SDAC-20 (yawn): The Reitrement Years™ :-(

[fishcleaner]

I remember that..... I swear someone yelled "free donuts".....K-mart parking lot? I've never seen so many police in one place.... Then to top it off the cops were at our hotel too.... Indy police are not friendly like the columbus ones....

Tim

cops generally don't change, no offence I would say Indy is a bad place. The Columbus cops working the Nats were mostly cool, I got into the habit of asking them what they drove and almost all of them were car guys and volunteered to work the show.

[Dusty_Duster]

It was hot as hell out there. After being in the near 100 degree heat all day at the car show, hanging out in the close to 90 degree weather in the parking lot that night was not my idea of fun.

Parking lot festivities were just fine. Sunday and Sunday night was rough from a weather standpoint, Monday I was out until 2:something, Tuesday I was out until 3:30.

The last two days in Maryland have been low humidity with highs in the lower 80's during the day and 60's at night. Too bad we weren't in Hagerstown now!

Yeah, it's BEAUTIFUL outside right now. I took the Duster on (another) long drive yesterday, and today I'm going to wash all of the SDAC crud off of it and go to a cruise-in tonight.

It's usually not that hot here in Maryland; we have one or two hot weeks every summer. Unfortunately, SDAC just happened to coincide with one of those hot weeks this year.

I too recall that at Indy. We ate at Hooters one night and there were burnouts in the parking lot. I got in line and did one with my truck and it was less than an hour later the Indy cops showed up and stopped that. Hooters had not complained either as I recall. The cops were passing by, saw the smoke and stopped.

Barry

Awww, man, I'd pay money to see Barry do a burnout!

[88_pacifica]

cops generally don't change, no offence I would say Indy is a bad place. The Columbus cops working the Nats were mostly cool, I got into the habit of asking them what they drove and almost all of them were car guys and volunteered to work the show.

I guess I stand corrected. I was under the impression that based on the US Nats they have here every fall, it would be comparable. I know they are pretty laid back then, but who's to say it would be like that for our event if it were here.

In that case, then I would second the motion to bring it to Columbus or even someplace in Illinois or Kentucky, etc. Maybe even further south than that to give everyone a more evened out opportunity to go? I'd imagine that those people are due for an SDAC event(sorry west coast guys)? Of course, I would not put it in the hottest part of the year if a more southern point is picked...

[1FastCSX289]

I would say that the parking lot scene was definitely a bit weaker than it had been in previous years but I think that was a combination of a few different things. THe first obvious thing was that the hotel owners were jack asses and we didnt want Barry and the club to have to hear about the idiocy in the lot. Second was that the lot was just not conducive to burnouts, bigwheel riding, etc because we were parked right behind the actual hotel....no "buffer zone" to keep from disturbing people or running an innocent person over doing burnouts. The back lots would have been perfect to hang in, but there was no lighting and the lots were basically gravel.

I did miss the lack of burnouts (Frank kept telling me how "belligerent" I was being about the lack of burnouts after a few drinks). BUT.....SDAC is about more than burnouts in the lot. Some people were getting so uppity about the lack of parking lot antics as if it was like someone left out the drag race day or something. I wish there was some more excitement out there, but.....eh.....theres always next year.

[LaserXT1986]

Well since I started this thread, let me try to explain.

I've been to SDAC 13, 14, 15, and 17. Each one of those had insane parking lot antics, some of which I contributed to (SDAC 15 Turbo GT Cruiser convertible, for example). The parking lot antics became something to look forward to as much as the daytime events.

Me and Firebaron90 (Joe) recruited a new member this year, Dave Middleton. You may remember him as the guy with the silver Mustang, and the R/C car. He had wanted to park his RV in Gettysburg, and stay there each night. We pleaded with him to ditch that idea, as he'd miss out on the parking lot antics we hyped up about from the SDAC's we've previously been to. After weeks of re-telling stories of the parking lot shenanigans of previous SDAC's, he decided to stay with us.

