Articles on 1996 ISOA Events

Last updated October 9, 1997

Here's a Quick Index of some of the things we've done in 1996...

"I Now Pronounce You Man and Wife....and Triumph"

October 26, 1996

A wedding of weddings. A '49 Triumph 2000 Saloon and nine tiny TRs make up the procession for downtown Mount Morris, Illinois, population four hundred. Keith Gill, member of the board of directors for the Illinois Sports Owners Association (i.e., Chicago's Triumph Sportscar Club) and his wife-to-be Christine have requested a full TRiumph procession and it happens. Some drive, some are towed but all are there to join Keith and Christine in holy matrimony.......and for a really nice ride through Northern Illinois.

Outside the church, the parade of English iron stands in wait for Mr. and Mrs. Gill to finish photos. Last minute preparations are being made for the journey. The beautifully elaborate and hand painted "Just Married" sign is carefully attached to the boot of the Saloon. A very nice touch indeed! In full parade gear with a Union Jack on each front wing, the 2000 is ready. Next are the TR3's. First Keith's, Sheri's then Jake & Donna's, all with little Jacks of their own. Kendzy's TR4A, Buja's TR6 and TR8, my '69 TR6, the Billmack's Frameless TR6 and the Elwood Manteno TR6. Billy adjusts his chauffeur's cap and affixes a tiny plastic pumpkin to the center of his forehead.

All traffic stops to watch as we cruise through. All of us are impressed more by the fact that the horns actually work.

The reception is held on the Rock River in Oregon at the beautiful Paddle Wheel Restaurant and Inn. The tiny train of Triumphs look stunning against the view of the Rock River...... and, oh yeah, Christine and Keith look good too.

Open bar, food and dancing, all within view of the cars....we like it here.

Before long, Christine and Keith are readied to leave and drive off through a shower of rice (environmentally friendly bird seed) and into the sunset in "Their" pristine apple green 1956 Triumph TR3.

And Then....

The AFTER-GILL HALLOWEEN IN OREGON HAUNTED PUB TR-OLL has placed well in the record book of good times. Oh yeah, the wedding was pretty good too. Keith and Christine gathered together the right people, in the right place. We took care of the rest.

Sergeant Jeff and his assistant officer Karen, both of the Oregon Halloween Fun Police, lead a rag tag group of ex-wedding attendees through a precise itinerary of local establishments.

Beginning slowly and picking up speed (and participants) along the way are:

Sheri "Whoopi Cushion We Be Jammin' Goldberg" Billy B "Blambo" Jack "The Nose" and his lovely wife Barbara Jake "The Nose" and his lovely wife "Later Witch" Donna

FIRST STOP - BREAKERS SALOON - It's quite awhile before I realize the other patrons in costume.......aren't. Who would have thought someone would actually wear camouflaged hunting gear out in public on Saturday night? How do you make people uncomfortable in Oregon? Swing open the door and march in two cops and Whoopi Goldberg. Two beers and I explain the "TRoll" to the bartender on duty, complete with a bright orange itinerary listing and ask her to keep an eye out for late TRollers. Let the TRolling begin.

Leaving, we meet Tim and Ann both sporting "Progressive Costumes". As the night wears on, Tim and Ann began wearing more and more costume.

SECOND STOP - THE WELL - Well, this place is REALLY tight but they have found room for the DJ. No room for dancing, but room for the DJ (standing in the corner in front of a turntable). A vigorous search begins for the name of the "Helpful FATBOY Riding Brunette" mentioned in the itinerary. After awhile, someone actually finds out her name. Unfortunately, he is not on the TRoll and thus not eligible for the "Prize" also mentioned. The police officers' whistle blows, all conversations stop.......... and we move on.

THIRD STOP - BULLHEADS BIKER BAR - At last minute, "Good Music Played Poorly by a Live Band" is replaced by a full function DJ turning good music well. Suddenly, the flood gates open and in walks a whole bunch of TRollers. Friends and relatives, other out-a-towners, ex-wedding-rs' all of them. And before long our two fully uniformed police officers are front stage center and doing that seventies version of the Macarena.....Y.M.C.A.. Originally sung by the Village People, it's now sung by every person in Bullheads. We are REALLY having a good time now! I make a big "Y" with my arms and a big "Y" and a big "Y" and all the while I'm thinking "Why?, Why?, Why?".

It's been forever since that wedding chicken and everyone is coming down with a full blown case of famish! A voice in the crowd screams "Pizza!". I quickly go to the itinerary.......... No Pizza. "But the other stops?" What about four, five, six and........? I hear "pizza" and "We'll meet you at the Roundhouse" and they're gone.

Officer Karen and I push on to complete the quest.

FOURTH STOP - KARLA'S RIVER SOMETHING - The essence of our "Karla's" experience is best captured by my first words to officer Karen as we step inside the bar, "We are going to die." Now, when you find yourself in the midst of some of the world's meanest and scariest looking people, it's best to pick out the biggest, meanest looking one there and ......make him like you. As it turns out, meeting Tom was the fun part. A great guy and really big. Upon befriending Tom, I regained my confidence and I had a ball clearing out the "one-holer" men's room. "HEY! HURRY IT UP FELLA!" The poor kid wet himself on the way out the door and then apologized for taking so long. It was a GREAT costume!

