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News From the Flight Deck | |
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Flight Recordings – January 8, 2001
President,
Troy Craythorn at 7:34pm, called the first official meeting of the Capital
City Firebirds to order. Troy welcomed everyone. The officers were
introduced: President, Troy Craythorn, Vice-President, John Gibson,
Secretary, Dawn Ponder and Treasurer Mario Curci. The
directors were introduced: Website, Shane Elting, Competition Director,
Julie Bergman, News Editor, Pandy Weggener, Activities Director, Dante`
Higgins. Orlando
Ewings was welcomed and Shane was thanked for running the ad in the
Sacramento Bee in Friday’s paper. The
artwork for the logo was unveiled by Troy. It will be 4 colors to keep the
cost down. Julie will be looking into static stickers for the cars. The
logo will be on 3 discs so that we can make T-shirts, mugs, jackets, etc. Julie Bergman made a motion to have all club jackets alike. The motion was seconded by Judy Campbell, voted on and passed unanimously. Mike Vanneman and Julie Bergman will bring in two different styles of jackets at the next meeting.
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Treasurers Report:
Mario Curci wished everyone as Happy New Year and gave the treasurer’s
report. There is $200.00 from membership, $600.00 from member donations
for a total of $800.00 Dues are due now and any donations to help get the
club started are welcome.
Troy passed out flyers to tag other Firebirds and Trans Ams and asked the members to get 3 new members each for 2001. Please
return the flyers Troy sent out for the membership roster. Any personal
information you don’t want to be published in the roster, please make a
note of it on the flyer. Cellular phone numbers are handy to have on club
events. Dues may be paid to Mario. Checks should be made out to Capital
City Firebirds. Website: Shane reported that the website is up but he will be making some changes in the format. The by-laws are on the website and he will be adding an officer’s page with a picture of each persons car and a membership form to download. Website addresses are: www. capitalcityfirebirds.com and www.firebirdsofprey.com.
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Flight
Plans: February 5………General meeting @ Sizzler’s----2030 Fulton Avenue, Sacramento February
17……..Monterey Bay Aquarium overnighter March
5…………General meeting @ Sizzler’s----2030 Fulton Avenue,
Sacramento March 17………..St. Patrick’s Day Party @ Troy and Wendy Craythorn’s home, 8071 Milnes Avenue, Roseville |
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JANUARY MEETING MINUTES If there any members who would like to have a picture of their car on the website, bring the picture and a short paragraph about you and/or your car to the next meeting. Competition
Director:
Julie Bergman extends an invitation to everyone to come up to Thunderhill
Street Racing School on Saturday, January 27. Check the website for
availability at www.thunderhill.com.
Julie will be instructing. The cost for a full day of racing, with 5
twenty minute sessions on the track and as much instruction as you can
handle, is $175.00. You will be tired. If any members are interested in putting a picture of their car on the website, bring a paragraph about you and/or your car and the picture to the next meeting. Judy’s
Event:
Troy wants to have an event for Judy before she and John escape to Hawaii
for 3 months. John Gibson says there is a really fun go- cart place in
Stockton called The Inside Track. Unfortunately, John and Judy are leaving
Tuesday . The
date of the 20th was decided on. We will meet at Levitz
Furniture on Watt Avenue at
10:15am, leaving at 10:30 am sharp. You
will probably want to bring your own helmet if you have one. Radios should
be on channel 2. John
and Christy are having a Super Bowl party. It’s a potluck. Bring
whatever you want to BBQ, drinks and a favorite side dish. Kick off is at
3:30pm but you are welcome to come as early as 12 or 1pm. John
would like to have an article from everyone about their business and their
car for networking purposes within the club. He’s asking for a couple of
paragraphs to get to know everyone. They will be published randomly in the
newsletter. The idea was well accepted and the consensus was that it could
bring the members in the club closer together. We may have more in common
than the love of a great car. Julie
made a motion to have a classified/want ads on the website. The motion was
seconded by John Gibson and passed. The fee would be $5.00 for 60 days for
non-members. Troy
brought up having a raffle every month to help with revenue for the club.
