THE Amazing Convention

NX2000BOY@aol.com NX2000BOY@aol.com
Wed, 13 Mar 2002 23:52:09 -0600


   First off, I have to thank all the people who made this such a great
convention.  I want to thank Kyle, Michelle, Justin, Eric, Jason, and
everyone else in AZ SERCA who put a ton of time and energy in the Convention.
 I want to thank Brown & Brown Nissan for hosting us before and after the NTG
tour.

   The convention started for me when I hopped on a plane to San Diego from
San Luis Obispo Wednesday afternoon.  Thursday morning I picked up my car
from SR20Development.  Thanks Chris for having the car ready for me when you
guys were working so hard to have your car ready for drag night.  That thing
sounds incredible when the change over happens.  Wish I had been at the track
to hear it.  After I got the car from SR20, I hit the road and after a couple
hours I found our local parts man, Greg Vogel, (mossyperformance.com, check
out the white NX in front of his Classic) on the side of the road, out of
gas, a few miles from the AZ border.  We made Phoenix around 6:30, where we
found Torry, John Abbot, and the East coast crew discussing world politics.
It sounded fun so I sat down too.  Then dinner at Denny's, where someone
seemed to take a liking to our lovely Maxima driving waitress, Torry was
given the nickname Slursky which proved popular all weekend.

   Friday at the Testing Grounds was great.   It was really amazing to see
how all the cars and trucks are tested and prepared for consumers and the
government.  Watching the Skyline and the two SE-Rs racing around was
incredible.  The most amazing part was hearing that up to 130 mph you could
take your hands off the wheel and a car would stay on the track heading
through the turn.  The meet and greet at B&B was great.  The bags were a
great idea to contain everything people would need for the rest of the
Convention.  Again, thanks to the AZ guys!  The name tags were great for
identifying new friends and make a great souvenir.

   Saturday started interesting when I couldn't find an onramp to the freeway
after getting gas.  When I finally found my way to the track, everything was
well prepped.  Kyle of KDAH fame gave a great drivers meeting and apparently
had a large affect on the drivers as the day was very clean.  The track was
short, but that just meant you got more laps per session.  The track time was
great and it was great to see all the prizes and the Hotshot and Mossy Nissan
tents.  The Spec-Vs were great to watch through the last set of turns where
the inside rear wheel could be lifted through the entire 180 degree turn.

   Saturday night after the track event was kinda interesting.  I'm sorry the
SERCA meeting was unable to happen, but with this crowd you have to start
things early.  I really have to thank Tom Paule and Don McLaurin.  I
appreciate your being good friends.

   Sunday at the picnic, car show and raffle were great.  All, okay most, of
the cars looked great and showed amazing car prep.  It was great to see Aaron
LaBeau win best Classic.  His car was incredible looking and the turbo system
looks great.  The raffle was a lot of fun, even it if was suspicious.  J/K AZ
guys.  The raffle gifts were you guys were able to get showed amazing effort
on your parts.  Thank you.  It seems the raffle was very appropriate, as
Kyle, in the end, got an engine and Torry Slurski, who drove an amazing
amount of miles from Florida in his Spec-V, won brake pads, a popcharger, and
a LARGE gift certificate from Hotshot just in time to order their new 11 HP
header.  Seems like thing work themselves out pretty good.  I personally won
a $60 Eibach Sportline hat and a round of applause for showing up.  At 3:30,
we hit the road and 9 hours later, I was home before midnight on a school
night.  Thank goodness for the hour difference between CA and AZ.

   This was my first convention and it was amazing.  To everyone who is
thinking about coming next year, where ever it is, DO IT!  This was an
absolutely amazing event, well worth every penny and minute.  For those who
are drinkers and those who don't drink (me) it is incredible and very
enjoyable event.  I got to talk shop with real car people, talk about turbos
with turbo people, talk about Virginia International Raceway, and take my car
out on a great little course.

To all my new friends and those I didn't meet, but just hung with, you guys
and gals are really cool.  The cars bring us together, but the people keep
everyone coming back for more fun and car stuff.  Thanks to everyone for
making this an incredible weekend I'll never forget.  Again, mAD PrOPs tO THe
aZ gUYs.

Shannon Fitzpatrick
'91 NX with the great Corbeau seats
San Luis Obispo, Ca
Hopefully the first person to register for next year, where ever it is!