1st General Meeting [Goleta]

19th Wings Over Camarillo [Camarillo]

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Meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month at 6:30 PM

High Sierra Grill, 521 Firestone Rd Goleta Ca.

Presidents Message 1

NCM Ambassador 2

Activities 3-4

Membership 5-14

Last Month Minutes 15

Sponsor Page 16

Member Advertising 17-18

IN THIS ISSUE

EVENT CALENDAR

5th General Meeting [Goleta]

10th Magic Castle [Los Angeles]

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

Mike Christeson

August

September

July

Editor/Publisher: Ed Clerkin-Publicity | Our Board/Contact Us

4th 4th of July Parade [Santa Barbara]

4th 4th of July Post-Parade Eats [Santa Barbara]

15th Jalama Beach Run [Lompoc]

It is time for the annual July 4th Parade and Eats at the LoMonaco’s. Barbara and Frank have again opened up their house for the festivities. This year Barbara has arranged for chicken from Von’s as the meat course and Frank is mixing up a new drink surprise for us to try. As Barbara has been sick and in bed with a cough, I have been worried about her over doing it but she says it will be ready!! The parade is scheduled to start at 1:00pm and we do not yet have exact line up location and timing. For those not driving in the parade you should plan to arrive at the

LoMonaco’s between 2:00 and 2:30 pm for drinks and appetizers. We want to have the July meeting combined with this event and will have our meeting before the meal is served. During the month of June, we had the Avenue of the Giants Run to the Redwoods. Ed Clerkin scouted out the stops, lodging, meal locations and activities. This was a big project and we want to give a special thanks to Ed for this great run. Ed’s guide book raised the bar for all of us for the future runs. Also during June, Peter Mackins led us on a run to Vic Edelbrock’s facility in Torrance, CA. Vic Edelbrock Junior had built their company into a major supplier to the automobile manufacturers. This was in addition to their roots in the performance car parts after market. A very impressive manufacturing facility and car collection. On the return to Santa Barbara, we stopped at “Stacks” in Thousand Oaks Mall for one of their design your own gourmet burgers—always a treat. So, we will see you on the 4th at the parade and at the LoMonaco’s. As a bonus side event, there is an art show at the Mission which is a short walk from Frank and Barbara’s house.

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NATIONAL CORVETTE MUSEUM MASTER AMBASSADOR

Frank LoMonaco

2017 Model Year: Corvette Sales Statistics

Here are the total sales statistics - listed by model and listed by color - for the 2017 Corvette Model Year as they were released from the National Corvette Museum.

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Number of vehicles sold, by model: Total

Stingray Coupe 11,253

Stingray Convertible 2,298

Grand Sport Coupe 9,912

Grand Sport Convertible 2,046

Z06 Coupe 6,197

Z06 Convertible 1,076

Grand Total number sold in 2017 32,782

Number of vehicles sold, by color: Total

Arctic White 6,199

Watkins Glen Gray 5.822

Black 5,338

Torch Red 4,621

Admiral Blue 3,068

Blade Silver 2,105

Long Beach Red 2,004

Corvette Racing Yellow 1,371

Black Rose 1,333

Sterling Blue 921

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ACTIVITIES COLUMN

Tony Megowan

Happy July All. For this month we have the 4th of July Parade followed by a General Meeting and luncheon at Frank and Barbara’s. Also this month we have the Jalama Beach Runch Run on Saturday the 15th. We will plan to leave Timbers in Goleta at 9:15 AM and should be there by about 11:00 AM or so. We will then have lunch at the Jalama Beach Grill. Afterwards for those that want to, we will plan on visiting a couple of wineries in the Lompoc/Buellton area.

For the month of August, we are planning the Wings Over Camarillo Airshow at the Camarillo Airport. Tickets are $17.00 and can be purchased online. There will be numerous warbirds and Aerobatic demonstrations including Ventura Counties own Judy Phelps (pictured on left). If you love airplanes this is a must see.

For September we have the Magic Castle run on Sunday the 10th. Peter Mackins will have fur-ther information as we get closer. This run is always a good time an I highly recommend it.

We will more than likely be adding a run or two in October or November. I will let you know as it gets closer. One of the runs we are looking at is the Second Sunday Supper at Plan B Winery on November 12th. The band will be Ignition, a Rock and Roll cover band that we have seen in the past and have thoroughly enjoyed. Also Paula and I will be attending the July Second Sunday Supper at Plan B Winery on the 9th featuring Unusual Suspects another Rock and Roll cover band with food provided by Middle Feast and Desserts to Die For. Come on out and join us. Look forward to seeing all of you on a future run.