The first night started well -- Miss Maryland pageants, as well as free ice cream courtesy of Alan. Second night while we were at dinner, Alan sets the hotel on fire (or so it seemed with all the smoke in the hallways) with a massive burnout. That was the beginning of the end. While the rest of the night seemed to be like something from the movie "Hangover" in Alan's room, the parking lot antics hit their peak. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights, it was dead. And I do not believe the heat was the reason -- we sat outside with a small group (about 9 people) watching Family Guy on my laptop. It seemed pretty comfortable to me. And judging by the number of people sitting in chairs, there were quite a few people still out there (including Steel City boys playing beer pong....and some of them weren't even staying at the Clarion!!)

But back to the points. Dave Middleton pretty much looked at me and Joe with a raised eye regarding the so-called "parking lot antics". Sunday night, as I mentioned, I heard crickets chirping (no exaggeration). I also heard Obama bashing which, while I agree on much that I overheard, it just seemed like "wow....is SDAC this dull that we have to resort to talking politics?". Monday and Tuesday nights were no different. Those that say "well there was an event the next day" don't remember previous SDAC's. The previous poster mentioned about the parking lot not being the best spot for some things, and the hotel being jackasses and yes, that is true (for more than one reason, i.e., $10 breakfasts). But I also overheard many speaking about the first choice in Gettysburg, and not being chosen due to a $15 difference in price ($99 versus $85). That said, if you add in extra $10 per person in each room, this hotel actually cost more (and from what I heard, the first hotel choice would have NOT had issues with the parking lot antics). Again, this was what I heard, and not sure if there is more to the reason why the first hotel was overlooked so I won't start a discussion about that.

I wasn't complaining so much as making a point -- SDAC 20's parking lot was dead after the first "official day". No one can dispute that. While it is true the auto-x and drags were great this year (esp. after the rain came at the auto-x), the parking lot nights (which always were, to me, a big part of SDAC as well) were just dead. As the previous poster said, there is always next year.

Another thing that I was disappointed about was, the lack of a cruise night, and the lack of a tech session this year, things that occurred some of the previous SDAC's I attended. I know their was an issue about cruising on the strip outside the host hotel (there were signs posted all along Route 40 about no cruising, and you needed to take 40 to get to any other major road). But, couldn't this had been determined before selecting the hotel? Or at the very least, NOT list a cruise on the itinerary, if this was known (the signs on 40 were obviously up for quite some time, so I'd have to assume someone had to know this prior to the hotel being selected).

Again not complaining so much as expressing some disappointment. As far as the events, the drags were great (save for those who had traction issues), and the auto-x got really good once the track was soaked. Made me wish my car was ready as I would have done both!!

Hope this helps clarify my original post on this thread. SDAC 20 overall was great and I wouldn't have missed it, but some things did fall short compared to previous years. Not pointing a finger in any way, just stating an opinion.

["Top Fuel" Bender]

maybe Lucidi Corp. should buy off the hotel next year instead of paying the waiter @ Texas Roadhouse to shower me in peanuts

Get Dave Middleton to attend Uncle Denny's Bash @ Carlisle to see how it done

[BadAssPerformance]

We arrived at the car show so we missed the Saturday shenanigans but from talking to others it sounded like everyone kinda went all out early and didnt pace out their craziness enough... this was probably part of the hotel's issue. And after cops show up for different things, that tends to put a damper on the situation too...

Speaking of hotels, really its a gamble on how well our group and antics will be received. Some are cool and let us get a little crazy and some are not, and the group stays calmer... hell, I'm glad I didnt have room to pack my scooter or Eiker, keith, Alex, myself or somebody woulda got hurt racing them on that hilly lot

Lucidi, I think its funny that you mentioned SDAC 13, 14, 15, and 17 as ones to compare 20 to, and I'll say that in comparisson all those were dull compared to 10 or 12. 10 because of the crazy hotel, and 12, well... I forgot how many times my car wash bucket got filled in the swimming pool to re-wet the water box... burnouts ended when everyone was tired of doing them, no other reason. Oh, that was also the hotel with the multi-story atrium great for launching a rubber band air force, and not sure exactly how the doodie ended up in the pool, LOL...

Wait, I think I figured it out.. we need more Chicagoland (including WI) crew there... those are always the more 'entertaining' SDAC's...

