Members Parker Sharpe (left) and David Cox (right)
(can't see Dave? Click on "Car Shows" in the column to the right to expand the article!!)

Well it was indeed a beautiful day for a car show that Friday morning the 29th of July 2005 in Rockford Illinois. At shows and events in the past you would be lucky to see one or even two Stags.
But here in the parking lots of the Clock Towner Resort were not one or two, but 34, yes, thirty four Triumph Stags!! In total for the show, there were 37 Stags registered and appearing, thirty seven!!
Everywhere you looked there were Stags - driving - parked - being washed - being talked about - being watched - turning heads -

(da Prez) fully prepared to leap onto the Rockford Speedway track for Autocross ...

- stealing the show!
Here are just a few club members during the Fun Drive in the Black Hawk State Park!

Later the Club gathered at our 3rd Annual General Meeting for a Supper/Social, and the Stags were grazing outside the Thunder Bay Grill... 65 members/family attended!

And during the Concours d' Elegance, the best of the best were on Display

Along with an astounding selection in Participants Choice that most all could have entered Concours ...

I hope you enjoyed these photos and addition to the blog.
For over 300 other Staggering photos have a look at
http://brooksroy.com/photos/index.php?cat=16
thanks to member Brooks Roy!

It was a great show, a wonderful selection of Triumphs and Stags. My sincere appreciation and thanks to all the Triumph Stag owners who traveled hundreds and thousands of miles to attend this epic gathering of the herd.

Thanks for looking, and make sure you don't miss another show like this, attend Triumphest 2005 and VTR 2006!!

Cheers!

Glenn Merrell
"da Prez"
Triumph Stag Club USA

The Stag held up through four more runs; my wife Lesley ran it and did well enough to capture third in one of the lady's classes. Then I offered the car to Triumph World editor Tony Beadle. He was standing at the staging area taking pictures and I know if I was him I'd be wishing I had a car. So I offered him the Stag, explaining that it has an automatic trans, and that a manual trans would surely be more fun, but that if he wanted to, he could take it out. He asked if I was serious, I said of course, and he strapped himself in... on the left side of the car! He did well and I think he enjoyed himself out there.

Here are some pictures I took during the autocross:

A TR6 streaks past on the track.

A TR3 navigates through the cones.

This Vitesse turns right on the course.

Jack McGahey, of North Carolina, changes tires on this 1973 TR6 after completing his run.

This Stag navigates its way on the course.

A pair of TR3s wait to run.

Mike Bilyk, of the Detroit Triumph Sportscar Club motors his way on the track.

A Spifire on the course.

Randall Young replaces a cone he knocked over as he exits the track. What a guy!

Tony Beadle, editor of Triumph World Magazine, ran the autocross in a borrowed 1971 Stag. And yes, he did get in on the correct side of the car!

Don Klass of Iowa washes his 1978 Spitfire Wednesday morning.

The funkhana was a hoot! A short course, but it involved sitting on the throne (in a makeshift outhouse) and removing a page from the yellow pages of a category that began with your last name. Next, some sorting of spark plugs had to be done, then a pigs ear toss, and last, you had to pull one of three udders on a cow. A 15 second penalty was assessed if you pulled the wrong udder and upset the cow enough to cause it to drop a surprise!



The digital photography tech session was very well attended as was the electrical session put on by Joe Pawlak and Glenn Merrell. They set up a board with several pairs of headlights called "The Fuseinater." The purpose was to add amperage draw on various size American and British fuses to demonstrate the differences in when each would open and protect your car's harness. Using an American 35 amp fuse, they melted a wire and let loose the smoke it contained.

Russ and Marj Bees posed with their 1931 Standard Avon Special FH just before it was inspected for Thursday's autocross. The car is an amazing example; Tony Beadle, editor of Triumph World Magazine said that even in England, very, very few in any condition survive.

A whole of Triumphs are parked in a roped off area of the host hotel's parking lot and people we going through the registration area all day long. At 6:30pm, the first tech session got underway. The topic was cooling systems. The presenter, Tim Dunderdale, did a fine job of sharing his knowledge on the topic and fielded many questions from the audience.

After that, at 7:30pm, the Welcome Reception began. It was a great opportunity to catch up with Triumph pals from all over the country that you hadn't seen for the past year. After some remarks from Ann Buja, the conference chair, and Vernon Branon, president of VTR, it was time for a special guest to take the stage. It was Tony Beadle of Triumph World Magazine.

The highlight of the evening though, was when the "Spinal Tappets" took the stage to pound out some classic rock tunes with slightly modified lyrics. Outstanding!

The first technical session covered engine cooling systems.

Tony Beadle, editor of the UK magazine Triumph World, spoke at the start of the Welcome Reception Tuesday evening.

The "The Spinal Tappets" entertained the crowd at the Welcome Reception.

We left home just outside of Detroit on Sunday for Chris Holbrook's house in Canadian Lakes, Michigan. I drove my 1971 Stag and Lesley drove our air-conditioned Durango with Blake II. That trip was 200 mile, and uneventful... the best kind. Chris, Pat Barber and myself worked to install saftey belts in the back seat of my Stag so that Blake II could make it to ice cream run with mom and me. We tested the baby seat in the Stag, everything was tight, mom was satisfied he'd be fine.

We left this morning at about 10:30, three Stags, a Spitfire, and the Durango. The only problem besides temps in the 90s was a throttle cable glitch in Pat's Stag. Ten minutes later, we were back on the road. 400 miles later, we were in Rockford.

Along the way, Lesley and I made a stop in Triumph, Illinois. A spooky place for sure. We saw no adults, one boy about 13, wearing a long sleeved shirt and long pants riding a bicycle. (Remember, the temps were in the mid-90s!) We did see about six cats roaming through the town. But the strangest thing about the town of Triumph was that from behind a fence we couldn't see through, someone was singing Christmas carols! Lesley mentioned she thought we stepped into a Stephen King novel, said to take the picture above quickly, and let's get out of here. We did.

We ran into Glenn Merrell of the Stag Club USA in the hotel, he says to expect in excess of 35 Stags! About six or seven are already here. Temps are supposed to cool off somewhat to the mid 80s beginning tomorrow and fair weather is forecast. I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of folks here, please introduce yourself!