FIFTH STOP - ROADHOUSE SALOON - Real good country western band but I just couldn't get that song out of my head. "Come on down to the Y.M.C.A....." And no other TRollers are present. We move on.

SIXTH STOP - OREGON BOWL - Dancing to Jumpship.......alone. There are still people in Oregon trying to figure out why those two cops were dancing with each other. Once again the flood gates open and we're amongst friends. Jake, Jack, Barb, Donna, Tim and Ann all file in, "back from dinner". Let's motor!

SEVENTH STOP - BACK TO BULLHEADS BIKER BAR - Swinging passed the pizza place, officer Karen and I arrest the remaining TRollers and proceed back to Bullheads.

The once-wild crowd is now slowing down, no doubt due to the calming effects of massive quantities of pizza on a beer stomach. Golden rule of horse racing - "Never feed a horse before the race." And at that, the lights come up and it's time to head home. Thank you all for participating. Thank you Christine and Keith for providing the opportunity. And Thank you Lieutenant Rust for the use of the uniform [and the cuffs]. And let's not forget the fine people of Oregon.

Jeff Rust

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Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival

(from a New Englander's perspective)
September 20-22, 1996

I don't want to sound glib, but this was quite an event. Sure, it was around 3000 miles round trip. Yes, it took six days total to drive there, watch the races and then drive back. Would I do it again? In a word:

YES!

Here are the details:

Tom Walling approached me indicating that he was interested in going to the Road America event shortly after the VTR in Albany. Turns out that Road America is one of Tom's old digs. Seeing that there would be just the two of us, we decided to take one car and split the gas costs.

We left from Bowdoinham, ME on Thursday morning early. We drove the "northern" route through Quebec and Ontario. The distance was roughly 1329 miles one way to Road America- It took about 22 hours (more or less) to arrive in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where our hotel was.

We had no mechanical problems, although the clutch reservoir was empty when we got to the Montreal area. A quick stop at a local auto parts store (try to figure that out in French!), Equipe d'Auto landed a can of DOT 4 fluid for tres ridiculous dollars! But the clutch was fine after that. Rumor has it that Santa will be bringing Tom a clutch master cylinder kit this year.

Saturday morning, bright and early, we headed off to Elkhart Lake, WI and The Track. It was extremely foggy, visibility was a couple hundred yards tops. We're talking pea soup. My hunch was that this would curtail activities at the track, I was correct, they were just getting started when we showed up.

As soon as we found the Triumphs In the South Paddock area, we started meeting folks. The first question that everybody asked was: "did you really drive all the way from Maine?" We showed them the smooshed bugs on the Marchal headlights and they all agreed that we had driven the entire distance. Then members of the ISOA (Illinois Sports Owners Association) spotted Tom and the 'homecoming" started. Tom was an active member of ISOA some time ago.

Irv Korey started showing us around. We met several drivers of the racing Triumphs that were all pitted together in the paddock. It was pretty neat seeing that many TR's all in one place, I think that one tent had at least ten Triumphs or Triumph-powered cars. Way cool.

I shot an entire roll of film in ten minutes. Hmmm. I figured I better temper my trigger finger, lest I spend too much money on pictures. There were many photo opportunities.

For instance there was an awesome Triumph powered Devin. He even had the Coventry Motoring Society badge proudly displayed in the grill opening. I'll bet he and Charles Runyan are on a first name basis...

Or how about a Triumph-powered Thunderbolt. That car was was pretty awesome. There was an Ambro there, and it wasn't Bill Ames'. In case you don't know, Bill Ames was the 'AM" in Ambro, and he races a BRG and Yellow TR3 powered Ambro in our area. In fact, he lives in Vermont. This particular Ambro is only the second one I have ever seen, although Bill told me this summer that he built at least 60 of them when he was in the business way back when.

There were lots of TR3's, TR4's and TR6's. There were at least 3 GT6's and there were a few Spitfires.

The fastest Triumph was the Kastner-Brophy Sports 6 driven by Swede Larson. This sucker was fast. I suppose the Kastner prepared engine was an important part of the package. but the driver was very smooth. I watched him power-sliding the car around turn 3, and I was impressed. I have no idea how anybody placed in the races, but I was pretty well entertained with the cars and the dr!vers.

There was a parade lap of the track on both Saturday and Sunday, so Tom and I each took a lap. Awesome track!

We opted not to partake in the "open track" sessions, mostly because the 1300 plus mile return trip would be a very long walk should anything unpleasant happen out on the track. These sessions were pretty bizarre, there were many cars on track at the same time, both "real race cars" and street cars. It looked a little hairy. We saw the results of one incident during the Sunday open track... one very expensive repair! An AH3000 seemed to have had heavy frontal Impact with some object, we never learned exactly what that object was. Hopefully the driver was okay'. (the impact was with the wall at corner 1,and yes the driver was okay. Elwood).

There was an all-Triumph race on Sunday. The Sports 6 was the winner of that race.

The last race was a one-hour enduro. There were quite a few Triumphs out there for the whole hour. Boy, are those Triumphs tough!

Tom and I won the award for "Longest Distance Driven in a Triumph".