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Our Friday June 23rd run to the Edelbrock facility was great! Everyone had assembled in Ventura by 7:45 so we were able to get an early start. It was

a rather patriotic group with one white, two blue and four red Vettes. I still love looking in the rear view mirror to see a string of Vettes rolling down the highway. I thought the early start was going to give us an advantage until we hit stop and roll traffic in Westlake. While doing 15 miles an hour I thinking this is not going to be good but just as quickly as the traffic backed up, within a

few minutes it opened back up, no accident, no disabled car, no cops issuing tickets but as Frank LoMonaco said there was-n’t even a CHP officer tying his shoe. I will never understand how it happens that people, for no reason at all, decide to slow down but then I digress. The rest of the trip had a bit of the expected morning commuter traffic but nothing too bad and we arrived early for the tour. Our early arrival allowed those who wanted, to purchase some of the Edelbrock wears. We gathered in the lobby area that included a half a dozen or so engines from a Ford flat head to a small block Chevy to a big block Mopar Hemi. Our guide for the day was Smitty, a gentleman who had work for Edelbrock for some 30 or 40 years. He ex-

EVENT RECAP: EDELBROCK FACILITY/MUSEUM

Peter Mackins

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plained that in the 40’s Vic Edelbrock Sr. started the operation with 10 employees in his garage and now they have over 700 employees and are

doing over $100 million in sales annually. As Smitty pointed to and described the photos hanging on the wall, Ray Seider asked about the relationship between Vic Edelbrock Sr. and Bob Joehnck. For those who don’t know about Bob Joehnck and his shop at the corner of Figueroa and De La Vina Streets, he was one of the foremost engine builders and tuners of the 60’s and 70’s. Smitty said yes they were close and pointed to a single four barrel high rise manifold and idea Edelbrock had conjured up from Bob Joehnck. Our tour began in the Dyno Room where they had three engine dynos. One of the techs was getting ready to make a pull on an engine but the warm-up was going to take 10 minutes so we moved on to another room. That room contained a couple of in-house developed testing machines and a 3-D printer for creating prototype parts. From there we proceeded to the shop where they do the installation of some of their products on owners’ vehicles. As luck would have it, there was a new C7 Grand Sport being outfitted with an Edelbrock supercharger. Along with the $7,500 for the supercharger and a few thousand or so for the installation, the upgrade comes with a three year complete drive-train warrantee. After that, we entered the first of three large buildings. The first building was pri-marily for the manufacturing of manifolds, the second for heads and the third for superchargers. It was interesting to see they were utilizing a number of the Haas machines we saw on our visit to that facility for milling their parts. The manifolds and supercharges come in what I would call the natural or raw metal finish, a black powder coated finish and what I thought was chrome but what was a bright shiny finish the process of which Smitty explained is similar to powder coating but was a cold process. Smitty mentioned that in addition to the Edelbrock label products, they produce a large number of private label parts including heads for Callaway and Lingenfelter. In the supercharger building he pointed to a large quantity of Hell Cat supercharge parts. Fred Smith wondered aloud as did others, are there that many Hell Cats on the road for this quantity of aftermarket parts. Smitty explained Edelbrock produces the supercharges for Mopar as well as for Lotus. The facility tour concluded with a trip through the marketing, graphics, and sales departments and ended up back in the lobby. Throughout the tour Seider had been hoping for some samples, hey a supercharger would be fine. That was a little optimistic but at the end we were all give goody bags including a couple of catalogs, some stickers, and a good looking cap. The final stop on the day’s tour was a few blocks away at Vic’s Garage and Vic Jr’s collections of cars. Just inside was the actual 32 Ford in which his dad set records at Bonneville as well as another one that represented the way the car looked when he would drive to Bonneville prior to making a run, both beautifully restored. In addition to these were a beautiful ’40 Ford coupe, a sedan delivery, and a ’48 woody pulling the Edelbrock midget racer. The majority of the cars were red including a mild customized ’57 Chevy, a number of ‘60s Chevelles and Camaros and several Vettes. There were a number of race cars but the one that caught my attention was blue and opposite of the entrance. Remember my reference to Bob Joehnck? Well the blue race car was the number 614 Washburn Chevrolet ’63 Z06 racer that had been campaigned so successfully in the mid ‘60s. You will see that car in countless magazines and publica-tions that documented the era. I remember seeing it run at the races that were held at the Santa Barbara airport. Ah, those were the good ole days. If you are unfamiliar with that car or just would like to see and hear it again please reference the following videos. #614 Edelbrock ZO6 Corvette in Monterey Vic Edelbrock in his Corvette Z06 at 2009 Monterey Historics Vic Edelbrock jr. leaving the paddock, 2013 Laguna Seca As a teaser, check out this 1963 Corvette Grand Sport (Mongoose) replica. Look closely at the hood vents in the follow-on video. After leaving Torrance we headed out of the LA basin with the traffic this time not cooperating. At one point a CHP officer on a mo-torcycle passed us by. Why he did not give us a police escort out of that mess I don’t know. He just must not have seen us. It took a little longer than expected but we did make it to Stacked in Thousand Oaks for a late lunch of good food with great friends. That brought to an end to another great run brought to you courtesy of Corvette Club Santa Barbara.

