2003 National SE-R Convention
Originally planned to be in Kansas City, MO, the 2003 convention was temporarily on hold. The original track that had been reserved for spring of 2003 filed for bankruptcy, and the convention was in trouble. Luckily, Eric Waterman from Nashville, TN set forth putting together a convention with less than 6 months to plan it. On November 1st-2nd, 2003, the convention headed to Birmingham, AL with a track day at Talladega Grand Prix. Eric Waterman recaps the event:
Wow, I am just finally getting back to normal after this past weekend. It was a ton of work, but well worth it. I’m sure if I had fun, then everyone else had a blast.
On Friday night, it was good to see people I haven’t seen from the ‘02 convention, or even before that. The Houston folks didn’t make it last year, so it was great to see George, Kerry, and of course, Bruce. I also got to meet people from the list, and the sr20 forum. Friday night ended early for most people because of the track event Saturday.
Saturday started out a little later than planned, but everything got going, and went smoothly. The track looked simple at first, but it was soon realized, that there were tricky parts for even the advanced drivers, yet not that bad for the beginners. This was the first time I had the VE on the track, and I was looking forward to comparing it to the DE. I also had new Carbotech pads I wanted to try. The track event lasted until the sun went down. The last group on the track were the workers who sat out there all day, while we had fun. I didn’t know until the end of the day, that one of our own was out there working. I thought it was cool one of the workers had a Spec V, until the worker chief said he was one of us. If anyone saw that white van driving around the track, it has 450,000 miles on it, and it was full of cases of Amsoil. I almost fell over when he opened the side, and I saw it was full. The trip back to the hotel was fun. Traffic was a little thick, but we stuck together. A big group of us went to dinner that night, and I don’t know who was possessing me, but I tried to bribe the front desk clerk to take us to a place outside their area. I used to be the shyest person, and here I was trying to sweet talk her. No, I had nothing to drink that night. All the running and around and the sun took its toll on me. I started to feel sick and dinner, and went to bed early. I know I missed some fun, but I’ll make up for it in May
Sunday morning came too quick. After cleaning most of the track dirt off my car, Ben Davis, my wife, and I headed to the park to start setting up. People started to slowly trickle in, and the catering people showed up. That food tasted and smelled so good. I went with that company after one of the locals told me about them. I didn’t have a chance to try them out before Sunday, but I was not disappointed. After eating, I snuck away from everything, and wandered toward the parking lot. As I came around the building, it was an awesome sight to see all those cars in the parking lot. I took quick pass around, and voted on the cars. I had a few people come ask about the Matt Kempe award, and I directed them toward George and Bruce. I still remember George describing it in Dallas, and I figured he would be the best to let people know. After the raffle drawing, it was awards time.
Best Sentra SE-R went to Dexter Bayack
Best NX when to Greg Patch – Showed up on Sunday, bought some raffle tickets and joined SERCA. He won best NX (very clean car), and won a raffle prize.
Best 200SX SE-R went to Russell McMullen
Best G20 went to Pat Pruitt
Best Sentra SE went to David Nelson
Best Sentra SE-R (B15) went to Rick LeBleu – A local friend of mine who I convinced to go. Now if you guys can just talk him out of the body kit.
Best Rental/Beater went to Greg Vogel
Best of Show went to Dexter Bayack
Furthest Drive finally went to Peter Jackson – After seeing the look in his eyes when he got the hotel Friday night, I knew he drove a long time.
Matt Kempe Spirit award went to me – My wife asked me about this award, and I explained it to her the best I could. I teared up little also.
Sunday night was fun also. Our crowd was down in numbers, but we still had fun. After dinner, Ray Kawski, Peter Jackson, Justin McClanahan, and myself sat at the bar talking. The bartender remember Mike, and she thought he was lying the night before. Ray got her to leave a funny message on his phone. She had to go to the back room to leave it, since we would have made her laugh. I was thinking that the track event, and picnic were just bonuses for the convention. The real fun is hanging out with friends. I need to fly up to the northeast and so cal sometime. Those 2 groups really know how to have fun. We have the greatest group here. We will go out of our way to help others, and that’s what makes us special. A great example of this was getting Chris Scarpulla home. Greg Perry pulled his car off the trailer and took Chris’ car to Nashville, so we can swap a motor for him. He left it at Phil LaPrad’s house. Phil came down with his 2 sons, and I know all 3 of them. Phil had never met Chris, or anyone outside of the Nashville group before. He let Chris leave his car at his house, no problem. Grover also got Chris a plane ticket home. Someone also went around and got enough money together to buy Chris a new motor. I didn’t know about this until afterwards, but my contribution will be putting the motor in.
The convention went by too fast, like it always does. I’ve spent this week recovering, and missing all the friends I hung out with. May is too far away, but before you know it, will be here. I hope that everyone had as much fun as I did, or even more. I want to thank everyone that helped with the convention, and I now know how hard it is to plan an event like this. I don’t plan on doing anything like this for a long time. I now need a new keyboard, because I just wore this one out from typing so much.