If you ever go to Road America, you have to try the Bratwurst. And also the corn-on-the-cob immersed in fresh Wisconsin butter. Can you say cholesterol? Seriously, the Brat was awesome, and nearby Sheboygan, WI is the Brat capital of the world.

The trip back was uneventful. We passed the time talking about life, Triumphs and the world. Somehow, I missed the exit signs for Mosport race track in Ontario, I was probably on auto pilot at that stage, but all-in-all It was a great time.

If they have another one of these Triumph reunions, I'm there! And next time I'm taking my Triumph.

Bob Lang

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Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival

September 20-22, 1996

I always look forward to the Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival at Road America. I have been going to the ELVF for the last 7 or 8 years as a corner worker. It is a great event to work, because there is always a large turnout of cars, including a nice assortment of Triumphs. The drivers are friendly and like to talk about and show their cars. As a result, I know most of the Triumph racers that are based in the Midwest. The large race groups mean that it is unusual to be working the corner with no cars racing by, despite the fact that Road America is 4 miles long. ELVF has most of the fine cars that come to the Chicago Historic Races, but with a friendly, club like atmosphere that is missing from CHR. If you like the "vintage spirit" aspect of vintage racing, there is no finer event. As terrific as ELVF has been in the past, I knew that I would enjoy this year's event more than ever.

One of my racer friends is Bill Dentinger. Bill lives in Brookfield, Wisconsin and races a 56 TR3. Bill is conclusive proof that not all TR3 racers from Wisconsin are scary guys. He and his car have been featured in our newsletter, as well as national publications of merit. Bill is a Director of the Vintage Sports Car Drivers' Association, host club of ELVF. It is largely through Bill's efforts that Triumph was named the featured marque at this year's ELVF, and he was truly excited about the prospect. Bill coordinated with Vintage Triumphs of Wisconsin to encourage street Triumphs and their owners to attend this event. Together they made sure that this would be a memorable Triumph weekend.

And it was. Triumph racers came from all over the US. Ken Gillanders and the BF & E TR3 was there from California. Mike Jackson (who wears gloves on both hands) was there from south Florida with his blazing fast TR3 (if you went to the TR Birthday Party at Mid Ohio in 1992, you saw Mike and his car). Many more Triumph racers (over 35) came from places in between. Included with the large group of TR3's and 4's were many Spitfires, GT6's, a couple of TR6's and Ralph Thomas's Vitesse (winner of the all Triumph race at Mid Ohio). Triumph powered specials included the Bill Dentinger/Bob Wismer Thunderbolt Tornado (possibly the only one ever made) and a Triumph based Devin. Spectators came from all over as well. I met one guy who came to the event from New Zealand, and honorary ISOA'er Dave Bayliss flew over from England. The Triumph guys raced in their regular race groups as well as a special Triumph only race group. I had been looking forward to this ever since Bill told me about it early in the year. As I result, I chose to be a spectator instead of a worker. It was the right choice. It was only the 2nd time in 10 years that I went to the track to spectate and not work the event.

This event had been listed in our club calendar since early in the year, and our club had an excellent turnout. By my count, we had at least 18 Triumphs there, and several others came up in real cars. It was hard to tell how many Triumph street cars were there. Even though there was a special Triumph parking area in the South Paddock, many TR's were parked elsewhere. You can't really picture how large a facility Road America is until you have seen the place, it is huge. Street Triumphs were scattered everywhere. We got a good idea of how many cars were there when we gathered for parade laps of Road America on Saturday and Sunday. It was estimated that there were in excess of 200 street Triumphs in attendance. Several of our people mentioned to me that they had never been to Road America before, and they couldn't believe what a cool place it is. I know those people will be back. Bob Streepy had such a good time in his first visit to Road America that in a moment of weakness (or was it a drunken stupor?), he offered to crew for the Manteno Brothers Racing TR4 (assuming it ever gets back on the track).

Brad Cohn, Dave Bayliss and I arrived at the track early (7:30 AM) Friday. Brad needed to be up there that early to work corners, Dave and I wanted to be early so as not to miss anything. We registered and got our very cool sweatshirts (great job on these by VTOW), then headed into the paddock. We immediately found the Beady Eyed Vintage Triumph Racing Team tent, which had 9 Triumphs and the Thunderbolt inside. We visited with the drivers until it was time for them to go out onto the track.

We spent the day visiting with the Triumph racers, looking at the cars in the paddock, going to the spectator areas to watch them on the track, and sampling Road America cuisine (can you guess what RFG potatoes stands for?). The paddock was loaded with all kinds of race cars, even though Friday was an extra cost day for the racers. Many more cars arrived Friday night and Saturday morning. Since the Triumphs had a special race group, their drivers got double track time on Friday, and were out for a total of 4 sessions. The weather was pretty decent for most of the day. However, Friday afternoon it rained, which made it very interesting for the drivers. In fact, many drivers chose not to go out on the slippery track. We passed the time during the rain by going from covered paddock to covered paddock to get a close look at the cars, many of which I had only seen from my corner as they passed by at speed (and a few that I had pushed to a safe place behind the guardrail).

Friday night, there was a dinner for the racers, workers, and Triumph spectators. Many more ISOA people had arrived during the day and attended the dinner. After the dinner, a group of us headed to our hotel in Sheboygan, and congregated in the bar, where we were entertained by a bad lounge band featuring a worse Elvis imitator. Maybe that was why no one from the VTOW was staying there.