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EVENT RECAP: EDELBROCK FACILITY/MUSEUM

Peter Mackins

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There are currently 92 members with 67 Corvettes. Best wishes to our June Birthday People:

Many members know that Thore is quite the artist. He is co-founder of the Abstract Art Collective and held their 3rd annual fundraiser for SEE International on June 4th. The exhibition will be on display until Au-gust 18th at the Bronfman Family Jewish Community Center in Santa Barbara. It is well worth your time to check out the beautiful artwork.

Jacques Bellesiles was born on September 25, 1926 in Los

Angeles. From what his children, grandchildren, and his beloved wife, Yuriko shared with us at his memorial service about special times growing up and their lives with Jacques, he was a wonderful father, grandfather, and husband. He enjoyed family time which often had “action” of some kind such as water skiing. You absolutely know that Jacques was out there teaching them all how it is done. During his life he was always looking for the next adventure, the next challenge, and the next friend to meet. Part of that adventure involved automobiles which were a huge part of Jacques life, whether from his early days in the 1950’s when he was an avid race car driver or his later years when we all knew him as a member of Corvette Club Santa Bar-bara and the owner of a 2002 Convertible and a 2010 Grand Sport.

When we pulled up to the Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventu-ra for his service on June 17, the first thing we saw was the old #656 race car that Jacques had driven as a young man. It was actually driven to the memorial not trailered. We do not know the details of it but it was pic-tured in the slideshow with a very young Jacques behind the wheel. He

raced at many tracks in California including: Santa Barbara, Pomona, Willow Springs, Torrey Pines, Stockton, Pebble Beach, Para-mount Ranch, Carrell Speedway, Bakers-field, etc. He raced primarily from 1949-1957, driving an MG, Ferrari 750 Monza, the Bellesiles Special, and others. When given

the opportunity he was always ready to put the pedal to the metal. We were privileged to have Jacques give a presentation to the CCSB Membership on his racing history at a meeting in October 2016. We were all fascinated to hear his stories of racing back in the day. Jacques was 90 years young and he lived a long and active life and will be missed by all of us. He was a true “Renaissance Man” whose expertise and knowledge spanned various areas: a successful career in financial services, race car driver, accomplished weight lifter, black belt in karate, community activist, true friend, and a gentleman with an ever-ready smile on his face. Corvette Club Santa Barbara was represented by Tony & Paula Megowan, Marylyn Bruce, Linda Petersen, Frank and Barbara LoMonaco and Fred & Sharon Smith.

MEMBERSHIP COLUMN

Pat Bloom

7/01 Linda Peterson

7/03 Dorene Ross

7/04 Dennis Trammel

7/05 Danielle Felts

QUOTE OF THE MONTH: Pandas are living proof you can be fat just by eating salads

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IN MEMORIAM: JACQUES BELLESILES

Sharon Smith

7/14 Ingrid Hugo

7/20 Maria Loesche

7/20 Thore Edgren

7/23 Hans Loesche

7/31 Mary Nohr

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[Ed. Note: Dave & Deb Hanks attended the Avenue of the Giants run in June] I needed another redwood fix so I drove up to the Sequoia National

Park on Saturday. My plan was to drive through the park and exit on the far side. It would be a beautiful drive. I knew there was an access fee but had no clue how much it would be. STICKER SHOCK: Entrance fee for one car is $30!! Annual entry fee to this park is $50: I almost pulled the trigger as this would give me an option to return multiple times within 12 months (Note to self—this was a 1.5 hour drive to the gate). Annual entry fee to ALL parks is $80 so I considered this as well as it could be a reward for driving my car to other parks. But how many times would I be able to visit in 12 months? When I finally drove up to the ranger, she issued me a gift—entry fee for Saturday, June 3rd was FREE!

