MOCC President's Message

President’s Message for July 2022

Greetings to All!

It has been 9 months since the last “Message from the President,” was posted to this site. This entry represents a 9-month improvement over the previous span between letters (18 months)! But seriously, folks…once again, much has happened since early October of last year; some good, some challenging, and some bittersweet. Although we may never get back to what we had previously considered normal, we are definitely back to having open events, enjoying friendly and respectful competition, providing for our charities, and enjoying something that brought us all together in the first place - our Corvettes! They are truly machines that take us to a special place in a way that very few things on earth can do.

This letter is about how we closed 2021 and how we started 2022. Apparently around the time frame that the previous letter was developed, our (my) mother passed away. She was an amazing 101 years old at the time. She had a full and interesting life, having lived through the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the assassination of JFK, the Vietnam War, the first oil crisis, the Blizzard of ’78, a broken back and other health issues, 911, the loss of her husband, a move from Ohio to Florida, the Great Recession, and several other events. Always a smile…and always thanking the Dear Lord for all of her blessings! But her passing occurred at a time when we were closing out the season with a couple of events in which I had hoped to participate – the last Autocross of the year, and Track X IV - a trip to the National Corvette Museum (NCM) road course for two exciting track days (an event in which I had participated on each previous occasion). I had to miss them both, but Mothers are more important! I was fortunate enough to be able to secure funeral arrangements in our previous hometown (Marion, OH), have the honor to write the obituary and also be able to write and present the eulogy at her funeral. Bittersweet.

By all accounts, the last Autocross of 2021 and Track X IV were successful events enjoyed by all who attended. As always, and to my knowledge, both events were conducted under safe and supervised conditions, drivers competed to their level of capability, and there were no calamities – just fun. The Chili Cook-off was well attended, the Amish Door was a great venue, and to my knowledge, all had a great time. Our Corvette year ended with the annual Christmas Party. For 2021, the event was held at the Corkscrew Restaurant in Medina, OH. We had a separate room with a buffet-style dinner and cash bar. For those who wished to attend the Governor’s meeting, which was held at the Galaxy in Wadsworth the following morning, a block of rooms at the Comfort Inn and Suites was held, and those who stayed got shuttled from the hotel in Wadsworth to the Corkscrew and back. As usual, it was a wonderful event that I believe was enjoyed by all. Thanks to the members of MOCC who made all of those arrangements, and our fun evening possible. Good time!

Once again, Kim and I went south for the winter. Not much Corvette fun in Ohio during that time, but Florida…that’s another story. While in Florida this year, we were able to acquire a low mileage C7 Z51 convertible. While we were there, we learned that other club members had done the same. Mary & Bob Moomaw, and Regi & Terry Muich also found and purchased C7’s over the winter. Since the last letter, 3 C7’s were added to our club. And of course, they are all beautiful. Then we got the joy of driving ours back from Florida! Since we drove down in the first place, we now had two cars to drive back! Fun, but…challenging!

Kim & Holley’s new acquisition

Mary & Bob’s new acquisition

Regi & Terry’s new acquisition

Upon our return, we began preparation for another wonderful Corvette season. This year started with car shows at Progressive Chevrolet in Massillon, and Sunnyside Chevrolet in Elyria. Both events included precipitation…challenging! These events were followed by a full Memorial Day Weekend (3 days) of Autocross competition at Lorain County speedway. The Autocross turned out to be a great event with beautiful weather and lots of participants, with everyone getting back into running on a track. There might have been a spin out or two, but no serious damage and good responses by all on the scene to correct any issues. The Autocross weekend was followed by the annual Beef ‘O Brady’s show in Talmadge. Fun and challenging, with sprinkles!

At the low-speed auto-cross in Lorain County Speedway – Memorial Day

Joyce & Dennis Labbato’s (Corvette Cleveland) nice ’58 at the Beef O’ Brady’s car show

It was not long after the Memorial Day weekend that severe storms struck our region. The property of our Vice President and Secretary (Jim & Darlene Morrison) was hit with extreme straight-line winds that downed several trees and flattened the garage in which their Corvette was stored. I believe this occurred around the time of National Convention. Their Corvette was ultimately ruled a total loss due to the storm damages. Jim & Darlene have since been able to acquire a replacement – a beautiful, black-on-gray 2008 coupe!