I couldn't believe how loud the clock radio was when it went off Saturday morning. I had never heard one that loud. Pounding on it wouldn't shut it off. That is when I realized that it was the fire alarm. It was 4:20 AM. We threw on some clothes and went down to the lobby, most people never bothered to come down. The Sheboygan F. D. arrived quickly and were dispatched to check out the 4 story hotel. After about 10 minutes, the alarm was finally silenced. For about 5 minutes. The firemen went through the hotel again. It was determined that the problem was in the alarm and it was shut off until it could be repaired.

After breakfast in the hotel, we drove slowly to the track. It was extremely foggy out, and I was sure that the racing would be delayed. One of the prime functions of corner workers is to provide communications to race control. In order to be able to provide those communications, there must be line of sight contact between corner stations. The dense fog prevented that, and the restricted visibility wasn't safe for the drivers either. After approximately a 2 hour delay, the fog lifted enough for safe racing. As the day went on, the weather improved, and Saturday afternoon was about perfect. Saturday was much like Friday, with more cars on the track, more cars in the paddock, and more ISOA people on hand. The morning sessions were practice and the afternoon were qualifying races. The racing was excellent, and Mike Jackson ran an astonishing time of 2:50, almost 8 seconds a lap faster than the next fastest TR3 or 4.

The end of the racing day came all too quickly. A large assortment of us decided that Chinese food sounded good, and we were off to Plymouth to chow down at a previously visited Chinese buffet. Earlier in the day while we were in the paddock, someone noticed that the left rear tire on the Jaquet TR3 was going down. Ever prepared, I loaned my battery powered air compressor to Jake to reinflate. We drove the few miles to Plymouth, and the tire was low again. Jake decided to change the tire before dinner. I had never seen a TR3 jack in action before. I knew that the holes in my TR6 floorpan were the same as the jacking holes in the TR3 floors, but my TR6 came new with a scissors jack. Jake climbed inside the TR3, jacked it up, and did a quick tire change. Others in our group (which totaled 22 people) went inside to warn the staff of our impending arrival. We swarmed the buffet like a plague of locusts, and did about as much damage. We then split up in different directions, one of which included the Plymouth Dairy Queen. We headed back to the hotel, we all took a pass on the lounge band's return engagement.

As we walked into the hotel parking lot Sunday morning, we saw that the Hurst TR3 now had a flat tire. Jerry changed it and then met us at the track. Jerry and Jake took their flat tires to Fleet Farm for repair and came back with an interesting report. Both guys purchased had 4 new tires and tubes to go on their wire wheels. These tires were tubeless design. The wire wheels require inner tubes. Both flat tires were caused by labels that were left stuck to the inside of the tires by the original sellers, which then chafed the tubes until they started to leak.

At the track, Sunday was a full day of racing. The races varied in length depending on the speed potential of the race group. As the feature of the weekend, the Triumphs only race took place right after lunch. There was a great race for the win between the Jackson TR3 and the Vitesse. The Vitesse led the first few laps, the TR3 passed for the lead, the Vitesse repassed and held on. The 2 cars were never more than 100 feet apart. There were many other good races within the race as well. Racing continued on for the rest of the afternoon, the finale was a 60 minute enduro. There was some rain reported at Corner 3 during the late afternoon, we were near Corner 5 at the time. Although it looked like it was going to rain there as well, it didn't. Just another indication of the size of Road America.

VSCDA hosted another fine event, and the activities for Triumph owners made it even more special. We were lucky to have such an entertaining event so close to home. It will be a long time before we have anything like this so close to home again. I was glad that so many of us were able to enjoy it. Even though Triumph won't be featured, there will be 3 major vintage racing events at Road America next year. If you are interested in taking a look, watch the calendar in the snoozeletter, they are always listed.

Elwood Manteno

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HEARTLAND BRITISH AUTOFEST

August 24-25, 1996

Billy and I had never been to the Heartland British Autofest before, so we decided to make a weekend of it. We left Saturday morning (August 24) for a leisurely 150 mile drive to Iowa, taking Heloise (our 2000 Saloon) and Pappy's 3. We stopped along the way at the Rochelle Petro station for breakfast...yes, Barb, the mobile chapel is there all the time.

The drive became more leisurely in Rock Falls when Heloise started to spew her fluids and we were forced to sit on the side of the road and wait for her to cool off (shades of our trip back from Albany!). I went for more water and on my return, found Billy visiting with a very nice lady Trooper, who was telling him about her 86 year old mom who drives a '77 Chevelle. We refilled the radiator, said our goodbyes, and were on our way again. We stopped many more times along the way to recheck the fluid levels. It seems that the head gasket was the culprit. We finally got to Iowa at 5:00pm, checked into the Holidome, and did the recreation thing...swimming, ping pong, miniature golf. Yes, we were sound asleep by 9:30!!

