2019 Camaro Nationals Re-Cap
Category : Event Re-Caps
The 2019 Nationals will be an event I will remember for quite a while. First and foremost, was the absence of our dear friend Bud Scolastico. Time will heal wounds, but this first year without him was extra tough a couple of times. Marla and Crystal both made comments that Bud would be taking care of the weather for us, and it appears he did. This was the first dry year in a while; and the “Day of Show’ cars came out strong….over a hundred; bringing our total to just under three hundred beautiful F-Bodies.
Things started off with our Thursday evening rolling cruise…this time to the restored train station and home-made ice cream shop….needless to say, we filled the parking lot at the dairy bar. Returning the new host hotel, the parking lot party commenced.
Friday opened with indoor concours judging and car clean up on the show field. This was the first year I handled the indoor cars, so Building 9 – the conours building was a learning curve. I did not have the contacts that Bud had, but put together a nice display to compliment the BowTie and Legends cars. Things ended up pretty nice, I think….generations one through 4 were represented….and lots of Z’s. I’m not talking about falling asleep, of course, but Z/28’s. They were everywhere, including a Teal Blue 68Z, and a pair of original Maryland Z/28 dragsters….QuickSilver and SeaDragon. Thanks to everyone who helped put the display together, and especially for the car owners who took the time to bring and set up their Camaros. As evening approached, we headed back to the hotel, and cleaned up for the Dinner and Auction. Check out the photos on the Gallery page.
Food for our dinner was good, but we need them to improve their clean up afterwards, and dessert timing. It turns out we were the largest group they ever had, and were unprepared for the logistics involved. The auction went well, and we donated $7200 to the Silence of Mary Home, bringing the total the show has donated to charity, to over $125,000.00. Even Bobby Banana was there….volunteering to auction himself off again, the highest bidder getting to put up with his shenanigans for the next year. (Maryland may have it’s hands full….Bobby picked up some bad habits while spending the last year with Long Island. Thanks to everyone over the last 21 years for their support of the auction….and again I want to thank members of the Lehigh Valley Camaro Club for acting as runners during the auction, and a special shout out to Scott Settlemire and Drake Donovan, our fantastic auctioneers. After everyone left the ballroom – it was back out side for………wait for it……..a parking lot party!
Saturday again brought nice weather – nice and sunny, but not too hot. We had a different photography vendor, who superimposed images of our cars on posters, mugs, license plates, etc. He was busier than he planned. Th moon bounce and slide were busy all day…lots of smiles on the children’s faces…..”Bring a Kid to a Car Show!”. Judging wrapped up on time, as did the awards…..although the day of show turnout ended up goofing up my awards needs….we ran out! I had to order 8 more plaques when I got home. Things wrapped up, building 9 emptied, everyone found a place for dinner, then back to the hotel for a parking lot party!
Please remember that this is a volunteer non-profit event. I want to thank everyone who helped, donated, and otherwise supported this and our past events. The Maryland Camaro Club is indispensable, and the show could not currently exist without the hard work of their members. Bill Morice and Billy McKee made my life easier, without a doubt. Our judges come out year after year – Legend, BowTie, and Heartbeat. The judging is one of the things that makes the Nationals different than other Camaro events. Again, the event would not have continued all these years without the time and support of all the judges. And, the CLUBS! Long Island Camaro Club, New York Third Gens, Lehigh Valley Camaro Club, Maryland Camaro Club, Northeast Ohio Camaro Club, to mention a few….the individual members always are ready to pitch in where and when needed.
Thanks!
See you next year!
Karl Scheffy