Thanks to everyone who came to the event and had a good time. It was a great week and I think alot of people left exhausted and elated. I know I will, when I finally recover enough to leave the hotel. :wink
In addition to all our attendees and members, very special thanks need to be given to the following people/companies. Please inundate their mailboxes with thank you notes so we can do it again in the future.
BORLA -
For the second year in a row, Borla continued to support the Ford GT community by committing sponsorship funds to the Ford GT National Rally. We seriously could not have put on the roster of events we did without them. I can't overstate how important their contribution was.
Please take a moment to let Alex and Alyse Borla and their representative Chris Kaufman know how much their support means to us, both by sending them a note and considering their great product for you GT and other vehicles.
Their main email address is:
sales@borla.com
and their mailing address is:
Borla Performance Industries
5901 Edison Drive
Oxnard, CA 93033
Many thanks to them again.
Saleen:
Again, for the second year in a row, Saleen was a phenomenal host to us all week. When I called them early in the year and asked if we could get something together, they didn't hesitate for a second. That shows what kind of company they are these days, even though they no longer build our product.
Mitch Gadd, Alex Bowman, Lauren Kerivan, Bryan Chambers, Chris Theodore and everyone else was great all week. The drive event and lunch at El Toro, their retail location, giving away those great little commemorative packs (pm me if you missed them, I've got a box left they didn't unload), giving away the wall unit, etc. It was just great to have them back with us, and I hope you continue to use them as a resource to service your GT and own those killer Mustangs, trucks, and that other worldly S7.
Their main email address is:
info@saleen.com
Their mailing address is:
76 Fairbanks
Irvine, California 92618-1602
It was a bit of a late addition to the party, but all week Steve and Kyle Millen were around the GT events. They stepped in and offered us a great tour of their facility and the cool stuff they make for our cars, along with lunch and drinks. And Steve was gracious enough to sign posters of his flame spitting orange GT. They are really on the cutting edge, and if you saw their 3 dimensional printer, you'll know what I mean. They were great hosts and ran esica's (chris) REALLY loud black GT on the outdoor dyno.
Without people like Steve who genuinely race and push the limits of the GT, we wouldn't have the understanding, resources, or choices we have today. Not much market for a limited-production supercar with no successor. They do it purely for the passion of the car. I know I'll be one of the people getting a set of those Penske shocks (and most likely the AP racing brakes) to go along with my Stillen splash guards.
Their main email address is:
sales@stillen.com
Their mailing address is:
3176 Airway Ave
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(ps, if you ever see a steep driveway, you should check out their urethane splitter and diffuser. The stuff is virtually indestructible)
And now for the people:
Steve Ard:
What a guy. I've been a pain in the ass to Steve and his wife Lesley for months now. That great litho, the name tags, the use of his shop for the GT Guys...he went way, way, way out of his way to help us put this thing on. We did the road rally in preparation to make sure there were no surprise closures a month before the event and if he wasn't dragging us around, we'd probably have ended up being chomped by vultures somewhere east of Victorville. He put all his resources at our disposal for Camilo and I to get the artwork done for the event. His guys Gerry and Pablo spent hours at computers making the stuff a reality. I don't know how much people know about the printing business, but every hour is worth a lot of money. Just getting the presses ready, let alone hours and hours of highly skilled tech work, costs a fortune.
You can PM Steve on the forum under the name SteveA.
I'd give out his address, but then he'd probably be really mad. :wink
Jim Salomon:
Jim is another guy who has probably seen enough of me to last a lifetime. He invited us down to his house on the bay and took us out in his boat to scope out the dinner cruise a few months ago. I would have never thought of it, and it turned out to be a really great way to end the event. He spent alot of time dealing with the various companies getting proposals and ended up getting us a great yacht with tremendous food that was brought in just for the event. He didn't even get a chance to make all the events and he went to bat for us anyways.
Thanks Jim. You can send Jim a PM under the name jsalomon.
Jerry DeYoung:
For the second year in a row, Jerry acted as our ambassador to the Borla's and realized their sponsorship of the event. Jerry has a wealth of knowledge doing these events and with his help we've been able to put on what seem to be pretty spectacular successes two years running. Jerry also successfully got the wall art giveaway for the Saleen event. I'm sure everyone, especially NOIR GT who will soon have it on his wall, would like to say thanks to Jerry for his continued contributions to the forum.