Once back home I researched park locations to reconsider the annual pass and I discovered that the National Park Service offers a Senior Lifetime Pass for $10. That is one car with up to 4 occupants—wow, this is a no brainer! I can buy the pass here in Porterville at Sequoia National Park Main HQ. As an update, the US Government is raising the price to $80 soon so other club members may want to consider taking advantage of this opportunity now before the price goes up.

Anne and I are on a 12 day trip through Yellowstone and Grand Teton Na-tional Parks and beautiful backroads through Wyoming, Utah and Arizona.

The first 6 days were with Corvette’N America which is a caravan of 16 Vettes from all over the country. On Tuesday of the first week, we were having lunch at the Teton Aviation Café at the Driggs, Idaho airport. The airport is located in a large valley just on the west side of the Grand Tetons. I heard this wonderful rumbling noise and what taxi’s bye is a beautifully restored F4U-1 Corsair in Navy markings and color. Of course, I had to go outside and take a picture. Not knowing if I would get shot or put in jail, I walked out to where the aircraft parked to get a closer picture and talk to the pilot. The owner/pilot is Capt. John French, USMC (Fmr), former Marine F4 Phantom

pilot during the Vietnam war, 6 years on active duty. Had a great talk with him .. turns out he flew 300 combat missions, most for Marines in I-Corps, at the same time I was there! I may have controlled his air-craft! We traded a few war stories and had some “do you know” moments. On my way back to the café, I asked inside who was in charge that might allow me to take my car on the tar-mac to get a picture with the airplane. I was told it was impossible for over 100 reasons. While I was eat-ing lunch, John walked up and said

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AVENUE OF THE GIANTS RUN: NATIONAL PARKS

Dave Hanks

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ON THE ROAD AGAIN: NATIONAL PARKS TOUR

Fred & Anne Lopez

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“Marines take care of each other. Come with me, you can have a picture next to my airplane if I can ride in your Corvette!” Took me all of 5 nano-

seconds to come out of my seat and start walking to the door. Got in the car ... he loved the look, the sound and the interior. As I was programming the display to record the drive onto the tarmac (the C7 has a video recording feature looking over the hood), John com-mented that the display and features needed a checklist! Had a wonderful drive to the airplane, attached is one of the pictures Anne took. A chance meeting, two Vietnam veterans, Marine brothers greeting each other, reliving a time past and thanking each other being there when we were needed. Doesn’t get any better than that! Second picture is the Grand Tetons, an iconic barn and a classic Corvette.

NATIONAL PARKS TOUR: CONTINUED

Fred & Anne Lopez

By now many of you have heard the highlights and/or saw on NCM web cams the awesome NCM Delivery of new 2017 Grand Sports for Fred and myself and Ray and Terry Seider on May 2. Fred’s delivery team member, Stacy, was a perfect match for my techie husband to help Fred get ac-quainted with the latest and greatest features of our new family member. As for myself, I felt the Corvette Store beckoning me with all its latest and greatest merchandise. Mid-morning we were pleased to have Jim Wafer from CCSB who also has a home in Bowling Green stop by. Jim also was kind enough to mention to Wendell Strode, Executive Director of the NCM that we were taking delivery and Wendell stopped by to offer his congratulations on his way out the door to an appointment. We really appreciated him doing that for us. If the last time you received standing applause for anything is a distant memory, then you absolutely must take museum delivery of a new Corvette. You are applauded by NCM staff and complete strangers who are now new friends as you are driven out of the

museum into the light of day and a whole world beckoning you to hit the road. May 3 we went to Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage with Ray and Terry and then they depart-ed for points west and we prepared to head for the Great Smokey Mountains. On May 4 , the first of several storms we would encounter greeted us as we made our way toward Townsend, TN. We planned to enter the Smokey Mountains National Park from the West through Cades Cove, but it rained all night. May 5 as we approached the entry point a friendly ranger and a road closed sign greeted us. Disappointed, but not deterred we put Plan B into action which was to head straight to Duluth, Georgia where our new baby was scheduled for her 500-mile service appointment. She passed inspection and we were on our way. May 6 we toured the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, GA. It was impressive, but what got my attention the most was the world’s longest (196 feet) and tallest (8 stories) free-standing escalator which went on forever. I did not look down. May 7-8 we arrived in Charleston, SC and toured the Charleston Tea Plantation on Wadmalaw Island. It is America’s only tea factory. This is where I began my obsession with “sweet tea.” On a hot day a glass of iced sweet tea is heaven. Even Fred who is not a tea drinker was indulging heavily. May 8 we did a walking tour (Sharon Style) of Charleston’s Walled City and The Battery. Many houses range from the Continued

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ON THE ROAD AGAIN: DEEP SOUTH CRUISE

Fred & Sharon Smith

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early 1700’s to the late 1800’s. We left Charleston and headed to Tybee Island Light Station and Museum. It is Georgia’s oldest and tallest light.