Typically, the raffles bring in between $25.00 and $50.00 per month. John
Campbell made a motion to have a monthly raffle, seconded by Julie and
passed. Tickets will cost $1.00 each. John Gibson asked that anyone who
could beg, borrow or steal raffle prizes please do so. No actually he said
any donated raffle items would be appreciated. No leftover fruitcake
please!
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Troy is asking for suggestions for a name for the newsletter. Think about it and names will be discussed at the Super Bowl party. Troy
would like everyone to write an article for the newsletter. It could be
about anything. It doesn’t have to be long, but please write something.
We all need to participate in our
newsletter. The newsletter editor will not publish just the minutes. We
all need to put in our 10 cents There
was mention of having a picture taken of all the members’ cars in front
of the State Capital. Troy has also been in contact with Good Day
Sacramento and they seemed interested in running a story on the club. Also
Cruisin’ News was interested in the new club aspect of Capital City
Firebirds. Troy contacted Pontiac Enthusiast and they would do a story if
we took the time to write it and send pictures. These are great
opportunities for our club to attain publicity and once we get the logo
finalized we’ll be in the staging lanes! John
Gibson will be taking pictures at all club functions for the club
scrapbook/album. He will make extra copies for anyone who wants them at a
cost of 50 cents for the first copy and 25 cents for additional copies.
All proceeds will be donated to the club. Way to go John! We
will need at least one charity event
this year. If anyone has any ideas let us know next month. The
meeting was called due to the fact that the restaurant closes at nine. A
special meeting was called for Saturday, January 14th at 3:30pm
at Troy and Wendy’s home. Respectfully submitted- Dawn Ponder-secretary
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Monterey Bay Aquarium Overnighter February
17-18, 2001 Cannery Row Inn, 200 Foam Street, Monterey 1-800-228-5151 confirmation
#:11933547 Leave from Levitz parking lot at 7am.
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Cheers to the Trans Am Club
By Troy Craythorn I
wanted to thank all of you who have supported me over the last two years
as president of the club. Many of you performed tasks without any
hesitations or grumbling. I thank you for your diligence. I
want to wish the new president and his staff the best of luck in the time
to come. I hope things will be better and brighter for you. If I could
leave you with some advice it would be: 1)
Make
your members feel important. 2)
Be
quick to compliment them for the work they’ve done. 3)
Make
them feel welcome and befriended. 4)
Don’t
be quick to judge anyone. I
will not be returning to the club as I have new interests at hand. Many of
you know that I am starting a new club. I have organized the club based on
many of the original principles that the Trans Am Club was founded on. 1)
We
are here to serve the Firebird enthusiast. 2)
We
will support other club charity functions. 3)
We
will participate in monthly activities. 4)
We
will establish club government to oversee the needs of the members. 5)
We
are linked to other clubs and information. The
name of the new club will be the Capital City Firebirds. Our new website
is www.firebirdsofprey.com
and
www.capitalcityfirebirds.com For
more information you can contact me at 916-783-8681. We
will support the Trans Am Club and do our best not to hinder them in any
way. I feel that we will now have a healthy spirit of competition among us
at the drag nights and car shows, etc. As
J.O. Raff read at the Transarama in 1999; Out of the ashes of the old
Phoenix bird arises the new and more beautiful Firebird. The
Capital City Firebirds Club will thrive with the help and efforts of all
its members. Once
again, I wish all of you the happiest of times throughout the years to
come. Troy W. Craythorn November 27, 2001
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WELCOME TO THE CAPITAL CITY FIREBIRDS Well,
who knew? When
Ted Bechtel of the Golden State Chapter Trans Am Club of America suggested
that I start a new club I didn’t take it seriously at the time.