You can send Jerry a PM under the name Awsum GT.
Les Davidson:
All you need to know about Les is that he can quickly get together with us, grab a microphone, and an hour later have $41,000 in sales for the Loma Linda Veterans charity. What an amazing scene that was. Les auctioned a few goodies last year as well, but he absolutely blew it out of the water at the Petersen. Everyone was floored at what he was able to accomplish along with our other great members. I think we've got an annual tradition on our hands, and with Les getting everyone excited, hopefully we can raise the stakes every year. Les made a party into a really meaningful event.
You can email Les via his assistant Pam at THIS address.
Richard Saute:
Rick couldn't make the event but he wanted us to have his registration fee anyways and donate it on behalf of the forum. What a group we have to have such people. We ended up getting t-shirts printed as a late addition the day the events started. So thanks to Rick for hooking everyone up with the shirts!
p.s, if you didn't get one, hit me with a PM. I didn't get one either because people grabbed handfuls. We had 185 shirts for 171 registrants and we ended up way short. BAD GT OWNERS. BAD.
Thank Rick on the forum at the name Shelby#18.
Tomy Hamon and Carroll Shelby:
I'd just like to thank Tomy for getting us in touch with Carroll and letting him know what we're all about. Carroll is a living legend and he made such an effort to please everyone at the event. He may not have all the physical tools he once had, but he's as sharp as they come and is still kicking out those legendary Shelby products. The signatures, photos, speaking to us all...that stuff is absolutely priceless. Being able to say I was there on such a special evening will be something I will tell people for the rest of my life. Without Tomy making it happen we wouldn't have had Carroll and his wife Cleo as our wonderful guests. We offered Carroll part of the auction proceeds for his charity, but he wanted the veterans to have it. That's what kind of guy he is.
You can PM Tomy at THamonGT and have Tomy pass on our appreciation to Carroll.
Gene, Jamal, Camilo, etc:
Just wanted to thank Jamal for coming and being put under the often-blazing lights at the event. The candid and honest responses from Jamal about any and everything are as good as it gets.
Thanks to Gene Martindale and Mark McGowan for coming out and entertaining everyone on the track. These guys are what the GT is all about. You don't realize what a lame driver you are until one of these guys goes out on a cool down lap and posts the best time of the day while barely breaking a sweat.
Thanks to Camilo for partying like a rock star, painting until 2AM, layout out a killer litho with stellar graphics, allowing his work to be auctioned for charity. He's been setting the tone for us for awhile, lending his ability to our events, and just generally keeping everyone entertained.
Of course, also thanks to the other GT-team members like Kip, Alex, Rich (x2) and Dennis who made it out to Newport Beach for the event. Having them around is priceless for these events.
If you'd like me to pass them a message, you can email me at webmaster@fordgtforum.com and I will forward it directly to them.
Daniel Bonyhadi:
I'm giving Dan a special award. The 1st Annual Guy Who Smashed the Sign award. Dan is a tremendous hatchet man and defended the GT honor by getting rid of an ongoing and uncomfortable situation. Let's just say someone who has burned bridges with SAAC, SVT, this site, and others made himself an uninvited guest to a private event and was shown the door. I know more than one person who would have paid $500 just to see that. :rofl
But seriously, I love Bony and he's a tremendous friend and tireless advocate for the site. I don't thank him enough for his assistance. You guys know how to reach him.
and of course...
Brian Depenbrock
You know him as SuperB. Again this year Brian put the effort in to create the rockin banners to hang, sign, give away, auction, etc. I never ask Brian to do any of it, he just volunteers. And he just comes to hang even when he can't bring his car. How can you not thank a guy that'll run a dozen huge banners, run the Registry and also take a rental hummer to the max for our entertainment on the autoX? Thanks SuperB!
I'm gonna thank Francesca Castiglione too. She never comes on the site, but you know who she is. Chris tells me I'm marrying above my station (which doesn't mean much by itself :rofl), but the theory is correct. She' really great at these things, but better in our real life.
That's about it. Thanks to everyone who came to the event, and everyone who helped make it a reality. It isn't work putting these things on. It's a privilege.
Get emailing!
In addition to all our attendees and members, very special thanks need to be given to the following people/companies. Please inundate their mailboxes with thank you notes so we can do it again in the future.
