Florida VCOA & Volvo Enthusiast Community Spring Meet & Picnic, Philippe Park, Safety Harbor, March 5th, 2011
Perfect weather, great venue, outstanding turn out, nice folks, cute kids and lots of dogs best describes the Spring Meet & Picnic hosted by FL VCOA held on March 5th, 2011 at Philippe Park in the quaint town of Safety Harbor. 56 cars registered for the event and we had a 244 show up after the event had ended. Almost all models were represented and the numbers were spread equally among the vintage/classic RWD and FWD/AWD.
We thank all the FL VCOA members (www.FLVCOA.org), the Florida Volvo Community (FVC) website/forum (www.floridavolvocommunity.net) group and the newly forming Central Florida Chapter of Volvo Sports America (www.vsa.org) for their participation. We were also thrilled to have the Volvo racing community represented with the attendance of several members of the Central Florida Region of Sports Car Club of America (www.cfrscca.org). The event truly was a Florida Volvo enthusiast community event with various clubs being represented.
Numerous trophy categories were awarded. The lone 1965 PV 544 of CFL VSA’s Martin Stickley won the People’s Choice Vintage trophy. FL VCOA’s Roger Patricio won the People’s Choice RWD 1976-1998 trophy with his stunning 1980 242GT-turbo. Francisco Guerra won the People’s Choice FWD/AWD trophy with his modified 2004 S60R Evolve. FVC’s Jaime Seda won the Daily Driver trophy with his two-tone and very sweet 1995 850T5R. FL VCOA/FVC/CFL VSA & CFR SCCA member Tricia Rose won the Golden Rod for Technical Innovation with her modified 1967 122E. The Longest Distance (driven to the event) trophy was awarded to CFL VSA’s Robert Stanton and his beautiful 1972 1800ES who drove 457 miles from Pensacola to attend the event. He was the first to arrive and one of the last to leave, so it made for an extremely long day for him. The Highest Mileage award was won by JCNA’s Todd Gracen and his 1990 240DL with a whopping 346,034 miles. He swears it doesn’t leak a drop of oil!
Other activities featured at the event were two silent auctions and Volvo Jeopardy. Three 3 man teams competed for “R” lapel pins in Volvo Jeopardy with FL VCOA & CFR SCCA’s Bob Haire, Bill Cierebiej and Dennis Joyce winning with 185 points. FVC’s Alan Johnson, Ray Krigger and Robert Cardwell placed 2nd with 100 points followed by the FL VCOA team of Roger Patricio, Dave Montgomery and Louis Bouchelle with 50 points.
The silent auctions featured Driving Zone II DVD’s paired with KPAX Racing 2010 Team Shirt (Lot 1) and 2009 Andy Pilgrim balaclava (Lot 2), all autographed and very kindly donated by the Andy Pilgrim Foundation (APF). Proceeds from the auction will be donated to APF so that they may continue to produce the DZII DVD’s that promote teen driver education and safety. The DVDs are donated for free to schools across the country. Robert Stanton was the high bidder on Lot 1 with $20 while Tricia Rose was the high bidder with $15 on Lot2. In addition to the silent auctions, a donation jar for the APF was set up and raised $43 in cash donations.
Platinum Sponsor:
Kevin Riley and the crew at Volvo Village in Clearwater generously donated money to sponsor 5 of the 7 trophies, pay for site rental and provide water and snack bags free to all participants. A display of 4 Volvo models both current and late in addition to numerous parts for sale was provided. Assistance in advertising the event via a local radio station and personal invites to several of Volvo Village clients. Their support was stellar and they were great partners to work with. The event would not have been possible without their very generous support.
Door prizes were another highlight of the event with all in attendance taking home a Volvo goodie thanks to the generous donations from our sponsors:
Gold Sponsors:
1) IPD Co., Inc
2) Coast Volvo in Sarasota
3) Roger Patricio of RP R Sport Restorations (sponsored Golden Rod trophy)
4) Auto Clinic of Naples, Inc. (sponsored RWD and Volvo Village sponsor trophies)
5) The Andy Pilgrim Foundation.
Silver Sponsors:
1) Jim Haughey of KPAX Racing
2) Gretchen Adams of VCOA
3) FL VCOA member Erik Kessler
4) Classis Motorsports and Grassroots Motorsports magazines.
We extend our sincerest appreciation to the following:
1) FL VCOA, CFL VSA & FVC members Clive “Alive” & Jeannine Dowdell, FL VCOA webmasters and PR gurus for the numerous hours they put in to advertise the event in addition to starting our new blog. Jeannine also did a series of press releases for our platinum and gold sponsors which generated lots of activity for their businesses. Clive posted the event on numerous blogs and also served as our official event photographer. They also served as site liaisons and their selection of Philippe Park Shelter 5 was extremely well received. Lastly, they purchased and transported all the water and snack bags. What a team!
2) We thank FL VCOA’s Mike Cohen and Chapter President Dave Montgomery for providing the most current VCOA member list.
3) Artist Chris Smith did an outstanding job with flyer and trophy artwork.
4) Susie Joyce was our vote tabulator.
5) Francisco Guerra’s lovely son and daughter were our door prize ticket pickers.
6) FVC for their support (their cars ROCK!).
7) FL VCOA, CFL VSA, FVC & CFR SCCA’s Bill and Tricia Rose for sponsorship, the creation and printing of all registration and voting materials, in addition to acquiring event sponsorship and trophy sponsorship.
We had a great team with the end result being a great event that was enjoyed by all. We look forward to getting the groups together again later in the year for another enjoyable day of Volvo doings.
By Tricia Rose
Photos here:
