SHO National Convention #8
"Back Home Again in Indiana"
South Bend to French Lick, Indiana
July 17-20, 2000

NEW! Travels with Nigel by Kerby Haltom (posted 8-30-01)

     For the first time ever, an SHO Convention moved from city to city every day.  We started out in South Bend, Indiana.  The host hotel was the downtown Marriott.  The glass walled building provided a great start to our week.   Sunday night there was a pre-convention reception at the Studebaker Mansion restaurant called Tippecanoe Place.  We had the top floor ballroom to ourselves for snacks and talk.  All paid for by the organizers.  Afterwards, everyone went downstairs for a first class dinner and more SHO Talk.

     Monday was registration day.  Everyone had free entry into the Studebaker museum where you could see everything from conestoga wagons to land speed record cars.  Some people toured Notre Dame University, and there was even white water rafting right downtown! 
     That evening 100+ people had free run of the College Football Hall of Fame museum.  Our dinner and speaker were in the upstairs Heisman Trophy meeting room surrounded by pictures of Heisman trophy winners.  This interactive museum was fun for kids of all ages.

     Tuesday morning everyone was able to try their hand at the "Divorce Derby" where the driver is blindfolded and the passenger gives instructions through a very tight autocross course.  It was almost as much fun to watch as it was to do.  Thanks to the Tire Rack for making their test lot available for this event.  Several people took advantage of the opportunity to get new tires installed while in town.
     As people finished the Derby, if they didn't stay to watch they took off for a short drive through fun roads to Auburn Indiana for the annual SHOw.   This was different than in past years.  This day participants parked their car at the Auburn, Cord Duesenburg Museum and it was judged while they visited that famous museum and the National Automobile and Truck Museum (NATMUS) right next door.  Both museums included in the entry fee.  After Auburn, everyone high-tailed it to Kokomo for the evening meal and costume party.

    In this image you see many of the costumes, and on the right is the barbershop quartet, "Grand Entrance" from Indianapolis.  They serenaded us while we had free run of the museum and enjoyed a fun banquet made up of all our favorite hors d'oeuvres.
     After dinner we all sat down in the theater at the museum and heard from our guest speaker Tyce Carlson, Indycar driver.  Then Grand Entrance came back for a stage show which was highlighted by the introduction of the "four S.O.B.'s"  (the four Stages Of Baldness).

     No grass was allowed to grow under our tires as the next morning, Wednesday, the group was off and cruising towards Rockville Indiana in the middle western portion of the state.  We were taking a zig-zag course through Indiana from the far north to the north east, to the west and then back to Indianapolis eventually.  At Rockville, you could take your choice of four routes that have many old covered bridges and some great fun roads to drive.  The suggested route was to take one of the routes "backwards" so you  had to find the direction signs in your rear-view mirror! 

     After the covered bridges tour there was just enough time to get to Indianapolis to line up for the tour of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy "500".

     About 50 cars made the line-up at the far north end of the track.  Click HERE to see a set of pictures that take you into the track from this point and all the way around the track.   This "tour" was at a mandated 40 mph, but even though we would all have liked to really air it out on the world's most famous oval, it was not to be.  There were rumors of snipers with rifles on the top of the stands, to shoot out the tires of any car that stepped out of line.  Luckily we didn't have to test that theory, everything went smooth and people were still blown away by the experience!    
     Above, you see the entire group (note the one and only SHO V8 Wagon on the right!) in the Indianapolis Speedway Museum parking lot in the infield.  Below is a shot of everyone packed in for group shots and a talk on the evenings activities by yours truly.

     Wednesday evening we enjoyed a great meal at the Brickyard Hotel facility right outside turn two on the Indy track grounds.  Those that had time worked in a few holes of golf on the Brickyard course.  We heard from Donald Davidson, the historian of the Indianapolis 500, and gave away a lot of fine door prizes, including a rim off Tyce Carlson's Indycar with the paint still on it from his practice wreck at the 2000 Indy 500!

     Thursday was the real drivers day of the convention.  Morning till about 3pm was taken by a challenging fun rallye through the tourist and state park area south of Indianapolis.  Below is a representative sample of the type of roads we drove on all day:  Click HERE to see more shots of these great roads!

