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Inaugural Membership Meeting
July 2008
The inaugural membership meeting of the
Preservation Society was held on Wednesday, July 16th at Siebkens Resort. This
was the first meeting following the launch of the expanded Membership Program
and the official formation of the Preservation Society. The meeting was attended
by sixty-eight Founding Members and their guests from seven states. Fourteen new
members enrolled in the Society at the meeting. Collector series Founding Member
membership pins were presented to all Founding Members at the meeting.
Siebkens opened the “Little Bar”, a favorite of
racing drivers and celebrities over the years, as well as a cash bar in the
dining room at 6pm. The meeting room and bar rapidly filled with enthusiasts
where comradeship and conviviality flowed along with plenty of refreshment.
Strangers, acquaintances and close friends quickly found common ground in their
love of sports cars and dedication to preservation of the historic circuits.
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Members discuss the original Cademartori painting "The
Last Race" from the 1952 Elkhart Cup Race. |
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Bea Hollfelder and Laura Myers handled the sign in
table and Julie Morter and Holly Kemmis opened the HRC Store so that members
could purchase exclusive HRC merchandise and limited edition prints. All in all,
the meeting was off to a great start.
Promptly at 7pm members and guests took their
seats in the dining room where Laurie (Siebkens) Stecker and her staff served a
sumptuous beef wellington dinner with all the trimmings. It was nip and tuck for
a while since the attendance exceeded our initial projections, but somehow
Siebkens came up with enough servings to feed everyone including dessert.
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Sustaining Member Tom Grunnah holding forth prior to
dinner. |
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Following dinner HRC President, Tom Hollfelder,
serving as master of ceremonies, began the evening’s program by recognizing
Sustaining and Supporting Members in attendance. Special thanks went to
Sustaining Members Tom Grunnah and Alan Balte’ and Supporting Members, Kevin
Rogers, Tim Kemmis and Mike Wolf.
The program featuring historical photos and filmed
footage for the 1950 and 1952 races but the hit of the program was a computer
enhanced tour of the circuit at near full race speed filmed by an unidentified
driver and filmed by an unknown camera man. The program concluded with an update
on the current state of preservation activities and a request that Society
Members write or email county officials to let them know that there is a large
group of citizens to whom preservation of the Historic Circuits is important.
Fall Dinner Social
September 2008
The Preservation Society held its Fall Dinner
Social on Thursday, September 18th at Road America concurrent with the VSCDA
vintage race weekend. The meeting was held in the drivers meeting room adjacent
to the Paddock. Attendees entered through the participant’s gate, proceeded
under the Kohler Bridge and up the hill to park in the Paddock area. Fifty-five
Founding Members and their guests were in attendance and eight new Founding
members joined the Society at the meeting. Road America Hospitality
Coordinator, Gail Bartelt, did an outstanding job of coordinating with Laura
Meyers and everything required for a successful meeting was in place when the
cash bar opened at 6pm.
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Society President Tom Hollfelder as Master of Ceremonies |
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Once again members found common ground and plenty
to discuss during the hospitality period. At 7pm, just as the sun was setting, a
buffet dinner provided by Millhome Supper Club was served. There was more than
enough food for everyone and seconds were served to many. Everyone agreed that
the staff at Millhome had done an outstanding job.
The program that followed dinner began with a
brief update on the status of the historic circuits Preservation and Maintenance
Plan being prepared by Heritage Research at the request of the Wisconsin
Historical Society. The update was followed by a video featuring recently found
film footage from the 1952 Sheldon Cup and Kimberly Cup races filmed near
Fireman’s Park and a twenty minute professional quality feature video covering
the 1963 Road America 500 won by local drivers Bill Wuesthoff and Augie Pabst in
an under 2 liter Elva-Porsche. The reliability and braking capability of the
purpose built racer allowed the car to stay on the track while the “big iron”
was in the pits replacing worn brake pads. This and the skill of the drivers
lead to the first victory ever for an under 2 liter car. The video was
thoroughly enjoyed by everyone and served as a fitting conclusion to a great
meeting.
Note: Following the meeting, copies of the videos
were provided as gifts to both Augie Pabst and Bill Wuesthoff.
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