Its 10 a.m. in the morning, Thursday March 21st, 2002. I’m sitting in a taxi on my way to the Montreal International airport to catch a 12:30 flight to Kansas City, Missouri. Of course, I’m not really sure just WHERE Kansas City is, but I have managed to figure out by this time that it is definitely not in Kansas. They call it “the heart of America”, so I figure its somewhere in the middle, perhaps a few hundred miles to the east of the right armpit. Of course, my flight is not a direct flight, but I have chosen to change planes in Detroit, leaving myself a whopping 25 minutes to make the connection. What the heck, I can run fast. Northwest Airlines supplies a lovely re-conditioned DC-9 stretch for the trip, and we lose 15 minutes in Montreal de-icing the plane before take-off. Fortunately, I have a copy of Burt Levy’s excellent book on 1950’s sports car racing with me “Montezuma’s Ferrari”. It helps keep my mind off my grumbling stomach which is not satisfied with the teeny-weeny bag of pretzels and glass of Pepsi I get on the plane (mental note: eat lunch before boarding next time).

I make it to Detroit airport with 12 minutes to spare, dash off my plane and walk briskly four gates to the right. Just in time as the last people are boarding and the plane is ready to go. Well, almost ready to go …. We sit on the tarmac for 30 minutes while they explain over the loudspeakers that we have no toilets and no outside lights on the plane. After they try unsuccessfully to fix it we are asked to leave the plane and go back into the terminal. One hour later all is well and we board the plane again (must be the Lucas electrics…). I arrive in Kansas City at 6 p.m. local time (after turning my watch back one hour) and head out to find the “shuttle” which will take me to my hotel. Unfortunately there is no shuttle for another half-hour, and it stops at several other hotels along the way. Since I’m already late for dinner and I haven’t eaten since breakfast I decide to pay for a cab ride to the hotel. Forty minutes later I’m checking in and the first person I see is Judy Ferring (VP and Northeast director). She informs me that a group is leaving the hotel in 10 minutes to go out for dinner. So I throw my suit bag into my room and head back downstairs. The restaurant turns out to be a swanky seafood place that is a five minute drive away, but its 25 degrees out with strong winds and nobody wants to walk. So I cram into the middle spot in the back seat of Lisa Hendrix’ S-type along with Brock McPherson, Nelson Rath and Barbara McPherson.

The restaurant is packed but we manage to get a big round table that seats 6 people and maybe 8 in a pinch. Of course, I’m the ninth person. But we manage to squeeze in and I get to meet some of the “legends” in JCNA history: the aforementioned Brock and Barbara McPherson, Nelson Rath, Journal editor Mike Cook, and JCNA secretary Dick Howe. More than once over the course of the weekend people mentioned Dick’s age to me; I refuse to believe it however, because there is just no way I’m going to be as sharp as he is at half his age!

After a great meal we are back to the hotel (a very nice hotel, by the way) and I swing by the bar to see if any JCNA’ers are hiding out in there. I get lucky and meet the legendary Jerry Parkhill and Barbara Grayson, along with some very nice west coast people like Doug Carr and his lovely wife. One thing I notice right away is how friendly people are. Even though I’m new to the scene I’m made to feel right at home and people are more than happy to answer questions and offer advice. Who says JCNA is not a “user-friendly” organization?! Most people retire early in anticipation of an early start in the morning so I’m left all by my lonesome. I turn in around midnight and unpack my bag.

The next morning I’m up at 6:00 and downstairs at 6:30, looking for early birds. Of course, the first person I see is none other than Dick Howe, setting up his recording equipment in preparation for the board meeting. One by one the board members and directors trickle in: Gary Hagopian, Dick Cavicke from California, Dick Deibel from South Carolina, Peter Najdzin (Jaguar Cars representative), Doug Carr from Vancouver, Steve Averill from Seattle, Dennis Eynon from Arizona, Mike Ksiazek from Illinois, Brock and Barbara from Kansas, Lisa from Missouri, Judy from New Jersey, new guys Phil Wert from Indiana and Jerry Wise from Florida, and yours truly. I get lucky and I’m sitting between Gary and Dick Deibel. Now, sitting next to Dick Deibel is kind of like sitting next to your best buddy back in grade school. We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs; I half-expected him to tie my shoelaces together or fire a spitball across the room. 