[Turbo3Iroc]

10 and 12 were before my time. I have been to all since 13 except 16. 18 was pretty cool even though it was a 1st class Mariott hotel, they didn't seem to care about anything we did. When we showed up there we all thought there was no way we would get away with our normal antics. I think 19 may have put a burdon on this years activities. After all the hotel crap and police visits guys just laid back a bit instead of getting in real trouble. I also heard that the house behind the hotel (wtf )called on us a few times.

[LaserXT1986]

Speaking of hotels, really its a gamble on how well our group and antics will be received. Some are cool and let us get a little crazy and some are not, and the group stays calmer... hell, I'm glad I didnt have room to pack my scooter or Eiker, keith, Alex, myself or somebody woulda got hurt racing them on that hilly lot

That's why I mentioned the other hotel choice in Gettysburg. From what I heard, they would have had no issue with the "parking lot antics" and even had a Mustang convention there recently that went "ape poopy" so to speak. Of course past events don't guarantee "we" wouldn't have problems, and I don't know more reasons as to why that hotel wasn't chosen so it's a moot point here. Yes you are correct, it is a gamble.

Lucidi, I think its funny that you mentioned SDAC 13, 14, 15, and 17 as ones to compare 20 to, and I'll say that in comparisson all those were dull compared to 10 or 12. 10 because of the crazy hotel, and 12, well... I forgot how many times my car wash bucket got filled in the swimming pool to re-wet the water box... burnouts ended when everyone was tired of doing them, no other reason. Oh, that was also the hotel with the multi-story atrium great for launching a rubber band air force, and not sure exactly how the doodie ended up in the pool, LOL..

If 13, 14, 15, and 17 were dull to you, then 20 must have been dead in your eyes. And I mean, D E A D. 13, we had more burnouts than I could keep count, airbags being launched, Marra and others going down a side street hitting 100+ mph while dialing in boost, me neutral dropping my 84 NA K-car about 20 times to hear the most inaudible "chirp" from the tires, etc. 14, pretty much same thing, and let's not forget the cop that I got to pose with Brian Slowe, while Brian was holding a beer in his hand!! 15, well *I* got tired of doing burnouts in the GT Cruiser, and many others probably did too (hell even the Papa John's guy was doing burnouts when he'd leave). 17....with Alan, the rental, and the NOS....need I say more? (And yes, there was more!). I could spend several hours discussing the "antics" that went on at those 4 SDAC's I mentioned (and, me and Joe did to Dave Middleton, which is why he decided to stay at the hotel). Now, you take any of the "dull" SDAC's I mentioned (13, 14, 15, 17) and compare them to 20....and, you can't. If 10 and/or 12 were that wild, it only makes the point more valid about comparing to 20. Again, not complaining so much as making an observation and being a bit disappointed.

Wait, I think I figured it out.. we need more Chicagoland (including WI) crew there... those are always the more 'entertaining' SDAC's...

Well, I said 14 was a great SDAC and wouldn't have a problem seeing it go back that way....you Chicagoland guys know how to have a good time!! Hell, I still have pics and memories of the BBQ at Dave's house! Only complaint I had about 14 was the track was HOT and there was NO shade aside from under the bleachers or snack bar.....but that is the case with most tracks

[Aries_Turbo]

18 had some crazy --- burnouts. the maintenance guy was watering the burnout box for us, lasky completely filled the parking lot with smoke with the caddy and alan broke his hand on a kids scooter

at 15, the pizza guy eventually came back out to hang once his shift was over. i did a burnout in the k car till i couldnt breathe/see. hehe

you gotta have slow years to really appreciate the crazy ones. its not a big deal. i sure still had fun.

Brian

[BadAssPerformance]

...If 13, 14, 15, and 17 were dull to you, then 20 must have been dead in your eyes.

With my lack of sleep the previous week, I actually thought it was quite alright. Everyone around bench racing with some enjoying adult beverages, parking lot tech each night, some scooter antics and a burnout or two.. not bad at all.

Sure, we didnt have a ton of burnouts, or an un-named WI member climbing to the top of the Dennys to put a JEG'S sticker on the chimney, but it still was a good time.

BTW... did you do any burnouts? Did you instigate any antics?

If 10 and/or 12 were that wild, it only makes the point more valid about comparing to 20.

