CAPITOL PANTERAS 
September 2004
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.
Rack-O-Rama 2
August 28,
2004
There was not much chance to sleep in this
Saturday morning. We were up relatively early in order to be over at Mike
Drew's garage in a timely manner. We were not able to drive the Pantera,
since the ZF is in the shop. Jim drove down to Orange to hand
deliver the ZF to Lloyd Butfoy last week. So we headed to Vacaville in
our Mercury Capri.
We arrived to find Mike and Howard already hard at work on
the steering rack of the 1974 white Pantera that Howard bought from his
dad. Jim joined in with the project and I left to go shopping
at the Vacaville outlets. I was lucky and found the one item that I
needed for that evening. I returned to find that CP member Rick Moseley
had arrived. The car now up on the rack and minus the shocks. While
Mike and Howard took the shocks to a shop to have the ride height spacers
removed, Rick started the BBQ. It was a beautiful day for a cook out. With
lawn chairs under the shade tree and a gentle breeze, we all enjoyed our
lunch. About 1:30 pm Rick had to head home. We were close
behind. We had an engagement in San Francisco to go to. It took us
over half an hour to get to Fairfield on Highway 80. We finally rolled
into San Francisco at our friends house at 3:45 pm! If we had been in the
Pantera, we would have overheated for sure! We were going to Davies Hall
for the Gala Renaming of the University of the Pacific Dental School
(my alma mater) in honor of the Dean. It is now the University of the
Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. I was in the Dean's
first graduating class in 1979 and am a part-time instructor at the dental
school. It was quite an honor, because there is only 1 other dental school
in the USA that is named in honor of a person. The evening was Black Tie
and very impressive. The formal presentation, at Davies Symphony
Hall, was followed by entertainer Bill Cosby. He closed the show
with his famous Dentist routine. It was a real treat to hear that routine
live! Most dentist know that routine by heart and can mouth the words
right along with Bill. There was then a Gala reception at the Rotunda
of San Francisco City Hall. Over 1600 persons gathered to honor the
Dean. We finally made it to bed at 1:30 AM. It was a
long day, but a very enjoyable one.

Work in the morning followed by a fun evening. We
cleaned up pretty good!
Shelby Mini Nat - Sears
Point
September 4, 2004
It was Labor Day weekend, but we decided not to "Labor" around
the house that Saturday. That would still be waiting for us later that
weekend. We did sleep in Saturday morning before we headed out to Sears
Point. It was a hot day so we left the top up on the Capri and the
air-conditioning on high. (The Pantera is not yet back on the road.
We just got word that the ZF is ready to come home from Lloyd's shop). We
arrived at the track just before lunch. We found the area of the
Sacramento Shelby Club, their unique set of flags makes them easy to
find. It was there that we found CP member Rick Carlisle and the Mercury
Cyclone. We chatted with Rick and heard about the modifications that he
had recently done to the car. We then heard how he was modifying those
modifications to get the car back to its better premodified
performance.
We were able to drive the track in our Capri, with the top down,
during the noon time parade laps. It was fun, but would have been better if
not stuck behind a Jeep and a Suburban! Our last lap was a pretty good
one. We were the last car in the group and actually had part of the lap
totally free of traffic. This makes three tracks that we have been able to
drive in a non-race situation. The others were Fernley and Thunder
Hill.
The weather was very warm, actually it was hot with a very
dry North wind. The wind was a welcome relief in the afternoon. You
went from one shady spot to the next. You didn't last too long in the
sun. This made for some very hot and uncomfortable spectators and
drivers. There were a variety for different cooling methods being
used. I think that I fell victim to the heat myself. Despite
trying to stay in the shade, wearing a hat, drinking plenty of liquids, I
developed a headache and iffy stomach. Maybe I was just having sympathy
pains for Rosemary Andriesse. She was hit with a case of food poisoning
from her lunch on Friday (lunch from the grill at the race track). She
spent an awful night and missed the morning session at the track. Happily,
she was recovered enough to drive part of the afternoon session. She
should be fully ready to go Sunday. We headed home after Rick's last
session of the afternoon. We stopped for dinner on our way back to Rio
Vista.at one of our favorite spots in Napa, Jonesy's at the Napa airport.
They serve a wonderful house salad, but I couldn't handle more than a couple of
bites. Jim really knew that I wasn't feeling too great when first I didn't
want any wine, just water and ice tea. Then not eating my salad. Jim
said I was starting to look as bad as I felt, so it was dinner to go and hasty
exit from Jonesy's. By the time we arrived home, with the trip spent
sipping ice tea (sent by the waitress) and cold air blowing on me, I felt almost
normal. Jim finally got to enjoy his dinner, warmed up in the
microwave. Despite everything, it was a good way not to be
"Laboring".

The Capri on the track at Sears Point
Rick and the
Mercury
Rick and his" Wal Mart cool suit"
Meeting Notes, September 14, 2004
We had 11 people at Mimi's for
the September meeting of the Capitol Panteras. The weather was very
pleasant, so we enjoyed being outside on the patio. We were
able to use the new safety cones that Jeff Budelli picked up for the Club to
cone off parking for club cars, of which there were four. One of those cars
was BG PESO. Yes, Joe Lobue was at the meeting. It has been a long
time and everyone was glad to see Joe out with the car! He is also the
newest paid local CP member. So now we have three.
John W. reported that the Brunch Run is a no go for this
month. He was unsuccessful with both Cache Creek and Jackson Indian
Casinos. Emilia will look into a Brunch Run later in the Fall to the
Delta. She has a couple of different locations to check out as far as
cost and parking. Expect a report at the next meeting.
Jeff reported that he attended the Chico Concourse this past
weekend. Jeff took first in class! He said that there were four
Panteras at the event. He gave the day a great review and well worth the
hour and a half drive to Chico.
The Concours at Serrano is in two weeks. There will
be four CP members with autos in the show. Several others will be
attending. Member John W. will be the able "cub reporter" for the
Club newsletter. So expect to have some wonderful photos for the
newsletter next month. CP member George is one of the chairmen of
the event.
There is still no update on the River Cat
game outing. We will keep you posted as details develop.
It may only be September, but we have
started thinking about Christmas. In true Capitol Pantera fashion, it
was voted to ask Dennis Gacutan to host the group. Dennis of course was
not present at the meeting. We all hope that Dennis and Patty will not
veto our vote. ***Dennis and Patty have agreed to host the group at
Christmas. So everyone needs to check their calendars so that we can
discuss dates at the next meeting. Thanks again Dennis and
Patty!***
The topic of new Capitol Pantera Shirts
came up again. There is an interest in shirts with the new club
logo. Ken and John McNamee will get together to work out the
details for the shirts and try to bring something to the next club
meeting.
Treasurer John McNamee reported that
the club is solvent. He also paid Jeff for the safety cones, so the club
is now debt free.