| The 2005 VMSC - MSC banquet is in the books. This was my first opportunity to see 150 Vintage fans, owners, drivers and interested parties gather together to reflect on a busy year for both touring groups. This years theme was dedicated to remembering the IRA!! Can't tell you how excited I was to see a half dozen former IRA Champions in attendance. Even had this years IRA champ stop by! As expected, over 100ft of memorabilia and pictures were on display. Great seeing all that stuff!!! Bill Behm did a nice job putting this one together and John Surges again proves he's the king of Vintage Modified Photo's!!! Here are a few pic's of the hall as everyone gathered and started talking about the old days! Don't think we had many empty seats by the time the dinner bell rang!! |
Here is John Surges and I
| Didn't realize it, but I was in store for quite a surprise at my first banquet. Didn't know they had such an award and am truly honored to have been chosen to be this years recipient! We lost Pop quite a few years ago to a broken marriage, a move down south and then finally to cancer. My only memories of him comes from pictures of my brother and I standing behind the steering wheel of one of his last Sportsman cars and a couple of newspaper clippings of his modifieds. There are a few fuzzy memories of Pop circling the track though! |
| Having the opportunity to restore his car was truly an emotional experience for me. Searching for, finding and installing every piece felt like I stepping just a little closer to his memory. All the stories and pictures that have come about because of this restoration have been well worth the time and effort that we put into the car! Entertaining all those fans was definitely the most positive thing my grandfather ever did! It's taken a year to restore but brought back years of enjoyment! |
Click on the above picture to see the
restoration process
restoration process
Bill Behn served as MC for the evening with Dick Duston giving the pre-meal prayer. After dinner was through we
got to see a slide show of mostly IRA cars and drivers. Former Champ Dick Colburn was given the Mic and
commented on most pictures that we saw. Next we got to see a couple year in review presentations by Bill and
John Surges. Great to see some of the shows that took place over the year. Looking at the crowds at most of the
shows reminds use all of how important it is to restore and show these treasures of Wisconsin Racing!!
got to see a slide show of mostly IRA cars and drivers. Former Champ Dick Colburn was given the Mic and
commented on most pictures that we saw. Next we got to see a couple year in review presentations by Bill and
John Surges. Great to see some of the shows that took place over the year. Looking at the crowds at most of the
shows reminds use all of how important it is to restore and show these treasures of Wisconsin Racing!!