The NIRG Tour to the 2007 Central National Meet – Winona, MN

By Ken Bounds

The 2007 Central National Meet is over and all NIRG participants and cars are safely home.  What a great time we had!  The meet with all its events and tours was terrific, all our cars performed nearly flawlessly on the 600-mile trip, and a lot of trophies were brought home to commemorate the event.  What a crowd from NIRG we had!  Nineteen club vehicles were shown on the concourse and 25 NIRG members, families, and guests were in attendance for a total of 45.  We even signed up three new members!  More on that later.

There is so much to cover it is hard to know where to begin.  When we learned last year that Winona was the site of the 2007 meet and it was being hosted by the Twin Cities group, we knew that this was the meet that we would not want to miss.  We began planning and publicizing the meet last July.  In September Carolyn and I cruised to Winona in our convertible to plan the the route and see what Winona was all about.  We were quite impressed by this neat little Mississippi river town.  Our early visit to Winona is a story in itself.

Interest in the meet continued to build over the coming months and in June it was time to get ready to go.  We made one last trip to Winona to check out the roads and make arrangements for some of our meals.  At the end of June, 32 members and spouses got together for our traditional “drivers meeting”.  We had a catered meal and went over detailed routes and plans for our tour to Winona and a discussion of what to do at the meet, concourse procedures, and a review of concourse classes.  To make it easier to keep so many cars together on the road, we assigned cars into Ken Bounds – 36 Roadster Joe & Nell Kozmic – 37 Coupe Lloyd & Gladys Duzell – 35 Sedan Don & Elaine Braun – 36 Coupe George & Betty Cech – 36 Phaeton Carolyn Bounds – 50 Convertible Jack & Jean Nikolich – 39 Convertible Len & Irene Vinyard – 39 Convertible Joey Novak – 40 Pickup Ron Dopke & Norm Lang – 40 Tudor Tom & Madeleine O’Donnell – 40 Mercury Cliff & Joan Dixon – 46 Coupe Dan & Diane Pudelek – 53 Victoria Tom & Judy Buscaglia – 51 Tudor Stan Stack & Ron Blum – 53 Tudor Earl & Gene Heintz – modern Art Russell & Stan Gaynor - modern three groups, each with a group leader, with the older cars up front all the way through modern vehicles at the end.  The evening ended with a trivia contest with everyone taking home one or more prizes from the large number of very cool items donated.  Everyone had a lot of fun with the quiz, selecting from four categories:  Winona trivia, V-8 Club trivia, Touring trivia, and the dreaded Brain Busters.  Thank you to everyone who donated prizes and especially to Cliff Dixon for arranging use of the Arlington Heights American Legion hall for our meeting.

On Sunday morning, July 15, we were off!  11 club cars and two modern vehicles met in Rolling Meadows to begin the trip.  Ron Blum was busy narrating a video he began here that would continue throughout the

 week.  Tom O’Donnell needed to change his fuel pump, so he and Madeleine caught up with us at the second fuel stop.  Ken Bounds led the “30’s” cars; with Tom in the pits Carolyn Bounds was pressed into service as the leader of the “40’s”, Dan Pudelek led the “50’s”, and Earl Heintz led the modern cars.

To get clear of the Chicago congestion, we took the tollway out to Rockford, then switched to back roads for the rest of the trip.  At our first stop near Belvidere we were joined by Ron Dopke, the Cechs and the Buscaglias.  After Tom & Madeleine caught up with us it was quite a sight to see all 15 of those V-8’s lined up going down the road.  Although it was pretty hard to hear in the Roadster with the top down, there was plenty of banter on the CB radios during the trip.  For a change, nearly everyone had one on this trip and they proved to be very useful in keeping everyone together and in scheduling stops.

The weather was perfect and the scenery great as we motored across the rolling hills of north-western Illinois.  As we approached the Mississippi, we turned north and stopped just across the Wisconsin border for a picnic lunch.  A quick check of the cars showed everything in order, so we proceeded north along the river.  Just north of Prairie du Chien we stopped for a short tour of Lock and Dam #9.  This complex was placed into service exactly 70 years ago and just underwent a major rehabilitation that started in 1989 and was completed last year.  The lock is 110’ wide and 600’ long, so it can handle towboats pushing 15 barges at a time.  We were all amazed by the massive statistics of the traffic moving through that lock every day.  For example, each 15-barge towboat can hold the same amount of grain as 225 rail cars!  Wow.

