I wanted to share with the group what I received in an email from Richard Lasseter over the weekend and have been too busy to post it. This should be some valuable information, especially for those that need the advanced notice for vacation planning. "Nov. 22 To Whom This Concerns Especially nowadays, when holding a multi-day track rental during any prime time of the season, no event is immune to scheduling conflicts. This has happened for 2016 with our Nationals, the Pure Stock Drags and the Cecil, MD Buick event hosted in part by our NE Chapter. These dates are during the week of Sept. 17, 2016 and apparently can't be changed. With this in mind, many of you know that I'm considering cancelling our 2016 GS Nats. in order to facilitate optimum attendance at Cecil since the Cecil dates were made in advance of our GS Nationals dates. I don't wish for our Nationals to interfere with our NE Chapter event. A large multi-marque show like "Good Guys" is considerably more profitable than our Buick-only GS Nationals. That's why our 2016 Nationals dates were changed from mid-October to Sept. 14-17. All tracks maximize profits nowadays as that's just how business is done. Our Nats. just won't seem right w/o our NE folks being there. The cancellation of our GS Nationals is a hard decision, but if that's a better decision for our Buick muscle car community, then I will do so. Dec. 5 The above was drafted in late November as I was considering various options. During that time, I had nearly decided to cancel our 2016 Nats. .... putting it on a 1-year hiatus until 2017. However by doing so, I began to wonder how it might affect the future of our Nationals. So I talked with many of our veteran staff, some of our larger Buick vendors and numerous veteran GSCA members who have attended the Nats. almost from its inception. These folks verbalized the same concerns that had begun to concern me. They are as follows: (1) First and foremost, if we cancel our 2016 Nats., then another group can come along and lock in those dates for 2016 and also for future years, which will happen, then we'll be entirely removed from the Beech Bend event calendar. We already know that there are other groups waiting to take any available date cancellations during "prime time" at Beech Bend. (2) As usual, there are many folks who have already locked in the Sept. 14-17 dates to attend our Nationals for their annual vacation. These folks must make their vacation date requests for 2016 ASAP and have done so. Cancellation would be unfair to them. (3) Although I've never spoken of a "final" GS Nats., the persistent rumor that 2015 would be our last one will appear to have been true all along, and this will certainly impact the credibility of all future GS Nats. Furthermore, such a lapse of skipping from '15 to '17 would take the proverbial wind out of our sails for any future GS Nationals. Such is not conducive to the survival of our GS Nationals and would have a negative impact at a time when we need strength of purpose and consistency in order to survive and keep a National Buick event going for years to come. (4) Finally, there's Brett Wallace who does a great job with our GS Nationals website. Brett puts so much of his time and money into his "baby" out of love for our die-hard Buick attendees. Anything that would undermine future GS Nationals would also diminish Brett and his GS Nationals website. I've discussed this potential problem with him in detail. When considering all of the above, I feel that we must hold our 2016 GS Nationals or there won't be a future GS Nationals. In doing so, I can promise everyone who attends some exciting new changes. For example, there will be no registration or late fees ever again, and we're also working on the idea of a new B-O-P Super 32, thanks to a lengthy discussion with Mike Tomasewski.. These changes along with many more will be covered in our Winter GSX-tra. Our current GSX-tra is running late because we had to resolve all of these above Nationals issue before our Fall GSX-tra could be printed and mailed. In closing, I sincerely wish the Cecil Maryland event the success it deserves." These are his words and I have nothing to do with them, but decided it will help the Buick community to let them be seen, as they are for "whom it concerns". I did speak to Richard before this email was distributed and he said some good news is coming. He also stated that he is happy to speak to anyone about their concerns and/or suggestions. Just call the GSCA phone number. He may not be available at the time, but promises to do his best to call back to whoever reaches out to him. I hope this brings good news to all concerning this event. As Richard stated, best wishes to the Cecil event, the NE team brings some of the best competition. We will all cross our fingers and hope that something happens to allow their attendance. Respectfully, Mike
Thanks for posting this Mike. I know the last thread got a bit out of hand, hopefully this one doesn't, and a tip of the cap for you staying the course in passing along info. I personally think Richard's points are all quite valid, and as tough as it is to break down and make a decision, I agree with his thought process on this one. It's a tough (i.e. crappy) situation, and he can't please everybody, but looking toward the future my opinion is this was ultimately the best choice in a lose/lose situation.
