Well Gregg, that may have been your "Final Carlisle Letter" but since you brought up more stuff, I will reply.
Greg F wrote: > Barry, > Occasionally over the last several years I have seen, > (or read) in this forum various topics that have definitely > stirred some interest amongst the collective. Apparently I > have hit a "raw nerve" here with this latest topic of > The All Chrysler Nationals. The largest Mopar show in the > North East. > I am well aware that this list has no affiliation with the > Shelby Dodge Automobile Club. However there are some > of us that are always reading this forum, and, are members > of SDAC also. Therefore that is why I posted my original > letter to this list. I wanted to trigger a response (which > apparently worked) amongst the collective, just to see what > everyone else's opinion would be. So you wanted to know what the "collective" thought. I really only care about pleasing our members, not the "collective". But if you want to know what the member response has been so far ... There were only two SDAC members that responded here to this thread (Cindy & Tim), neither of which voiced displeasure with the SDAC decision not to attend. Far and away the members that sent me private emails were understanding or supportive of our decision not to attend Carlisle this year (about a half dozen or so replied privately). > Perhaps I should have e-mailed you personally, > but with your past track record, you would have > posted it to this list anyway. (without my permission) > You have done this to me before so...it's done OK! No, it is not OK! I have not done that. You are accusing me of something I have not done. I can find only two other instances of communication with you via email. The first instance started out as a message you posted to the SDML (on 8/8/05) about the clutch problem you were having. I replied to you privately on 8/9/05. We exchanged private emails again, with our final messages about that on 8/31/05. YOUR original message to the SDML was the only one that went to this list in that exchange. The second instance was a totally private communication between us when you renewed your SDAC membership in January of this year. Those two instances were the only times I can find that I have ever corresponded with you via email. > Now that this is in the open I want to make it > very clear that you personally have nothing to do > with my decision of going to Carlisle or not! > I have met you several times at Carlisle over the > years, and spoken briefly with you. I got the > impression from you that if I didn't have a > numbered car, I wasn't anything to you anyway. > (I have been e-mailed off the list from several other > readers of this forum, saying the exact same thing) > I will not, of course reveal who they are, but I must > stress that I am not the only one that got this same > "Cold Shoulder"feeling from you. Yet, you still > wanted my money to join your club. I am sorry you got this feeling regarding my attitude, you read me wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. More on this further down the message .... > Just for the record, we were both wrong as far > as how many years I am a member of SDAC. > I originally said that I was a member for about > 4 years, and you were there to remind me that I > was only a member for 2 years. 2003 to 2006 > is THREE YEARS not 2 OR 4. So we were both > wrong. NO, you may have misunderstood what I wrote. You said: >> Of course I registered for Carlisle as an SDAC >> Member which I have been for about 4 years. And I replied: > Actually, you joined SDAC at Carlisle in 2003. > I thank you for your support the past 2 years there, Which is correct. You joined SDAC in 2003, but that was too late to support us that year at Carlisle (by registering at Carlisle as an SDAC member). You registered at Carlise as an SDAC member in 2004 & 2005. In what I wrote above I thanked you for your support at Carlisle for the past 2 years. I never said you were a member for 2 years. > I must admit that I look forward to receiving > the newsletter that you occasionally send us. This > latest one hit a raw nerve in me when I saw a > picture of a Dodge Neon on the cover. And now to follow up on what I said earlier ... Above you accused me of having an attitude that I only care about numbered cars, but when I put a Neon on the cover of our newsletter, you are upset that it doesn't fit in the Shelby theme. Just who is the elitest here? YOU are the one getting upset about a non-Shelby on the cover. A little hypocritical of you don't ya think? And by the way, every year at Carlisle as a club official I get to choose my favorite car for an award. I can pick any car on the show field, but I choose to only pick within the FWD crowd. So far I have picked (in this order) an 86 GLHS, an 89 Daytona, an 87 Shelby Lancer, an 89 LeBaron convertible, and a 93 IROC R/T. Do these choices sound like I only appreciate numbered cars??? Of the five I have chosen as my favorites in the show, only 2 of them are numbered cars, less than half the total. > I let that slide and opened the newsletter, only to find > an article titled All Chrysler-Nationals. Again I was > very excited, only to find that the SDAC will not be > attending the show this year. Needless to say I was > disappointed. Not because I wanted to see you, Barry, > only a general disappointment of the fact that the > only car club that I belong to, isn't going to attend. > That is all. There are threads on td.com & tm.com about who is going to Carlisle. A month or so ago I posted on www.turbo-mopar.com that we may not be going, and folks started making plans to get their own big tent, since the SDAC tent that provides a place for our members to sit for a while and get out of the sun, will not be there. When we finally firmed up our decision not to go, I realized that I should put a notice in the newsletter to that fact rather than just not be there when folks start showing up. As that would be kind of rude don't ya think? You read way too much into the newsletter notice. It is the members that make the up club, not me. I won't be there, but our members that go there regularly will still be there. So the only thing missing will be me and the club tent (no club official present). > I certainly do appreciate anyone's dedication to > their vehicles, no matter what type or brand that they > work on or drive. Therefore the article and photo > about Angelo's Car WAS interesting to me and others. > However I hold my ground on this, that, no matter > how long someone is a member of the SDAC, should > not affect the content of the SDAC newsletter. (Or > especially the Cover Photo). Would you print an > article on the Classic 1960s Schwinn Stingrays that > I rebuild? Probably not! Then why a Dodge Neon? When I edited that issue of the newsletter, I was down to my last articles I had in reserve, and since Angelo sent me his article last fall, it was high time to print it. I had one other pic that has been sent in for the cover, a nice Daytona (and that WILL be the next one used). But along with the 6 or 7 pages Angelo sent me he sent an 8x10 of his Neon which was the car he used to beat all that expensive metal in a very prestigious event held by Car & Driver magazine. So featuring his car on the cover was a natural fit. If it wasn't for the article about him and the car in that issue, it would most likely never have been used at all (but I can't say that for certain). When I do a newsletter I have to use what has been submitted. I know that not every article or every picture will make everyone happy. But I truly hope that over the long run, every one of our members will see a few articles that they like or enjoy. I can't please everyone with every article or photo, but I can try to provide enough variety (among the articles & photos submitted) that every issue is not a cookie cutter replica of previous ones. Barry -----------------------REMOVE-FOOTER-WHEN-REPLYING---------------------------- Questions? Visit http://www.sdml.org/ To be removed, visit http://www.sdml.org/pages/leave.html