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This
year marked the 25th edition and "Grand Finale"
of the "Special Collection" held at Bloomington
Gold, in St. Charles, Il. If you remember, the Chairperson
from this great event, Bill Locke, contacted our
Registry earlier this year in search of a few "prime
examples" of Corvette Pace Cars to be included
in this once in a lifetime opportunity.
Word
went out to our membership, and many responded to
Bill but unfortunately he only had spaces for three
Pace cars. Those fortunate to be selected (pictured
below) were members Martha Fligor (very low mileage
1998), Bob Kirsch (2007 track car #18), and LaVelle
Hunt (2008 Coupe track car #33).
The
Special Collection of Sixty Two Corvettes (plus
1 special guest) was housed across from the Pheasant
Run Resort, inside the DuPage Expo Center. The Grand
Finale Collection was displayed in three groups;
Styling and Design Cars, Competition & Callaway
cars, and Personality cars ... today's collectible
Corvettes.
Also
as part of the group were (4) cars which were inducted
into the 2009 Hall of Fame ;
- 1957
Corvette 283/283 RPO 579D owned by Irwin Kroiz
- 1965
Corvette 327/375 Fuelie Coupe, owned by Dick Bridges
- 1967
Corvette 427/435 Convertible, owned by Michael
Soares
- 1991
Calloway Speedster, owned by Will & Rhonda
Prout
For
those members in attendance, it soon became apparent
how humbling it was to have been selected to represent
Corvette Pace cars at this event.
Having
our cars in the same room and collection as such
cars as EX-122 (the GM Motorama Design car that
was the Mother of all Corvettes), Corvette SR-2
and Stingray Racer, many Vintage Corvette racers
and historically important vehicles, the 1958 Corvette
that was the "39th million Chevrolet produced",
and one of the latest C6RS vehicles from Pratt&Miller
was amazing.
And
there were several other special treats! We watched
in awe as CERV-1 drove into the building under it's
own power.
Then,
the crew from Pratt&Miller pushed in a surprise
guest not listed in the program ; C6.r #63, which
had just returned from LeMans France, after winning
it's last outing in the GT-1 class, still carrying
all of the bugs and dirt it picked up after racing
for 24 Hours!
Thursday
evening Collection owners and those attending Bloomington
Gold who were fortunate to receive invitations (approximately
2,000 total), attended the gala grand opening of
the Collection, enjoying the scenery and hor 'dourves.
Several times over the event, an excellent video
was shown which showcased highlights of past Special
Collections, and announced what event will take
it's place at future Bloomington Gold events.
The
event was open on Friday, and until 2pm on Saturday,
when the cars were paraded across the street to
spend 2 hours in a special display on the Pheasant
Run Golf course. After this display, the cars were
escorted off the course and released to their owners.
Looking
back on the event, we were able to represent Corvette
Pace cars in the display, enjoy the company of those
friends and other Registry members we ran into at
the event, take in the swap meet and vendor areas,
and view all the Corvettes on site being Bloomington
"certified" or going thru the Mecum Corvette
Auction. Additionally, we were able to distribute
our tri-fold membership flyers to several Pace car
owners passing by who had not heard of our organization
before.
All
in all, this was a great time for those members
in attendance. So, what is next to replace the Special
Collection? A new event called "The Great Hall",
which will showcase the Educators, Events, Builders,
and other Corvette related areas. Don't miss it
in 2010!
To
view our entire library of photographs from this
event, visit our online Photo
Gallery.
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