The Yellow Swarm - June 7th Greatest Show on Turf Report

The
Yellow Swarm

Member Car Club Council of Greater San Diego

Yellow Swarm at
The Greatest Show on Turf
Report!
6/7/08

A Great Show

Hats off to Steve Waid for organizing the Yellow Swarm’s participation in the Greatest Show on Turf, held on the lawn at Balboa Park on Saturday, June 7. The Swarm was well-represented by an eclectic group of Yellow vehicles, including two Corvettes, two Chevy SSR’s, a Mazda RX-8, a Miata, a 1954 Chevy pick-up, a 1948 Jeepster, a Shelby Mustang GT and one Triumph Daytona motorcycle, all in beautiful and dazzling Yellow. More than just participating in the event, the Yellow Swarmers were a big part of the volunteer force that helped on the day of the event, which is organized every year by the Car Club Council of San Diego (CCC) in coordination with the San Diego Automotive Museum.

Many of the Yellow Swarmers arrived at 6:00 am (ouch!) to begin the exhausting process of measuring out the spaces for all the vehicles that would begin arriving by 7:30 am, setting up rope boundaries, and planting colored flags in the grass to identify each space. Once the cars began streaming in, our members directed the cars and drivers to their club areas, and from there to the individual parking spots. Seeing a long line of vehicles queued up trying to register, which eventually backed up to the freeway and got the attention of the San Diego Police Department, several of our members raced over to the registration desk and helped get cars checked in in record time, and the long line was soon history.

Once all the vehicles had arrived, our group was able to relax in the shade of a couple of portable canopies that were set up and socialize with one another and our neighbors, members of the Miata Club. It was a very relaxing way to spend a Saturday, and for those of us who are really into cars, it was great to roam the grounds and explore all the wonderful autos on display, about 340 in all. We also were able to vote for the “best” vehicles on display in our Yellow Swarm group, and with no particular criteria defined, the runner-up was Don Kern’s immaculate Corvette C6, and the winner was Marv and Joyce Von Vorst’s classic 1948 Jeepster. Congratulations to both winners and all the participants in this great event that really got our group noticed. In fact, we had more than a few people come up to tell us how cool our grouping of Yellow cars was, and several said that they had Yellow cars and wanted to join the Yellow Swarm. That’s the definition of a successful event!

Greg Jabin
Triumph Daytona Motorcycle

Nanz,

Thank you for your kind remarks about the GSOT. Please let the Swarm know how proud and grateful I was for the participation and terrific work that they did in helping make the GSOT so successful. We got some terrific recognition already, and I think you likely caught some of it as well.
Look what you have created!

Along with the Miata people, we handled better than one-third of the total "day of show" jobs and made it so much easier for the rest. The way you and others jumped in to solve problems is what makes me the happiest and proudest. Whether we are a club, or a network (as Mark Ruhm likes to call us), or a cult (as someone else suggested) our collective has made a big impact on the car enthusiasts in San Diego in a relative short time.

Below is a note sent out by Mike Partain, GSOT committee chairman, yesterday. I think we should share this with the Swarm. I will continue to pass on to the Swarm things that are available for us to have a gathering. I can tell you already that I will be pushing the Coronado Speed Festival on September 27th and 28th. This is also a club friendly (if that's what we are) car related event. In my opinion, humble as it is, this is the best, by far, car event in San Diego.

See you soon,

Steve Waid

Greetings

I would like to thank each one of you for your support for this year's Greatest Show on Turf. We had our best turn out of vendors ever and the museum people reported that the raffle went extremely well. Thanks to the car clubsthat donated money for raffle prizes and to each vendor that donated prizes.

Although we had a couple of glitches, the show went well and I received a lot of positive compliments from people showing their cars and from others who came to see the show. We had a very fine showing of cars of all types and that's one of the things that makes this show unique and great.

Thanks to all the car clubs that participated and helped add variety and some very fabulous cars to the show. Several people commented they particularly enjoyed the PT Cruiser display and the Yellow Swarm group. So, please pass on the compliments to members in those groups.

Congratulations to all the Award winners who brought such beautiful cars. Also, thanks to each person that brought a vehicle because without your support there would be no Greatest Show on Turf.

Again, I want to express my appreciation for all those who worked so hard in the Committee meetings for months to put on this car show and to all those who volunteered to help on the day of the show.

Very truly yours and keep driving,

Michael Partain,
GSOT Committee Chairman