We continued our journey north along the Mississippi, then crossed over at La Crosse into Minnesota.  The scenery continued to be breathtaking as we rolled into Winona around 4:30.  After taking a few minutes to check into the meet hotel and to get familiar with the surroundings, we were lucky that the Twin Cities group decided to open meet registration a day early.  Everyone got checked in, signed up for the local tours, and made table reservations for the awards banquet later in the week.  Then we were off in a caravan to our dinner reservations in a private room at the Jefferson Pub & Grill along the river.  After a very nice dinner with super service, it was back to the hotel.  As we were cleaning the bugs off the cars from the trip, we learned that the judges were doing safety inspections into the night.  Many of us took advantage and got our cars checked that night.  After a little tire kicking and reunions with many old V-8 friends, the long day came to an end.

On Monday morning we were glad that we were able to get so much accomplished on Sunday.  This was because we had planned our own NIRG driving tour back to La Crosse.  After the complimentary breakfast provided by the hotel, we had a little time to buy some tickets for the raffle items and to check the beginnings of the parts swap meet.  At 10:30 we were off for a scenic driving tour over back roads.  Our destination:  a tour of City Brewery (the former Heileman Brewery) in La Crosse.

After a leisurely drive we arrived in time for a catered luncheon before our tour.  The food was delicious and far more than we could eat.  After viewing a short movie, we proceeded with our tour presented by a very knowledgeable guide named Zane.

The drive back to Winona was a little more eventful.  George Cech’s ’36 began spewing coolant out a radiator hose, so a long line of V-8’s pulled off the road.  We are grateful for a local sheriff who turned on his lights and closed a lane of traffic to protect our cars.  After a hose clamp was tightened and coolant added, we completed our trip to the hotel.

Monday night we had an excellent meal at the welcome dinner, renewed old acquaintances, and heard presentations by the host group and several National V-8 club officers who were present.

Tuesday morning most of us were up bright and early toweling off the cars after an overnight rain.  Just a few words here about the weather.  We sure could not have asked for any better weather.  For July in the Midwest, it was fairly cool for our drive both to and returning from Winona.  Rain and even severe storms were predicted; for the most part the bad weather was all around Winona, but spared us.  With one exception it only rained at night.  The exception was a little sprinkle just after we returned from the concourse.  Concourse day was warm and sunny, but not as hot as had been predicted.  These Twin Cities guys must know someone!

Tuesday morning a number of us got together for an impromptu driving tour around Winona.  It really is a lovely town with historic buildings, incredible stained glass, and an unbelievable view of the town and the river from high on the bluffs.  We also took a look inside the beautiful Church of Saint Stanislaus Kostka.  Back at the hotel, we had time for the swap meet, lunch, and the “Minnesota Room Event”.  This was a showing of Ford memorabilia and a gathering of artists and authors.  Authors of the ‘32-’34 restoration guide and the Mullins Red Cap book were on hand to sell and sign copies of the books.  Artists included Ron Long and his car art, Dan Cragg, and an old favorite, Arlen Olson.  I was excited to be able to obtain an original Arlen Olsen piece depicting a ’36 Cabriolet – close enough!  We are grateful to Arlen for his frequent donations of prints for our installation dinner.

Tuesday evening most of the NIRG group participated in a highlight of the meet – a Mississippi river cruise aboard the steam-powered paddlewheeler Julia Belle Swain.  We had a delicious meal, terrific service and even a concert from the steam-powered calliope.  The two-hour cruise provided a relaxing evening with incredible views of the river and of Winona.  As mentioned earlier, 15 club cars toured together on Sunday to Winona.  Over the next couple of days, additional NIRG members arrived with their cars, including Doug & Gail Leicht with their ’37 Tudor and Alan Wall with his ’32 Tudor, along with some “soon-to-be” members.  Bill and Carolyn Grams brought their pristine ’34 Roadster from Volo and decided to join the NIRG!  We were also happy to see Ernie and Terry Herzog arrive in their “new” ’53 Tudor and are pleased to welcome them back to the NIRG.  Finally, we ran into old friends Rick and Marisa Claybaugh from Tulsa, with their daughter Kim.  Rick joined the NIRG just to get the Road Chatter and keep up with what is going on here.

Wednesday was finally concourse day – we had waited a long time for this.  Most of us were up early to get the cars spiffed up and ready for the short drive to the concourse.  Some of the folks waited to board buses for the guided tour of Winona.  The concourse was held at beautiful Lake Park by Lake Winona, under the landmark “Sugar Loaf”.  It was a nice setting and less than a mile from the hotel.  The Twin Cities group did a super job of laying out the concourse with the judged cars arranged by year on one side of the parking lot and the touring cars by year on the other.  Everyone was able to set up chairs, etc., in the grass behind their cars.  The layout made it easy for participant voting by arranging the touring cars basically with Touring first, by class, then Touring A, by class.

