideas I have read.

We would be willing to go just about anywhere in the SE for a National meet.

I would even help in planning, but not much experience, but I would do what I could.

I am glad I started this thread. There are alot of opinions out there, and I am glad people are voicing them. Not for the sake of argument, but for the sake of caring about doing something like this.

But with that said, I need to go mope now as my Red Wings just coasted out of the playoffs. (Yes I am a Detroit Red Wings fan, stuck in Florida Panther hell)....

 

[cops_got_my_SVT]

Especially since we're working on a full blown national meet here in the south for this fall. We've already lined up a dyno, dragstrip & road course. Potential banquet locations, hotels, activities, etc.

Midwest can kick off the year with SZ and we can bring it to a close with the National Meet.... sounds like a good thing to me.

I must have missed the posting about the National meet.

So when is it and where?

Cheers,
Suriel

 

[cops_got_my_SVT]

We all need to keep in mind the "Dragon run" meet Roger will be setting up in October sometime.

The Dragon is a SE tradition.

Cheers,
Suriel