2020_NCRS_NC_Newsletter_Jan-Mar

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NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

January to March 2020 EDITION NorthCentralNCRS.com

Don O’Grady’s 1966 Corvette Convertible

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

State of The Chapter As we all watch the national news we are all focused on the Coronavirus Pandemic and how it may affect our families, friends and our 2020 North Central Chapter events. We are monitoring all Federal and State guideline that suggest we should avoid all gatherings of ten (10) or more people and cancel discretionary travel. In regards to our upcoming Technical Sessions, Judging School/Events and our Regional, we have decided to cancel all events until after August 6, we have determined this is a necessary steps to keep our members safe.

Here’s a recap of the club events and activities during the past three months.

• Board Meetings: The board was scheduled to meet on January 2, February 6, and March 5, at Davanni’s in East St. Paul to conduct the club business, including board member reports, old and new business. Club members attending included Wally Grivna and Mark Swanson in January. Wally Grivna, Jeff Henry, Steve Hudak and Mark Swanson in February. Wally Grivna, Jeff Henry and Mark Swanson in March. Members are always welcome to attend.

• Technical Sessions: On January 25, sixteen members meet at Bill Kohl’s house to remove his engine and transmission from his 78 Coupe. On February 15, twenty three members meet at Paul Burski’s house to install his door weatherstripping on his 62 Convertible. The March 21, meeting was canceled due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

• Social Activities: No activities this reporting period.

• Judging School/Events: No activities this reporting period.

We continue to look for suggestions from our club members on how to improve our club events and increase membership participation. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and your families.

Please feel free to contact me with your ideas.

Regards, Alden Miles / 612-387-2869 / armiles1226@yahoo.com

Chairman Vice Chairman Alden Miles Paul Burski

Membership Tech Director Judging Chair Jerome Lardy Bob Lund Chris Enstrom

Activities Secretary Treasurer Website/newsletter At-Large

Don O’Grady Dave Murphy Roger Carlson Nick Kornder Kevin Sullivan

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

NCRS Cancels All Activities Through AUgust 6

In light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the evolving guidance from the CDC, federal, state, and local authorities, the NCRS Board of Directors has decided to cancel the 2020 National Convention planned for July 19-23 in French Lick, Indiana. The health and wellbeing of the NCRS membership was foremost in our mind as we made this decision.

Refunds will be made to those who have already registered. This will take some time so please be patient. The French Lick Resort has already, or will shortly issue a blanket cancellation of reservations made in the NCRS room block, so there is no need for you to call the hotel to cancel your reservations.

We are strongly recommending that all NCRS Chapters continue to follow CDC, federal, state, and local guidance until the coronavirus pandemic is behind us. At a minimum we suggest that you cancel any events planned between now and the end of the Convention blackout period, which would have run through August 6, 2020.

Mike Ingham on behalf of the NCRS Board North Central Chapter Follows Suit Cancels All Activities Through AUgust 6 During the April North Central NCRS Board Meeting, it was decided to follow the lead of the NCRS and cancel all in-person events for the North Central Chapter through August 6, 2020.

This will include all chapter events, judging schools and tech sessions. It will also include the 2020 Regional Event which was set for June 11-13 in Rochester, Minnesota. Refunds for the Rochester Regional will be forthcoming and hotel reservations have been cancelled, members do not need to contact the hotel. The Board will continue to meet monthly via conference call to discuss future events.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Regards, Alden Miles - Chairman North Central Chapter of NCRS 612-387-2869 / armiles1226@yahoo.com

Randy Clark - Post from FaceBook My new C8 vin#0093 and my C1 vin#0093 are both home from the National Corvette Museum. The C1 had been on loan to the museum for two years and I took museum delivery on my C8.

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

2020 Calendar of Local Events January Thurs.

2 6:30 PM Sat 25 9 AM February Thurs.

6 6:30 PM Sat. 15 9 AM March Thurs.

5 6:30 PM Sat. 21 9 AM Tues.

31 April Thurs.

2 6:30 PM Sat. 18 9 AM Sat. 25 5 PM May Thurs.

7 6:30 PM Sat. 9 8 AM Sat. 16 9 AM June Thurs.

4 6:30 PM Thurs.-Sat. 11-13 Sat. 20 9 AM Tues.

30 July Thurs.

9 6:30 PM Sat. 18 Sun.-Thurs. 19-24 August Thurs.

6 6:30 PM Fri. 14 6 PM Sat. 15 8 AM September Thurs.

3 6:30 PM Sat. 19 9 AM Wed. 30 October Thurs.

1 6:30 PM Sat 17 9 AM Sat 24 6 PM November Thurs.

5 6:30 PM Sat. 21 9 AM December Sat 19 9 AM Thurs.

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Board meeting Tech Session - Bill Kohl - Engine/Transmission Removal C3 Board Meeting Tech Session or Judging School Board Meeting Tech Session - Cancelled Deadline for Crossed Flags articles – forward to Nick Kornder Board Meeting - Via Conference Call Tech Session - Cancelled Spring Social Dinner – Cowboy Jacks in Woodbury - Cancelled Board Meeting - Via Conference Call Chapter Spring Judging Meet - Cancelled Tech Session - Cancelled Board Meeting - Via Conference Call North Central Regional – Rochester, Minn. - Cancelled Judging School - Cancelled Deadline for Crossed Flags articles – forward to Nick Kornder Board Meeting - Via Conference Call Tech Session or Judging School - Cancelled NCRS NATIONAL CONVENTION - Cancelled Board Meeting Judging School/BBQ - Eagan, MN Chapter Judging Meet – Long Lake, MN Board Meeting Tech Session or Judging School Deadline for Crossed Flags articles – forward to Nick Kornder Board & Chapter Meeting, ANNUAL ELECTION Judging School Fall Social at Mancinis’ Board Meeting Tech Session TBD Deadline for Crossed Flags articles – forward to Nick Kornder

ALL DATES & TIMES SUBJECT TO CHANGE * Monthly Board of Directors Meeting Location Announced Each Month *All chapter members are welcome at board meetings. We hope to see you at one.

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

Calendar of National Events 2020 Regional and National Events February 19-22 Florida Regional May 14-16 Adirondack Regional May 28-30 Rocky Mountain Regional June 11-13 North Central Regional July 19-24 2020 National Convention August 20-22 Northwest Regional October 22-24 Texas Regional 2020 Chapter Events March 13 Arizona Chapter March 20 Southeast Chapter April 4 Southern Arizona Chapter April 18 Heart of Ohio Chapter April 19 Mason Dixon Chapter April 24 Central California Chapter April 25 Heartland Chapter May 1 Southern California Chapter May 1 New England Chapter May 2 St. Louis Chapter May 9 Miami Valley Chapter May 9 North Central Chapter May 29 Wisconsin Chapter August 15 North Central Chapter August 15 Oklahoma Judging Meet September 12 Illinois Judging Meet October 2-3 Indiana Judging Meet October 10 Heartland Judging Meet October 10 St. Louis Judging Meet October 16-17 Nebraska Judging Meet October 25 Illinois Judging School

Paul Burski’s 1962 Corvette 5

Lakeland, Fla. Latham, N.Y. - Cancelled Loveland, Colo. - Cancelled Rochester, Minn. - Cancelled French Lick, Ind. - Cancelled Redmond, Ore. - Cancelled Frisco, Texas Scottsdale, Ariz.

Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

Tucson, Ariz. - Cancelled Maryville, Ohio - Cancelled Harve De Grace, Md. - Cancelled Arroyo Grande, Calif. - Cancelled Pleasant Hill, Iowa - Cancelled Long Beach, Calif. - Cancelled East Providence, R.I. - Cancelled Manchester, Mo. - Cancelled Dayton, Ohio - Cancelled River Falls, Wis. - Cancelled Kenosha, Wis. - Cancelled Long Lake, Minn.

Pleasant Hill, Iowa Manchester, Mo.

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

Paragon Rewards Program – 2019 Results Announced!

The North Central Chapter wrapped up our fourth consecutive year in the Paragon Rewards Program earning $680.00 in rewards dollars for 2019. Since the program’s inception in 2016 the Chapter has earned over $2,000.00 in rewards dollars. All rewards dollars are returned to chapter members in the form of Paragon gift certificates at Chapter events such as tech sessions, judging schools, and chapter judging meets.

The 2019 rewards dollars will again be received as Paragon gift certificates and will be used as silent auction items, and raffle items at the upcoming June 2020 Regional, plus chapter events throughout the year.

The chapter currently has in excess of 35 members participating in the Rewards Program. We owe a great big thank you to these 35+ members for purchasing Corvette parts from Paragon Corvette. THANK YOU!!