BORLA -
For the second year in a row, Borla continued to support the Ford GT community by committing sponsorship funds to the Ford GT National Rally. We seriously could not have put on the roster of events we did without them. I can't overstate how important their contribution was.
Please take a moment to let Alex and Alyse Borla and their representative Chris Kaufman know how much their support means to us, both by sending them a note and considering their great product for you GT and other vehicles.
Their main email address is:
sales@borla.com
and their mailing address is:
Borla Performance Industries
5901 Edison Drive
Oxnard, CA 93033
Many thanks to them again.
Saleen:
Again, for the second year in a row, Saleen was a phenomenal host to us all week. When I called them early in the year and asked if we could get something together, they didn't hesitate for a second. That shows what kind of company they are these days, even though they no longer build our product.
Mitch Gadd, Alex Bowman, Lauren Kerivan, Bryan Chambers, Chris Theodore and everyone else was great all week. The drive event and lunch at El Toro, their retail location, giving away those great little commemorative packs (pm me if you missed them, I've got a box left they didn't unload), giving away the wall unit, etc. It was just great to have them back with us, and I hope you continue to use them as a resource to service your GT and own those killer Mustangs, trucks, and that other worldly S7.
Their main email address is:
info@saleen.com
Their mailing address is:
76 Fairbanks
Irvine, California 92618-1602
- These two companies, Borla and Saleen, were the only companies who have chosen to support us both years we've done this. If it weren't for them, it wouldn't have been nearly the event either time. It speaks volumes about their business to take such measures for a community of car owners with a vehicle out of production that doesn't have their name on it. Please take 5 minutes to let thank them for the great 4 days.
It was a bit of a late addition to the party, but all week Steve and Kyle Millen were around the GT events. They stepped in and offered us a great tour of their facility and the cool stuff they make for our cars, along with lunch and drinks. And Steve was gracious enough to sign posters of his flame spitting orange GT. They are really on the cutting edge, and if you saw their 3 dimensional printer, you'll know what I mean. They were great hosts and ran esica's (chris) REALLY loud black GT on the outdoor dyno.
Without people like Steve who genuinely race and push the limits of the GT, we wouldn't have the understanding, resources, or choices we have today. Not much market for a limited-production supercar with no successor. They do it purely for the passion of the car. I know I'll be one of the people getting a set of those Penske shocks (and most likely the AP racing brakes) to go along with my Stillen splash guards.
Their main email address is:
sales@stillen.com
Their mailing address is:
3176 Airway Ave
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(ps, if you ever see a steep driveway, you should check out their urethane splitter and diffuser. The stuff is virtually indestructible)
And now for the people:
Steve Ard:
What a guy. I've been a pain in the ass to Steve and his wife Lesley for months now. That great litho, the name tags, the use of his shop for the GT Guys...he went way, way, way out of his way to help us put this thing on. We did the road rally in preparation to make sure there were no surprise closures a month before the event and if he wasn't dragging us around, we'd probably have ended up being chomped by vultures somewhere east of Victorville. He put all his resources at our disposal for Camilo and I to get the artwork done for the event. His guys Gerry and Pablo spent hours at computers making the stuff a reality. I don't know how much people know about the printing business, but every hour is worth a lot of money. Just getting the presses ready, let alone hours and hours of highly skilled tech work, costs a fortune.
You can PM Steve on the forum under the name SteveA.
I'd give out his address, but then he'd probably be really mad. :wink
Jim Salomon:
Jim is another guy who has probably seen enough of me to last a lifetime. He invited us down to his house on the bay and took us out in his boat to scope out the dinner cruise a few months ago. I would have never thought of it, and it turned out to be a really great way to end the event. He spent alot of time dealing with the various companies getting proposals and ended up getting us a great yacht with tremendous food that was brought in just for the event. He didn't even get a chance to make all the events and he went to bat for us anyways.
Thanks Jim. You can send Jim a PM under the name jsalomon.
Jerry DeYoung:
For the second year in a row, Jerry acted as our ambassador to the Borla's and realized their sponsorship of the event. Jerry has a wealth of knowledge doing these events and with his help we've been able to put on what seem to be pretty spectacular successes two years running. Jerry also successfully got the wall art giveaway for the Saleen event. I'm sure everyone, especially NOIR GT who will soon have it on his wall, would like to say thanks to Jerry for his continued contributions to the forum.
