CAPITOL PANTERAS 
October 2003
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We would encourage everyone to become
a POCA member, if you aren't already a member. Your membership in the
national club helps fund your local chapter. You can download a
membership application at http://www.panteraclub.com Please help our club grow.
Atlanta Italian Car
Day-October 4
Jim and I were on the East Coast to visit my
brother and his family, in Charlotte, and were able to schedule several car
related activities into our itinerary. We flew into Atlanta and picked up
our rental car to begin our tour of the Southeast. I will highlight the
car related activities. First we stopped at Chateau Elan, which is owned
by the Panoz family. While there, we met a member of the Viper Club
of America, which was holding a function at the Chateau and Road Atlanta, which
is also owned by the Panoz family. We were invited out to Road Atlanta is
view their open track session. There were lots of new Vipers, Corvettes,
and BMW's and very few vintage cars. It just didn't seem like a track
event because all these new cars were so quiet!
Our next car related outing was in the
Charlotte area. We toured the Lowes Motor Speedway. The Speedway is
2,010. acres in size. There are six different tracks that make up
the speedway complex. The tracks include: go cart, sprint, legend cars,
main track, road track, and dirt track. On a major race day, the Speedway
employs 3,000 persons. It employs 800 people per day in the off-season.
The tour included a ride on the main track in a 12-passenger van, at 75 miles
per hour. The driver stopped the van on the 24-degree bank and
everyone slid downhill together on the bench seating! We also
visited Rousch Racing. They even had a used parts shop where you could
buy used race car parts. I guess if you were skilled enough, you
could put together an entire car together from the parts that they were
selling. There were many more NASCAR shops that we didn't visit due to
time. The next day we went to Mooresville, N.C and toured the
Dale Ernhardt Museum. It is a beautiful building, but it must be
similar to visiting Graceland and Elvis. There's lots of personal
memorabilia and not a lot of car related stuff. You would have to be a
real fan of the Ernhardt family.

In the winners circle.
On Friday morning we met with the Pantera
group, led by Fred and Debbie Terry from Maryland. The group
was caravanning down to Atlanta for the Italian Car Day.
Included in the caravan were Bruce Nardoci from Charlotte, Shawn
Korb from Raleigh, Bill & Pat Driscoll from Virginia, Sam from
Maryland, and Mike & Sandy Sowers from Virginia. We had breakfast
at Shony's in Charlotte with the group of five Panteras, a Z06 Corvette, a SUV,
and our Tarus rental car. It was a quick drive south. Jim rode shotgun
with Jay Cerreri from Pennsylvania. I followed up the rear in the Tarus,
usually at about 80 mph, to just keep them in view! Once in Atlanta,
we all stayed at the Holiday Inn Buckshead. Mike Daily had negotiated an
excellent group rate for everyone at this very nice hotel.
Mike & Pam Daily
and Dick & JoAnn Koch met us in the bar for
drinks that evening. JoAnn had arranged dinner at the Cheesecake Factory
for 16 people on Friday night on short notice! She has worked in the
Atlanta area food industry for years and had the right "contacts" to pull it
off. We all enjoyed an excellent dinner and service. The next
morning we were up early and off to the Atlanta Donut Derelicts at
Dandy Donuts, which was only a mile of so away from the hotel. After
coffee and donuts, the group of 10 Panteras, a Ferrari and a Maserati
headed out for the Italian Car Day, via back roads. The
group turned many heads as the informal parade drove toward the
park. The weather was beautiful. The temperature was in the low 80's,
clear skies and low humidity. The attendance for the event was good. There
were probably about 100 cars at the event. There were 17 Panteras and one
Mangusta at the show. It looked really nice to see them all lined up
together. Mike Daily did a great job to be able to arrange that
feat. No other marque was organized enough to pull that off!
This Italian car show had Italian food for lunch. The event was catered by a
local Italian restaurant. What a deal, $8 for sausage and peppers,
lasagna, corn, Italian bread, fresh fruit cup, and a beverage! Concourso
could learn a thing from Atlanta as far as food service goes. We left the
car show about 2 pm to do a bit of touring in Atlanta. We visited the Coca
Cola Museum and then ended our day with an Italian dinner at Maggiano's
Little Italy. They had great food and it was a perfect end to
our Italian day in the South. Also check out Mike Daily's site for the
event. http://www.panteraplace.com/page166.htm