Sunday dawned a perfect day. Similar to TRF, the show is held on the streets of East Davenport. The setting is really nice, with a view of the Mississippi River, plenty of shaded areas, many open stores, flowing alcohol, etc. All the things that make for a great car event. The Jabu caravan finally showed up...apparently having car trouble in the "Rock Falls Triangle". Tim left the Stag at the 30 mile mark on I-88. They parked the TR8, unloaded the JABU-mobile, and went back to Byron to pick up Jake Jaquet's trailer. In the meantime, Bob Streepy and our illustrious Prez found the Stag sitting at the side of the road with nobody around. Stalker decided to car sit for awhile and see if anyone showed up, so Streepy and LooseSeal came to the event. While waiting for a Buja to appear, Jeff was visited by a State Trooper. She told him about the '49 Triumph that broke down the day before that had a '58 Triumph for a chase vehicle. At this, Jeff decided to drive the 6 HAULR on to the show and see who had actually made it there!

We ate, drank, kicked tires, ate, drank, then voted. There were some beautiful cars at the show. There weren't enough of us there to make a difference, but we found that some people actually DO like our cars. Buja's TR8 took 2nd place, Ed Mitchell's TR6 took third place, Heloise took 2nd place in the Sedan category and, to Billy's surprise, Best of Show.

On the way home, we met back up with the Buja family at the Triumph Triangle of I-88. They had just finished loading the Stag on the trailer and we had to wait for Ann to turn around. Meanwhile, a new State Trooper stopped to say hello and make sure we were okay. Where are they when you really need them?? Looking at Triumphs!! The rest of the trip was uneventful. We're all looking forward to going back next year.

Sheri Pyle

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MENDOTA CORN BOILover

August 11, 1996

Now the "Mendota Free Corn Boil" - there's an event not to miss. How big is that steam engine, Sheri? And the cooking trough, it must be forty feet long with people everywhere, right?

"Boil" bound was Jerry and Sandy Hurst, the only people to fall for the line "Oh, bring the TR, everyone else is", Barb and Spuds Billimack via Tea R 4 Jeep, Big Mama Pyle circling Saturn, Pat Lobdell and Marilyn in an Indiana Ford roadstar and Stalker (Corn boil) with company in the 6-HAULR diesel pick-em-up truck.

Well, the steam engine wasn't quite as large as we remembered (I even confirmed with the regulars that it was the same engine). The trough was as big, maybe ten feet long, but still big. And it wasn't quite as crowded as before but I'm convinced the times were changed. It started later this year, I think. And then there was the South Shore drill team which turned out not to be exactly from "South Shore High School" but still from from Chicago.

But as the day progressed, so did the amazing hords of maize worshipers. The "Two Hour" parade.... was. Even if most of the time was spent waiting for the next float or band.

South Shore was outstanding. Obviously finding someone to bankroll them, this year they were all decked out in new uniforms, grey pinstriped .....Zoot Suits! Complete with wide brim white hats. Man, were they ever impressive. If you ever have the opportunity to see them perform, go!

The food ranged from "Free" corn (forty thousand ears last year) and the usual - "Fair Foods" of sausage subs, fried dough, cotton candy and ice cream to the unusual - Alligator tail, Ostrich burgers and Ostrich corn dogs and Cajun shrimp jambalaya.

During our bailout planning, tour directors Jake and Donna Jaquet (via the sixteen mile show queen TR3B) and Ann and Megan Buja running Stag arrived fresh from a roadside pit stop along the way (They also fell for the drive your "TR" line). Some quick "free" corn and we're off to Ladd Illinois, and the world's best fried chicken.

Jeff, you take up the rear and .....oh yeah....turn on your lights.

We waited outside in line for over an hour (or as Jake and Donna put it "ONLY" an hour) in "downtown" Ladd. Fire station, bank, tractor dealer, two bars, ice cream shop, and "Rips" chicken place. Us veterans of the "Ladd experience" were calm while the novice crews from Indiana and Chicago appeared a bit nervous. The world's best chicken, or second best (in order to reserve that distinction for something closer to home) once again lived up to its name. Top it all off with ice cream from the oldest soda shop in Ladd and you got a diet from the devil.

All that was left was to jump start the diesel and head home. (Very nice jumper cable Marilyn!) Thanks again Jake and Donna for widening horizons and our tastebuds. Did I mention that the half chicken and fries cost $2.75?

Jeff Rust

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1996 VTR National Convention - North American Triumph Challenge XXI

July 10-14, 1996

This year our national convention was in the Albany, New York area. Instead of a large caravan driving there together, several small groups of ISOA people made their way east on their own schedules. My schedule called for me to leave on Tuesday, July 9th, the day before the convention was to start. My son Brian was riding with me, going to his first NATC. We had made arrangements to travel with Snake Shedor and his son Conor, also attending his first convention. We were to meet up with Pat Lobdell and Marilyn Muniz once we crossed into Hoosierland.

The plan was to leave from my house at 5:30 AM. 6 1/2 hours before departure, I still didn't know whether I was going to be able to drive my TR6. I had replaced the head gasket on the 6 and re-torqued the head on the day of our July meeting (July 7). While driving to the meeting, my car developed a vibration in the steering and started pulling to the left. I had to work Monday, so if I couldn't cure the problem Monday evening, the 6 was going to have to stay home. At 11:00 Monday night, my brother Lemont discovered the problem-a broken belt in the left front tire. There was a bulge in the tread the size of a loaf of bread. The good news was that I had another set of tires mounted to stock TR6 rims, so the 6 was made ready to travel.

