VTR National Convention and
North American Challenge XIV
July 26-30, 1989
Albany, New York
After the Rust Dust has Settled
by Rik Schlierer
Reprinted from The Vintage Triumph , Number 44
In the halcyon days of 1978, when Triumphs were still being produced in "merry olde," a group of people who owned these productgs of British industry organized their enthusiasm under the name of Adirondack Triumph Association. Mind you, these were grown men and women who should have known better. Rumor has it that Triumph Clubs are formed to protect owners from their cars and vice versa. More likely, they wished to share their experience, knowledge and more with kindred souls. For 11 years, we (ATA) have done just that.
Back then, the North American Triumph Challenge wore the number 3 and was largely the property of the Chicago and Detroit area clubs. There was also a germ of an idea taking hold in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. "Wouldn't it be great if we could host the North Amerian Convention someday?" someone asked. Being as it was a purely metaphysical speculation, the idea was neither adopted as a cause nor rejected as ridiculous. The name of the perpetrator is lost to history, but it is generally agreed that he or she was not run out of town. The seed was planted; although it lay dormant lo these many years, it was never quite forgotten (try as we might). Over time, the club poured enough beer on it and heaped enough verbal fertilizer on it that the damned seed began to grow. Actually, the real catalyst in all this came when some of our members began regularly attending the Conventsions in Long Island, Detroit, Chicago and Pittsburgh. After a while the lights began to flicker in our brains (Lucas connections, no doubt. As Andy Mace has pointed out, neither of us is too well grounded); before we realized what was happening, the whole club was afflicted.
Fast forward to Atlanta, 1987 . It's hot enough to bake enamel at Road Atlanta where more than 100 certifiable nut cases are hanging out on the pavement (where it's hotter yet) awaiting the chance to drive cars that cook your feet in winter! My companion and I decided that the pool at the hotel was infinitely more appealing and promptly made our escape. At the pool we found fellow ATA members Amy Kerr and Andy Mace, who announced their intention to never get out of the pool again. A tempting, if impractical idea. It was right there in the intoxicating coolness of the water that Bill Sohl informed us that we had the 1989 convention if we still wanted it. "Sure!" we chorused, thereby insuring that the next two years of our lives would be fully accounted for and at the same time relinquishing any claim to sanity that we may have had left.
The funny thing about conventions is that they take on a life of their own, and nothing rational human beings can do will slow them down. (I know, we're Triumph owners and rationality has nothing to do with it. I thought I'd say it before you did.) There was an unexpected contagiousness to the Convention, which was fortunate for us. In spite of the fact that we had the backing of the club to make the application for '89, we did not know how many people would be (a) required to actually pull it off and (b) willing to put their time and sanity where their mouth was when the time came. Therein we broke "Schlierer's First Rule of Hosting the Convention." To wit: If you cannot be certain that your club has 50 people willing to work for two to three years on it, don't apply. This rule applies to first-time host clubs only, as I'm sure that ISOA and DTSC, with their experience, wouldn't require as many people or as much time, right?
The fever spread among our members and our meetings were better attended. It seems that our members all were experiencing the kind of euphoria common to brides-to-be and Marine recruits. Everything seemed possible and the whole country, yea, even the world awaited our plans. And in a sense it was true. People all over the country do look forward to the Convention every year. That fact alone would have been enough to fuel many of us, since we knew that the project would be a success almost in spite of itself. Of course, that kind of success was not what we wanted. With our experience as attendees at past conventions we saw much that was laudable and some things that needed improvement. We knew that we would have failings of our own, but we were determined to minimize those and to mount the best convention yet. Such is the naivete of first-time hosts.
We had good people and we had ideas. Oh, the ideas that we tossed about! If we had been able to do everything we discussed, we would have had you here for three weeks! A financial and practical impossibility to be sure, but what a grand time you would have had! Then the real world began to intrude on our plans. In a series of meetings that were long and difficult but necessary and productive, we pared down our ideas into a "do-able" schedule and began to concentrate on the exigencies of actually making it all happen. We had entered the dreaded "work stage" of the convention. Proposing and planning is great fun, (as any young betrothed can tell you). Making the thing actually happen is work, and work, unless you work for George (not Joseph) Lucas, is rarely fun.