If you’re not sure whether you are participating or would like to join those members participating just email Roger Carlson at RogerPCarlson@gmail.com. There is no need to have purchased from Paragon Corvette in the past. Every little bit helps the chapter.

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

Membership Update We entered 2020 with high hopes and plans for an exciting year of Current Members activities for our members. Unfortunately, the Corona Virus has thrown a wrench into our plans and we have already canceled some events, with possibly more to come. Our main concern is the health of our members and we hope you and your families are feeling fine. We will continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds and keep you up to date with chapter information as we move forward. Please contact me if your email address needs to be changed. I know several members use their work emails to receive information. You might also need to change your email address on the NCRS website at ncrs.org .

I have finished my work on the membership renewals from last year. We had 135 members who rejoined for 2020. We also have 6 new members who joined since January 1, which brings us up to 141.

Gary Weyrauch reached out to me last December about joining the NCRS and our chapter. Gary lives in Bloomington, MN and owns a 1964 Roadster and a 1985 Coupe.

Tom Olson was a member a few years back and reached out to Alden Miles about rejoining our chapter.

He resides in Jamestown, ND. Tom has a 2017 convertible and is looking for a 1973 convertible if anybody knows of one for sale.

Vickie Gunsch calls Bismarck, ND home and she is the proud owner of 1958 and 2004 Corvettes. Paul Klemetson has been helping Vickie with her ’58 and I am sure he encouraged her to join the NCRS. Vickie is signed up for our regional meet in June. I am a little jealous of Vickie as she picked up her ’58 from Paul on Feb. 1 and drove it home.

Not many of us in the northern part of the US can say we drove our Corvettes in February!!!

Perry Canton lives in St Paul, MN and reached out to Chris Enstrom about joining our chapter. Perry has a ’63 coupe that he purchased back in 1980 that needs restoration. This is a familiar story to several of our members.

Perry also bought a ’95 yellow convertible as a 25th wedding anniversary present to his wife, Therese. Talk about the perfect husband!!

Dennis Lombardo resides in Brentwood, TN and joined online through the NCRS website. I thought this might have been an error, but saw that Dennis belongs to nine other NCRS chapters. Thanks Dennis for adding our chapter.

Sarah Lardy lives in Eagan, MN and many of you have met her at tech sessions, judging schools and chapter meets. Sarah turned 23 years old and aged-out of the NCRS family plan. She was delighted to join as a new NCRS adult member. I will say that Sarah has access to a ’63 coupe and a ’95 coupe though they are not in her name (but neither are the expenses).

We welcome all of our new members and hope to see them at some time in 2020 at one of our events.

Be healthy and stay safe.

- Jerome Lardy, North Central NCRS Membership Chair

About the North Central NCRS

Formed in 1974, the National Corvette Restorers Society is a non-profit hobby group of 15,800+ families dedicated to the restoration, preservation, history and enjoyment of Corvettes.

Founded in 1988 the North Central Chapter is chartered by the NCRS National to support and organize Corvette hobby activities in the Upper Midwest to further the NCRS National philosophy of preservation and restoration of Corvettes.

The NCRS North Central Chapter is based in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota metro area with the majority of membership spanning throughout Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota and Canada.

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

Chapter Tech Session

Weather Stripping - 1962 C2 - February 15, 2020 - Lakeville, Minnesota

I hosted a North Central NCRS tech session on Saturday, February 15th at my house in Lakeville, Minnesota and we had 22 members in attendance. Hosting a tech session is a great way to not only get work done on your car, but it’s also nice to network and spend time with other Corvette enthusiasts. I really like learning from other members that have more knowledge about these awesome cars and are willing to teach others what they know. As always, kids, grandkids, and friends are welcome.

Bob Lund started off the tech session with a discussion on old original jacks for C2 Corvettes. Bob showed us his original jack from his ‘64 Corvette that he used years ago when he had a flat on his roadster. Unfortunately, the screw on the jack broke while Bob was jacking up his car. Fortunately, no one was hurt and Bob kept the jack all of these years. Bob is trying to find a replacement screw for this jack and recommends we only use are old original jacks for points while having our cars judged. Joe Galindo brought along some new NOS (New Old Stock) weather stripping he recently purchased from another member. It was great to have the correct GM weather stripping to compare to my after-market weather stripping.

It is very apparent the mounting clips are quite different between the NOS parts and the after-market ones.

Believe it or not, even though I have owned my ‘62 for over 10 years and new weather stripping came with the car, I never took the time to install the door weather stripping! I wasn’t sure of the steps to install the weather stripping correctly and had never used contact adhesive. Jim Fenske, Joe Galindo, Mark Swanson and Dave Mack all stepped up to help install the weather stripping. Many of the holes that were supposed to be in the doors had been filled and covered with paint when the car was painted in the late 1980’s. The guys had to drill new holes in the bottom of the doors to mount the weather stripping. They used the yellow Dynatex Super Weatherstrip & Gasket Adhesive during the install. I purchased this adhesive years ago when I ordered some other Corvette parts. Fortunately, when GM put the weather stripping on at the factory, they did not care if some of the glue showed. Because of this, we didn’t have to be too careful while using the adhesive. We brushed adhesive on the doors and the weather stripping and let them set up for a few minutes before letting them contact each other. Many people use black weather strip adhesive instead of the yellow because they feel

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

Tech Session IDEA's INTERESTED IN HOSTING AN UPCOMING TECH SESSION? Working on your Vette? Would you like to share you experience, or need tech support with your project?

Contact Bob Lund or Paul Burski about hosting an upcoming NCRS Tech Session, or bring a project to an upcoming session.

Technical Seminars – That type of event where NCRS type restoration and preservation techniques are discussed or demonstrated. These events can take the form of how-to sessions, panel discussions, or question and answer sessions, etc.

Chapter Tech Session it doesn’t show and much as the yellow. I guess it really comes down to personal preference. However, please keep in mind if you plan on getting your car judged, the yellow adhesive would be the correct one to use.

After installing the weather stripping, the guys helped adjust my door posts so they would line up better with the windshield when the doors are closed. It was a great time to adjust these since I don’t have my door panels on the car at this time. They got the posts aligned as close as possible in only a few minutes and it was really a big improvement to the car.

After we adjusted the door posts, we tried rolling up the windows and found they went all the way up. However, they were

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

Chapter Tech Session

very tight and needed to be adjusted and have the wheels greased and the tracks cleaned.

Because I hosted this tech session, I caught the Corvette bug and continued to check projects off my list that had been on it for years. I worked on the window regulators, lubed them and got both sides working great in only a couple of hours.

I lubed the door locks and handles and it really made huge difference. I’m currently getting ready to install the new door panels and tray in the car.

Shortly after the tech session, I received a phone call from one of the members that attended the session. The member who called me was a long time North Central NCRS member, but the first time we actually met was at this tech session.

He commented that he really enjoyed the session and it was great to get together with the other members to talk about Corvettes -- especially during the winter when we can’t enjoy driving our cars. It’s always nice to receive positive feedback from a fellow member. If you have an idea for a tech session, need help working on your Corvette or would like to host a session of your own, please let us know.

Thanks, Paul Burski Vice Chairman Assistant Tech Director

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

Tech tool tip

By Don O’Grady

While restoring my wiper motor & washer pump I was told it would take two people or at least 3 hands to reinstall it back in to the car. I found that it is impossible to position the pump into the fire wall then go around get into the car to try to line up the bolts to the holes in the motor housing.

So what I did was to buy 3 bolts of the same size, only longer. I cut the heads off, screwed them into the housing.

I then reinstalled the housing into the firewall using the sawed off bolts to line up and maintain position. I then got back up under the dash and put a nut on to one of the sawed off bolts, and tighten it up to hold and maintained position. While I backed out the others out one at a time and replaced them with the correct bolt. This allowed me to quickly replace it without getting frustrated and cost almost nothing.

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

Chapter Top Flight

The North Central Chapter participated in the NCRS Chapter Award Program again in 2019. This program was developed to promote member involvement and participation in Chapter events, while encouraging the sharing of knowledge in the restoration and preservation of the Corvette. Congratulations to the North Central Chapter!!! For the eighth year in a row, we have been awarded a Chapter Top Flight Award. I thought you might find it interesting to see how we accomplished this feat.

To earn the Chapter Top Flight Award, our Chapter had to perform/complete all nine required activities and a minimum of six variable activities during the program year.

We started out 2019 with 122 members and ended the year with 146 members. The NCRS considers us to be a medium sized chapter (75 to 150 members).

REQUIRED ACTIVITIES (need all 9) 1) Host one Chapter Judging Meet. We held two Judging Meets on May 11 and Aug. 17.