We climbed the 178 stairs to the top. Fred’s new pacemaker did its job.

May 9 we decided to take the closest route possible along the coast which is AIA. It was worth it. We arrived at St. Augustine, FL and toured Castillo de San Marcos Nat’l Monument. The masonry fort built by Spain in 1695 was still holding up pretty well for being 322 years old. May 10 we visited Daytona International Speedway. We had the opportunity to walk up the steep banking on the track at the start/finish line and that was an experience. A bonus was the ability to tour the new Motorsports Hall of Fame of America which is now housed in the DIS Ticket and Tours Building which honors all forms of motorsports. While in the Daytona area we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to dip our new Grand

Sport’s tires in the sand at the historic old Daytona Beach road course en-trance to the beach on Beach Street. To end the day, we toured Ponce De Leon Inlet Light Station which is the highest one in Florida. It also has an amazing Fresnel Lens Museum on the property in a separate building.

May 11 was our day at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. It is an all-day experience. We arrived at 9 AM and left at 5 PM. It is eve-rything you ever wanted to know about the US Space Program and beyond.

May 12 we con-tinued on High-way AIA and ar-rived at White-hall, the mansion built for Henry Flagler

as his 75-room, 100,000 square foot winter home in Palm Beach, FL. He was one of the original founders of Standard Oil Company along with John D. Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews. He realized the poten-tial for tourism in Florida and built several huge hotels, developed a railroad line down the entire east coast of Florida to Key West, and he was instrumental in agricul- ture by diverting water for crops. He made Florida flourish. May 13 more driving on Highway AIA and then Florida Keys. Drove through Key Largo, Islamorada Key, and Marathon Key.

DEEP SOUTH CRUISE: CONTINUED

Fred & Sharon Smith

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May 14 we drove the Lower Keys and arrived in Key West for another walking tour. After which we backtracked toward the mainland. We visit-

ed The Turtle Hospital on Marathon Key. It was the world’s first licensed veterinary hospital dedicated to the treatment of sea turtles. It was so sad to see what happens to many sea turtles due to getting injured by boats (like the sea turtle in this photo), ingesting marine debris and water pollution. Some turtles are not able to go back to their natural habitat af-ter rehab treatments and spend the rest of their lives at The Turtle Hospital.

May 15 we headed for Everglades National Park. Mosquitoes were doing us in after the first stop. We made one more stop in the area at the Big Cypress Oasis Visitor Center where we saw sev-eral alligators in the water and one that walked right in front of us in a parking lot.

Mission accomplished. We saw our gaters and we were out of there. May 16 it was time for a visit to Rick Treworgy’s Muscle Car City in Punta Gorda, FL. He has vintage ‘50’s to early ‘70’s muscle cars, Camaros, SS Chevelles, SS El Caminos, Big Block Impalas, Pontiac GTO’s, Oldsmobile 442’s, and one or more Corvettes for each year from 1954-1975, plus several of each series from 1975-2016. In addition to the cars he has an awesome automobilia collection.

That same day, we also visited “Big Daddy” Don Garlits’ Museum of Drag Racing & Classic Car Collection in Ocala, FL. Besides being a “Swamp Rat” Don also is a “Pack Rat”. There are two buildings of stuff from fuel dragsters, stock cars, and funny cars to trophies, models, photographs, helmets, uniforms, etc. May 17 and 18 were driving days to head out of Florida and drive the length of Ala-bama to get to Florence, AL. Why Florence, AL? Because the next day we were going

to relive music history.

May 19 we arrived at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios at 3614 Jack-son Hwy in Sheffield, AL. The four founders of the studio known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section were a house band. They were the first group of musicians to own a studio. Their initial successes in soul and R&B led to a mainstream group of rock and pop performers who recorded at this studio, includ- ing Rolling Stones, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Cher, Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc. It was a trip back in time to see the studio which has retained much of its original character and furnishings. From there we went to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia, AL. We had no idea the huge num-ber of artists, musicians and songwriters who call Alabama home.

DEEP SOUTH CRUISE: CONTINUED

Fred & Sharon Smith

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The dynamic duo was off again in June. This time we were joined by 45 members of the Corvette Museum on a Museum in Motion trip to Paris,

France to cheer for the Corvettes at the 24 hour Le Mans. A few days were also spent visiting some of the many treasures in this country before going to Le Mans.