Darlene & Jim’s new acquisition

This year, the National Corvette Convention was held in Atlantic City, NJ. While I am sure many would have liked to attend, only a limited number of our regional members actually were able to attend. Two of those attendees were our own Dan Gallagher (MOCC Governor) and his brother Jim. As it turned out, MOCC earned 12th place in the nation for NCCC Corvette clubs in 2021, truly an honor for a smaller, upstart club like ours. Dan was there to receive our award for 12th place! Thanks, Dan!

After convention, there were a couple of car shows; “Corvettes at the Museum,” a beautiful show near Port Clinton at the Liberty Air Museum, and the Peoples’ Choice Show at Greenwood Chevrolet in Austintown, then another holiday Autocross event, again at Lorain County Speedway. Once again, the weather was beautiful for auto-crossing. All events were carried out safely and all had a great time! After the Autocross event, MOCC partnered with Lehman’s Hardware to put on an unsanctioned car show followed by a sanctioned poker run rally to the White Timbers Winery in Wadsworth. Under the circumstances, I believe that, along with a good turnout at our sanctioned low-speed Autocross over the Fourth of July weekend, the combination car show / rally was another great way to help our budget as we began preparing for our big event of the year – the Christian Children’s Home of Ohio Car Show, this year to be held on August 13th. It will be the 13th year that we have partnered with CCHO to put on this event. Good times! Maybe a little challenging...

Three convertibles after the rally

This year, our CCHO event will begin at the Mission Thrift parking lot on the corner of State RT 585 and Portage Road in Wooster, OH. We have worked with Mission Thrift since early this year to make this a successful event. Mission Thrift is a big supporter of CCHO and is willing to provide their parking lot as the starting point for our day. Along with Lerch’s Donuts and Better Life Coffee, Mission Thrift is planning to provide all the support we need to get our CCHO Benefit Morning rolling! We expect to meet at Mission Thrift between 9:00 am and 10:00 am on Saturday the 13th, get our fellow Corvette enthusiasts registered (if not by online), have Better Life Coffee and Lerch’s Donuts available for the continental breakfast, and then get the Corvettes out on a caravan through the countryside by 11:00 am. We are working with the Wooster Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol to provide traffic control for our departure and caravan to CCHO. We will also have an alternate route for those who do not wish to participate in the caravan. Please be aware of construction in the area…this year there seems to be a lot of it. We have purposely mapped the caravan to avoid road construction and provide an easy, scenic route through the countryside of Wayne County that is a relatively simple path back to the Children’s Home.

Once at CCHO, we will have our car show in which the kids are the judges, music by Tim the DJ, our annual Chinese basket auction, our grilled chicken and hot dog lunch with all the sides, plenty of refreshments, Sneakers the Clown, the Kid’s Corvette rides, and the unofficial burn out competition. I think it is safe to say that last year Dan won! We hope to see you all at CCHO! Always a good time!

Of course, there will be more events throughout the remainder of year in our region, with car shows, rallies, and at least one more low speed event. I believe the Chili Cook-Off may morph into a pot-luck this year. The venue, timing and other circumstances of this event are still in the planning stages. And this year, we hope to have our Christmas Party at the Holiday Inn – Belden Village in Canton, Oh. The reservation is in place for a buffet-style dinner and cash bar to be held December 3rd (Saturday). We expect to have a block of rooms available at reduced rates for those who wish to stay the evening after the party.

I hope that this gets everyone up to date on some of the great activities our great club has to offer! Hopefully, you can see what it means to belong to a club in which we are dedicated to our charities, our events and most of all each other. I hope you will join us in the celebration of the greatest sports car in the world, the Chevrolet Corvette!

Holley Baker – President / MOCC