2) Conduct one technical seminar. We had five tech sessions this year on Feb. 16, April 13, June 15, Nov. 16 and Dec.7.

3) Conduct one judging school. We hosted four on Jan. 19, Aug. 16, Sept. 14 and Oct. 12.

4) Conduct one membership meeting. This was held on Oct. 3.

5) Conduct one chapter charitable event. We held a fundraiser for the NCRS Foundation on Aug. 16.

6) Conduct one chapter road tour. We held two going to Menomonie, WI and Victoria, MN. 7) Conduct one chapter social event. We held three: Two at Mancini’s Restaurant and the other at Cowboy Jack’s.

8) Chapter website must be maintained and linked to www.ncrs.org which ours was.

9) Must submit proof or IRS filing each year by year end which we did.

VARIABLE ACTIVITIES (need 6 of 9) 1) Nine members (7%) had their cars judged during 2019. The minimum requirement is 5%. I am basing the percentages off of the starting membership of 122 members. Though the percentages might not be accurate for the date of the event, they will give you a good idea of our participation ratio.

2) We had nineteen technical articles published in our chapter newsletter. As a medium sized chapter, we needed six. These are articles written by our members and they included the Member of the Month articles.

3) Thirty four members (28%) judged or tabulated at our judging meets. The minimum requirement is 15%.

4) Twenty nine members (24%) drove their Corvettes to a chapter function in 2019. The minimum requirement is 15%.

5) Seven different members (6%) drove their Corvettes on the two chapter road tours. The minimum requirement is 5%. It did rain on the first road tour which held down the participation percentage.

6) Seventy three members (60%) attended at least one chapter event during 2019. The minimum requirement is 20%. This is why you fill out the sign-in sheets at all our functions!

7) Set up a Facebook page with a minimum 1 video posted of a NCRS Chapter event.

8) We set up an NCRS display at the Back to the Fifties Car Show. This requirement promotes the NCRS and encourages the registration of new members.

9) There is a minimum requirement for our chapter to donate at least $100.00 to a 501-3C charity that helps or assists people. Our chapter donated $240.00 to the NCRS Foundation.

Thank you to all our members who participated in chapter events in 2019. We could not have obtained this award without your help. If you were unable to attend an event this past year, we would love for you to join us in 2020. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Jerome Lardy Chapter Flight Program Administrator 2020 Chapter Top Flight Program Cancellation

We have received notice that the 2020 Chapter Top Flight Program is being cancelled this year.

“Based on the current situation we are in with the coronavirus pandemic, many chapter events have been cancelled already with more cancellations surely to come. This will make compliance with the activity requirements of the program impossible to achieve this year. For this reason, the National Board yesterday made the decision to cancel the Chapter Top Flight Award Program for 2020.”

Bob Johansen / Region VIII Director I will still need to have sign-up sheets at our events as I also use them to file our year-end report to the National Board.

Thanks again to all our members who participate in our activities. We were able to receive Chapter Top Flight Awards for the past eight years. Jerome Lardy Chapter Flight Program Administrator 12

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

Chapter Judging

We are always looking for Judges The NCRS North Central Chapter holds “Chapter Events” and multiple “Judging Schools”. We are always looking for judges to volunteer at these events, regardless of experience. If you are interested in learning more please contact Chris Enstrom for more details.

Got an IDEA?

If you have a suggestion for a topic for an upcoming Judging School, - Chris Enstrom, North Central NCRS Judging Chair please contact Chris Enstrom 651-503-4165.

NCRS Judging is recognized around the world as THE STANDARD in determining originality.

The Judging System is designed to educate each owner about their car as well as providing recognition for excellence in the areas of restoration, performance, or preservation. You can learn to judge through participation. Start out as an observer judge and work your way to Master Judge through the Judges Recognition Program.

JUDGE NCRS Judges are volunteer members who offer their time and knowledge to Judge Members Cars under the guidance of the NCRS Technical Information Manual & Judging Guide.

Master Judge NCRS Master Judges are volunteer members who have been recognized by the organization and membership for accumulating a minimum of 100 points in our judging recognition program by Judging at events, attending Judging Schools at Chapter Meets, Regional Meets and National Meets. Many have also attended National or Regional Judging Seminars that last for one or two days of intensive instruction and hands on participation.

Did you know? c3 The 500,000th Corvette, a white 1977 coupe, rolled off the St. Louis assembly line at 2:01 P.M. on March 15th, 1977.

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

Member of the Month

January - Alden & Lyn Miles

My wife Lynette (Lyn) and I have been married for over twenty five years. We have a blended family with five children; Adrianne, Ben, Sara, Alysha and Caitlin. We have three grandchildren; Emily, Daniel, Dexter and a fourth due in June. Lyn and I met while working at 3M. Lyn was a Chemical Engineer and I was a Mechanical Engineer in the Commercial Office Supply Division working on such products as Post-it Notes and Flags. I retired in 2006 after twenty five years and Lyn in 2011 after thirty five years.

We currently have two Corvettes, a 1958 and a 2006 (both convertibles). Let me be clear, they are both Lyn’s, I’m only the mechanic.

We purchased the ‘58 in August of 2004 as a barn find in Medford, MN on Ebay. The car was purchased by a farmer in 1974 in Pennsylvania and trailered it back to Minnesota. After arriving home he proceeded to remove the outside trim and interior. Thirty years later he told his son that he was 85 years old and that he didn’t think he would get to finish the Corvette. The car was in a pole barn with a dirt floor. It had a 327ci engine, a Muncie Transmission that hadn’t run for years and came with several boxes of parts.

At the time of purchase I was building a 1948 Anglia (English Ford) and didn’t want to start a second major car project. So, in June of 2013 I started to disassemble the car by removing every part on the body before lifting it off the chassis and then removing every nut and bolt on the chassis. The body had at least four coats of different color paint, with the last coat being flocking. For those of you that are not familiar flocking it is the process of depositing many small fiber particles (called flock) onto a surface. It was generally done back in the 60’s and 70’s by spraying clear lacquer on dashboards and then sprinkling on the flock. Once it dried and the excess was removed it felt like peach skin. In this

case they flocked the whole car black with silver coves and racing strips. Therefore, the body had to be media blasted, and the frame and suspension parts were sand blasted before painting.

I purchased a 283ci 270HP short block, heads, 2X4 intake, Carbs, misc. engine parts and a Borg Warner T-10 transmission on Ebay. I reassembled the frame, front and rear suspension and built the engine. The bodywork and paint was done by Gilby’s Street Department in River Falls, WI. We dropped the body onto the chassis in January 2019 and since then we have been completing the final assembly. We plan to Chapter and Regional Flight Judge the car in May, PV (Performance Verification) at our Regional in June and Flight Judge at the Nationals in French Lick, IN in July. If successful we will achieve the most coveted Duntov Mark of Excellence award.

I joined the North Central Chapter in June 2013, because we wanted to meet people who restored Corvettes, or knew people who did. I started judging in our Chapter Judging Events and then at the 2014 and 2016 Regionals. I also judged at the Denver CO, National in 2015 and since then I have judged in San Antonio TX, Las Vegas NV, and Greenville SC. At the Greenville Nationals both Lyn and I received our 100 Point Master Judge awards. I have enjoyed meeting the people and getting so much of their help on my restoration project. In September 2016, I was elected as Vice Chairman of the North Central Chapter and in September 2017, I replaced Rick Zierhut as Chairman when he resigned.

Both Lyn and I have enjoyed our journey in NCRS, the people, events and judging experience. We have learned way more about 58-60 Corvette’s then we have ever thought and with all Corvette’s in general. After spending almost seven years to complete this frame-off, nut and bolt restoration, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t do it again.

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North Central Chapter Crossed Flags Newsletter NATIONAL CORVETTE RESTORERS SOCIETY

Member of the Month Over the past eight years, I have hosted several tech sessions in my heated garage in Lakeville. I had a tech session where we replaced the entire wiring harness in my 62. We were able to complete the wiring in a few hours. This was a project that needed to be done for quite a while, but I was reluctant to do it on my own. I had the engine for my 62 rebuilt and “broke in” at Performance Engines in Eagan by Randy Quam on this engine dyno. Before I had the engine at Randy’s shop, it would overheat during parades or when driving slowly in town.

February - Paul Burski

My name is Paul Burski and I was the original Member of the Month back in February 2015. I live in Lakeville with my wife, Nola, and our teenage daughter, McKenzie. I own a 62 Roman Red roadster with red interior and an Electron Blue 02 Coupe. I was fortunate to grow up in Duluth where my father, Harv, was always restoring Corvettes.