Snake and Conor arrived at the arranged time and we were on our way. The early departure was designed to get us through the downtown area before the morning rush. The plan worked and we crossed into Indiana at 6:15. Brian, who is 14 and had never before experienced the aroma that is Hammond, immediately asked "Did you beef"?

We pulled into the first oasis on the Indiana Toll Road to wait for Pat & Marilyn. There were riding in Pat's Chevy truck. Pat's beautiful TR4 had been rear ended several weeks earlier and seriously damaged. The 4 wouldn't be out of the body shop for some time yet. Pat and Marilyn arrived as we were climbing out of our cars. We went into the oasis to have the first of many rest stop meals, which consisted primarily of fat, with a side order of grease.

As we left the rest stop, we had our first visit from the Prince of Darkness-the brake lights on the Shedor TR6 were flickering on and off. This was addressed at our next stop, all that was required was a small adjustment (small hammer) of the brake light switch. We continued on, making very good time. We stopped for gas about 45 miles west of Cleveland, and confirmed that we needed to follow I-90 when it split from I-80, a few miles down the road. Our leader was Snake, and he immediately missed the exit. However, he made a brilliant map reading recovery, and we ended up going less than 5 miles out of our way. There were no further detours or adjustments, and we made it to our motel outside Buffalo nice and early. So early, in fact, that we decided to cross into Canada and visit Niagara Falls.

We chose to view the Falls from the Canadian side, as the US side was alleged to be filled with tattoo parlors and strip joints (kind of like the Dells). Pat & Marilyn had the toughest time getting through Canadian Customs, they were given a complete inspection. I wonder if it had to do with them being in a pickup truck with Indiana plates...

We had a great look at the Falls, then we purchased tickets for a tour that took us to the bottom of the Falls, where we could feel the force of the water as it came crashing down. Included in the ticket price were some funky yellow rain ponchos, which we definitely needed. After the tour, dinner sounded like a good idea, we went to a restaurant that overlooked the Falls and lucked into a table at the window. It got dark as we ate, and we were treated to the sight of the Falls being bathed in different colored lights. It was great.

Wednesday morning was perfect for TRavel, sunny and cool. Packing the TR6's was made much easier when we decided to toss a bunch of our stuff into the Chevy. It only took us 24 hours to figure that out. Duh! After driving for a couple of hours, we finally saw another TR, a TR3 trailer queen from Ohio. A short time later we saw a 4 and a 4A traveling together. We were getting close. And then we were there.

We turned into the headquarters hotel and there wasn't a Triumph in sight. But we followed a road that lead to the rear of the hotel, and there they were. Our hosts, the Adirondack Triumph Association, had originally booked the Convention into a hotel large enough to accommodate the whole Convention. Unfortunately, the hotel canceled. ATA was able to find 3 separate motels under common ownership and fairly close to each other, and moved the Convention there. 2 of the motels were next door to each other and were connected by a private road. One of these was the headquarters, where registration was taking place. We parked and immediately came across the Stalker, then went inside to register. Once registered, we then lined up in our cars to go through tech inspection. After tech inspection, we went to the 3rd hotel, about 3/4 of a mile down the road. That was where we were staying (along with most of the ISOA people).

Our hotel was the scene for the funkhana and the pool party. We checked in and unloaded the cars, then went to see who was around and what was happening. The funkhana was under way and looked interesting, and the lot was filling up with people coming over for the pool party.

The pool party was super. First, the weather was just about perfect, the party was actually around the very large pool, and some people even went into the water. There was also an excellent deck around the pool with lots of tables and chairs. The deck was filled with Triumph people, good food, and beer. This has been proven to be a great combination. Brian and Conor had brought their roller blades along and spent the evening blading everywhere, around the pool, in the lot, the 2nd floor of the motel, etc.. They were known the rest of the weekend as the boys with wheels for feet. Several hours after it started, the party wound down and it was time for the first night of parking lot patrol.

Thursday offered the autocross as well as a tour to Saratoga. If you wanted, you could do both. The weather was great, perfect for top down driving. Most of the ISOA group chose to go to Saratoga, and joined in the caravan. The drive to Saratoga was interesting, as some of us in the back of the group in red TR6's from Illinois tended to get split off from the main group, and saw more of the countryside than most. But we caught up, and made it to this historic battleground. Many people went to the information center, looked around, and then headed back. The Shedors and the Mantenos took the entire tour of the battlefield, accompanied by our friends from England, Sue & Dave Bayliss. It was very interesting to tour the site of one of the most important battles of the American Revolution, and hear Sue & Dave's perspective.

Even though we had spent several hours at Saratoga, we got back to the autocross site in time to run the event. Since we had arrived fashionably late, there weren't a lot of cars waiting to run, and we didn't have to wait in line too long. There was no air compressor so I wasn't able to air up my tires. This provided me with a ready excuse for what was to happen later. The course was set up in a substantial part of the parking lot of a large shopping center. It was a well laid out and challenging course. The layout did not favor either the big TR's or the Spits/GT6's. There were some tight spots for the smaller cars, and some power sections as well. This was the first time that I had run a parking lot autocross in over 5 years. I drove like someone who hadn't autocrossed in a parking lot for 5 years, in other words, I sucked. But it was fun, and that was all that mattered. I was also able to take a fun run with Brian as passenger, he thought it was really great.

