2008 National Corvette Homecoming
Bowling Green, Kentucky

Hey, check it out.  We got to Bowling Green on
Friday, July 18 in plenty of time to head on 
downtown for a free concert.  This was one
rockin' band, "OIB", which stands for Optional
Italian Buffet.  But that was just the warm-up for a 
great weekend.

Now it's Saturday Morning, July 19.  Here's part of 
the merchandise area.  Doug Morgan had all kinds
of hats and assorted merchandise to peruse.

The cars started coming in right at 8AM for the show and
shine.  Here's a C-1 that I nicknamed "Black Beauty."

Manning the main gate was CEO of the show Joe Pruitt, and pressed into service was his main helper, Vera
Pruitt.

Here's a view of the main check-in stand as seen
from the main building, the Sloan Center.

The staff was very helpful, and they were pretty easy
to spot, since they had neon green shirts that stood
out.  Here you see Joe and his helper giving directions to
a floppy axle driver.

And here's a close-up of the check-in table.

This was the entrance to the Sloan Center from
the outside area.  The outside area held the Show and
Shine, the parking for Corvettes, the For Sale
Corral, and the Vendors.  The announcer/DJ opened
the morning with the National Anthem, all cars and
participants stopped in their tracks, faced the flag, with their hands over their hearts.

See, I'm not kidding.  I got off a quick photo shot during
the National Anthem.  You can see this nice solid axle at 
a stop, with those attending also stopped and paying
their respects.

This is Roger Franscisco from Fresno, Calif.  He has owned this white/red '58 for 37 years.  Yes, that was who was stopped for
the playing of the National Anthem.  He drives his car, has had
the engine freshened three times.  It's a 245 hp auto, it had a body-off in 2003.

This real nice driver was in the For Sale Corral.  Skip
Hacker is selling the car.  Hard top was included.

Here's Terry Risner using a little elbow grease to 
make his very nice '54 sparkle.  This 79K mile example calls
Tennessee home, but was originally a California car.
Terry has owned this beauty since 2003.

Not every Vette would be at home on the
highway.  Drew Schreiner and Adam Cox
brought this state of the art Corvette
boat.  It looked fast, too.

Here's a view down the hallway of the Sloan Center.

The lobby had an assortment of vendors.
It seemed that there was something for
everyone.

Talk about getting behind your product, this is
Dave Chrisley (Rt), President and co-founder of
the Bowling Green Assembly Corvette Club.  Alongside
is Rollie Bell.  The club handled many jobs during the
Homecoming.

This is the entrance way to the Grand Ballroom, 
and as you can see SACC was on the job
once again.  I'm on the left, and SACC President
Max Brockhouse is on the right.  We were showing off and also we were blocking the way for the attendees.
They got over it.

This is a view of one direction when you enter the 
Grand Ballroom.  These are Sans Pareil entrants.

And here's a view from the other direction.

Here you can see some of the Vettetastic models that
were auctioned that day.  These are on the order of the
cows along Lake Michigan a few years ago, a fund-raiser
for the American Heart Association.  In the foreground is the 
black model made by Holley.  On the right you see the 
(banana) Split-mobile from Culver's.

We caught up with CEO Joe Pruitt in the ballroom.
Right behind Joe and Max is a stunning '58.

Competing for Sans Pareil honors is
John Darnell with his primo '57.
John has owned this car for three years.  He is 
a SACC member who first showed this car at
this very show two years ago.

And right along about this time I was having a 
caffeine deficiency emergency, and back at adjacent Holiday
Inn University it was Rachel and Lori to the 
rescue.  They went above and beyond the
call of duty to find a great cup of java for
this coffee fiend.  

Back to the Grand Ballroom, SACC President Max
Brockhouse presents Bloomington Gold CEO Dave
Burroughs with the DVD of the Noland Adams
Celebrity Roast that occurred at the 2007 Convention.
Dave was one of the "Roasters."

Here's a view of the outdoor area, looking back towards the Sloan Center.

And Nascar fans, check this out.  As I mentioned, the Holiday
Inn University is adjacent to the Sloan Center, and they 
pulled out all the stops by having this racing Monte on hand for everyone to look at and get a digital 'On the web" photo made.

On hand were Mike Tilley, race technician, and Emily
Wharton, ambassador.

Not every car that we saw was ready for
judging.

Seminar time!
Dave Chrisley introduced Wil Cooksey to
the podium.

Retired Corvette Plant Manager and currently Board
Chairman of the National Corvette Museum Wil
Cooksey conducted a very informative seminar on
the Museum, covering the history, expansion plans, 
and future of our museum.  This picture didn't do
Wil justice.  He was actually very upbeat.

Bloomington Gold CEO Dave Burroughs gave
a presentation relating the operations of the
Bloomington Gold show, and their ideas for the
future.  He played the fantastic video of the L-88's
that was a hit at the B.G. show in June.

Corvette Assembly Plant Manager Paul Graham gave
a fantastic multimedia presentation on the plant's production
offerings, and the future plans of the General.  I've known for
months that the plant had a new manager, and I came away
from this seminar with my mind at ease - we have a very 
knowledgeable, capable and affable plant manager. 

Here's the celebrity autograph table.  Not to brag but
I was first in line.

Here's a shot of the staging area for the road
tour.  We had a police escort through city, 
suburban, and country roads.  

Here's Joe getting ready to "Move 'em out."

The road tour ended at the Baymont where
the Jackie Fox Band was ready to rock the house.
There was good food and liquid refreshment right there
and the rock and roll went on into the evening.

Here's a view from behind the band, you can
see some of the cars in the field, and you can
also see some of the partying Corvetters.
Advance Auto Parts covered the cost
of this outdoor party, and we want to thank
them for their help and generosity.

The National Corvette Homecoming is not the biggest Corvette Show in the United States.  But the thing
is, it doesn't get smaller every year, it gets bigger.  Here's what we had just in Friday night and all day Saturday:
    -Rock and Roll party downtown
    -Show and Shine
    -National and local vendors
    -For Sale Corral
    -Sans Pareil judging of primo examples of America's sports car
    -Seminars by Wil Cooksey, John Ballard, Dave Burroughs, Paul Graham,
        Tom Hill, and Gordon Killebrew
    -Celebrity poster autograph session
    -Road tour with police escort
    -Outdoor rock and roll party at the conclusion of the road tour

And all this in the Corvette's home town.  Assembly plant.  National Corvette Museum.
Joe Pruitt put on a helluva good Corvette Show.