the earlier the better that way we beat the rush. what is the opening weekend for TOTD? i think last year we got there about 1 or 2 weeks after everything opened.

 

yah i'd like to come to this one... not withstanding anything bad happening like 5$ gas. lol

 

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would like to see the evnt be in April instead of May, being that there will be less crowds, and that was crucial last year.

 

I know you'll have more time to enjoy the event if you delegate some of the workload and responsibility to others. Also, for DGRR06 you won't have to worry so much about "if its gonna be successful or if anyone will show up" for it. You did a great job pulling it all together last year, carrying all the responsibility and stress, and from the responses here you've got plenty of people willing to jump in and help. Also you have the evidence for the sponsors that people will come from all over the eastern US for a gathering of rotaries, and this area is the market for most of the sponsors you got on board last year.

I think Rotor Sports Racing should sign on as a sponsor and bring a race car and their 20b 3rd gen to the event. Might even get them to hold a workshop on tuning a 20b since that is what they've been doing with theirs for the last year. I know every rotary owner has interest in the 20b engine and last year your VP and several others were in process of doing a 20b upgrade. Might test the waters and see if there is enough interest to have a signup for a Friday afternoon 20b workshop underwritten by RSR or another rotary shop.

I'll get Johny to checkout Malloy Mazda in Virginia to see what interest they'll have in joining the Deals Gap Rotary Rally '06 as a sponsor. They would be a big plus, and again the area we draw from is their market. If you have a sponsorship recruiting packet or information please email me the info and I'll see what I can do with Rotor Sports and help Johny with Malloy. Some of the Florida guys should have some success with bringing in some of the Florida rotary shops. How about inviting some of the driving schools to show up with their information and promote their schools since us 7 owners spend big time bucks on these driver training events. I know they usually have waiting lists for their schools but it can't hurt to have some face time with your potential customers and be mentioned in RX Tuner.

That brings up another idea, can we invite Ryan Scott and a writer down to cover the event as a Southeast regional event, they could use the event to sign up more subscribers, solicit contributions such as articles and photos from everyone, and have copies of the most recent RXTuner mag to handout. I know the RRDI as a couple of people with journalistic dreams and a couple of poets amongst us and with a little incentive would be worthy contributors to the magazine.

Thanks for starting the planning and getting everyone thinking about the next Tail of the Dragon run.

 

I'm not qualified to give any seminar or anything but I'm definitely up for talking '20B shop' with any interested parties. The 10AE will be there again at the next event!

But...but...if you invite Ryan and a writer, how am I supposed to do the writeup again? J/K

Reese

 

Everyone, I greatly appreciate your offer to help out with this event.

Last year, I had some free time at work to make phone calls, post info on different forums, etc.. This year however, my work load has doubled and can't really spend time on the internet or make phone calls during the day (except now, I'm not feeling so well and at home at the moment).

Through my experience, I need the following done.

1. Getting sponsors - I've spent great amounts of time on the phone and emailing sponsors. But I think best way get sponsorship is to acturally go see them and tell them about the event.
What I ask of the sponsors are. Cash donation to pay for materials used on the event, ie wrist bracelets, name tags, drinks, giveaways, signs, brochures, etc.. (I asked $100-300).

2. I need someone to call and work with the local restaurants and law enforcements.
This coming year, I would like to get the law enforcements from TN side to give us a short talk. Bert did an awesome job by getting Robinsville PD to come out and telling us about the Gap. Sweetwater BBQ did an awesome job providing tons of great food for reasonable price!

3. Clean up crew!! Last year it was pretty much me and SPO cleaning up the picnic area. Hence I didnt get to see the 60+ 7s going down the Gap.

4. People needs to buy Killboy's pics!! I really appreciated Killboy and Darrel coming out and documenting the event. I'm going to ask Killboy to take our group picture next year and hopefully people will buy them from him. We need to help out those who help us.

5. Advertising.. I need someone to goto different forums to advertise the event. And also calling the major import magazine if they are interested in covering.

6. Everyone needs to make sure your car's running well before making this trip.

Please let me know if some of you are willing to volunteer for things I've mentioned above.

Thanks again.. and hope we have a great event next year..

OH, I'll take care of the shirts, couple of sponsors, and lodging.

 

phil im willing to help out. i just posted the info on myspace's rx7club.
are we going to have a meeting to organize who is doing what? that way 6 different people dont call the same sponsors asking for support. i would think killboy would be best to talk to local law enforcement and area bussinesses. and ill probabally buy a picture this year if i get my new -se painted in time for the event.

if chad isnt able to bring his truck and trailer again this year(or if we might need an extra) ive got a truck and trailer i can possibly bring. and of course ill bring tools this year again incase anybody needs them(hopefully they wont)

 

I will be there in my car this time.

The name tags are a great idea. Would it be possible to get a lighter color shirt? I could not wear the shirt this year because I was sweating like crazy even in a light blue shirt lol.

Also something to think about is having a few people show people where the meet is. Alot of us got turned around and had to find someone to show us the way. I almost gave up and went home.

 

i have no problem with the black shirts but i know a few people dont want black shirts, either too hot or they already have too many black shirts. maybe this year (if its not too expensive)we can have an option on shirt color?