What a terrific collection of V-8’s!  There was such a long line of great cars on both sides that it took quite a while to see them all.  We don’t have the space to show all the cars present, but hope to show most of them and some videos at the August meeting.  The final numbers are not in yet, but there were around 200 cars on the concourse.  The TCRG believes this may have been the largest Central National Meet in V-8 Club history.  While we were viewing the cars, more NIRG members arrived.  It was good to see Norm Miller with his guest.  Norm is looking well after missing the national meets last year.  We were also happy to see Marty and Leah Duling, if only for a brief visit.

While the concourse was underway, several members went on the tour of Winona.  One of the tour guides was Deb Salyards – it was a pure coincidence that Carolyn and I stayed at her bed and breakfast on our planning trip to Winona last year.  The tour included a visit to historic banks, churches and other landmarks, the home of “Watkins” products, and an exploration of Winona’s stained glass heritage.  The tour completed in time for participants to view the concourse in the afternoon.

Everyone seemed to have a good time on concourse day.  It is really interesting to see the variety of cars, to watch the judging process, and to visit with old friends.  There was plenty of time to view the cars, to do the participant voting for the touring classes, and to relax in the shade and enjoy a cold beverage.  But all good things must come to an end, and around 4:30 the chief judge released the concourse and we were back to the hotel.  The fun was not yet over though.  We had a few hours to pull up chairs in the parking lot and just hang out for a while.  We were enjoying a few beverages, and even Lenny had a weak moment and contributed a 12-pack.  It didn’t last long. 

While some NIRG members went on their own for dinner, Cliff Dixon arranged a private room for a large number of us in the hotel restaurant.  Just before dinner we had a special treat.  TCRG member Al Mohr gave us a private concert with his Concertina.  He invited us to a little entertainment he had arranged later for Connie Gibson from Texas.  After a fun dinner, a number of us attended Al’s concert and had a great timeOn Thursday we queued up our cars back at Lake Park for a Mississippi valley driving tour in Wisconsin.  The tour included some impressive overlooks of the Mississippi river and a visit to Elmer’s Toy Museum.  Elmer’s incredible collection includes hundreds of cars, over 700 pedal cars, and thousands of antique toys and dolls.  How can one person collect so much stuff?  The tour also included lunch at the historic Monarch Tavern in Fountain City, WI.

Back at the hotel in Winona there was a little work to do on the cars.  On the driving tour George Cech’s ’36 began spewing coolant again, so various things were being tried to keep coolant in the radiator.  Of course, there were a variety of opinions about the possible causes and the cure.  Meanwhile, Don Braun had experienced a problem with his brakes.  Several NIRG members assisted Don with disassembly, cleaning, and re-installation of a balky wheel cylinder. After a road test revealed a locking rear wheel, the “pit crew” took that one apart and corrected that problem as well.  This was truly a great example of what this club is all about – members helping members keep these historic automobiles on the road.

Our final event at the meet was the awards banquet.  NIRG members gathered at tables spread throughout the large banquet hall.  The meal was very good and the host group did a nice job with the program after the meal.  At our table, Nell Kozmic again won the centerpiece, just as she did in Fairfax.  As the awards were presented, NIRG members wore a path in the carpet accepting trophies from V-8 Club President Craig Gorris and Chief Judge Jerry Vincentini.  In all, 15 awards were presented to NIRG members.  Both Tom O’Donnell and Bill Grams won first-time Dearborn awards for their cars.  Congratulations.  Len Vinyard received a Dearborn Emeritus and Doug Leicht received a Rouge Medallion.  Touring trophies went to Ken Bounds, Carolyn Bounds, Don Braun, Tom Buscaglia, George Cech, Cliff Dixon, Lloyd Duzell, Joe Kozmic, Jack Nikolich, Joey Novak, and Dan Pudelek.

Friday morning we said goodbye to Winona and to Earl and Gene – they were heading to Fargo to attend a wedding.  For the return trip we decided to take the Interstate so we could make a little better time.  The drive was fairly uneventful, except for George’s ’36 needing some water at each stop and Lenny’s ’39 having a charging problem because a nut had fallen off the generator.  (See Lenny – I didn’t even make a comment about a nut behind the wheel!)  As we neared the Chicago area, the group split up with everyone going their own way.  Everyone made it home safely and I’m sure we will all have fond memories of a great meet for a long time to come.  Keep those flatheads on the road, and remember:  the Grand National Meet in Dearborn is less than a year away!