     The rallye was an 80 mile drive through some of the most devious roads you can imagine.  There was a mid-way stop in Nashville, Indiana to let people get some walking in and enjoy the best tourist trap in the Midwest for shopping and even fun food.  Check out some of the happy people as they enter the Harley shop "Pit Bull" on the walking poker run for more prizes, and there is our own Tim Wright, a.k.a. "Buford" enjoying the perfect weather.  Did we mention the weather could not have been better, 80 degree temps, almost zero rain, low humidity for the Midwest and light traffic most of the time!

Here the Mitchell's from East Moline, IL pose after a visit to an ice cream shop.

     Below is a shot my son took during the trip on one of the few multi-lane highways during the trip.  No semi will keep us from making the next checkpoint!

     After the rallye, it was off to the far south end of Indiana to French Lick, boyhood home of the NBA's Larry Bird, and one of the best kept secrets in the resort industry.  French Lick Resort is a wonderful family vacation location.  golf, swimming, horseback riding, biking, trails to walk, trains to ride and sulfur baths to soothe what hurts.  Our banquet that night included the rest of the door prizes, a great talk by Terry Earwood, the head instructor of the Skip Barber Driving Schools.  We concluded with all our charity events.
     This year, instead of one long drawn-out auction, every car was challenged to (voluntarily) raise money for the Red Cross.  By cents/mile or just donations by sponsors or the members, the money kept coming in.  We also had several nice items up for bid all week at a travelling "silent auction" that helped us raise an even $10,000!  This is almost twice what any other SHO Convention has raised to date, and from the smallest number of cars entered.  We had 65 cars for our Indiana adventure.

     Check back later for a link HERE to pictures of the check presentation at Indianapolis Raceway Park in October to the Red Cross.

     While in French Lick you could enjoy locally made wine, we found a great spot for Chicago style pizza and after all that driving on all those great roads, several of us still explored the countryside for even MORE fun roads.  Several people stayed an extra day or two to enjoy Southern Indiana, and many enjoyed visiting the several great state parks in the state on the way home. 

     I leave you with this picture I took of my trusty 89 SHO in front of a national treasure tourist site...Carlsbad of West Baden.  This huge resort complex is in the process of being re-built, but it is a wonderful example of   turn of the century excess.  It was in competition with French Lick Resort at one time, but would be at home in Disneyland.  The walking tour was worth the $10 and if you did not make the convention and see this attraction, you MUST see it if you are ever in Southern Indiana.  I talked my way onto the grounds with supervision to take pictures for the magazine (and web site).  Light was fading, but I think you can get a small sample of the majesty that this site offers:

     The building in the background was at one time the largest clear span space in the world until the Houston Astrodome was built.  It also at one time had more glass than any building in the world.  Built about 1910 the entrance shown here leads to that massive room with over 7 million tiny Italian floor tiles (some are damaged and about half remain now, more than enough to amaze and delight).   The Seven story structure had room on five floors ringing the round structure with rows of rooms on the outside looking out, then a hallway and another row of rooms looking down on the center area.  At one time the Barnum and Bailey Circus set up for winter INSIDE this building!   The huge front porch, just visible through the trees once held dozens of rockers for guests. 

     Read more about the convention in the first issue of SHO Club, and in the last issue of the SHO Registry. 

     Thanks to all our sponsors and members for making our Indiana adventure a great vacation.

     Special thanks to:  Performance Plus, Ford Performance Specialists, The SHO Shop, SP Motorsports/Protech Automotive, Cincinnatti SHO, Courtney's Truck Repair (Mike Courtney), Collinite Corporation.  A huge A-OK and thanks to: Goodyear, The Tire Rack, Ford Motor Company and the Atlanta Assembly Plant, Ford SVT.  WE could not have made our goals without the help of: Rahal Racing, David Letterman, Leighton Reese and Banner Racing, Skip Barber, Gearheads Automobilia Shop in Indianapolis, Mark Nunnally, Moal, Inc, and Joe Hatcher for their contributions.
     Thanks to everyone that donated to the Red Cross through money, or items...you were all great!
     And of course, thanks to the Indiana SHO folk that helped with events and to my family for putting up with my obsession.  Very special thanks to my wife for reading maps while I had fun doing the "pre-runs" for this convention, you will notice that she got to drive all Thursday for the rallye and great drive on route 58 to French Lick.  I had as much fun watching her smile on those roads as I would have if I had been behind the wheel.

     SHOklahoma in Tulsa in 2001 was our 9th convention.  Click HERE to read about it.

This was a Prairie-Sage Event
For the SHO Registry
and the SHO Club.

Prairie-Sage, Inc.
902 S. Main
Washington, IL 61571

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