GOVERNOR'S REPORT
Jon Gardner

Hey gang,

Having gone to the National Council of Corvette Clubs (NCCC), Florida Region Meeting on October 6th, I have information to pass along again. As I have said before, sometimes it gets to be a long time between info gathering sessions.

Its that time of the year again where the NCCC is trying to elect our national officers, and each club Governor has been given ballots to cast for the various officer choices. As in years past, I will cast the vote for our club based on information provided by our Region officers or on performance records of the individuals, as I know them. Anyhow, of the five vacancies, three of the candidates are running unopposed. Other matters that are being voted upon are several bylaw changes in addition to selecting the 2004 National Convention site.

Bids for the 2004 convention have been received from the Mid-West Region and the Roadrunner Region. The Mid-West Region site is in St. Cloud, Minnesota scheduled for July 24-30, 2004. The Roadrunner Region has proposed Las Vegas, Nevada for June 5-11, 2004. Whereas, I must have these ballots returned by mail October 31, 2002 we will have already voted on them by the time most of you read this. Anyhow, while Las Vegas seems to me to be a clear winner, I suspect that the "racers" around the country will select St. Cloud Minnesota. But, I may be wrong.

Most of the bylaw items are slight wordsmithing changes such as… to be a member of the NCCC, one must be actual owners or operators of Corvettes and be a member in good standing of a recognized club, rather than an occasional driver of perhaps a Corvette belonging to someone else. Another change deals with Spouse Members. Essentially, primary members can have only one spouse/companion member at a time. I'm not making this up folks. Yet another change provides that no elected national officer shall also hold an appointed position. All, important changes as the NCCC board tries to fine-tune our guiding bylaws document.

Next. During our upcoming meetings you will hear Joan Wollenhaupt beg you for your renewal information. Please understand that we need to have all renewal information in the hands of our Regional Membership Director by November 25th. Please help her out, remember it's more expensive for you if you miss Joan's deadline. She has paperwork that must be in to the national club network, and of course needs time to compile this and still have time for the post office to do their work. Please Help Joan out. Besides, we like to think we are a good group to party with. Also, remember that all 2003 members will receive the 50th Corvette Anniversary membership patch from NCCC. Neat!

Other news. NCCC continues to work on fine-tuning the competition rule book. Combining autocross car classes continues to be debated. Two and three car classes cost the sanctioning clubs money in awards. One thought is that maybe fewer points can be awarded for one and two car classes than those having more cars. Also, doing away with travel and bonus points is being considered. In other words, award championship points strictly on accomplishments gained in actual competition. Let the "best competitors" in the various events be the deciding factor for winning the gold. Another debate continues on creating a separate class for Z06 cars. In spite of the overwhelming evidence that these cars are so much superior to their more standard C5 brethren (in performance capability), for some reason this idea continues to be rejected by the competition committee.

One disappointing note is that NCCC is looking for a new Blue Bars (the official NCCC Magazine) editor. The December issue will be the last for our current editor. Just when NCCC has started to finally put together a decent Blue Bars Magazine we have to start all over again. Maybe with a little luck, we'll get another good volunteer.

One happy and encouraging note. Just as reported to you last time, the NCCC has indeed donated over $120,000 to the National Kidney Foundation. Accolades go out to all of us for being able to contribute this kind of money to our national charity.

Don't give up on me now folks we have more. Word is that the last National Convention will perhaps be a winner. However don't tell that to some of those that entered the "Fun Rally". This event was reported to be almost 8 ½ hours long. Those that participated said it was the event from Hell. So much for the "Fun" part.

No matter how much NCCC tries, they can't seem to make much headway with the new Credit Card Program. They have had only 99 applications. Only 83 have been accepted. Wow!

One last comment. NCCC wants to be thought of as a premier Corvette Organization, but still refuses to purchase a Business Membership in the National Corvette Museum ($2,500 "one time"). They are allowing however, affiliated individual clubs to donate dollars that will be used to purchase this membership in the NCCC name. Shameful. My message to them… Step up to the plate folks, be the organization you purport to be.

Jon
Your Governor, Jon Gardner