 

My (rotary) car better make it this time. I still had a blast last year anyway. I agree, name tags would be good, and maybe just some signs pointing people to the dam (or where ever we meet this time) for those who get lost easily *ahem* ^^^

 

yeah i got lost last time also, only because i was following a group that said they knew where they were going

 

That's hilarious.. I just pm Johny about getting some signs made for directions..

I totally understand. That was my fault. We didn't decide on the spot until that morning. Sorry guys! And I didn't know about the bottom of the dam.

We'll have much better directions printed for next year. And leave them at the front desk of Fontana Village.

Also, I was thinking either Red or White shirts. I'm thinking white??

Anyhow, I need to know if any of you have an access to a laser color printer at work that you could use for FREE??

 

I agree..
Let me know who's wanting to call which sponsor and we'll arrange a time when we could get on the AIM and chat.

I'll call BNR, Rotary Extreme, RX7store, HInson Super cars, Trussville Mazda, and Gotham. I know them pretty well and hopefully they will sponsor..

I've talked to Rotorsport last year and they were very interested in sole sponsor.. But never pan'd out. So, someone please ask them if they would sponsor the event.

Florida guys, I know there are few top notch shops down there... please someone ask them.

Also, ask your local Mazda Dealerships.

Once again, All the money will be spent on food, drinks, batteries, signs, t-shirts, gas giveaways, awards, etc, etc..

Unlike any other events around the country, I want this to be a completely FREE event where we, the ROTORHEADS put it together.

 

Oh, also, we need someone to design a website for this event..

 

I think pretty much everyone agrees with you on that one.

 

Hmm, I wanted to go last year and ended up being way too busy.

I'll put myself on the maybe list. It's just too tough to tell. Today is the most time I've spent on the forum since the fall semester started. I've been way too busy with school, work, and Formula SAE.

 

You could always drive the old valve knock again Yeah our group got lost lol.

 

Phil, whatever you need from me just let me know. I think we should use the article that was just print'd in RX Tuner as a selling point to any new sponsors we try to attain. Also let's try and get some of our Louisiana Rotorheads up next year, you know to show our support for what they have had to deal with this year.

 

I plan to attend again...I was pleasantly surprised at how many cars showed last spring. I agree that the shirt color should be different. One thing about an early date is that the trees are still bare, so you can see farther ahead on the roads.

 

i will definetely be there, hopefully with the GTUs painted, and coolant seal permitting... i think that there will be a much larger turnout with how sucessful it was last year.. I know i'll be making at least 4 more Rx7s from my area make the trip... if we can get a date soon enough even garfinkle may be able to come this time...

 

I can do the web site as long as you can wait for my computer to get back. It's back at gateway for the 4th time now... Hopefully it'll work this time!

 

This is going great. I'll step up and commit to working with the local law enforecment orgs to get them more involved in events. Tried last year to get the Tennessee side involved but since we were holding the events at Fontana Dam in North Carolina they declined to cross state lines, not their juristiction. The Blount Co. sheriff's office declined also because they said they didn't patrol the Tail of the Dragon, that was done by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Well, I don't remember seeing a THP trooper the whole weekend but did see several Blount Co. Deputy Sheriffs on US 129, even saw the motorcycle patrol at the overlook on Sunday morning. I will extend invitations to all LEOs and I'm sure the Graham County Sheriff will offer assistance as well as Trooper Sama with the NC Highway Patrol. Might even get NCHP to show off one of their high speed response vehicles. I think it might help from the Tennesse side if a resident of Tennessee and Blount County invited the Sheriff's Office to participate and the Tennessee HP. In fact we have a Bount County resident in the RRDI come to think of it, I'll ask Jason to make some contacts, being a US Marine, those guys couldn't refuse a request from one of their own serving his country. We'll handle the Law Enforcement participation.

We have several members of the RRDI who have done business with Rotor Sports Racing in the past year and I think we can work with Bryan and Rusty to find out what they want and get them to join the Deals Gap Rotary Rally '06. Please give me some feedback on the 20b workshop on Friday evening? Would there be an indoor location, maybe the Texaco Station in Fontana Village, to have an information, tuning and FAQ session by Rotor Sports?

Also, we need to have a few people arrive on Thursday afternoon to ba available on Friday to help people get oriented and have handouts available for people as they arrive. Signs are a great idea to get people to the various events once they get to the Village. The signs need to be up first thing Friday morning so another task for the advance party. When you get the DGRR'06 logo done we can use it for the signs and I can vouch for Johny's sign man, does an excellent job.

Bert

 

If you need a place to host the web site, Ive got 20 MB of webspace on a good server that I dont use.

 

Bert,

I greatly appreciate RRDI's help. I think next year will go alot smoother than this past event. I'm also hearing better response than before. I've been talking to a guy in CO and he's very interested in coming. Maybe we'll have 100+ cars. That would be just amazing sight.

We also need few volunteers to capture the moments. Videos and pics. I'll contact Killboy and see if he could capture it for us thru photos and hope someone's significant other could capture us on video. 100+ rotaries rolling thru the gap would be an amazing!

Thanks for the offer. I think we might need bigger than 20mb. I would like to host some videos and such.

 

Sorry Reese, didn't mean to step on your toes. great write up in RXT and thanks for doing that. The plan was to invite 'em, get them all excited about what was going on then steal their laptops and digital cameras on Sunday. They'll be so excited about the rally that they'll pay anything and do just about any deal to get some decent photos and a good article on the DGRR'06. Guess who has an article already written and who has some excellent pics of the whole event? At least it has worked before!