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#1
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2016 GTOAA Nationals
I am this year's President of the Northwest GTO Legends and the Chairman of the 2016 GTOAA National Convention. If you haven't heard yet, the 2016 GTOAA National Convention will be held next year in Bellevue, WA - a suburb to Seattle. This will be the first time that the Nationals have ever been held in Seattle and only the second time that GTOAA Convention has gone to the west coast.
We want to get as many of GOATs and not-GTO Pontiacs here as possible. I know it's a long way to bring your prized GTO, but the Seattle/Tacoma area offers a vacation of a lifetime. There is no place more beautiful than the Pacific Northwest and particularly in July, when if rarely rains. The Convention runs from July 13 to July 17, 2016. In addition to the traditional Convention activities, we have a week packed full of activities including a Car Cruise to Snoqualmie Falls, trips to both LeMay Car Museums, a trip to the Museum of Flight, as well as, trips to the downtown Seattle attractions. We are also marketing this as a "Vacation Destination" and are offering a second week of vacation activities, including a day long bus trip around Mt. Rainier and a 7 day Alaskan Cruise. Our web page for the Convention is up and running and it outlines all of the Convention activities, host and overflow hotel information, as well as, details about convention fees and activities. The web site address is: www.northwestlegends.com Even if the trek is too far for you to bring the GOAT, please be our guest and attend the Convention without your car.. After all, we speak fluent Pontiac out here. You have talked about that Alaskan Cruise for years. How could it get any better than enjoying it with your Pontiac brethren? Hope to see many of you in Seattle/Bellevue next year! Ted Knapp President Northwest GTO Legends 2016 Chair GTOAA National Convention |
#2
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Will the schedule include drag racing?
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#3
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I asked that question yesterday via email and was told that there is no drag racing.
Very disappointing to say the least. |
#4
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That really sucks!, was going to go , but the POCI is on the same week in Iowa
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1964 Catalina 2+2, 389 Tri-Power , 4 Gear , 8 Lugs 1966 GTO, 467 Stroker Mid 11s 2002 Firehawk Vert, SOM , 6 speed, all the SLP Goodies 1968 Firebird Race Car,525 CU IAll looking for low 10 second passes! 1970 442, # Matching 455, 4 Speed W-25 hood |
#5
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Getting to be that the GTOAA Nationals no longer has a want for drag racing. Anyone that makes the trek to Norwalk for the Ames Tri-Power Nationals will attest to the draw the draq racing has. Ever since the drag racing was dropped from the GTOAA nationals the drop in participation has also dropped.
I wish the host club all the best but with the meet being held at the furthest point in the continental USA and the lack of racing will surely be a tough sell for all that still are working and not retired and wealthy enough to attend. |
#6
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I feel for the racers but it's simply not practical to have drag races at GTOAA or POCI. They do not draw enough cars and therefore they are a huge drain on the finances and do not generate any reasonable sponsorship money. It's been attempted year after year by many with very limited success. The only one that has been successful in the last 10 years was the first Co-Vention. There's a reason why the Ames Norwalk event is so wildly successful..... Most people have one vacation that they can use for racing and most owners choose to go to the ultimate Pontiac event.
The rest of the events have been and will remain regional and even regional events require herculean efforts to promote and run. If you have one even remotely in your area, please support them before they are gone as well. Let's all be very thankful that we have such an amazing annual event that we can count on!
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--------------------------- Fool Around, Get Hurt, Don't come Crying to me. |
#7
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Well...
Quote:
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"The great obstacle to discovery is not ignorance...but the illusion of knowledge." Daniel J. Boorstein "Gas is STILL your cheapest thrill!" Your opinion of me is none of my business. |
#8
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Just checking to see if the dinner is sold out yet, haven't booked anything yet as having Engine issue's. Hopefully fixed this month and will be signing up.
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64 Lemans hardtop 4spd, buckets |
#9
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Banquet is not sold out. Sign up and bring some of your Canadian friends with you!