Atlanta Donut Derelicts, 7:30 AM
The Pantera lineup at Atlanta Italian Car
Day
The main purpose of our trip East was to visit
my brother and his family in Charlotte. Being able to be able to time
it to include the Atlanta Italian Car Day was an extra treat. We met some
very nice Pantera people from that other coast, many of whom Jim "knew"
from the DeTomaso forum. Everyone welcomed us and was friendly to a
couple of Californians in a Tarus rental car. We hope to see these
new friends at other Pantera events in the future. In the small world
department, we learned that Pantera member Bill Driscoll is also a dentist, like
Emilia. We learned another interesting fact on this trip.
When Chesapeake Panteras was forming they wanted to be the Capitol Panteras, but
they could not use that name because we already had it in
California!
Rio Rendezvous Car
Show
It was a beautiful day in Rio Vista, sunshine,
clear skies, and no wind. Jim drove the Pantera two blocks to the parking
spot that he had scouted out earlier this weekend. It was time again for
Rio Rendezvous 2003, the 13 th. annual. With the Main Street
beautification project completed, it is an ideal location for a car show.
There were over 200 cars present this year and over 90 motorcycles. Sadly
there was a 50% decrease in Capitol Pantera participation this year (just
us). Maybe we can do better next year. We will extend an invitation
now for next year's Rio Rendezvous. We will even buy breakfast for CP
members who drive over in their club cars. It will be a fine meal at
the Rio Vista Lions Club pancake breakfast. Our Pantera was once again an
eye catcher. I'm sure that we would have been Best Italian Car, if there
had been such a category. We failed to win in any trophy
category, with best flames and best graphics being a particular challenge
to us. We took a break from the activities to have lunch at one of Rio
Vista's fine eateries. There is no Italian restaurant in Rio Vista, unless
you count The Pizza Factory. We chose Taqueria Mexico, lunch for two
with one beer and one ice tea, $12. Ken Montgomery will
be pleased to know that we were mistaken for a DeLorean by at least
two people at the car show. We did have the back lid up and that must have
been what confused them. As usual, we did a lot of deTomaso education at the
event.

The engine room always attracts a lot of
attention.
Wanted: Articles for CP
Newsletter
If you have attended a car function of any
type, please write about your car adventures and send it to jes@rickadee.net to be included in the next Capitol Pantera newsletter.
If newsletter articles are not received, then it will be more of Jim &
Emilia's automotive adventures.
Notes from the October
14th. Capitol Pantera Meeting
The weather held and the October meeting
of CP was held on the patio at Mimi's. The attendance was down from last
month. We assume that was due to election fever. Never fear, the
election was held and the entire slate of officers was unanimously
re-elected. Congratulations to Jim, Emilia and John M.!
There will be a November Delta Brunch
Run. The date is Nov. 9, 2003. That is a Sunday. The time
is set for 11 AM. We will be going to The Ryde Hotel, in
Ryde, California . http://www.rydehotel.com/
The price is $21.95 for the brunch buffet, that
includes Champagne, Orange juice and Coffee. For those of you who have not
been to the Ryde Hotel, the Brunch includes breakfast items, salads, including
chilled prawns, hot meat entrees with accompaniments, and deserts. Parking
as a group should not be a problem. We need to give the
restaurant a head count by Nov. 1. So please e-mail us
jes@rickadee.net if you plan to join us
for brunch. Everyone attending the October meeting plans to
attend. If you receive our CP newsletter, you are also welcome to
join us, just try to drive your club car. This event is a go, rain or
shine, so if your car doesn't do water, come anyway!
The date for the CP Christmas Party has been
set for Saturday , December 13. Dennis Gacutan has offered his home
for the party. CP members are in for a double treat, the party and
the neighborhood Christmas lights. So mark your calendar now -Saturday
Dec. 13, 2003. Thank you Dennis and Patty for opening your home to the CP
club. Dennis had Kings tickets, so was unable to attend this months
meeting. The details as far as food, gift exchange, and cost still need to
be determined.
On our way home, we got to use the Pantera
survival kit (cell phone and 100 mile AAA towing car) one more time.
Cruising down I-5, in the fast lane about 70-75 MPH, the right rear tire blew
up. I have no idea why. The tire had only 6,800 miles on it and was
inflated correctly. The rim looks like it is repairable, but the 305/50-15
tire is no longer available. There are 295/50-15 tires available, so
that's the direction I'll go unless the rim can't be repaired. There was
some damage to the wheel well flanges, but it is fairly minor. See
the following link for photos of what was left of the tire. http://www.rickadee.net/~jes/tire.htm
2003 EVENTS
CALENDAR
Nov. 11-CP Meeting at
Mimi's
Nov. 9 - November Delta Brunch
Run at the Ryde Hotel
Dec. 13 - Capitol Pantera
Christmas Party home of Dennis & Patty Gacutan
Suggestions for other activities in the
coming year include;
Golf/Lunch in Farmington - at JB
Golf
Great Pantera back road getting
there!!
Please keep us informed of other dates and activities.
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