Because of his influence, Corvettes are my favorite car and I especially like the C1 and C2 generation. Growing up, I really didn’t help my Dad work on his cars very much, but I learned to appreciate just how much time, talent and research it takes to restore a car. Before the internet, Harv would have to look at Hemmings Motor News, go to swap meets or make local connections with car club members just to find parts or information on how to restore his cars.

Today, you can find parts, technical information and even ask questions without ever leaving your home. Most of the time, I can find a YouTube video that shows exactly how to fix or repair something.

I purchased my 62 Corvette from my father in July of 2010.

I joined a couple of other Corvette Clubs, but after a couple of years of urging from my Dad, I finally joined the NCRS in 2012. Since joining the NC chapter, I was the Member at Large for a few years and I wrote some of the Member of the Month articles. I passed my Member at Large title to Kevin Sullivan and was elected to Vice Chairman and Assistant Tech Director. I really enjoy being a board member and like meeting with other Corvette enthusiasts every month.

After the dyno tech session, the car ran cool and my mileage actually went from 10 MPG to 14 MPG. Another benefit to having your engine on the dyno, is you know exactly at what RPM range and where you have all of the available torque. For my third tech session, we worked on restoring my door panels and installing weather stripping on my 62 while adjusting the gaps in my truck lid.

Since I was planning on replacing my 30-year-old tires, I decided to host yet another tech session. At this session, we removed the front suspension from my car so I could have the cross member dipped and have all the old coating removed. I rebuilt the entire front suspension and re-installed it in the car.

After the suspension was back in, I had the car aligned at Twin City Tire in Bloomington. The last session I hosted was to replace the sending unit in my 62. The old unit would show a quarter tank of gas left when I was actually out of gas. We replaced the sending unit and tank gasket.

At this session, we also showed how to adjust valves on a solid lifter car and looked at the windshield wiper washer system on Kevin Sullivan’s 61 and got it to work.

Besides hosting tech sessions, I really enjoy attending as many sessions as my schedule allows. I normally jump right in to help and get very dirty – it’s the best way to learn.

Along with hosting tech sessions, I have attended many events during my time with the NC NCRS. I took my 02 Coupe out on the track at the regional event in Newton, Iowa. I thought the time on the race track was awesome, but I’m not sure my passenger (AKA victim) would agree!

Last year, I attended a Judging School in Dallas, Texas, with a few other NC NCRS members. It was a very informational and I met a lot of really nice NCRS members from

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Member of the Month Without any knowledge of NCRS I went ahead and bought It. It came with a 1970 LT1 Crate Motor and fiberglass suspension front and rear and headers. It sounded and ran great but needed a lot of work. After I called a Chevrolet dealer, he stated that none of his service guys were born by 1966 and advised I look into one of the local car clubs.

Along came NCRS, got a lead from someone and made a call to one of the members and next thing you know I have a bunch of guys sawing off the headers putting stock exhaust on and reconnecting my backup lights and much more. I don’t remember much because it happened so fast. I was handing out tools and the next thing we were done, and as fast as they came, they were gone. I do remember most of who came to help.

around the country. Learning from Master Judges on some very original cars was an awesome experience. This past fall, I went to Nebraska for a Regional judging event with six other NC NCRS members; which was a great experience.

I would like everyone to know, I’m always available to help work on your cars. I have a four-post lift at my house and have had many members and friends bring their cars over to work on them. My dad, Harv, will certainly agree that I’ve always been really good at disassembling stuff! LOL In closing, I honestly believe you get out of a project, group or club, what you put into it. The NC NCRS chapter is a great club with many awesome members and cars. I would encourage everyone to get more involved with the chapter.

We have a Regional coming up this June in Rochester, Minnesota, and we could certainly use more volunteers.

March - Don O’Grady

Ron Hendrickson, Gene Bygd, Dale Crosby, Mark Swanson, Mark Ogren, and Jim Fenske, John Kramliner maybe another one but I’m not sure.

Next thing you know I am going thru and making a long list of parts that need to be corrected. For example, the battery was mounted on the driver side for some unknown reason, and of the 4 wheels there were 3 different ones. Almost all the bolts and screws were wrong, as they had been replaced over the years.

My first experience taking her through the judging process I received a 2nd flight score. I finely achieved my Top Flight my third time thru.

After working on the car for years and laying underneath it with everything falling into my eyes and busting knuckles. I made the decision to do a body off. The club helped to pull the body off in Oct. and we sent the frame out to be straighten, sandblasted, welded and powdercoated. I replaced the gas tank, and gas lines and a major cleaning of the under carriage rebuilt the rear end. All while sitting on the frame. The body was remounted in April. Now Jeannine and I can drive around without worries.

Life is Good

The first car I bought was a 1964 Mustang in 1970. It was Blue with a White top and interior, 6 cyl 4 speed and a brand-new paint job. I Paid $400 for it. My second car I bought, was on Christmas Eve in 1972 it was a 1966 Corvette coup 427/390 Hp, teak wheel and custom paint. So it only makes sense that when I turned 40 I would buy a Blue and White 66 Corvette.

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Chapter Board Minutes

January 2, 2020

Board Members Present: Alden Miles, Paul Burski, Jerome Lardy, Bob Lund, Roger Carlson, Chris Enstrom, Don O’Grady, Kevin Sullivan, Nick Kornder Board Members Absent: Dave Murphy Members present: Mark Swanson, Wally Grivna Location: Davanni’s, 310 White Bear Ave., St Paul, MN 55106 Approval of Minutes Meeting Minutes from the December 5, 2019 meeting – Motion to approve by Roger Carlson seconded by Chris Enstrom. Motion passed.

Chairman’s Report Alden went over the number of events we held this year and we appear to be well rounded in what we have to offer. Since tech sessions show the most interest by our members, he asked if it was possible to have an extra one or two during 2020. This will require help from the membership as they need to participate and invite members to their homes to work on their projects.

Vice Chairman’s Report Nothing to report Treasurer’s Report.

Roger closed out the books on 2019 and provided the board with the revenue and expense worksheet. We are in great shape and ended the year in the black. Roger will file the chapter’s 2019 tax return as soon as the IRS on-line web site is up and running.

Judging Report Chris reported that our chapter judging meet in River Falls, WI will be on May 9 and the North Central Regional in Rochester, MN is on June 11-13. Both events are now live on the NCRS website and he encourages everyone to sign up for these events.

For the chapter meet we have two cars registered so far, a ’65 and a ’02. A couple other members have expressed interest in having their Corvettes judged but have not committed yet. If you want to have your Corvette judged prior to the Regional, please sign up as soon as possible as space might be limited depending on the number of judges.

There are eight cars registered for the regional and Chris has talked to several more who have expressed interest to have their cars judged. If you want to have your car judged at the regional, please sign up soon so the board can plan accordingly to make this a great event. He has also posted information on the NCRS Forum and is receiving interest there.

Chris received a list of chapters in our area who are holding chapter judging meets in 2020.

This information can be found in the most recent newsletter and is available for any member looking to obtain extra judging experience and points.

Chris also brought up the possibility of holding a mini one or two car judging meet at another Corvette Club function to show how the NCRS judging process works. This would not happen until 2021 due to all we have on our plates this year.

Chris plans to hold a C5 judging school prior to our chapter meet as we will be judging a ’02 and we want to give our members the chance to learn as much as possible about these fantastic Corvettes.

Membership Report Jerome reported that we have no new members in December and ended the year with 146. He is now in the process of having everybody renew their membership for 2020.

Two emails have been sent out to the chapter and there is another reminder in the newsletter.

Jerome will send out one more email to the chapter in a week or so and will then start contacting members individually if he has not heard back from them. Please renew your membership as soon as possible to save Jerome the extra step of contacting you individually. At this time, slightly over one half of our members have renewed their membership.

Jerome will be filing the 4th quarter Chapter Top Flight report next week.

The annual report to the NCRS is also due and will be filed within the month.

Tech Report The tech session in December was held at Bill Kohl’s home where we installed the differential and trailing arms. 13 members attended. We will return to Bill’s on Jan. 25 to remove his engine and transmission. Bob is looking for members who would like to work on their Corvettes for a tech session. If interested, please contact him or Paul Burski.

Activities Report Our next social event will be at Cowboy Jack’s on April 25. A BBQ is also planned on August 14 at the home of Jerome Lardy. October 25th will be the fall social at Mancini’s. This was well attended this past year as we caught the snow birds before they left for the winter.

Website Report Nick was going to update the calendar on the website. He also added the new Member of the Month.

Newsletter Report Nick was making the final updates to the newsletter and it will be sent out next week. We are always looking for articles from our members. Roger Carlson provided a great article for this edition.