Thanks Shawn ! BTW, where in SW Ohio are you? I was born in Springfield, grew up in the Park Layne/New Carlisle are and graduated HS in Springboro. It did get a little out of hand. I hope and plan for this to be a medium for information and a discussion for what will benefit our community the best. We do need to support every event properly, as they are becoming smaller due to many reason. Let's not make more here.
Thanks Micheal for staying on this and posting that, this year will be a different GS Nat event for sure without the NE guys but what must be will be if we are to stay in Beech Bends schedule. Kudos to ya :TU:
Ironically enough, Im not even 10 minutes almost due south of Springboro High School. I've driven past it multiple times in my Buick!
Glad to hear that the Nats are still on. Sucks that it interferes with the other events, but the Nats is the closest for us. The Uncle and I plan on being there with at least 2 cars. If we can make it happen we will have all 4. Three '66 GS's and the '67 GS400. See y'all in September!!
I hope all these events do well and we don't have any scheduling conflicts in 2017 as I will be minus one event I was looking forward to being at in 2016. I fully understand Richards decision for 2016.
I was glad to read the news that the Nationals are still on. I am still bothered that there are 2 events going on the same weekend that we pretty much got stuck with. I will keep everyone posted on any news I hear with regards to next years scheduling if it can be determined. I am right with you Ron on missing an event. I know you have some very close friend up north and will most like attend the Cecil event. Whichever you decide on, safe travels and I truly hope both events are super successful. I am glad you understand and like many decisions in life, some are much tougher to make than others. I know for a fact that Richard feels bad about the conflicting dates and would enjoy nothing more than being able to "work it all out" for everyone to participate in each event. Shawn, That is plain crazy. I put many donut marks in the parking lot of the old high school (now the middle school on 741 I believe). But that was before my Buick days. It is a small world, and such a joy to find people that have such common experiences out of the blue. I was at a car show down in GA 2 years ago and saw a very clean 87 GN that had a window sticker for the Buick dealer in New Carlisle. I waited to find and meet the guy. In our discussion, I found out he was from the same home town that my father was born. No way, he knew a couple of my uncles. Again, a small world in so many ways.
Well I hope this holds I just picked my vacation for next year. Lets get some SunCoupes out there. I plan to retire in a couple years and if I could I would do it now and help with the club/event. that said I wonder if there could be an ambassador of the GSCA that might get with the Olds /Pontiac or maybe even a GM group. Would that not solve our issues? there would still be the group dynamic we can all hang together in the pits and stay at the hotels. Some of our guys have several different marques in their collection. I would be lost without the NATS and this year was the only time I missed after my daughter graduated. I still have pains when I go into the garage and look at the SunCoupes. All that work cars looking and running great and they sat. I'm even considering making the cruising the coast or power tour even Woodward ave dream cruise. I've always been a car guy and until will be I cannot. then I'll deal with what comes. Thanks to all for the great times Terry and I had and all the people that made them great.
My dream evet would be a 1964 to 1974 BOP Nationals a solid 4 or even 5 days, with lots of purse money, magazines in attendance, large vendors etc maybe one day .....
While I hate there are conflicts, I won't be supporting any good guys events ever after being bullied from a 35 year event ! The new fee schedule is a very positive change. While many events are more expensive, the number of separate fees always seemed to confuse folks. I had made some suggestions along these lines. Best part is the Nationals are only 9 months away now! Get your projects done boys! DL
That's right. Get er done! My hotel reservations are made. I am looking forward to seeing my many friends I get to see this one time a year. Any and all are welcome to stop by my trailer and have a seat with me to chat about our Buick passions. Mike