Back at our hotel, I was just lazing on the pool deck, waiting to go to dinner with Doris and Ted Schumacher. I looked up in time to see Ted walking over to me, with 2 people I didn't know. They turned out to be Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild from the British Marque newspaper. But even though she was introduced to me as Faith, it didn't take long to realize that she was in fact my long lost sister, Perky Manteno. The Manteno children (Perky, Lemont, Colby, Jake, and I) were separated as children. Until now, all of us but one had found each other. It was a wonderful reunion.

The main activity during the day Friday was a tour to Cooperstown, NY and the Baseball Hall of Fame. Once again, the weather was excellent. In fact, the weather was so excellent that the Shedors and Mantenos chose to blow off the tour and spent the day in the vicinity of the pool. Those who took the tour spoke highly of it, we enjoyed what we did as well. Friday evening was the TR3 40th anniversary cruise. We skipped that as well, as it was not inexpensive and we are TR6 people anyway. Along with Marque "%$#@ ISOA" Joslyn from Champaign and Mike Bilyk from the Detroit Triumph Sportscar Club, we went to the same shopping center that had hosted the autocross and caught a movie. Following the movie, we tearfully watched as Conor and Brian ascended to manhood from boyhood. Yes, it was their first trip to Hooters.

Despite all of the planning and hard work that went into this year's Convention, there is no way that ATA could have planned for the aftermath of a hurricane, but that is they had to contend with on Saturday. The remnants of Hurricane Bertha had arrived. The rain started sometime late Friday night, and didn't stop until late Saturday night. The original plan to have the car show in a park was scrapped. ATA came up with a pretty good plan, the judged cars were judged under an overhang at one of the hotels, while the peoples choice cars were to congregate at another. It seemed to work out well. Many of us gathered in the lobby of our hotel, and spent the day visiting, looking forlornly outside, or looking at the Weather Channel on the TV in the lobby. We also chose that opportunity to do Chicago style peoples choice balloting. Our hotel was also the location for the autojumble/flea market. Originally scheduled to be outdoors, the vendors had to move their displays indoors. They had a captive audience, and it appeared that many $$$ were being spent. We were told that 4-5" of rain fell, much of which found it's way into our cars

Saturday night was the awards banquet. Naturally, it was still raining. The banquet hall was only about a mile from the hotel. When we arrived, my left leg was quite wet from the steady drip coming from between the top and the top of the windshield. I wasn't the only wet one there. The ATA did a fine job of keeping the awards banquet down to a reasonable amount of time, the food was good, ISOA people picked up many awards, and when we left, the rain had finally stopped. Another Convention had come and gone. ATA did a great job, we had a great time.

The ISOA return caravan assembled as planned Sunday and was under way at 8:00 AM. We were shooting for a Super 8 with a pool in Toledo. If things went according to plan, we would be there about 6:00 PM. Our caravan consisted of Big Mama and her friend Georgia in Billy's TR3, Jake & Donna Jaquet with freshly restored TR3 on trailer, Marque Joslyn in his Sports 6, Way to go Spuds and Barb in their TR6, Hammer and Tool Man Buja in their Stag, Larry Nolan and friend Dottie in his classic K car, and the Shedor and Manteno TR6's. We chose a different route than the one we took to the Convention, we wanted to avoid the New York Thruway and see a different (and more scenic) part of the state. We had to stop after driving for all of 45 minutes, Big Mama was literally running to the bathroom. She just can't hold her coffee. When she came out of the john, she said "I had to go so bad that my bladder was pulsating".

Our progress across New York state was pretty slow, many of us apparently came down with tiny bladder disease. It seemed like we would drive for 45 minutes, then pit for 15. I remember thinking that at that pace, we would get home just in time to leave for the 97 Convention in Ft. Worth. At least, all of the cars were running well. OOOPPS! As I followed the Stag somewhere in western New York, my windshield started to cloud up. I had seen this before, and immediately called Tool Man on the CB to tell him he was spewing. He knew about the same time that I did, as his temp gauge had suddenly shot up. We all pulled onto the shoulder to check out the problem. Unfortunately, the Stag had sprung a leak in it's recently repaired radiator. Several of us had extra coolant on board (what does that say about these cars?), after letting the Stag cool for a while, Tool Man topped it up and we continued. Nobody wanted their car to be the car directly behind the Stag. We finally made Pennsylvania nine hours after we left Albany.

The Stag was doing fine until we ran into bumper to bumper traffic due to road construction about 20 miles down the road, then it overheated again. Fortunately, there was an exit with a service station nearby, and we ducked in there. Larry's K car was overheating also. It seems that the thermostat for his thermostatically controlled cooling fan was dead. He borrowed a jumper wire from Spuds (what does that say about these cars?), and was able to get the fan running. After giving the Stag some more time to cool, and then adding more water, we left the service station via the back roads in order to bypass the road construction. We crossed into Ohio as we worked our way back to the Interstate. Naturally, it started to rain. We were able to keep moving fast enough to have the rain go over us, until we drove out of the rain. Then 40 miles east of Cleveland, we ran into construction again. We pulled over to cool the Stag down, and put our tops up. It was about this time that it was decided to put the Stag on Jake's trailer, and Jake would drive his TR3. While the Stag was going on the trailer, Big Mama and Georgia put the top up on Pappy's 3. The webbing from the top ripped out of the top frame, and the top bows wouldn't support the top. The top and frame were drooping down in their line of sight. Georgia was going to have to hold the top off of their heads while Big Mama drove. We pulled onto the highway only to have Jake pull off about 1/2 mile down the road with locked up rear brakes. Everyone stopped except Snake and Conor. Apparently, they didn't hear about the trouble on the CB, and kept on going.

