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ACES Chevell~abration 2000 |
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2000 Chevellabration Awards
Fast Facts
- The largest group of Chevelles at Chevellabration 2000 was the '70s. The bumper count numbered 78, with 42 of them Stockers, 35 Modifieds, and one Survivor. Tough classes!
- Second in popularity were the '66s, with 50 of them in attendance. Of those, 27 were in the Stock category, 22 were Modifieds, and one was a Survivor.
- The least populated category was the '64-7 Stock El Camino class, with only one entry.
- Participants came from 26 states, plus Canada. Next to Tennessee (41), Indiana provided the next highest number of participants (32), followed by Ohio (28), Missouri (27), Michigan (26), and Illinois (25).
- Participants drove from some distant states, too, including Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, New York, and Rhode Island.
- ACES Members who attended without their Chevelles came from as far away as California, Washington, Arizona, Maine, Connecticut, and even Puerto Rico!
- Hungry Chevell-abrators consumed over 200 pounds of barbecued pork, and 145 pounds of barbecued chicken at the Awards Barbecue on Saturday!
- The tent for the Barbecue, seminars and other meetings measured 8-' x 150', or 12,000 square feet!
- It took a crew of 12 men over four hours to erect the tent!
- There were enough tables and chairs under the tent to accommodate over 1000 people!
- Over 12 cans of white marking paint were used to outline the showfield.
- The high temperature average for the event was 86 degrees.
- There were over 1000 hotel rooms rented in association with Chevell-abration.
- Using an average of 350 horsepower per Chevelle, it's estimated that about 125,000 horsepower were harnessed at Moss-Wright park!
- Year One handed out over 1000 handheld, manually operated cooling devices (fans) over the weekend.
- It took 25 people more than three hours to stuff the goodie bags!
By Chuck Hanson
If there's such a thing as an automotive overdose, I think I did it! Hard to believe but Chevell-abration has come and gone, and I'm still trying to recover from it... Not that it wasn't an enjoyable experience. Quite the contrary. If anything, it may have simply been too much of a good thing.
After four years of Chevell-abrations, and all the success that we've had in the past, I couldn't help but wonder, could this thing get any better? Could it get any bigger? Well, it did! It was bigger and better all around with an incredible 357 entries for the event, fourteen parts vendors, over 30 swappers, and three days of uninterrupted fun in the sun!
In anticipation of the growth, we rearranged things a bit at Moss-Wright this year to make room for more Chevelles, more vendors, and the biggest tent we could find in the Southeast! Good thing we did, because we needed every inch of room in the Park for the ACES Members who showed up to be part of this automotive extravaganza.As the event got closer, we had a feeling it was gonna be big as the registrations kept coming...and coming...and coming! In fact, we had the bump the meal count with the caterer three times, and similarly increase the size of the tent to ensure we'd have enough Barbecue and places to sit for everybody at the awards ceremony. In fact, when the servers finally hung up their spoons, we'd fed southern-style barbecue to almost a thousand hungry Chevelle enthusiasts!!! Now, that's a gang!
Among the throng were many Members who've attended all four Chevell-abrations, bringing both their Chevelles and their enthusiastic attitudes since its humble beginnings in a hotel parking lot. That inaugural event attracted just over a hundred classic Chevelles, and about 175 members to the banquet. We should have known then that this event was destined for bigger and better things as we made room for the overflow crowd, and actually had to feed some of them in the hallway outside the hotel's biggest banquet room. But those folks are the one's who've helped make this such a successful event, not only with their continued support, but by telling their friends about it and bringing them with the following year.
It seemed no matter which way you turned, there was a beautiful Chevelle to catch your eye, with the one next to it even more beautiful. And it didn't seem to matter whether your tastes tended towards absolutely stock or the wildest modified imaginable, chances are you'd find something to drool over.
Some of the Chevelles that caught my eye were the pristinely restored, black '65 two-door wagon belonging to Gary Sturkanich, and the eye-ball blistering yellow, fuel-injected, 502-powered '71 that "Stump" Griffis brought for us to enjoy. And who couldn't help but notice the stop-in-your-tracks graphics and detailing on Jeff Weihe's '69 Pro Streeter? Or what about the incredibly preserved, four thousand! mile, '70 LS-6 of Scott Spiczka? In fact, Scott's '70 not only took home a well-deserved Top Three awards in the Survivor class, but it also got my President's Pick award.
Of course, even though the Chevelles were the main focus of the weekend, there was plenty more to see, say and do. Thursday saw a huge increase over last year in the number of Chevelles at the Park, as more and more Members take the time off to enjoy all three days of the event. Besides getting registered and cleaning up the Chevelles, Thursday saw a lot of activity in the swap meet as the early shoppers looked for the best deals. That afternoon there was also qualifying for the Slow Drags eliminations, with the slowest 16 elapsed times earning spots on the Men's and Women's ladders. The Mid-South Chevelles also hosted an event welcome part for everyone with complimentary snacks and cold beverages, and once that was over, everyone lined up for the popular Countryside Cruise.