Member-at-Large Report Kevin Sullivan reported that Lyn and Alden Miles are the Members of the Month for January. Read all about them on our chapter website, www.northcentralncrs.com.

Old Business Roger received a price quote on the glove box wallets that would be given out at the regional. They would have the North Central 17

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Chapter Board Minutes Chapter logo on the front. Two styles were shown, bi-fold and tri-fold. Roger was reaching out to companies to see if there was any interest in providing funds to help cover the costs. Their company logo would be on the back side of the wallet.

Roger was working with Paragon to determine what our 2019 award program $ amount will be.

New Business Roger was able to obtain 150 magnetic clips from American Modern Insurance Group for the handout bags at the regional meet.

Alden received 150 koozies from Tim Mickey at Mickey’s Car Barn. If any member has a connection to obtain other items that we can include in the handout bags, it would be greatly appreciated. Please contact Jerome if you able to do so.

Member’s Comments: Wally Grivna brought up a good point in regards to the regional information in The NCRS Driveline. There were no prices shown because we did not include the registration form with the info. That was to encourage on line applying instead of members mailing in hard copies. The prices will be added to the next Driveline issue.

Mark Swanson encouraged everybody to see Ford vs Ferrari on the big screen.

Chris made the motion to adjourn and Nick seconded. Motion passed.

MEETING ADJOURNED

February 6, 2020

Board Members Present: Alden Miles, Paul Burski, Jerome Lardy, Bob Lund, Roger Carlson, Chris Enstrom, Don O’Grady, Kevin Sullivan, Dave Murphy Board Members Absent: Nick Kornder Members present: Mark Swanson, Wally Grivna, Jeff Henry, Steve Hudak Location: Davanni’s, 310 White Bear Ave., St Paul, MN 55106 Approval of Minutes Motion to approve minutes from the January 2, 2020 meeting – Motion to approve by Don O’Grady seconded by Bob Lund. Motion passed.

Chairman’s Report Alden wore a blue Polo that we are selling for the Regional at $40. Board Members can have their position name added for $6.

Alden sent all fifty (50) NCRS Chapter Chairman a request and a flyer on our 2020 Regional shirts so that they could share with their chapter members. Twenty-two (22) orders have been received so far.

Sample sizes of the T shirts (S,M,L,XL) will be at our next Board Meeting so that you may confirm your selection.

We expect to need 30 T shirts for our volunteers and 50-65 T shirts for Judges.

Vice Chairman’s Report We looked at buying water bottles with our logo. The quote we received was for $0.50 each.

Treasurer’s Report.

Roger shared that he was able to get us more Paragon certificates.

We have a total of $1030 for use at the Regional and for the rest of the year. Roger and Alden opened the discussion on how we should disperse. It was decided that two certificates valued at $250 and $100 be used for the silent auction. And two $100 certificates to be awarded at the Saturday Banquet. That leaves $480 left which will be converted into six certificates to be used throughout the year.

Roger was able to get O’Reilly’s to donate 500 glove box wallets in blue with our logo on one side and O’Reilly’s on the other side.

When they come in, they will be given to Jerome.

Roger was able to get a starter car kit from Griots Garage to be used at the silent auction.

2020 Regional - So far we have received $6,422 as revenue and spent $1,160 ($500 National Fee, $350 arena deposit, $117 for Ribbons.

Judging Report Chris reported that our chapter judging meet in River Falls, WI will be on May 9 and the North Central Regional in Rochester, MN is on June 11-13. Both events are now live on the NCRS website and he encourages everyone to sign up for these events.

For the chapter meet we have two cars registered so far, a ’65 and a ’02. A couple other members have expressed interest in having their Corvettes judged but have not committed yet. If you want to have your Corvette judged prior to the Regional, please sign up as soon as possible as space might be limited depending on the number of judges.

There are Twenty-Five (25) cars registered for the regional and Chris has talked to several more who have expressed interest to have their cars judged. We have 5 more verbal commitments and 5-10 strong interest.

If you want to have your car judged at the regional, please sign up soon so the board can plan accordingly to make this a great event. He has also posted information on the NCRS Forum and is receiving interest there.

No Special cars for display yet. Questions were asked about Concours Cars. Good discussion.

Chris plans to hold a C5 judging school prior to our chapter meet as we will be judging a ’02 and we want to give our members the chance to learn as much as possible about these fantastic Corvettes.

Membership Report Jerome is working on membership. Twenty-one still to be registered. Three members chose not to renew. Three new members have joined. They are: • Gary Weyrauch

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Chapter Board Minutes • Thomas Olson • Vickie Gunsch In addition it is rumored that National dues are going up to $50 beginning in April.

The Annual Chapter Report was filed.

Tech Report The Tech Session Jan 25 at Bill Kohls was successful in removing the transmission. Sixteen people attended. The February 15 tech session will be at Paul Burski’s to work on his 62. Ideas were discussed for additional items.

Activities Report Our next social event will be at Cowboy Jack’s on April 25. A BBQ is also planned on August 14 at the home of Jerome Lardy. October 18th will be the fall social at Mancini’s. This was well attended this past year as we caught the snow birds before they left for the winter.

Website Report Nothing to report.

Newsletter Report We are always looking for articles from our members.

Member-at-Large Report Kevin Sullivan reported that Don O’Grady is the Members of the Month for March. Paul Burtski is our member for February. See the article on our chapter website, www.northcentralncrs.com.

Old Business Dave Murphy shared with the board members how to use Google for messages to our members, how to correct emails for our members, and how to edit the Website. We want to leave the website to Nick, but wanted to share how easily it is to connect. We hope that Activities, Tech Session, Board Minutes, Membership send their own communication to members to free up Nicks time.

The collecting for 2020 Regional donations is going well. Michael Meirovitz has collected quite a few items and is expecting more including items from the Corvette Museum. He has reached out and not heard from Electric Limited, Corvette America and Corvette Central. If anyone has a contact at one of these, please help us get a donation.

New Business None Member Comments Mark Swanson shared some history by recalling Deanne Parker, a key person who started our chapter, who travelled from state to state promoting the hobby. He had a 67 coupe. Some additional history- we used to do swap meets to raise funds, which were very successful.

Wally Grivna brought some Corvette Quarterlys’ if anyone wanted them. He has an NOS 1959 Owners Manual that he paid $300 for in 1991 that he is willing to let go for $150.

Bob Lund made a motion to adjourn and Jerome seconded. Motion passed.

MEETING ADJOURNED

March 5, 2020

Board Members Present: Alden Miles, Paul Burski, Jerome Lardy, Bob Lund, Roger Carlson, Kevin Sullivan, Dave Murphy Board Members Absent: Nick Kornder, Chris Enstrom, Don O’Grady Members present: Mark Swanson, Wally Grivna, Jeff Henry Location: Davanni’s, 310 White Bear Ave., St Paul, MN 55106 Approval of Minutes Motion to approve minutes from the February 6, 2020 meeting – Motion to approve by Roger Carlson seconded by Jerome Lardy.

Motion passed.

Chairman’s Report Alden shared a unique lanyard that was given out at the Florida Regional. Jerome will check on the lanyards. Wally Grivna had gotten lanyards from U-Line and will check with them. I will ask Mike Meirovitz to get us 100 more of the nice bags he got for us already. Alden showed us a new embroidery for the golf shirts that will make our logo stand out. Mark Swanson suggested that a white background be added to make the colors pop.

Alden said that our T-shirt orders appear to be slow. As we continue to work on our T-shirt counts, Alden asked Chris to let him know how many National people might be coming. Alden will contact the Chapters to get their orders.

Rick Coker – Regional NCRS Director is planning on attending one of our future Board Meetings.

Alden spoke with Dave Bringham to get Aldens 58 through the Judging process in one year. Dave made an exception to allow this to happen. Dave also approved another owner to do the same.

Vice Chairman’s Report Paul received an email from Classic Corvettes to request we attend their Chili Challenge. Paul also checked on water bottles with printed labels and discovered that they cost 50 cents each. Paul reviewed other methods which would have gotten the cost down to 31 cents. This was based on a $75 art charge and a cost of bottles at:

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1000 bottles 10 oz $385 500 bottles 16.9 oz $250 1000 bottles 16.9 oz $400 500 bottles 20 oz $262 1000 bottles 20 oz $450 It was decided to buy our water bottles on site.

Treasurer’s Report.

Roger reported that Finances are in order. We have 45 registrants so far. We need at least 50 more.

Judging Report Judging at Regional is a key element and there was discussion about signing up to judge. It was suggested that we send the list of judges signed up earlier to the Team Leaders so they can select some of the earlier registrants that are requesting to judge.