Honestly, we were just talking and blowing off steam at the Transarama
event. We
did it! We
have flown the coop! We are operating as a brand new club. Things are
going well and a great deal of progress has been made. We have our logos
and artwork completed. Our website is up and running and club shirts,
banners, stickers and jackets are underway. My
staff of dedicated officers and directors is working very hard to meet the
time frames for the task at hand. We have a lot of great activities
planned for our inaugural year. You can access club news and family events
on our websites: www.firebirdsofprey.com
and www.capitalcityfirebirds.com. I want to thank all of you members for having enough faith in me to embark on this great adventure. Thank you both for your strength and support. Our
club is already prospering with new members since the January meeting. I
would like to challenge each member to bring in at least 3 new members
into our flock this year. (It’s possible, trust me .) Our
club is on the rise and will continue to soar skyward as long as we work
together and support one another. I
tend to ask a lot of my officers, however it is my belief that it takes a
lot of effort to build something both great and worthwhile. I
must admit I felt sadness when we departed from the Trans Am Club. I
worked very hard while in the club to perform my duties and try to make
everyone happy. It’s
time to kick the tires, light the fires and thrust forward into the
horizons of a new millennium. May the Capital City Firebirds enjoy much
success. Thanks
Ted for the inspiration. Troy W. Craythorn January 30, 2001
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Go-Carting at Inside Track in Stockton
By Julie Bergman
It
was our new club’s first outing! The Capital
City Firebirds go to the Inside
Track, an indoor go-cart track. When the caravan of
‘Birds pulled up outside a strip mall in Stockton, I wondered?
What kind of track could they fit in there?! It turned out the track was
decent sized, allowing us entertaining jaunts around the twisty, curvy
track lasting somewhere around an average of 40 seconds. Donning
our rented or helmets brought
from home, we strapped ourselves in the noisy Yamaha powered carts. I’ll
never forget the way Troy Craythorn, our President, looked in the shower
cap type deal they made helmet renters wear on their heads! ;-) After
giggling a bit, it was off to practice, where they did not time you. Their
good advice was not to make your best time on the practice laps. After
banging into each other a few times, practice was over
and now it was time to qualify for racing positions. After
qualifying, it was time to seek input from the other drivers as to what
the best way was to operate these carts. I have learned a good racer
always seeks input from
others to get better! The consensus was that you must keep your foot on
the gas all the time even while braking to keep the rpms up, so the cart
would not ppppputt slowly when it was time to accelerate again! I could
smell the brakes heating up after I started using that technique more. The
racing was a blast! Turns I out we have some very skilled drivers in our
club, particularly Mike Vanneman and John Gibson. I watched Mike drive one
session I sat out and was really impressed by his lines (knowing the
fastest way around the track) and his smooth and consistent driving style.
John Gibson turned out to be the “hot shoe” of the day, winning the
final race event and turning a club best 35-second lap. The women put on a
strong showing too, with Christ Corral placing fourth and myself placing
fifth in the final event. Chelsea Craythorn did very well too, she will
get faster, mark my words! We’ll
have to do this again real soon!
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NHRA DRAG RACING
By Dawn Ponder Every
year for the last 6 years Ron and I go to the National Hot Rod Association
(NHRA) final drag race of the season in Pomona, California. (east of Los
Angeles) One of our friends is a diehard NASCAR fan and says drag race
fans have a short attention span. So the race is a quarter mile long and
lasts approximately 5 seconds, what’s his point! There
are few things more exciting than the deafening and guttural roar of a
6,000 horsepower (no, it’s not a typo) funny car or top fuel dragster
engine after it’s been ignited. There is the burnout that is about 300
to 400 feet long, the smell of burning rubber and the sting in your eyes
and lungs from the nitro methane. It’s intoxicating! Our seats are 100
feet from the staging area and when it’s a warm, sunny southern
California day, tiny bits of rubber fly off the huge racing slicks and
cover you from head to toe. When the green lights appear on the Christmas
tree the seismic vibrations consume your whole body for a split second. The
real turn-on has to be the breathtaking acceleration. It’s a quarter
mile track. The cars go from 0-100 mph in less than 1 second!
On a perfect run, by half track (650 feet) the car is doing over
250mph. So,
maybe drag race fans do have a short attention span, but at the end of
every race our smiles are a quarter mile wide!
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Club T-shirts are availableThese are white T-shirts with a large logo on the
back and small logo on the front left. The cost is $20.00 each. The club
will make $6.50 on each shirt sold. Contact Troy at 783-8682 or at the
meetings. Sizes L-XXL. Thanks, Troy W. Craythorn
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CLUB JACKET ORDERSAsk for Mike and be sure to tell him you are with the Capital City Firebirds. Call
1-888-725-7327 or fax 1-847-0480 ORDER
#: 5110-16 Jackets
are black on black. Small – extra large are $77.75 each. For XXL add 10%
($85.53) Add $7.85 for shipping and handling.
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