The Midwest Gathering
Cleveland Ohio
The first day rolling in at around 5 pm there were a couple people already present.
Bob Witmer and Rob Schoen with his GF Elizabeth Joseph. Most of the others
rolled in fairly soon thereafter. Meeting and greeting of old and new friends ensued
and it was hard to discern which were old friends and which were new for all the
conversation over the months made all seem like old friends. Following are photos
from the first meeting place. The Colonial Inn in Norwalk Ohio. Not the finest hotel
East of the Rio Grand, however adequate because very little time was spent there
In attendance were Bob Witmer, Rob Schoen, Elizabeth Joseph, from Michigan,
Dave Black, Ahmed  from Chicago, Mark Liberty from Ohio, Eric Bowden
from North Carolina and Jimmy Maffucci from New York who flew to Eric's
and rode in with him. Staying elsewhere , but we met up with them later were
Mark Creekmore, Steve Sirota and GF,  Mark Thomas and Mike Ramano w/ fiancé
Shannon Coffee. Also there and I am sorry I didn't get names was Ahmed's friends
with their BMW. It seems that non 3S owners don't get enough recognition and that isn't right
I hope they realize is is only because we talk so much about our cars at these meets.
Anyway, on to the photos at the hotel
Click to enlarge

From there we went to a restaurant across the street but when the waitress complained about
trying to place us all together by saying smartly that we had not made a reservation, Dave
quickly responded "Whoa Attitude,,,, we're outta here"  We swiftly
departed to Ponderosa for dinner where we met up with the rest of the gang
and got a photo along with the gang in the restaurant. From then on through out
the whole weekend we kidded about making reservations about everything. Here is
a photo from Ponderosa of "the gang".  I got stuck in the little table when I tried to get out

When we left Ponderosa Ahmed got tagged in the drivers rear by one of the 16 yr. old
waitresses out in the parking lot. She ran into his car front first. What a ditz,,, Here
is a photo of what his rear wheel looked like the next morning from the accident. Her front
bumper hit the top side of his wheel and also dented the car on either side of the wheel well.
Ahmed reports close to $3,500 in damage but was able to drive home to Chicago luckily.

Following dinner we got rained out for Norwalk Raceway. This didn't stop Bob and I from
racing on the way back to the hotel. A full launch in the rain and my tires would not break
105 MPH around a curve and it was rock solid. Love those Nitto 555 Extremes. The gap
between our cars has disappeared and they are pretty close to competing on an even
plane I say I can beat him, but he said he wasn't trying hard,,, hehe Yeah BOB,,, :-)
Guess I'll have to go to the track and record a time. That night we all went out for some night
life at Images, a local dance club where Rob wowed us with some Magic
Here are the photos from the Shoneys parking lot where we had breakfast the next morning
Click em to see em big,,, Hover your mouse arrow over them to see the name

And one more late photo of someone who was there then wasn't there then was there then
wasn't there and although was at Ponderosa somehow missed my camera shoot, so I have
had to be creative and invent one till I can get one from Eric or Dave.

After breakfast we headed to Cedar Point Amusement Park. We had a ball, but I spent most of the
day entertaining myself because they went on the first ride and I was going to take photos but wound
up loosing the group because it took 2 1/2 hours in line to finish it and I thought they had already left the
ride when I came back from taking a little tour Here are some photos of the rides they have there

The following morning I met Bob, Rob and Elisabeth for breakfast. They were heading out
early to Nelson Ledges to get in some track time. Since I missed Rob's photo at Ponderosa
I got one behind the place we ate breakfast. Sweet machine,, The rest of the guys slept in.

I then went back to the hotel and met up with the rest of the guys for the drive to Nelson Ledges.
Here are some photos of the road trip where I got some unique photos

Ok, I will let you guys figure out how I took this one. Look at it carefully. This is Dave Black from Chicago
Dave you should get some real interesting questions about this photo. I promise this photo has not been altered
Are we in Europe on the Autobahn?? What's Dave doing on that side of the car?
I can't even figure out how I took it myself at 80 mph. Look at the streaking motion of his mirrors
Yes, this was taken in my mirror, but where is the evidence? It is not a mirror image of a regular shot

This one might give away the previous one. It is Dave Black and Eric Bowden doing 70 to 80 mph behind me.
Trying to drive while doing this was a feat but I am happy with the results.

Eric doing 80 mph. I stopped his wheels cold in their tracks, hehe Anyone see Mark Liberty in his green Honda??
Look in the rear view mirror!!
Eric, did you install green and pink neons in your side door bumper guards??  Cooool,,,

Eric Bowden and Jimmy Maffucci giving the high sign. Stopped those wheels again.

Lunch at McDonalds
L to R Standing Mark Liberty, Jimmy Maffucci, & John Adams
Sitting, Dave Black, Ronald & Eric Bowden

Dave and Eric liked the last photo so well they wanted to thank Ronald
(These guys are crazy, hehe) I'll have to admit, I coaxed.

Once arriving at Nelson Ledges
 Bob and Rob were the only ones racing that I saw until I noticed Mark Creekmore was there
also. Here are a couple photos of Bob and Rob going around the track.
 

I later caught Mark Creekmore getting ready to run the track while we were getting
ready to head to The Rock Hall of Fame
 

On the road trip to the Rock Hall of Fame In Downtown Cleveland, Jimmy and dave were
conversing on the Family Channel CB's and a girl named Theresa came on and said she
was driving a Yellow 1999 Ford Mustang Convertible. Once we got in the parking lot
Dave and Eric started wailing "Therrrresaaaa!!!" in a search for the elusive girl who was also
heading to the Rock Hall of Fame. Throughout the course of visiting the Hall you could hear
cries  of "Theereeeesssaa!!" But noone found her. Dave had headed back to Chicago when
we left the Hall and also when we found a Yellow 99 Mustang Convertible in the parking lot
with no Theresa to be seen
Since there are no photos allowed in the Hall here are the only shots I got of the outside
of the building and the Downtown landscape across the street.

The Rock Hall of fame is an interesting place and brought back a lot of memories for me.
From the 60's Viet Nam era to present day, there is a lot of memorabilia There are 6 levels each
getting progressively smaller till you get to the Elvis room at the top
Everyone kind of split up from the Rock Hall of Fame and all went their separate ways
except Jimmy Maffucci, Eric Bowden, Mark Liberty and myself. We stayed downtown and
went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and then on to the Flats in downtown Cleveland
for some local night life down by the river front. We saw some huge Yachts and watched
a huge ship being towed out of the inlet. There was a bar / dance club at the end of a pier so
we listened to some music and people watched. Some pretty good sites were observed is all
I can divulge. (We had a good time) (All had a good time) (Thanks go out to Mark)
Though all didn't follow your plan, it was a fun time
Till next year,,,, TTFN

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