We also want to document in these meeting minutes, that if you wish to judge, we need you to register now. And we can use your help at Chapter judging.

Alden will talk with Chris about a process to move forward with judging.

Regional: Roger was able to get O’Reilly’s to donate 500 glove box wallets in blue with our logo on one side and O’Reilly’s on the other side, which he showed us and gave to Jerome. In addition he got 50 do not touch stickers, the Paragon certificates for the Regional and two T shirts which Jerome suggested he keep one.

Roger was able to get a starter car kit from Griots Garage to be used at the silent auction.

Roger proposed we give two glove box wallets to each registrant. Bob seconded and the motion carried.

Roger asked Weathertech for support, but got no effective answer.

Membership Report Jerome reported one new member- Perry Canton. Owner of a 95 Yellow Convertible and a 63 Coup. We now have 141 members and Jerome is trying to re-sign six of last years members.

Tech Report The February 15 tech session was at Paul Burski’s to work on his 62. 23 attended. March Tech Session TBD..

Activities Report Our next social event will be at Cowboy Jack’s on April 25. A BBQ is also planned on August 14 at the home of Jerome Lardy. October 18th will be the fall social at Mancini’s. This was well attended this past year as we caught the snow birds before they left for the winter.

Website Report Current and up to date.

Newsletter Report Nothing to report.

Member-at-Large Report Kevin Sullivan reported that Don O’Grady is the Members of the Month for March. Paul Burtski is our member for February. See the article on our chapter website, www.northcentralncrs.com.

Old Business None New Business Roger acquired six - $80 gift certificates from Paragon which are good for one year from now. The Regional Certificate dates start in June for one year. It was suggested that the six be given out at follows: • 1 at May Chapter Judging • 1 at Cowboy Jacks • 1 at August BBQ at Jeromes • 1 at August Chapter Judging • 1 at Mancinis Which leaves one for one more event during the year.

Dave Murphy passed out the list of teams and their leads for the 2020 Regional. We continue to look for volunteers.

Member Comments Wally Grivna asked what one does outside the Arena at the Regional which was a good question. It involves directions, photographs of car owner and car as well as a washing station.

Mark Swanson pointed out that we encourage younger members to be involved and it was appreciated that Alden has been doing his best to encourage members to join in. Older members have been moving on for various reasons including changes at National.

The Board continues to encourage an active membership in all that the club offers.

Jerome made a motion to adjourn and Bob seconded. Motion passed.

Did you know? C5

Active Handling became standard equipment in 2001.

The 2002 Corvette featured a new color, Electron Blue Metallic, and an upgraded 405HP LS6 engine for the Z06.

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MAKING JUDGING SHEET REFERENCES BASED ON THE C-D-C-I-F As the NCRS judging system is based on 5 different descriptions for ORIGINALITY, with each having a value of 20%, it is most helpful to the owner, that we use the same descriptions for the comments on the sheets, when we judge their cars.

C = CONFIGURATION D = DATE C = COMPLETENESS i = INSTALLATION F = FINISH The use of words like “Service Replacement”, “Reproduction” or “Restoration” are very little to no help to the owner, since they do not describe WHAT the difference to original is.

Since we judge the APPEARANCE of ORIGINALITY, we do not care where the particular judged part comes from (Original GM, Restoration Parts House or Neighbors Shed).

BAD WORDS:

iNStEAD USE:

“Wrong”

“Not Typical”

“Incorrect”

“Not Typical”

Certain parts, which do not reflect any Originality based on the CDCIF (Full Deduction) are not listed on our Standard Deduction Sheet. Such parts may be described as: SiGNiFiCANtLy DiSSiMiLAR. A good example is the typical parts-house (AutoZone, O’Riley etc.) Cooling Fan Clutch.

Judging Example: One of the most often “non-original” parts encountered on the chassis are the shock absorbers. They are a single line item and have a value of 5 points. Based on the CDCIF we can make the following determination: Configuration: Check nuances on the shock absorber body (may be different print, “Made in Mexico” etc.)

Date: Check for presence of date. (Not necessary, if a non-typical configuration has been detected) Completeness: Are any factions missing??

Installation: Are the bolts, washers at their intended places and orientation (or reversed)??

Finish: Is the shock painted in a typical finish (lower bushings free of paint etc)??

Conclusion: A shock absorber with “Made In Mexico,” finished and installed in a typical manner would differ in the Configuration (1 Point) as well as the Date (1 point) since we know that a shock with such configuration was manufactured later than the car. Total deduction would be 2 points.

OUR COMMENtS ON tHE SHEEt WOULD BE: Configuration (No Pliacell Script / Delco Part Number), Date Provided by Marco Hartner 21

Issue Number 17 * July - September 2017

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For Sale C1 Parts / Corvettes 1962 Corvette, Ermine white, red interior, frame off restoration by Joe Galindo, completed April, 2010. 327 NOM; period correct, .060 over, aluminum heads, 4 speed, disc brake up front, both tops, body never hit, straight frame. $80,000. Toby, 763-221-9982, toby327340@gmail.com 56-59 NOS valve covers - Contact Craig Skaaden 612.819.7172 for more details C2 Parts / Corvettes Numerous midyear parts left over from a recent restoration. Call or email and I will send you an extensive list.

Email: rrenfandt@min.midco.net Phone 701.721.8844.

C3 Parts / Corvettes - Set of C3 rear bumpers - Asking $250 for the pair. Contact Don O’Grady. 651-503-0260 C4 Parts / Corvettes None C5 Parts / Corvettes None C6 Parts / Corvettes None C7 Parts / Corvettes None C8 Parts / Corvettes None MISC / Corvettes Various scales/years of die-cast models, Hot Wheels, kits, framed posters, etc. - Most items are Corvette, but some muscle cars included as well; Wally Grivna (member #15096) 5960 Ridge Creek Road, Shoreview, MN 55126 - Cell (612) 991-8099

https://www.facebook.com/NorthCentralNCRS/

Did you know? c6 The 2009 ZR1’s LS9 engine develops 630 horsepower but actually has less displacement than the Z06’s 505 hp LS7 engine (376 vs 427 cubic inches).

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Today, amongst the world’s sports cars, Corvette talks the talk and walks the walk. And that was before the 638-hp third-gen ZR1.

Before the last ZR-1 debuted twenty years ago, opinions differed. In the late 1980’s, the Vette didn’t stack-up well against competitors. Plus, the brand remained tarnished by its late-70s/early-’80s poor performance and quality.

A new platform in 1984, port injection and more power in 1985 and ABS in 1986 helped, but Corvette still lacked a world-class reputation. Chief Engineer, David McLellan, and his development team knew they’d need that if Corvette was to play king of the hill in the high-sports market segment.

March 1989: the 1990 ZR-1 makes a spectacular public debut at the Geneva Auto Show. The combination of C4’s already good suspension along with ride-adaptive shocks, a six-speed and the stunning 375-hp, four-cam, 32-valve, LT5 V8, produced world-class ride-and-handing, acceleration and 180-mph top speed. Add Chevrolet’s masterful PR/marketing and the ZR-1’s impact on Corvette’s reputation in the first half of the ‘90s was huge.

Part of the promotion was the March 1990 “World Record Run” of when a ZR-1 broke three World Land Speed Records, including the 24-hour mark which stood at 160.180 mph for nearly 50 years.

Plans Take Shape Summer, 1989: one afternoon out in California, PR consultant, Peter Mills, intrigued with the 24-hour record set in July 1940 at Bonneville Salt Flats by Ab Jenkins, was telling professional road racer, Stuart Hayner, about the “24”. Mills said that an IMSA GTP team which raced Porsches told him that, amazingly, a 962 (two LeMans wins, ‘85-’86 World Sports Car and ‘85-’88 IMSA GTP Championships) lacked the durability to beat Jenkins’ 50-year-old mark, the only significant pre-WW2 speed record still standing. Others tried–Ford (1969), Mercedes (1976) and Audi (1988). All failed.

Hayner had recently driven a pre-production ZR-1 in a top speed test for Road&Track: Corvette, an annual R&T published back then, and knew the car’s potential, so he suggested the ZR-1. Mills was skeptical until Stu detailed how a bone-stock car went 183 mph on a four-mile course near the California desert town of Yermo.

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Stu Hayner and John Heinricy raced Corvettes and Camaros for Tommy Morrison and a few weeks later, in a conversation the two had going to a race at Mosport, Canada, they hatched a plan to break the record. Heinricy, at the time Chevrolet’s Corvette/Camaro Product Engineering Manager, was enthusiastic. “Probably the main reason people buy the car is its image, particularly its racing heritage,” he said. “I liked to do things to promote its image–the Corvette mystique. World Records are just another reason to want a Corvette.”