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#10
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Alaskan cruise....sounds incredibly tempting. I always wanted to travel to Alaska. Everyone says it's spectacular. I may have to get over my fear of being on a boat for days. Can I drive up the coast and hop on the boat when it docks each time?
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--------------------------- Fool Around, Get Hurt, Don't come Crying to me. |
#11
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Drag racing @ 2016 GTOAA Convention
On the drag racing event - We looked hard at drag racing at the 2016 GTOAA National Convention. Our analysis showed that we would lose a minimum of $3,000 - $4,000, perhaps more, if we could not find sponsor(s). We take on a lot more liability and it is a lot of work to put on given all the other activities we are trying to pull off with doing a National. I am not a drag guy, but I am told that many of those coming for the drags are there only for the drags and most won't participate in the other Convention activities. I told our members that I am willing to lose money on a drag event, if others in the Club who are drag racing enthusiasts felt strongly that we needed it for the good of the Convention. Our drag racing members voted to drop it. I think the final straw for us was when Pittsburgh dropped racing at the 2014 GTOAA Convention due to lack of interest.
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#12
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It's been awhile since I've been able to go to a national event & I had almost talked myself into making myself go one way or another in 2016. Now I hear it's going to be across the country & with no drag racing. I will say that I can't & won't put myself through a drive like that. I live in MI. & the Nats. have fro years always been at the least in the middle of the country so everyone has some chance to come. But now the only ones that IMO will be able to go is the ones on the west coast only. I would rethink your choice of where the nats are going to be over again. I believe you will have a very small turn out by having it so far to one side of the country. I wish you luck , but hope you rethink your placement of the nats before its to late.
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#13
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My wife and I will be there, only reason she likes to go is to go somewhere different that we've never been and meet new people. Hopefully I will have my car done but its still to far to drive so we will fly out but I have 1 complaint about past shows, please don't schedule any activities on judging day, most of us cant go. I would like to see the museum and maybe another tour but seems like in the past some of them have been scheduled during judging and that means my wife and I cant go because I am judging and she does tabulation. Look forward to coming, see you there. Darrell
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WWW.SUPERCARCREATIONS.COM |
#14
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Quote:
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#15
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Quote:
Yes, the show will be smaller but not by all that much. When it was in Oregon a couple years back, I was very surprised by the turnout. Also, it's refreshing to see a whole selection of different GTO's when it's out West. Colorado, Oregon and now Seattle are really beautiful places to visit. I really enjoyed all three of those 'smaller' shows as there are a lot of things you can see and do when visiting a new area. Think about it this way, all the GTO owners in that part of the country have been saying what you're saying for most of the past 30 years. I think it would be a nice gesture to 'share' the club this one rather rare occurrence of it being on the West coast. Each year, wherever they hold the event, about 40 states worth of GTO owners are going to be disappointed.
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--------------------------- Fool Around, Get Hurt, Don't come Crying to me. |
#16
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Unfortunately I think the clubs are dying a slow death. The economy, participants getting older, etc., there are a lot of reasons why. All the more incentive to have a co-vention in a central location possibly at the same venue. I continually hear how it is a herculean effort for chapters to pull of these events. A lot of "reinventing the wheel" and inexperience could be avoided by having the event at the same place and run by the same people. Processes will become more efficient, leveraging a 2 to 3 year contract with a facility can bring the cost down etc. More participants means more revenue to cover costs. You could move the location every third or fourth year but still be centrally located giving both coasts a chance of attending. I think it makes it easier for people to make plans when they know it will be in the same location for a couple of years. I live in Florida so any convention for me is a major commitment in time and resources.
I also believe that to survive the clubs will need to work more closely together or else they will die out. Mark Cronk |
#17
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Not sure what club you are talking about. GTOAA has more members now than ever and it is growing every month. When a GTOAA Chapter requests to host a Convention, GTOAA must allow them to do it if they have the capability, desire and manpower. The members pay their $35 just like everyone else. Don't they deserve a GTOAA Convention once in a while? I have been to Dayton twice now and have grown tired of the same venue, same hotels, same activities and same everything. I am sure this would happen too if they were always in the same location.