I wouldnt call 10 wild as much as interesting... quite possibly the worst hotel we have ever had, but just observing the locals and their antics... priceless.

18 had some crazy --- burnouts. the maintenance guy was watering the burnout box for us, lasky completely filled the parking lot with smoke with the caddy and alan broke his hand on a kids scooter

Yeah, 18 was awesome as well... sweet hotel, nice parking lot, great burnouts, good scooter racing, MoparBoyy riding/crashing in the cooler, etc. etc.

[LaserXT1986]

BTW... did you do any burnouts? Did you instigate any antics?

-I did a burnout attempt (with totally bald tires that barely got me home, the steel belts exploded 30 miles from my house). Did it Tuesday night. Yes, it sucked....but again, I still had to do the rally the next day and make it home. Pictures to come of just how bad my tires were and how I almost had 2 (yes, 2) blowouts upon getting home.

-If I had been asked (like previous years) to do a burnout in say, the rental, I would have without hesitation.

-Me & Joe highly contributed to SDAC 15's shenanigans, since then I decided to let others step up to the plate if I didn't bring a car to do it. That said, I tried at 17 with the rental Magnum but it wasnt letting me burnout due to the computer control.

If my car had been ready, I would have had no issue, cops or not, doing burnouts. I would have, if nothing else, went across the street to the Days Inn where the Steel City boys stayed and did it there

Oh yea....it was me, more than ANYONE else, pushing for the attempt to make "Hoagie Goes to Walmart™". I was willing to pay any price, and do ANYTHING to see that happen. We had a camera, we had a film crew, and we were READY. But Hoagie decided at the last minute that he didn't need the stress of his wife/gf yelling at him. I tried....I REALLY tried...along with several others (Ean Orsel, Dave Middleton, Alan....).

So....there! Good enough?

[sdac guy]

As far as motel selection, the price point on the motel was our first criteria to narrow the selection (among all hotels that qualified on the other points). But the final selection was based on the contract they offered us.

In the end the Wyndham and Eisenhower in Gettysburg and the Clarion in Hagerstown were the three we looked at. The Wyndham was more expensive per night, but The Clarion, by far, had the contract that had the least risk of costing us big bucks.

The Wyndham was the worst by far. Their contract spelled it right out. If we did not make our bogey on the room block we owed them $22,000 and would have to pay the $2000 fee for the conference room. I will always refuse to sign such a contract. I don't care how nice their parking lot is! If no other hotel could be found, I still wouldn't sign it, we would look at another area to hold the event.

In lieu of an organized cruise (drive some where and drive back) the Hagerstown Cruise In on Saturday night was offered up by our guys helping plan the event. That was an event where the local folks meet in a parking lot to show off their cars.

While we left flyers for it at the hotel desk, and gave out some to folks. I don't think any of our guys went to it. I was sort of against it after I got on site and was thinking about it. As I thought it might invite locals that were up to no good to come to our motel and potentially cause trouble.

As far as burnouts go ... While I am a fan of them, and have done more than a couple in my years, I see them as a source of possible trouble for us all the time. At most of our events, most local police look the other way as long as there are no complaints. And most of the hotels we've been at put up with them because 1) they don't know they are going on, or 2) they see the revenue we are bringing them and don't want to make waves.

At the Drawbridge for SDAC-15, the motel did not know they were going on. While some of the staff witnessed the activity, they did not report it to the management. When I left the final morning I talked to the manager and apologized for the antics and they honestly didn't know what I was referring to.

But the same motel for SDAC-19, the senior citizen apartments overlooked the parking lot and some of the residents there had nothing better to do than to complain about us. For the record, the motel didn't care until the police showed up because of a complaint called in by the folks in the apartments. Then the motel was forced to take a stand against the activity (and so was I). Every time a police car showed up at the Drawbridge, it was in response to a complaint called in.

So my response to this thread is that folks should not bemoan the fact there wasn't much of that activity this year, they should that much more appreciate the times when it does happen.