John Heinricy sold the idea to Dave Mclellan who, as John told us, “...was real interested. I don’t remember it going higher than McLellan. I think we just decided to do it.

It’s was the kinda thing that, if you take it higher, somebody’s just going to say, ‘No.’ Then, I talked to Doug Robinson (Development Manager) about a couple of test cars and Jim Minneker (Powertrain Manager) about what powertrain might work.”

Tommy Morrison supplied the considerable resources of Morrison Engineering and Development and convinced his racing sponsor, Mobil Oil, to sign on. Hayner’s backers, GM’s EDS Division and the Southern California Chevrolet Dealers Association, along with Goodyear, also, joined as major sponsors. For drivers, besides Hayner, Heinricy and Minneker there were: another Morrison regular, Don Knowles; Corvette Engineer Scott Allman; Showroom Stock racers Scott Lagasse and Kim Baker; along with Morrison, himself, making a team of eight.

Few motorsports facilities in North America are suitable for the 24. After considering Daytona and Talladega (too expensive and their high banks loaded the car excessively), a Nissan track in Arizona (Nissan was unwilling) and the five-mile circle at GM’s Desert Proving Ground (management had safety concerns), Tommy Morrison selected the Bridgestone Tire Proving Ground at Fort Stockton, Texas, which had a 7.71-mile oval with low-banked, 180° turns and had been the site of Audi’s 1988 record attempt. While it could accommodate the speed, 7° banking, no guardrails or lights and an abundance of wildlife (cattle, deer, antelope, javelina and coyotes) in the area made the track dangerous at the 190 mph– a football field every second–they would run.

The Car Two cars, the ZR-1 and an L98 Coupe used by GM-Europe to set other records, were built and tested during late-’89/early-’90. This included a test at Ft. Stockton in November, 1989.

The Mobil/EDS/SoCal Chevy Dealers/Goodyear ZR-1 had a few performance modifications but many changes to insure reliability/ durability and safety. A roll cage and other safety equipment was already in the car from its earlier use as a high-speed development vehicle. A telemetry system replaced the passenger seat so the crew could monitor vehicle parameters in real time. Additional instrumentation and switches for electrical accessories and a 48-gallon fuel cell were installed. FIA rules require “non-consumable” spare parts (brake rotor, radiator hoses, alternator, etc.) be carried in the car, so spares and tools were in a suitcase lashed to the cage’s rear tubes. All this made the car heavy and moved its center of gravity rearward.

If a failure kept the car from returning to the pits, the driver, working alone, had to fix it using the suitcase’s onboard resources.

Image: Author.The production suspension had only two major upgrades: 1) unique Goodyear Racing Eagle tires. Goodyear spent $250,000, a incredible sum of money back then, to develop a 17-inch, radial race tire just for the Record Run and 2) removal of the rear antiroll bar to make room for the fuel cell and to optimize the car’s handing with altered weight distribution, race tires, 190-mph corner entry speeds and 0.5-g cornering loads.

The exterior was stock except for: no side mirrors, lowered front end and an enlarged, reinforced front air dam fitted with ultrasonic “anti-animal” whistles. Racing lights were installed in fog light and turn signal mounts and two aircraft landing lights went where the front plate normally goes.

“We did everything we could to mitigate risk, “John Heinricy told us. “We calculated the g levels we’d be running. Calculated the tire loads, then gave that to Goodyear and made sure they were comfortable with those loads. They ran tests on the tires. They X-rayed every tire. We had lots of time on that particular car. There was really nothing to break as the car wasn’t that stressed. The engine was run hard, but not as hard as we ran them on the dynamometer.”

The LT5 was straight from Mercruiser’s Stillwater, Oklahoma assembly line. Greg Van Deventer, former member of Stillwater’s “LT5 Gang” and who still works there, told us, “That engine was stock. It wasn’t shipped because it had a minor balance problem. When the Record Run came up and they were looking for a motor, we gave it to Morrison.”

With headers, open exhaust and engine controls calibration revised for racing gasoline, horsepower was 400-410. Tests showed the 190 mph necessary to reset the “24” came at 5500 rpm in fifth, so the gas pedal had a stop at 70% throttle. The car had transmission and rear axle coolers and 3.07 gears replaced the stock 3.54s.

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The Run Begins The group returned to Ft. Stockton in late February. Present were: the drivers; Crew Chief, Tommy Roe and the Morrison Development team; GM engineers and technicians; a Goodyear contingent; sponsor and PR reps and, most importantly; officials of the United States Auto Club which sanctions FIA record attempts in the United States. After a week or so of preparation and a two-day delay for a winter storm, they were ready.

A bit before 10 AM on 1 March, John Heinricy is ready to begin the Record Run. Image: Author.On 1 March, 1990, it was 35°, windy and overcast as John Heinricy rolled onto the TPG oval for a warm-up lap and, the next time by start/finish, at 9:55:12 AM Central Standard Time, USAC’s clocks started on Corvette’s attempt to reset the 24 Hour World Land Speed Record.

“Depending on wind,” Heinricy told us, “speed was in the low 190s. We didn’t lift in the turns. We entered them foot on the floor and by the time we came out of it, we’d be in the high-170s. It didn’t slow down much in the turns.

“Getting through the first pit stop was important. I felt a lot better when that car left after my stint.”

The Run continued smoothly. About every 80 minutes, the car came in. It took about 45-seconds to a minute to fill the 48-gal. tank, switch drivers, put on new Goodyears and clean the windshield.

By late afternoon, after eight hours, there was less worry about the car’s reliability.

The powertrain was running well. The chassis and tires weren’t taxed that much by the low cornering loads.

There were weather concerns. Don Knowles, in his afternoon stint, not only had 25-mph wind gusts but ran through intermittent drizzle and snow flurries. Think about that: driving 190-mph in light rain or snow–on race tires...with occasional cross winds.

Other of the Team’s fears were things biological rather than mechanical. Hit a cow or a deer at near 200, the result would be instant death. Seven pairs of men, in trucks spaced about a mile apart on the outside of the track, scared off animals with shotgun blasts in the air. The Team never saw a bovine or Bambi, but coyotes were small enough to slip by unseen. While they weigh only 35-40-lbs, hitting one could be catastrophic and it almost happened around sundown.

Hayner was running 180-plus through Turn Four (last half of the north turn) when he saw a chilling sight. “A little speck on the outside edge of the track,” Stu recalls. “It was a coyote and I had no chance whatsoever to brake. I decided to hit it and suffer the consequences rather than run off the track at near 200 trying to avoid it. I didn’t lift–figuring it wouldn’t make any difference. He came 10 or 15 feet down the banking. When I got 100 yards away, he heard the car. He stopped. I missed him by a few inches. This all happened in, like, two seconds.”

“I missed that coyote by maybe this much, at best,” Hayner told us. Image: Author.Birds were a danger, too. An encounter with a Corvette at 190 was over quick as you can say “splat.” Stu Hayner told us, “I was out of the car and watching. I heard the radio, ‘There’s a great big bird on the track.’ The car was coming and this bird, just–poof! At 200 miles an hour, they vaporize. We went out on the track and couldn’t find anything but a few feathers.”

The real fear was a bird coming through the windshield. Fortunately, the ZR-1’s glass was tough. “Usually, you didn’t even see the birds, “John Heinricy added. “They’d just go ‘Bang!’ on the windshield. I hit two or three. Other guys hit them, too. Occasionally, we came in with one stuck in the front end.”

Fright Night There was no moon on March 1st. One evening before the run, Hayner was leaving the track and stopped outside the gate. “That night was as black as if I was in a closet with blankets over my head,” he recalls. “If there’d been an animal 30 feet away, you couldn’t have seen it.”

“The late night stuff was scary.” Scott Allman added, “It was so dark, you couldn’t see past the edge of the track. We had lights at the entrance and exits of both turns, so when you exited one turn, you could identify the next turn, but, except for the lights on the car, the straights were completely invisible. If some critter ran in front of you, you’d have no warning. We lapped at 190-mph–280 feet-per-second. The field of vision at night allowed less than a tenth of a second visibility before you’d hit an object in your path. I calculated that based on a coyote entering the track perpendicular to the path of the vehicle. Not a comforting thought, since it takes half-a-second just to recognize an event that requires a motor response.”

John Heinricy presides over the infamous Team Meeting when the nighttime response time of the fire/rescue crew was the topic.