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#18
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Contrary to all the rumors, and "facts" out there regarding the status of our GTOAA Chapters, and membership.
I was appointed to the position of Public Relations Coordinator and Membership recruitment in August of 2014. I began this position in mid September 2014. I was asked to grow the GTOAA. I set in place 2 plans of action to grow the GTOAA membership and, it's chapters. The Refer-A-Friend program was put into place to reward referrals with a 6 month free extension to their membership for one referral and a 12 month extension added on to their membership. The CHIP program: Chapter Incentive Program was set into place to reward chapters with incentives who bring in the most new GTOAA members into their chapter. The incentives have been widely advertised in The Legend and on our Facebook page. To address the declining membership and chapters who are fading away: I do the numbers, our membership coordinator receives the new members in and process them and keeps the numbers. Those numbers are passed onto me. I chart the numbers, I report the numbers and maintain the growth numbers. In September 2014 I challenged myself to grow the GTOAA by 10% in the first year or by September 2015. In 11 months time as of the numbers for August the GTOAA has grown by 9.4% or by 333 NEW MEMBERS. With one month to go to meet my deadline, through President Tom Oxler and Steve Hedrick's efforts in Norwalk they signed up 40 NEW GTOAA members and 8 more have renewed bringing in a total of 48 members which will exceed the 10% growth initiative I imposed. We have been averaging 29.6 NEW GTOAA members per month for 11 months. The next months figures from total membership is not yet in. If the averages work out we could see 12% + growth in one year. Our GTOAA membership has been setting all time membership records for the past 4 months. There are more members now than ever before and the trend is upward. The Refer-A-Friend program alone accounts for 27.4% growth of the total 9.4% total GTOAA growth in 11 months. When I took over as P.R. our membership was in the 3,400 range, we are headed to 3800 plus in 11 months. The CHIP Program? Results from this program will not be tallied until the chapter surveys come in for 2016. I will tell you GTOAA Chapters are bringing in new GTOAA members from the reports I am getting. Social Media...... our GTOAA Facebook Page: 11 months ago we were at 280,000 likes. We are currently at 822,555 likes in 11 months time as we head to ONE MILLION. I see the numbers on social media each day we are reaching over a million sometimes as many as 1.5 million people. We are the hot ticket in social media with other organizations constantly PMing me and Lance Hudnell asking permission to piggyback our facebook page. Social Media has resulted in explosive growth for the GTOAA, the Refer-A-Friend program as exploded in growth, I expect our chapters who are getting MUCH attention from our Facebook are growing. I dunno where these wild rumors originate from but the GTOAA deals in Fact base not opinion based. The GTOAA is the strongest its ever been with the most members ever with all time numbers to show. The GTOAA is headed UP not Down. Lets all work together to GROW the GTOAA not find excuses to not attend a function or quit based on opinion based facts rather fact based. If just half the GTOAA membership brought in just ONE member ......... ~~~~ Vic S. Lets get back on track to the purpose of this thread: The 2016 Convention from Seattle. Last edited by GTO JUDGE; 08-07-2015 at 04:46 PM. |
#19
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I don't think the clubs or chapters are dying I think it's the conventions. Less and less venders, no racing and location are to fault I believe. Putting on a national event usually doesn't make money but costs money and sadly you need to approach it that way or the event quality will suffer.
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#20
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I guess maybe it is just a personal observation. I used to go to both the POCI and GTOAA Nationals. Of all the people I knew back then not one of them go anymore.
My comments are not meant to detract from promoting this event. But the reality is both organizations are basically the same size (membership) they have always been. They grow a little, then contract a little, but basically the same since I joined both over 25 years ago. Having a convention on the extreme east or west coast will limit the opportunities of those who can attend, that is just plain "physics". No one can argue about selecting that club as the host, especially if no one else but in a bid. MarkC |
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