As to the event itself, I understand that it may have been the biggest ever, with over 580 registered participants bringing 287 Triumphs to the meet. Add to that the unregistered cars and supporters and the mind boggles at the way this has grown. The original "Panoramic Photo" I am told was taken with a 35mm camera. No one even said if the photographer needed a wide angle lens. Now it takes hours to set up and a special camera, and the poor folks in the last rows need a magnifying glass just to find their car in the photo.
We received nothing but praise for some aspects of our event, most notably the Tours and the Gymkhana. These were successful beyond our expectations, and we are happy that you all enjoyed them so much. The Tour east over Petersburg Pass and into the Berkshires gave something like 40 cars (and their occupants) the chance to test their hillclimb abilities and, later, the effectiveness of their brakes. It turned out to be an all-day affair, starting at 10:00 a.m., continuing through lunch at a beautiful rock stream and returning sometime about 5:00 p.m. At least most of the participants returned then, some a bit later, and onve very much later -- the single casualty of the tour. Thanks to Charles Runyan, all was put right by evening. and the unfortunate TR was returned to the ranks of the running.
The response to the Gymkhana caught us all off guard. It was scheduled to run from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m., but when the rains came at a little before 6:00 p.m., there were still cars lined up awaiting a chance to place yellow tennis balls on top of orange pylons and then proceed to remove same while backing around the course.
The Autocross started off a bit slowly at first, being that there were so many cars to get through and we were installing a new way of staging cars with which many participants were unfamiliar. Once the routine was established and everyone saw how it all worked, the questions seemed to disappear, and all agreed that this was a significant improvement on the old way of running an autocross. (My only complaint has to do with getting edged out of first in the TR3 class. But that wasn't because I just wasn't fast enough. It had nothing to do with the organization. However that .09 sec was instrumental in winning the Ken Richardson award for the guy who beat me. Congratulations Shel, you deserve it.)
We were determined to make the two scheduled Rallyes the best possible, considering that most of the participants would not have a great deal of rallye experience. In that regard I believe that we were successful. Both ran through the beautiful countryside of southern Albany County: the TSD Rallye headed farther west into the quite rural towns of Berne and Rensselaerville, while the Gimmick Rallye kept to the more subarban confines of New Scotland and the not-so-little town of Bethlehem. The routes were straightforward and (if you paid attention) easy to follow. There were only a few traps and those only provided in order to shake out any tie scores.
These events also received generally good reviews. We did hear some complaints about the Rallyes, but mostly it was because people didn't understand the rules. Both rallyes were triple-checked by experienced and novice rallyists and found to be technically and conceptually correct. Some folks told us that the Bimmick Rallye could not be completed in the three-hour time limit. It was 60 miles start to finish. That's an average speed of 20mph. I mean really, folks! We didn't hold to the time limit in any case. We were disappointed in the number of entries we saw for the rallyes but encouraged that the complaints were so few; the majority of the entrants reported that they had fun. More people should try them as they represent a link with the tradition of Triumph competition in World Rallyes, and they provide another way of seeing more of the area in which the convention is held.
The banquet did seem a tad lengthy; however, we did have three speakers in Le Mans driver Peter Bolton, the ever-popular Ken Richardson, and Autoweek resident loony Satch Carlson. Each contributed a different view of Triumphs and the history and allure of these unusual little cars that we all love so much. Additionally, we had a lorry-load of trophies to give out, which is the reason it's called an "Awards Banquet!" I may be wrong, but I seem to remember being told that we missed the Longest Banquet Award (?), that honor still residing in Texas. Whew! All I know was that it took a long time to give away all those awards. In the end, very few people left before the drawing of the Great Spitfire Giveaway winner. We hope that everyone enjoyed the Banquet as much as we enjoyed presenting the entire weekend for you.
I want to thank everyone in the Adirondack Triumph Association, Empire Motor Sports Club, Vintage Triumph Register, and all who participated and gave their hard work, time, ideas, and support. It was not an ATA event, nor was it a VTR event. Nearly 600 people from all over the world made it their event. We are proud to have been part of it. We're also exhausted. Next time we host the North American Triumph Challenge, we'll know better. Maybe.
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