The hour-long cruise took over 70 Chevelles and their owners through the picturesque hills and hollers around Goodlettsville, Tennessee, and wound up back at the Park just about supper time.
On Friday morning I arrived early...or at least I thought I was early.
The registration booth was supposed to open at eight, so I got to the Park around seven to help get things set up. But already there were about fifty eager Chevell-abrators who didn't get registered on Thursday and were eager to get things rolling. So as soon as we could get things organized, we opened the gates and teched the showcars while the owners got registered. Thanks to the Mid-South Chevelles' Janis Doty and her organizational skills, registration was quick, simple and painless. In fact, each participant spent less than two minutes to get registered and teched in before being directed to their proper parking area for the show.
While I visited with Members at the show, I couldn't help but wonder how so many great, friendly people, and so many gorgeous Chevelles could all come together in one place? I heard stories about Members who were strangers only moments before, and were now lending a hand or loaning parts to another Member who'd run into a bit of bad luck. I saw Members working on each other's Chevelles as they cleaned 'em up in preparation for the big show. In many cases these were folks who were even in the same class as the person they were helping. And I really enjoyed all the camaraderie and friendships that were renewed, or made for the first time, by a mutual love for Chevelles and a respect for their fellow man.
Friday night saw plenty of Chevelles return for a night of drag racing at Music City Raceway. This year, track management created a heads-up, Chevelle-only ladder, with the winner claiming bragging rights of the baddest Chevelle (and driver) at Chevell-abration. That honor went to Dan Brant and his 502-urged '69 Super Sport. The Runner-up slot was cinched down by Russ Almand in his '65 Malibu SS. There was also a special Chevelle parade before eliminations began, and quite a few of the non-racers took their Chevelles down the track for a quick burnout and a run through the gears. Everyone sure seemed to have a good time showin' off their Chevelles and smokin' the tires!
Of course, that set the stage for the team competition on Saturday as representatives from several ACES Associate clubs used muscles that most of 'em probably forgot they had! Both the Team Tug-O-War and the Tag Team Tire Changing contests were hard fought battles...and a lot of fun. Too strenuous? Well, maybe. But somehow knitting competition and a "name that grill emblem" contest just didn't seem right for Chevell-abration. Any suggestions for next year?
The Slow Drags proved even more popular this year, as changes were instigated pitting the competitors in a side-by-side race to see who could get to the finish line last. The crowd hooted, then hollered as their favorites came to the line...some of them inadvertently stepping on the brake to slow progress (an immediate disqualifier) or allowing their vehicle to stop rolling (ditto) before reaching the other end of the 50-foot course. Oh, did we forget to mention that the planners of this year's event made things much more difficult by setting up the course...downhill? So much for the advantage enjoyed by the manual transmission drivers!
Of course, if you like racing, but on a smaller scale and budget, you could do that too. Once again, we brought the return of the die-cast drags...a gravity-ramp race using 1/18th-scale die cast models. Here too, competition was fierce, and only the strong survived.
Last year we started an annual tradition by having a "Showcase" Chevelle as the special vehicle of the event, and managed to draw together an astounding six Z-16s to Chevell-abration. This year, the focus was on the '70 L78 Chevelles, of which only 2144 were produced. Again, we managed to bring six of them together, including a pair of ultra-rare convertibles! And, just as we did last year, they were the centerpiece for the cover shot of this issue containing the event coverage. About 150 Members left the comfort of the shade trees to brave the blazing sun for more than a half-hour, just to be included in the cover shot. Talk about hot fun in the summertime!
But sooner or later, we all knew the festival of fun had to draw to a close. At two o'clock on Saturday, you could sense the restlessness and anticipation of the participants as we got closer to the Awards Ceremony and Barbecue. With seating for 1000, the huge tent was filled to near capacity as everyone feasted on all-you-can eat Southern-style barbecue pork and chicken with all the fixin's. Unfortunately, a return appearance by Chuck's "sister" wasn't possible, although the requests were long and loud by many who enjoyed her antics at last year's event. Maybe next year...
Once all the awards had been handed out, the final touch to the fun-filled weekend was a 25-mile cruise north to Franklin, Kentucky, where many of the participants were able to take in a movie at one of the last drive-ins in the country. The feature was "Dinosaurs," and even though it was a new movie (rated "G" too, so the kids could enjoy it as well), being at a drive-in with a vintage Chevelle evoked plenty of memories of days gone by.
Of course, Chevell-abration 2000 is just memories now, too, for the hundreds of ACES Members who attended with (and without) their Chevelles. We hope they're all good ones!