Gary ran a controlled and well paced meeting. The time flew by and we were able to finish by 2:30 so that we could catch the tour bus heading out to the car museum. I’d heard a lot about how these board meetings could either drag on incessantly or get bogged down in mind numbing detail but I have to admit that everybody was friendly and super polite. We discussed the topics that needed to be discussed and engaged in logical and respectful debate. I did learn one thing though: if you want to propose any sort of major initiative, make sure it gets added to the agenda early in the morning when everyone is fresh. If your topic hits the floor near the end of the meeting when everyone is looking at their watch and nursing their sore back it stands a good chance of being “tabled” until the next meeting. Good old Dick Cavicke was the “tabled” victim this time.

We dashed downstairs just in time to jump on the tour bus with the assembled club delegates and headed for a local car museum. Somebody did a great job organizing the event because not one empty seat was left on the bus. After cruising through some very scenic areas of Kansas City we got out into the countryside and soon pulled up in front of a large, non-descript looking industrial building. Once everyone was piled inside it was obvious this was no ordinary warehouse. It was immaculate inside, with dozens and dozens of beautifully restored cars filling every corner of the first floor and basement. We got to see Ferraris, Corvettes, MGs and Studebakers; lots and lots of Studebakers! It was here that I got to meet quite a few of the delegates from clubs across the country: Carl Hanson and Harry Parkinson from JANE, Harold Kritzman and his wife from JCSNE, John Testrake from St. Louis (who, believe it or not, looked to be the same age as me) and many, many more.  Once again, I could not help but be impressed by how friendly everybody was; people from every corner of the continent were getting together to have some fun and share some good times. This IS what it’s all about!

The bus driver kindly offered to take spouses or other people who had their fill of old cars down the street to a factory outlet candy store to do a little shopping. I wasn’t there to witness the excitement but apparently they ran into a little case of road rage with a not-too-friendly pickup truck driver who took felt it was his God given right to cut off buses whenever he felt like it. Fortunately, no shots were fired!

After the museum visit we were back in the bus again for a short ride to an excellent local restaurant. When I asked some of our hosts what was on the menu they replied “if it goes moo or oink these guys throw it on the Barbecue”. And that was exactly what we enjoyed for dinner. Lots of ice cold beer and burnt pieces of stuff that used to stroll around the barnyard. Delicious! Back on the bus and back to the hotel again. This time a big gang of us hit the bar and stay planted there for a long time, just tipping back a few cold ones and sharing stories of the Jaguars that got away. Once again I seemed to be the last guy standing along with Steve Averill and Art Dickenson, so I retired to my room around 12:30 and caught a few winks in preparation for the AGM the next morning (after watching “Dances with Wolves” on the late show, of course…..).

Alarm set for 6:00 a.m. and I’m down in the basement ballroom at 6:45. However, other than the waiters setting up the tables, there is nobody around. So I head back up to the bar and find Phil Wert enjoying a coffee and the morning paper. Given that he is another “newbie” on the board we trade impressions of our first day. I also hook up with the “Eveready bunny” of JCNA: Judy Ferring, who is up early to make photocopies for the meeting. We all head back downstairs and enjoy the spectacle as a U-shaped table about as long as a football field slowly fills up with delegates from JCNA affiliates located all over North America. Over near the end we see Bob Stevenson from Michigan, one of the most knowledgeable judges in all of JCNA; sitting near him is Art Dickenson, head of the slalom program, one look at him and you know you don’t want to be sitting in the passenger seat when he’s driving;  across the way we see Bill Steitenberger of Los Angeles, practically a legend in JCNA circles; everywhere you look there seems to be another fascinating person who you just know could hold your attention for hours of conversation.