Barry

[JDAWG]

The problem with the hotel was that the cops get called there ALL THE TIME, I mean like EVERY fri/sat night, so when they get a call to go there they already are pissed, the hotel up the road would have been better and actually the parking lot out back would have been big enough to have the X-cross in. But really the hotel is so scared that they will lose their liquor liscense again that they dont want anything goin on, cops being called too much. AND the cops are mega pissed every time they get called there anyways. mostly for drunken fights.
Sat night night I mentioned to a few people about ridin out to the local cruise for a while which is a bunch of muscle cars and some minitrucks and imports, then everyone cruises the dual hwy, the street that thehotel was located on, a few people wanted to go but for the most part everyone wanted to sit around in their chairs and have a circ jerk so I dunno what happened there.

[ljbprrfmof]

...so I dunno what happened there.

Inertia.

[sdac guy]

The problem with the hotel was that the cops get called there ALL THE TIME, I mean like EVERY fri/sat night, so when they get a call to go there they already are pissed,

When I talked to the cops on Sat nite, they had NOT been called. It was a regular patrol they were on which includes that lot because of 1) there is a problem with teenage drinking in the back lot, and 2) there are often problems with the patrons of the bar on that property. And I talked to the cops in both of the cars that were there and they weren't pissed at all. The one cop that seemed to be the more stern of the two, certainly didn't like being video taped, but that's life.

the hotel up the road would have been better and actually the parking lot out back would have been big enough to have the X-cross in.

Since the motel up the road wasn't on our list it must not have met our other minimum requirements.


Barry

[Aries_Turbo]

in MD its illegal to videotape people without consent.... they misuse a wiretap law to say that the audio on the camera is an illegal wiretap. folks were videotaping police brutality and the cops dont like getting caught being douchebags.

was it the blond haired, fair skinned cop?

Brian

[cobra2411]

Me and Firebaron90 (Joe) recruited a new member this year, Dave Middleton. You may remember him as the guy with the silver Mustang, and the R/C car.

I had fun anyway... It was nice meeting all the people there. I did sense a little feeling of disappointment/frustration though...

Barry, I'm surprised the other hotel was going to charge you that much for not meeting your room quota. I know they want guaranteed rooms to give discounted rates and if you don't meet that they usually charge you for the unsold rooms. Was the 22k if none of the rooms were rented; ie the max you'd be on the hook for?

Well if nothing else it's put me on the track for a 2.4 DOHC swap. I never would have considered it before SDAC but after seeing some of the hybrids/swaps, especially DJ's it started to sink in. Then it was talking to Alan that finally pushed me over the edge and made me realize it would be a lot easier to move the air that I need using a 16v head vs an 8v one.

Anyway I'm still looking forward to SDAC-21.

[sdac guy]

.... Barry, I'm surprised the other hotel was going to charge you that much for not meeting your room quota. I know they want guaranteed rooms to give discounted rates and if you don't meet that they usually charge you for the unsold rooms. Was the 22k if none of the rooms were rented; ie the max you'd be on the hook for?

Ah now you made me go back and re-read the contract. And I was in error. The flat rate dollar penalty was if we canceled the event, they would consider us in breach of contract and owe them not the $22K I thought, but $26,500.

The initial room block we requested in the quote represented 330 room nights. The contract specified if we did not attain 75% (248) of those room nights through reservations by May 25, then SDAC would have to pay the difference between whatever the actual room night count and 248 (75%). Knowing that many of our folks are slow to make reservations we could not risk going till May 25 and not making the 75%.

As it was the Clarion also had such language but their contract allowed us to shrink our room block 45 days before the event to avoid the same type of penalty. We did indeed shrink our block 20% 45 days prior to the event but in the end we exceeded the original room block count. This made it possible for us to get the SDAC room and the conference room for awards night comped to us, saving us about $1000.

As a footnote to all this, I looked over the contract from the Eisenhower also. While not quite as scary as the Wyndham contract, it did have a clause that parking was complimentary, but RV's (trailers?) would be charged $30 per night to park. I recall reading that clause early this year and saying to myself, "well they're out."

Barry

[turbojerk]

As a footnote to all this, I looked over the contract from the Eisenhower also. While not quite as scary as the Wyndham contract, it did have a clause that parking was complimentary, but RV's (trailers?) would be charged $30 per night to park. I recall reading that clause early this year and saying to myself, "well they're out."

Barry

We were told it wound't be a problem for trailer parking when we visited....