REGISTRATION FORM:
The form is on-line now, some events/prices may change, but not much. Print the form and FAX or MAIL ASAP. If you want a certain number, you can request it, and we will try to accommodate you, but indicate a 2nd or third choice.

NOTE: if you are doing the ROAD COURSE event, (highly recommended) please fill out this FORM and send it in with your pre-registration.  If you have already sent in your pre-registration, print it out and send it in now please.

Dates & Locations:

Date: July 12-15, 2004

Location:  Vallejo, CA

Host Hotel:

Modified 11-09-2003 

The official convention dates dates are set from July 12 thru July 15, 2004. The rate is $79 per night. I've reserved 100 rooms for those nights, 50 for the preceeding Sunday night, and 20 for the preceeding Saturday night. For Friday night, there are 40 reserved, and for Saturday night (the 17th), there are 10. If anyone wants to stay longer before or after the convention at the SHOClub rate, that is possible, but the reservation needs to be made directly with me, or with the director of sales, with whom I've been working.

The contact information is as follows....
The direct 800 number for the hotel is 1-800-533-5753. The local number is 707-644-1200. The national number for Holiday Inns is 800-465-4329. The address of the hotel is 1000 Fairgrounds Drive, Vallejo, Ca., 94589. Tell the reservation person on the phone that you want the group rate for the SHOClub CarSHO. The three letter codeword is "CAR". According to my contact, this information is enough, along with the correct dates, to insure that you get the $79 rate. It's very easy to get to...arrive from the east on Interstate 80, and take the Highway 37 west offramp (Marineworld Parkway) just after you start to go down the steep hill into town. Take the first exit about 3/4 of a mile east of I-80, then turn left at the stop, and go under the highway heading south. Take the third possible left turn (watch for traffic....busy street), and you'll be in the parking lot, heading for the lobby door. From the west on I-80, take the Marineworld Parkway flyover on the east side of town just prior to the hill, and use the same exit after crossing over I-80. 

Hotel Security
There has been mentioned the question of security at the hotel in particular and in Vallejo in general. Vallejo is a former Navy town, being the home of Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Many vessels currently active in the US Navy fleet were built here. The yard was closed in the late '90s due to downsizing, and the city took a while to recover. It has had some bad times, but according to recent newspaper reports, life in Vallejo is as good as anywhere else in the Bay Area. It has its seedy areas (name one US city that doesn't), but where we will be is not one of those. It is relatively new, with new construction of shopping centers, housing, and freeways currently proceeding. Marineworld itself is relatively new, having been transplanted from Redwood City, south of San Francisco, around 15 year ago. I would not at all be afraid to leave my SHO in the hotel parking lot, locked and with the alarm set. I was more worried about it at the hotel in Gainesville, Georgia, for the 1999 convention, than I would be about it here. 

Group Price Tickets for Marineworld
I'll be able to get discounted daily entry tickets for 6-Flags Marineworld for any group of 15 or more (we qualify). The prices will be in the low to middle 20s, where the regular price is 44 bucks a day, and the hotel price is 27 a day. (These were '03 prices.....'04 should be similar.) There will be a line on the Convention entry form for tickets for 6-Flags. 

EVENTS PLANNED:

DRIVERS INFORMATION Form now posted for those attending the ThunderHill Drivers event.  EVENT RULES also posted!

NOTE: Thunderhill drivers: HERE is the mailing we send to every driver.  If you need a new copy, or lost yours, or want one as you send in a late registration.  HERE it is.

GREAT site to learn how to Drive Thunderhill. Go HERE

Other Things To Do:

Events for the week include a concours carSHO on Tuesday morning, where outstanding examples of Taurus SHOs will be on display and competing for prizes.  Classes will consist of the three generations of cars, with subdivisions for stock/original cars, and those modified for higher performance and durability.  After the carSHO there will be a tech session where questions will be answered by one or more SHO Gurus who have spent years repairing and modifying our cars for maximum performance and enjoyment.  In the early afternoon, continuing through the rest of the day, there will be a guided tour of San Francisco, led by BaySHO members, which will hit most if not all of the most interesting and scenic places in the city.  The tour will wind up at Fisherman's Wharf, where dinner and shopping will be available.  After dinner the route continues over the Golden Gate Bridge, probably the best known symbol of the Bay Area, before heading back to Vallejo.

Thursday will be a tour through the Napa Valley, including several winery tours, which will include wine tasting.  The scenery is very beautiful, and the winery tours are very interesting.  There are good restaurants up and down the valley, for lunch.  In the evening, back at the hotel, will be the banquet, where speakers will be heard, awards will be presented for the CarSHO, the silent and audible auctions will be held, and the announcement for the 2005 convention will be made.

Miscellaneous:

Click on the links below to find additional information about the events currently scheduled for each day.  The link labeled 'Routes to California' are for planning your trip, and are compiled from my experiences crossing the country by car over the years, and more recently from my drives to East Coast conventions.

mailto:comments@shoclub.com

SHO National Convention #xx is a Prairie Sage Enterprises, Inc. Production

Don Mallinson, President, SHO Club

Prairie-Sage, Inc.
902 S. Main
Washington, IL 61571
309-444-8570
309-444-2540

SHOClub.com