Paris was at the top of Sandy's bucket list. Her father was in the 4th Division 12th Infantry marching thru Paris on Lib-eration Day 8/25/44 when the Germans surrendered Paris. He set up his machine gun near Notre Dame and the Seine River on the bridge St. Michel. He always loved Paris. Sandy tried taking pictures in some of the same locations as her father's photos.. After a rather bumpy 11 hour plus plane ride we were picked up and transported and to the hotel where we met Ralph Sutton, our very capable France Tour Director and Bryce Burklow (the NCM representative) and his wife who would be with the group the entire time. Our group was from many different states and also included NCM board member Leslie Gardner who lives in Long Beach.

Day 1 Morning arrivals had a 2 hour mini tour by bus. Unfortunately for Pat the afternoon arrivals were given a walking tour of Montmartre by the guide. This area was made famous by Picasso, Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh who lived there in the late 1800's. The streets are narrow, steep, and crowded with weekend tourists. Sacre Coeur is a vibrant catholic church at the top of the hill. Pat has a recurring nightmare of getting lost in a foreign city which she has done on occasion. This trip proved to be no exception. She had trouble keeping up with the group and after leaving the church got separated in the crowd. She took a couple of wrong turns and ended up totally lost. She started going down the hill and when there was a fork in the street she went into a shop and showed them the hotel card and asked right or left? After doing this several times she made her way back. In the meantime Emanuelle, the poor guide, was frantic at the top trying to find her. Not good for everyone concerned. After a meet and greet with a welcome glass of champagne at the hotel bar, there was a short walk to dinner at Bistro Melrose. A long day. Day 2 was another busy day starting at 9:30 am. First on the agenda was a bus trip to Notre Dame Cathedral. This awesome church was built 8 centuries ago. Next was a tour of the Montparnasse Tower to view Paris from the 56th floor observation deck. Sandy was not thrilled about the elevator ride since she once had a bad experience in one. Surviving the ride, the view was magnificent in all directions. Next stop was a visit to Les Invalides and Napoleon's tomb. This is a group of buildings originally commissioned by Louis XIV as a home for old and sick soldiers and remained that until the late 19th century. Napoleon's tomb is large and made of red quartz and green granite. Big tomb for a small man. Other famous people buried there include Napoleon's son and 2 brothers. Some war heros are interred only having their hearts there with their remains elsewhere. The bus then returned to the hotel with the even-ing free. Day 3 started with a trip to the Louvre and another adventure. When barely inside, an alarm went off and huge steel doors came down on both sides of the room trapping some of the group inside and some outside. No one had any information and everyone just waited and waited. One person said they heard there was smoke somewhere. There had been terrorist activity in London and Paris so not a comforting thought and no chances were being taken by authorities. After ½ hour, the doors went up and the visit

NCM MUSEUM IN MOTION: PARIS OR BUST

Pat Bloom and Sandy Halverson

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continued with no explanation. It seems this happens fairly frequently these days. The paintings are extraordinary and so were the crowds. Af-

terward Pat went with a few in the group to view the gardens and walk a short distance on the Champs Elyses. Sandy gave Pat a hard time for abandoning her and went to the Arc de Triomphe with the rest of the people and climbed to the top (164 ft.). What a view from the top. Sandy had our guide take her picture at the bottom in the same spot she took her picture 40 years ago. She had a pho-to and Emanuelle went all around to find the exact spot. What a guy. The day was capped off with dinner and show at the world fa-mous Moulin Rouge. No cameras were allowed inside but they did live up to their reputation. Several costume changes, singing, dancing and just a little risque. A good show. Day 4 started with a trip to the Palace of Versailles. The main construction took place between 1664 and 1710. Now a suburb of Paris but centuries ago it was in the village of Versailles and is rich in France's political history. The treaty of Versailles was signed 6/28/19 and was the most important peace treaty bringing WWI to an end between Germany and the Allied Powers. The Palace is beautiful. A river cruise in the afternoon on the Seine proved very relaxing and beautiful. And, oh those sexy Parisian men! The group gathered in the evening for a trip to the Eiffel Tower and dinner at the 58 Tour Eiffel restaurant, famous for its panoramic views. Another nasty jammed elevator ride for Sandy but she was a trooper and the evening was very enjoyable watching the sun set. Day 5 our little band of Americans checked out of the hotel and jumped back on the bus for Normandy Invasion landmarks. The D-day Museum at Gold Beach overlooks the spot where a portable (Mulberry) harbour was constructed by the British to rapidly unload cargo onto the beaches under heavy fire. Its remains can still be seen from the shore. A visit to Omaha Beach and checking out German bunkers, trenches, etc. of the battles. Check in at hotel in Caen and group dinner. This town is pronounced “Cahn” and now Pat will remember that the Cannes Film Festival is pronounced “Can”. Day 6 a visit to the Normandy US Cemetery is over 172 acres and contains the graves of 9,387, most of whom lost their lives in the D-day landings and operation. It is a very somber yet beautifully maintained place. We checked into our hotel in Angers, about 1 ½ hrs from Le Mans but as close as could be arranged by the NCM. Day 7 and it's off to the races (sort of.) The bus took us to the Corvette Corral. Our guide led us to the track and into the pit area to check out the cars and do a little shopping. Antonio Garcia was in the Cor-

