1989 COUGAR NATIONAL WRAP UP

It was just great to watch all of the Cougars pull into the Holiday Inn parking lot, in all we had 84 Cougars Registered for the show 3 no-shows for a total of 81 Cougars available for judging. This I believe to be the largest gathering of Cats for a national meet in our short history. In addition there were 7 Cats that I personally know of on display from people involved in the show.

Many thanks again to Brett Irick for his help in arranging the tour of the Lorain Assembly Plant. We filled our allotment of 100 persons for the tour and Ford graciously allowed a few extra. The tour was something to see for anyone interested in how they put an automobile together. We saw 1989 Cougars go from robot spot welded stamping to completed assemblies being driven off the final assembly line. It was quite an education to see a modern interrogated assembly line in action.

After we disembarked the busses from the plant tour, we had good attendance at the pool party, it was the first time we had to really get to reminisce with some of our old acquaintances, and a great time to meet new ones. The Holiday Inn was persuaded to keep the pool and pool bar open for a while for our Clubs enjoyment and relaxation.

Cleaning up of the cars over the weekend was made easier by with hoses and rags at the wash area provided by the Holiday Inn.

We had to forgo Our original show site because of wet grounds, the alternative show site at the Holiday Inn was very amicable with the hotel providing a banquet room on the ground floor for these wishing for a respite from the heat.

The judging went smoothly thanks to Jim Rakowsky and his crew of judges who withstood the heat of the hottest day of the year thus far. The results follow the wrap up.

The awards banquet was the icing on the cake with Walter Rowe presenting a dazzling slide show of our show prior to the awards presentation, and a slide show of the award winning entries as the trophies were presented. If anyone is interested in having him do a portrait of their car during the 1990 Nationals please contact me and I will see if it can be arranged.

We had good attendance Sunday at the pick-a-part as we devoured the three Cougars we set aside for picking. The star of the pick-a-part was undoubtedly Robert Wilmsen of Goshen Indiana who was still going strong as the rest of us were passing by the wayside in the intolerable heat. With little help from the adults in attendance he crushed one of those nasty G.M. products.

Many, many, many thanks to the following persons, without their help this show would not have been possible:

Brett Irick; arranged the tour of FoMoCo Lorain.
Jim Rakowsky; Chief Judge
Willie Harris; donated the use of two tour busses for the tour of Lorain Assembly.
Larry Schank; donated all of the labor to make those beautiful trophies.
Walter & Susan Rowe; donated the ingenuity and labor for the awesome slide show at the banquet.

Holiday Inn Elyria-Lorain; these people bent over backwards to do all in their power to make our show a success, and make us feel welcome and to show that they appreciated our business.

Diane & I wish to thank everyone who attended the show, for making this one of the most enjoyable weekends for us.

We hope to see everyone next year at the 1990 Nationals.

Sincerely,
Dave & Diane Lawson

1989 COUGAR NATIONAL RESULTS

BEST OF SHOW 1969 2dr ht. Andy & Marie Dargie

CLASS # 1 1967 2dr. ht.
1st Ron & Stephanie Chislow
2nd George Gehrke
3rd Raymond Fry

CLASS # 2 1967 GT
1st Brett Irick
2nd Steve Mitchell
3rd Barb Dill

CLASS # 3 1969 2dr ht.
1st Irvin & Joyce Toms
2nd Dan Smith
3rd David Finatri

CLASS # 4 1968 G, GT, GTE
1st George Huisman
2nd Virgil R. Brown
3rd Elmer J. Ottney

CLASS # 5 1969 2dr ht.
1st Mark Dill
2nd Robert E. Klacza
3rd Carl Wilmsen

CLASS # 6 1969 Convertible
1st Raymond L May
2nd Earl Gatewood
Jrd Ted & Barb Cragulets

CLASS # 7 1969 Eliminator
1st Ed Lipski
2nd Roger Kerkman

CLASS # 8 1970 2dr ht.
1st Fred Riedel
2nd Mike Kerekanich

CLASS # 9 1970 Convertible
1st Randy Feuillerat
2nd Becky Besecker
3rd Lowell Gibson

CLASS # 10 1970 Eliminator
1st Bill & Arlene Quay
2nd Mike Beseker

CLASS # 11 1971-73 2dr ht.
1st Barbara Jean Bowsher
2nd Bob Follette
3rd Jeff Lajiness

CLASS # 12 1971-73 Convertible
1st Al Hopf Jr.
2nd Victor Debono
3rd David J. Clark

CLASS # 14 1974-76
1st Scott Jaenke

CLASS # 15 1977-79
1st Judy Burnworth
2nd Kurt F. Boey

CLASS # 16 1980-Present
1st David Finatri

Class # 17 Street Driven
1st William E. Madaras
2nd Pam Gehrke
3rd Richard Quay

CLASS # 18 Modified
1st Jim Cook
2nd Brien Helm
3rd Carl Jaegers

CLASS # 19 Cougar Miniatures (3-15)
1st Chris Meyer
2nd Robert Wilmsen
3rd Justin Lawson

CLASS # 20 Cougar Miniatures (16-Senile)
1st David Clark
2nd Gary Kohlmier
3rd Carl Wilmsen

The results of the survey taken at the show are on the following page, although we can't say they portray the feelings of the whole club, we feel that they accurately reflect those that were present at the show.

Results from Survey

5 pts for 1st, 4 pts for 2nd, 3pts for 3rd, 2pts for 4th, 1pt for 5th, add up to the following totals.

34 pts To get a trophy
78 pts To meet new people
119 pts To see other people's cars
88 pts To show off my car
37 pts To go through an assembly plant
24 pts To get away from it all
49 pts To get information on current restoration
3 pts Local attractions
10 pts Other (please explain) buyparts, show models, 1st show

3 pts for 1st, 2 pts for 2nd, 1 pt for 3rd choice, add up to the following.

14 pts Strict adherence to Concourse Judging rules
35 pts Modified Concourse Judging rules (to speed up judging)
46 pts Concourse Judging with Peoples Choice for Modified and Street Driven cars.
62 pts Modified Concourse Judging with Peoples Choice for Modified and Street Driven cars. (this show)
16 pts Peoples Choice for all classes.

Please check the line that best describes your feelings to accepting 1974-1979 Cougars into the club with all privileges.

TOTAL OF VOTES CAST

7 votes Over my dead body !
3 votes If we must.
2 votes Who cares.
10 votes Sounds OK to me.
10 votes For sure, more people, more fun!