Northern California Chapter of the NCRS

Let’s all come together and give a big round of applause to the NCC members who were honored with well-deserved and unexpected awards both at the Membership Meeting and at the Awards Banquet!

At the membership meeting John Tidwell was recognized for Lifetime Achievements and Service by the board for his many years being a contributor to the NCRS organization. All of the lifetime members that attended the convention were presented with a special pin signifying their recognition for their significant contributions.

The Member of the Year Award Plaque was presented to Sophie Tidwell for all the work she does and did much behind the scenes for the NCRS. I am sure you will agree with me when I say that there was never a time she wasn’t smiling and offering to help you!

– Longest Trailered: David Domenichini, 2841 miles

– Longest Driven: Dana Richard, 2485 miles, 400 Master Judge

– McLellan Mark of Excellence: David Domienichini, 1990 ZR-1

– Top Flight Award: David Domenichini, 2003

– Dave Hill Display: John LeGate and Dana Richard

– Open Class Emerald crystal: Garry Mion, 2025, the highlights for his award was that he was flanked with his son and grandson so not only did he receive the crystal, he received Father-Son along with the grandfather-grandson Generational ribbons.  In the slide show Ron Bartow, who works with the National Judging Chairman to take the photos of the cars at the convention, took a photo of the Mion generation wearing t-shirts giving the illusion of looking at the car. What a priceless and everlasting memory of the special moment for the Mion family.  But again you just had to be there!

You absolutely had to see the amazing slideshow! Ron Bartow because he did an incredible job celebrating Dave Hill by digging up some old photos from when he was the Chief Engineer as a special segment at the Awards banquet. The entire presentation of the awards honoring the owners was masterful! Thank you Ron, it was incredible!

Pete Bergmann shared how the Hill’s and the Wallace’s campaigned their cars for the Hill and Wallace Awards, which is a first for NCRS to have two retired Chief Engineers go through the NCRS process to earn their Dave Hill and Tom Wallace MARK OF EXCELLENCE AWARDS.

NCRS was so honored this year to have Tadge Juecter, Harlan Charles, and Tony Roma from GM there, and Tony LaRocca and Bryce Burlow from the National Corvette Museum attending the Convention. NCRS is looking forward to many years having them attend our conventions.

Hope to see you at next year’s Convention in French Lick!

Each month, please make sure to click on the VETTCETERA Menu link on the Left side. You can also view it by clicking HERE.

The Vettcetera includes the following info:

• Club Officers and their contact information

• Club Officers and their contact information
• The Chapter Chairman’s Message (Editorial)
• The most recent Chapter Board Minutes
• “Food for Thought” a monthly column written by our Vice Chair
• Chapter Information (Badges, Dues, etc)
• Items Wanted and Fore Sale
• Lastly, a page with our sponsors

Los Gatos – Spring Meet

Los Gatos was a relaxed and enjoyable judging meet, and I felt that all who attended were happy with the facility and the way the event came together. The setting is just about perfect for our needs, not at all pretentious, but still elegant enough that everyone is comfortable. It does have the feel of days past, but that only adds to its appeal. Wayne Yurtin
did us proud by finding this facility and setting up our first event there. It’s unfortunately that it will eventually be torn down, but we can enjoy it while it lasts. We do intend to book there again next year.

This year we had the following cars to judge: Jack Brier’s 1966, Bob Lozito’s 1966 and Bob Grauer’s 1969. All received Top Flight Ribbons, and that always makes for a fun day. Gary Beaupre and I judged the exterior of Bob’s 69, which made me a bit nervous as I’m used to Bob being my Team Leader! But I guess that’s how we grow as judges, and Bob accepted the results graciously. Bill Cash was good enough to bring back his very fine 1965 396 Coupe as our only Duntov Display. No matter how often I see that car I seem to like better each time. The following Sportsman entries also received Ribbons: Doug Waltor’s 1963, Don Trofft’s 1967, Dana Richard’s 2003 and Marci Albers’ 2007. Without the cars to judge and ogle over, we would not have a meet, so thank you to everyone who brought their beautiful Corvettes. I arrived late on Friday night, so I missed out on some of the best parts of the event. I asked past president Bob Grauer to summarize his feelings about the events of Friday evening, and here is what he had to say: “Chris Springer’s tech talk was brilliant. He gave everyone his background restoring classic muscle cars and exotics. He talked about Joe Calcagno’s 1962 that had been put into storage for 34 (?) years, in a trailer on Joe’s property in Soquel, CA.

Chris had restored the exterior paint on the car, and I think he said it was one of his first painting projects in business. (Joe C. had restored the interior himself) He showed a picture of the car removed from the trailer in pristine condition. Chris spoke about the amazing condition of the paint while surprised that the trailer (sealed for 34 years) had preserved this important Corvette. Then….he took us all outside to see the actual car where we all learned more from Chris about the paint technique he used (lacquer) and the result were incredible.

Dinner was at the Los Gatos Grill, about 25 people. The menu was more than limited with multiple appetizers to choose from, burgers, fish & chips, and bar service. The food was generous, and I can speak for myself that my burger, mozzarella sticks, and coleslaw were excellent. It was convenient and no stress.”While I missed the food on Friday night, I was around for the food truck meal on Saturday. Everyone I spoke with found the food, the service, and the presentation to be top notch (flight). And to top that off, the owner of the food truck brought his new C8 Corvette, and eventually got up the nerve to ask me if he could park it in our area. It was a beautiful dusty blue with cream-white interior and added a nice touch to our display.

Glorie conducted a nice raffle, and even a live auction for the two Dana Forrester prints that Bob Grauer was able to get donated to the event. I believe that Glorie raised $300.00 on the raffle, plus the $175.00 for one of the prints. As always, this money will go to the cost of providing the Saturday lunch for all registered attendees.

I want to personally thank everyone who attended, and those who judged, tabulated, and just plain helped along the way. Mike and Sharyl did an incredible job (as always) and worked hard all day to make the event successful. There are so many things that just seem to happen when they are at the helm, but I assure you that they don’t happen on their own. Lastly, I want to thank Bob Grauer for doing the initial leg work to set this up.

Great Job Everyone!

Photo’s below of the meet and Joe’s 1962. Read more in our newsletters https://www.ncc.ncrs.org/newsletters/

The Spring Meet Photos are now posted HERE

Reminder: Online registration for NCC’s Spring
Judging Meet in Suisun City opened on February 1st. The meet will happen on April 22nd and 23rd. Please remember to give your raffle items to Glorie McNay.

You can register by logging in on the NCRS National Site at this location>> https://www.forums.ncrs.org/register/event-subscription.php