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Image: Author.Before the Run, there was a meeting with the fire/rescue squad. “I remember that like it was yesterday,” Stu Hayner recalled, “We were thinking it was just another track–another race. Any time I’d been racing, if anything happened, by the time I came to a stop, safety crews were on the way. Somehow, we lost the idea that wasn’t possible at Ft. Stockton.

“Heinricy had calculations,” Stu continued, “which said, if we went off the outside of a turn, we’d fly such and such a distance (ed: it was 375-ft) before hitting the ground. That was a reality check, too. Then, they talked about big boulders out there along with all the animals. No guardrails? I figured there was less to hit. I was still pretty young, then. I think some of us were thinking: it won’t happen to us. That’s the mentality of most race drivers.”

The Fire Chief was asked how long it would take to get to the car if there was an incident. He replied, “It depends if you’re on fire or not.” According to Hayner, the Chief’s wry humor drove home the idea, “If you weren’t on fire, he might not find you until morning–it was that dark–and if you were on fire, it still would be, maybe, 20-minutes because the facility was so big and you’d be on rough ground far from the track.”

Thankfully, no one went off the track, but besides the dread of that, there were other nighttime “experiences” which creeped-out drivers. “One thing that sticks in my mind is fog,” John Heinricy told us. “Several times that night, I hit fog. It was really scary because the fog was in patches. I’d suddenly see it in the lights and then it would break over the windshield almost instantly. Luckily, it wouldn’t last for any length of time. If it had been a big patch of fog, I’d have been in serious trouble.”

Through the long night, the LT5 never missed a beat and the rest of the car’s systems generally performed well. Lap after lap, lights boring a hole in the dark, the ZR-1 ran 190 down the straights and into the corners and 175-180 exiting turns. The Team’s calculations had them comfortably over the 166-mph average required to break the record. Like clockwork, about every hour-and-a-half, the car pitted for fuel, tires and a driver change. If the run continued this way, the 5000 kilometer, the 24 and the 5000 mile would all fall by early the next afternoon.

One of the car’s two mechanical problems happened at night. “One night stint,” Jim Minneker explained, “I got in and had a vibration right away. We were using the stock, low tire pressure warning system which had a five ounce sensor and a counterweight held on each wheel with a strap which broke, so I had ten ounces of imbalance bouncing around in the left front tire. I got to 120-125, it started really shaking–so bad, it broke my radio’s microphone wire. I couldn’t accelerate past that because the vibration got worse.

“The guys could tell by looking at vehicle speed in the telemetry. I could hear, but couldn’t talk, so they told me to blip the gas once for ‘Yes’ and twice for ‘No.’ They asked if something was wrong. I gave them one blip. ‘Do you know what it is?’ One blip. We played 20 questions until they asked, ‘Tire going down?’ One blip. I made it around and came back in. They had front tires ready to go and I went back out.”

Three Records Set At 3:36:06 AM Friday morning, 2 March 1990, in-spite of drizzle, snow, wind, coyotes, bird strikes, fog and vibration, the 5000 kilometer record, went down.

Dawn brought less stress and clear weather. The car was still running well. At 9:55:12 AM, the 24-hour World Land Speed Record, which withstood a half-century of assaults by other manufacturers, fell to a near-stock, overweight, Corvette ZR-1.

Fittingly, Team Leader, Tommy Morrison was in the car at the time. Everyone was ecstatic when USAC said they’d beat the old mark by 14.7 mph, way more than the required 3%.

Early on the Morning of the 2nd, the ZR-1 exits Turn 4 at Ft. Stockton. Image: Morrison Development.Mid-morning on 2 March. Tommy Morrison roars past his jubilant Team members after breaking the 24-Hour World Land Speed Record: Image: Stuart Hayner.

“To me,” Morrison said after getting out of the car, “this was a very sacred thing we set out to do–break a record that‘s 50 years old.

It was very difficult to achieve, but I’ve owned Corvettes since 1962 and there’s nothing I wanted to do more than break this record.”

The ZR-1 continued with the 5000-mile in reach but, incredibly, with eight laps to go, there was a problem–a coolant leak from a hose chaffed by the fan shroud. The car came in with the water temperature pegged. The crew replaced the hose and added coolant. Stu Hayner, the final driver, was told to run the last laps at 140 mph. The ZR-1 passed 5000 miles at 28-hours, 46-minutes and 12.426 seconds after the start.

The score? Three outright World Records: 5000-kilometers at 175.710 mph, 24-hours at 175.885 and 5000-miles at 173.791, plus four other FIA International marks in class A-G2-C10. Immediately after the event, the drivers and crew signed the underside of the hood. The WRR ZR-1 went on a promotional tour and then was donated to the National Corvette Museum where it remains, today.

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The WRR ZR-1 is one of the displays which has been unchanged since the Museum opened in 1994. Two of the mannequins are: Tommy Morrison, at left behind the car, and John Heinricy, ready to do a driver change. Image: Author.”It didn’t seem much of a deal until after I did it,” Heinricy reflected. “I thought: This is a World’s speed record–three speed records! And two of them stood for 50 years. Pretty incredible. What made me feel even better was that the car was so stock.

A Future WRR? “Doing another Record Run comes up every now and then,” John continued. “People say about the new ZR1, ‘You ought reset that record’ and I think, ‘Do you have any idea what you’re talkin’ about? (laughs). Wow, here’s another person without the foggiest idea what it’s takes to do that.

“Boy, you’d have to go pretty damn fast. The record is now 200 (ed: set in 2002 by a carbon-fiber-bodied, V12-powered, Volkswagen prototype) so you’d have to average near 210. Not that the car couldn’t do it, but it’d be a very tough engine test (ed: maybe an even tougher logistics and cost challenge.) And not at Fort Stockton. I’d consider some place safer, like Nardo (Italy) or something like that.”

“I would do it again,” Scott Allman agreed. “I would be smarter though. We managed the risk at Ft. Stockton and we could manage the risk, again, but I am sure we would do it differently. Would some place else be safer? Possibly. There is a good chance, however, the risk would similar–but the issues might be different. I would be willing to tackle it.”

Stu Hayner, in late October, 2009 at his home in Yorba Linda, California with his signed copy of the Record Run Publicity Photo.

Image: Author.”Twenty years next March–isn’t that amazing?” Stu Hayner reflected. “After we set the Records, I remember how quiet it was. It wasn’t just being tired. I was really glad it was over and nobody got hurt. The stress level was huge. Every lap I said a prayer because it was so dangerous. I remember looking at Tommy Roe–the look on his face–he was so glad the car made it, nobody got hurt and we set the Records. Doing it again? I don’t know how they could beat that record and be safe. I’m not saying it couldn’t be done, but there would be a lot of things you’d have to do to make it safer.”

“For a long time, I said ‘That’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever done and somebody else could do it again,’” Jim Minneker told us. “Lately, I’ve changed my mind, given a safer facility with barriers such as what (NASCAR) Sprint Cup tracks have. If we had that, I’d feel pretty good about doing it, so if the phone rang; I’d pick it up.”

This article was previously published in the April 2010 issue of Corvette Enthusiast.

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What Makes us NCRS

NCRS Members benefit from mountains of technical information that they can rely on. When you join the NCRS, you access the combined knowledge of thousands of previous members. A group of 19 Technical Advisors, who are recognized as the authorities in their fields, are also just a letter or e-mail away. Whatever problems that you might run into has been solved in past years by other NCRS members.

At the chapter level we are always looking for Tech Session ideas. This is NOT the chapter coming to work on your Corvette. It is the chapter coming to HELP YOU work on your Corvette as you learn more about your piece of American History. If you are currently working on your Vette and would be interested in hosting a tech session, please contact Tech Director Bob Lund or Asst. Tech Director Paul Burski.

The North Central Chapter of the NCRS has received NCRS Chapter Top Flight Award for Eight straight years!

(2012 to 2019) Did you know? C2 The speed warning indicator option lasted for only three production years... 1967, 1968 and 1969.

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Corvette Restorer Index available.

In case you haven’t just searched around our menus looking for what is available, it is a good time to mention the Corvette Restorer Index. Looking for articles from long past issues. Search the Restorer Index to find what issue to pull out of your library. Thanks to our anonymous helper who compiled this index and keeps it updated a couple times a year.

Did you know? c4 1992 saw the rebirth of the legendary LT1 small block engine as a 300 hp motor with reverse flow cooling and two valves per cylinder.

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Bob’s Stingray Service

Corvette Repair Mechanical & Electrical Repair and Restorations ‘63-67’ Specialized Repair * Up to 1982 Body Off Restorations Experienced Workmanship Many Parts in Stock Member of NCRS Bob Lund 9319 Riverview Avenue S - Bloomington, MN 55425 612-309-0344 - bobsstingray@yahoo.com

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