vette pit area and talked a little to us. We walked back to the Corral where we had lunch and met Car #64 drivers Milner, Gavin, and Fassler who graciously signed auto-graphs for everyone. Back on the bus for the parade in the center of town. It was hot, very crowded with no designated seat-ing area and very difficult to see. Pat found a place

to sit on a ce- ment step and Sandy coura-geously found her way to a spot in the crowd where she was up close and personal and could take pictures. Where there's a will there's a way. A Corvette Racing sticker was put on our tour bus and people waved at us.

PARIS OR BUST: CONTINUED

Pat Bloom and Sandy Halverson

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Another beautiful cathedral in Le Mans. Before the parade a bunch of guys with Donald Trump wigs walked the parade route with signs “Make Le Mans Great Again.” Day 8 Race Day. Took the bus to the track at 11:30 am and left at 1:30 am, arriving at hotel at 3:00 am. The cars are very loud and Pat ended up buying a noise reduction headset so it would be more enjoyable since

she left hers at home. The seats were very good; high, above the finish line and covered. It was a beer drinking, water drinking, hamburger kind of day. Only a very few stayed in the stands all day and night but the bus had quite a few on it at 1:30 am.. They must have been in the Corral or walking around. The mini bus was a Mercedes. Day 9 The bus left for the track at 8:30 am. Pat had eve- ry intention of getting up and returning for the race but when the alarm went off she said “no way.” Sandy said “yes way” and went with the others. There was another bus leaving at noon but considering how long it takes to get there and then the walk to the track itself and the fact that the race is over at 3, Pat decided to skip it and watch on TV. Another woman stayed behind and they walked around a nearby park and up the street to McDonalds for bite to eat instead. The shops and many restaurants were closed on Sunday. McDonalds is set up completely different there where you order on a machine and then take the receipt to the counter to pay and receive your food. Hamburgers are on a hard bun and not very tasty. The French seem to really like mayon-naise and use it liberally. They do however have a counter with pastries and cookies that were good. Once Sandy returned to the track

she visited the museum there—so much history. After that she had to walk cross the famous Dunlop Bridge with her heart pumping as the cars went underneath. Then it was back to our seats with our group waving the Corvette flag and American flags. This made it to TV on a couple of occasions. We watched our #63 Corvette go around with the 3 green lights on the side for the lead-ers. So exciting until the dramatic end with Jordan Tay-lor driving trying to fend off the Aston Martin. The Aston passed the Corvette and then the Corvette got the lead back. In the final lap the the Aston passed the Corvette who drove into the gravel pit causing another tire issue. This allowed the Chip Ganassi Team ford to pass the Corvette as well. The Corvette managed to hold onto 3rd place. As Jordan Taylor says, “Never give up.” What an ending for a 24 hour race. The Corvette finished 8th.

Day 10 Checked out of Angers hotel and headed back to Paris. Stopped for lunch en route at La Serpente opposite the

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Chartres Cathedral, completed in 1220 in the medieval town of Chartres. It is almost perfectly preserved with original stained-glass windows and is

fully intact. This would be the last time the NCM group had a meal together. This time our Paris hotel room was higher, 9th floor. One CCSB member (Dennis) said we had to go to a certain restaurant in Paris. Sandy also wanted to go to the Hard Rock too so we decided we could do both. After walking a million miles we found the HR and went in for a 1664 beer (Pat) and watermelon mojito