After some troubleshooting, it was determined that the TR3's master cylinder needed a small adjustment, and this fixed the brakes. We drove for about 20 minutes, until Georgia's arms were too tired to hold the top up any longer, then pulled off onto a residential street somewhere in Cleveland. A more permanent temporary fix was designed and we were ready to go. Hammer had been trying to reach Snake on the CB while we were stopped, and finally made contact. We found Snake and Conor, they still had their top down. Naturally, it started raining heavily, so back to the shoulder while they put the top up. It rained like crazy the rest of the way to Toledo, a fitting end to a really bad day. But at least we didn't have any more problems, and arrived at the motel around midnight, a mere 16 hours after our departure from Albany.

None of us were real interested in an early departure from Toledo Monday morning. The plan was to drive for about an hour to a rest area, where Hammer and Tool Man would pick up their daughter, who had been staying with Hammer's mom. We got on the road about 9:15, we were on the shoulder about 10 minutes later. Pappy's 3 had developed a serious misfire. We looked over the car, and found that the top radiator hose was leaking, and the coolant was squirting onto the distributor and plug wires. A band-aid was fabricated with duct tape, which everyone seemed to be carrying, 2 extra hose clamps were used to help hold the repair in place.

This done, we took off again, only to pull into a service plaza 3 miles later. The leak had been cured, but the misfire was still there. Our combined wisdom couldn't solve the problem, so we decided to continue at reduced speed the 27 miles to the service area where Hammer and Tool Man were picking up Megan. We didn't make it, as the misfire worsened and we had to stop sooner, in a different service plaza.

We were stopped for about 2 1/2 hours, and still didn't find the problem. Every ignition component except the coil had been changed. Every time something was replaced, Marque Joslyn said "I'll bet it is the coil". We asked Jake if we could take the coil out of his car. After installation of Jake's coil in Pappy's 3, VRROOOM, the car was running great again. So we needed a coil, and we found a NAPA store that would deliver a coil to the service plaza. Their driver showed up 45 minutes later with the wrong coil. Another call to the NAPA store, another 45 minute wait, and we had the right coil. After a 5 hour delay, we were on our way.

We cruised to the first service plaza in Indiana to meet up with Hammer, who had gone on ahead to get Megan. We had 167 miles to go to get to Chicago from the Ft. Wayne service area. The only problem was that now Jake's TR3 wouldn't start, breakdown #615 on this trip. The problem turned out to be the fuel pump. Jake and Marque took it apart, swore at it a few times, put it back together, and the TR3 started right up. The plan now was to try and drive the rest of the way nonstop. It was already after 4:00 PM Chicago time.

We made it about 20 miles, but at least this wasn't a breakdown. We drove into another rainstorm, and several of the cars had their tops down. This was a heavy rain, and we weren't able to go fast enough to stay dry, so it was back to the shoulder. We actually may have spent more time on the shoulder than on the road on this trip. Of course, Pappy's 3 was one of the cars with it's top down, so the stop took a little longer than normal, as the top had to be secured once up to stay out of Big Mama's eyes. Georgia got so wet during this stop that we had to pull into the next rest area so she could change her clothes.

That was the end of our adventures, we had no further disasters. As we split up, it was agreed that ATA had done an excellent job hosting our Convention, and that we had had a great time. And despite our problems, we could all agree. We'd rather push our Triumphs than drive MG's.

Some additional Convention notes:

Snake was asked the significance of the Snake 34 license plate on his TR6. He replied that that was how many times he had shed his skin.

The frame rail at the right trailing arm mount broke on the Billimack TR6 while in Albany. He was able to get a temporary repair and drive the car home. The temporary repair was so well done, that he has driven the car to Road America twice since we got back from Albany. But he is planning on having repaired properly (one of these days).

It was too bad that ATA's original headquarters hotel canceled on them. It is always more fun when everyone (or at least almost everyone) is at the same hotel. But they the best of the situation, and used their resources well.

At least 2 TR6 owners had to take the carpeting out of their cars to let it dry when they got home from this trip.

When Larry Nolan got to the hotel in Toledo, he parked his car and forgot that he had a jumper wire running his cooling fan. Luckily for him, someone from our group heard the fan running and told him about it before the fan killed his battery.

Stalker, traveling solo, made it home to Rockford before the caravan from Hell got to Toledo. However, he had his troubles on the way out, and now his engine needs to be rebuilt.

Our road trip from Hell proved once again how valuable CB radios are when caravaning. If you are going to drive to Texas with us next year, be sure to have a CB. And even though those hand held CB's aren't all that good, they work well enough in the caravan and take up almost no space.

Elwood Manteno

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