You can send Jerry a PM under the name Awsum GT.
Les Davidson:
All you need to know about Les is that he can quickly get together with us, grab a microphone, and an hour later have $41,000 in sales for the Loma Linda Veterans charity. What an amazing scene that was. Les auctioned a few goodies last year as well, but he absolutely blew it out of the water at the Petersen. Everyone was floored at what he was able to accomplish along with our other great members. I think we've got an annual tradition on our hands, and with Les getting everyone excited, hopefully we can raise the stakes every year. Les made a party into a really meaningful event.
You can email Les via his assistant Pam at THIS address.
Richard Saute:
Rick couldn't make the event but he wanted us to have his registration fee anyways and donate it on behalf of the forum. What a group we have to have such people. We ended up getting t-shirts printed as a late addition the day the events started. So thanks to Rick for hooking everyone up with the shirts!
p.s, if you didn't get one, hit me with a PM. I didn't get one either because people grabbed handfuls. We had 185 shirts for 171 registrants and we ended up way short. BAD GT OWNERS. BAD.
Thank Rick on the forum at the name Shelby#18.
Tomy Hamon and Carroll Shelby:
I'd just like to thank Tomy for getting us in touch with Carroll and letting him know what we're all about. Carroll is a living legend and he made such an effort to please everyone at the event. He may not have all the physical tools he once had, but he's as sharp as they come and is still kicking out those legendary Shelby products. The signatures, photos, speaking to us all...that stuff is absolutely priceless. Being able to say I was there on such a special evening will be something I will tell people for the rest of my life. Without Tomy making it happen we wouldn't have had Carroll and his wife Cleo as our wonderful guests. We offered Carroll part of the auction proceeds for his charity, but he wanted the veterans to have it. That's what kind of guy he is.
You can PM Tomy at THamonGT and have Tomy pass on our appreciation to Carroll.
Gene, Jamal, Camilo, etc:
Just wanted to thank Jamal for coming and being put under the often-blazing lights at the event. The candid and honest responses from Jamal about any and everything are as good as it gets.
Thanks to Gene Martindale and Mark McGowan for coming out and entertaining everyone on the track. These guys are what the GT is all about. You don't realize what a lame driver you are until one of these guys goes out on a cool down lap and posts the best time of the day while barely breaking a sweat.
Thanks to Camilo for partying like a rock star, painting until 2AM, layout out a killer litho with stellar graphics, allowing his work to be auctioned for charity. He's been setting the tone for us for awhile, lending his ability to our events, and just generally keeping everyone entertained.
Of course, also thanks to the other GT-team members like Kip, Alex, Rich (x2) and Dennis who made it out to Newport Beach for the event. Having them around is priceless for these events.
If you'd like me to pass them a message, you can email me at webmaster@fordgtforum.com and I will forward it directly to them.
Daniel Bonyhadi:
I'm giving Dan a special award. The 1st Annual Guy Who Smashed the Sign award. Dan is a tremendous hatchet man and defended the GT honor by getting rid of an ongoing and uncomfortable situation. Let's just say someone who has burned bridges with SAAC, SVT, this site, and others made himself an uninvited guest to a private event and was shown the door. I know more than one person who would have paid $500 just to see that. :rofl
But seriously, I love Bony and he's a tremendous friend and tireless advocate for the site. I don't thank him enough for his assistance. You guys know how to reach him.
and of course...
Brian Depenbrock
You know him as SuperB. Again this year Brian put the effort in to create the rockin banners to hang, sign, give away, auction, etc. I never ask Brian to do any of it, he just volunteers. And he just comes to hang even when he can't bring his car. How can you not thank a guy that'll run a dozen huge banners, run the Registry and also take a rental hummer to the max for our entertainment on the autoX? Thanks SuperB!
I'm gonna thank Francesca Castiglione too. She never comes on the site, but you know who she is. Chris tells me I'm marrying above my station (which doesn't mean much by itself :rofl), but the theory is correct. She' really great at these things, but better in our real life.
That's about it. Thanks to everyone who came to the event, and everyone who helped make it a reality. It isn't work putting these things on. It's a privilege.
Get emailing!
arty