(Sandy). By now you might expect Pat to be a little grumbly. You would be more than a little right and now it was time to find the **** res-taurant. Not to be deterred, they found it. It is quite lovely

and the outside seating enabled them to witness or at least hear a fight in the park across the street and police pull up and park di-rectly in front of them. All Pat kept hoping was that it was just a dispute between men and not anything more serious. After all, that walking there was no way she could run for cover. After a nice dinner, Pat asked where the restroom was and if they could call a cab for us. She was led to an elevator, to 3rd flr and told when she stepped out to watch out for the stairs. There was a spiral staircase inches from the elevator and no clear marking on the doors in the darkened hallway. By the time she came down the elevator the man was waiting indicating the taxi was there. Sandy was inside and the driver immediately took off because he was blocking the narrow street. The driver flew up and down streets just missing pedestrians, bicycles and other cars. He then came to a stop in a dark graffiti marked neighborhood and said we had arrived. There was no way they were exiting the taxi. Sandy gave him the hotel card again and he said something like “Oh” and took off again. Sandy had no problems with the ride and was still in Le Mans mode. Pat thought otherwise and was extremely glad it had come to an end. Day 11 We were on our own as the rest of the group either went to the airport or other destinations. We stayed two additional nights at the Paris hotel. A cab took us to a meeting place where Viator had a tour arranged to go to Mt. St. Michel for the day and then

return to respective hotels in evening. Mt. St. Michel is incredible. It has been described as a gravity defying medieval monastery. It has held strategic fortification since ancient times and since the 8th century has been the seat of the monastery. It was very steep, very crowd-ed, and very hot (90's). Pat made it to the first church, had enough and started the slow downward walk on the cobblestones. Sandy, the trooper we all know, made it to the top. The return to the hotel was about 9:30 pm. Sandy wanted to take a walk but Pat was pooped and basically thought she was crazy. Talk about feeling old. Day 12 was Disneyland Paris day and an adventure on the Metro. This is the park's 25th anniversary and therefore special. The subway makes a stop just a very short distance away from the entrance and after a looking at the transit map and confirmation it was a pretty easy although crowded feat. Doors do not stay open very long but the California girls man-aged. They went to the Haunted House, Thunder Road and the Pirate ship, the Maze, ate lunch and walked around taking pictures. After watching the grand parade, they headed back to catch the subway. Somehow they got on going the wrong way when

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switching from the red to blue line and had to get off and go back in the right direction. A small extra adventure. The only really difficulty is the

amount of stairs one needs to go up and down to enter or leave the subway. Pat was very happy to get back to street level. After returning to hotel there was one last fling for dinner (pasta and pizza) and a lot of beer. Pat's choice was Heineken (1 large, 1 small) while Sandy preferred 2 tall German or Belgium beers, maybe Warsteiner. As if that wasn't enough, after the long 2 block walk back, they had another Heineken at the hotel. Hey, it was hot! 97 degrees with humidity just as high. It was quite the adventure but so much more we didn't see. Both of us noticed is how slim and well dressed Parisian women are. Very stylish. We ate lots of ice cream everywhere. Episode at LAX. A drug sniffing dog alerted on Pat and she had to go off to the side in Customs with the other “smugglers.” She for-got to eat or dispose of an apple in her tote. After having bags go thru an-other check she was finally released and we made our SB Air Bus with 6 minutes to spare. Stay tuned for future road trips. After all that we are still travel buddies.

PARIS OR BUST: CONTINUED

Pat Bloom and Sandy Halverson

Peace Out, Babes!

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MINUTES OF JUNE 4, 2017 GENERAL MEETING STOW GROVE PARK—580 LA PATERA LN—GOLETA, CA

1. Quick meeting called to order at Stow Grove Park during our annual picnic. 2. Secretary’s Report: Sandy Rubel—distributed and approved. 3. Treasurer’s Report: Fred Lopez—Approved. 4. Membership Report: Pat Bloom—Busy collecting dues from members. 5. NCM Ambassadors Report: Frank LoMonaco—No report. 6. Activities Chairperson: Tony Megowan—Absent. ACTIVITIES: 7. Old Business: None 8. New Business: New board introduced. Peter Mackins turned over reins to Mike Christeson. 9. Trivia Question: None. 10. 50/50 Raffle: None. 11. Next meeting is July 4th, 2017 at Frank and Barbara’s July 4th party. Correspondence: Respectfully submitted, Sandy Rubel-Halverson, Secretary

MINUTES OF CCSB MEMBERSHIP GENERAL MEETING

Sandy Rubel Halverson

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6/23/17 Edelbrock Facility—Peter Mackins

7/4/17 4th of July downtown parade (Tuesday) and picnic following parade at LoMonaco’s house. YOU MUST RSVP—see Activities Column for details.

7/15/17 Run to Jalama Beach—Tony Megowan

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For clothing embroidered with the Corvette Club Santa Barbara logo contact Frank or Barbara LoMonaco.

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