TRI-STATE 2004 - CRIPPLE CREEK, COLORADO Updated 17-Jun-2014 ==== Copyright (c) 2014 Corvairs of New Mexico ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TRI-STATE 2004 - CRIPPLE CREEK, COLORADO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Submitted by Jon Anderson Our Tri-State Events are always a great time to renew friendships as well as to meet new faces that we had not seen before. I always like to see the large amount of Corvairs gathered in one place. This year's event in the old mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado was another success story. There seemed to be a good turnout of convertibles this year along with some rides that I had not seen before. There were thirty-two cars, a Rampside and a Greenbrier on display. The cars all lined up and after a very short parade (the lineup was the parade, I suppose) parked on the town's main drag from 9 AM to 1 PM. There was plenty of opportunity for club members and passers-by to inspect the cars. We had six chapters represented at this year's Tri-State: Corvairs of New Mexico, Rocky Mountain Corsa, Pikes Peak Corvair Club, CORSA Northwest, San Diego Corvair Club and HACOA (Heart of America Corvair Owners Association). Attendance: CNM - 13 RMC - 34 PPCC - 42 Pikes Peak Corvair Club won the traveling trophy this year with 42 members showing. Members of P.P.C.C. were justifiably pleased with our turnout! We had 92 total attending the banquet on Saturday night - ninety-one adults and one child. The food was very good and there were quite a few positive comments about the banquet. A buffet was offered for the evening so I believe everyone had plenty to eat. Debbie and Dennis Pleau were the master of ceremonies for the evening. They did a great job in handling this year's Tri-State. A lot of door prizes were given away during the banquet. "A few" awards were given away during the evening. HACOA won the "Long Distance award" with a member who drove a 1962 Spyder coupe over 900 miles to attend the event. The "hard luck award" almost didn't happen because no one had any major problems. In fact, we did not find out who got the award or what it was for. Maybe we can get this information later. I saw were a couple of hard starting cars (no doubt due to lack of oxygen at Cripple Creek's 9,400 foot elevation) and some misplaced keys. These problems were overcome and all attended the show. The car show drew a pretty good response from the locals. There seemed to be a lot of interest in the Corvairs. The weather cooperated splendidly. Listed below are some of the results from the car show: Early Open - Laura Wilshire with her 1964 Spyder Convertible. Early Closed - (we had a Tie in the category) - Mike Wiltrout with his blue 1963 140 coupe - Ben Benzel with his 1964 Sky blue daily driver coupe 110 p.g. Late Open - Bud Edwards with his 1965 Corsa convertible 140. Late losed - George Leyner with his Maroon 1966 Corsa Turbo coupe. F.C Class - Jim Rushton with his 1963 Rampside. (We did not have any wagons this year for that class.) Best of show went to Larry Yoder with his "Modified" 1966 Corsa coupe. On behalf of Corvairs of New Mexico, Jim Pittman and Dennis Pleau presented this year's Francis Boydston Award to Ben Benzel of P.P.C.C. Ben was very grateful for receiving this award. With some help from Steve Goodman for dates and statistics, Jim summarized the history of the Tri-State Events from 1976 to the present. Driving to Cripple Creek provided us with spectacular mountain scenery and lots of 1896 architecture to look at. Some of us went down into a gold mine while others drove to Victor and its overlook where we could look down as monster trucks hauling ore. A narrow-gauge railroad made trips to Victor to provide us with even more scenery. There were quite a few places to visit during the event. If gambling was not your thing, there were always shopping, museums, train rides and even a tour of a real gold mine. As usual with the casinos, there is always a lot of food to eat at reasonable prices! I hope everyone who attended had as great a time as we did. I did miss seeing a few from CNM whose company I enjoy every year. I hope to see everyone at the Tri-State for 2005, to be held in Ouray, Colorado on May 20, 21 and 22. Mark it on your calendars!