Gary welcomes the gang and we get right down to business. We all follow along as reports are read, proposals are put forward and motions are debated. The meeting moves along smoothly and time passes quickly. Suddenly it is time to pass out the ballots in order to elect the executive committee for 2002. We take a few minutes in order to allow the candidates for vice-president and secretary to say a few words. I’m running against Barbara McPherson, a person of great integrity with tons of experience; she’s forgotten more about JCNA than I’ve learned! Steve Averill doesn’t have it much easier in his bid to be elected secretary; he’s running against Dick Howe, a legend in JCNA circles who was probably entering cars in club events before Steve and I were born. I really didn’t prepare any sort of speech so I just stand up and mumble something about “willingness to work hard” and try not to make a fool out of myself.

The delegates get to vote on some pretty important issues: the Jaguar Journal is set to expand to 48 pages, dues are to be increased by $3, and so on. There is a motion from the floor to suspend the method of calculating National Concours winners until a better method of standardizing judging can be developed. The motion is defeated but we were left with the distinct impression that there will be more action on this topic in future meetings. The results of the vote are announced and there are some surprises: Steve Averill is the new JCNA secretary and yours truly (Daniel Thompson) is the new vice president. A few jokes go around about how AARP may sue the JCNA delegates for discrimination (I don’t write the jokes folks….). I decide not to share with well-wishers my secret weapon for winning elections (never let them see you without a tie on). The meeting is adjourned right on time and we hardy have time to make a pit-stop before we’re into a breakout room for a seminar on paint finishes. Right after that is over we have a seminar on judging with Dick Cavicke and Bob Stevenson. With those two guys in the room the average knowledge level goes sky high. Bob presents his newly written judging guide for the E-type and it’s a cracker. Finally we have a document that can be used by beginner or experienced judge alike to help with accurate and fair judging. With the future of JCNA concours competition in the hands of competent people like Dick, Bob and their judging committee we can’t help but be optimistic.

A quick 20 minute break between the seminars and the cocktail reception up on the rooftop bar is just enough time for most delegates to change into formal attire. Since I’m already wearing a tie I head right on up and order a few drinks. Here I am overjoyed to meet more “legends” in JCNA history such as Jack Stamp from Kansas. I quite literally can remember staring at pictures of his XK140 in books as a pimply faced teenager. It was great to see him in top shape and still with the fires of enthusiasm burning. I also met and sat next to Jeff Snyder, president of the Jaguar Club of Austin (Texas) and owner of his own restoration shop which has produced several JCNA national championship winning cars. Dinner was delicious and we quickly moved to the awards and entertainment part of the evening. Kurt Rappold of Philadelphia did a great job handing out the silverware to deserving winners. It was good to see Brock McPherson receive the Andrew Whyte award for outstanding service to the club and to the hobby. Judy Ferring gave out the newsletter awards (somebody in St. Louis is doing a great job!) and I got to give out the website awards on behalf of Pascal Gademer. Following all this we had some outstanding entertainment in the form of some lyrics written exclusively for Jaguar lovers and sung for us by a friend of our hosts. Finally we enjoyed music and dancing to a live band and a great blues/jazz singer. The highlight of the evening had to be the sight of Dick Howe, who got up front and shared the microphone for a few bars of some classic blues tunes. You had to be there!

The next morning up early again to join some folks in the restaurant for a nice breakfast. We bid each other farewell and safe voyage after a fun-filled and fascinating weekend that went by way too fast. Personally I think I could have spent about a month talking and listening to all these Jaguar enthusiasts. As it was I headed for the airport around 11:00 a.m. and enjoyed a trouble free flight back. I was sitting at my own kitchen table enjoying dinner with my family at 7 p.m. Sunday evening.

The whole weekend cost me less than $1,000 USD. Was it worth it? You bet! Would I do it again? I can’t wait for the next one in Charlotte, NC!!

Many thanks to our hosts, Barry Greenstein and the Heart of America Jaguar Club. You have a lovely city and a great bunch of people in your club. Many thanks to all the directors and delegates who were so friendly and helpful. We’ve got a great club, let’s use it!

Daniel Thompson
JOA-Montreal
Ottawa Jaguar Club
Regional Director, Northeast
Vice president, JCNA
Concours rule book editor

Posted 3/28/2002

[HOME] [MEMBERS] [CALENDAR] [LIBRARY] [STANDINGS] [CLUBS] [CLASSIFIEDS] [FORUMS] [ABOUT] [CONTACT US] [JOURNAL]