Due to the large number of Corvette owners interested in participating in the Michigan caravan, there will be multiple launch sites on Wednesday, June 25, 2003.    PLEASE, email the group leader of the launch site where you intend to join the Caravan. Here are your choices:

Les Stanford Chevrolet of Dearborn and the Corvette Club of Michigan will host a launch site at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn across from the Henry Ford Museum.  Dave Krom (dkrom@twmi.rr.com) is the group leader. Festivities are planned for Tuesday, June 24^th between 6:30 –8:00 PM at the Les Stanford Chevrolet Dealership, 21711 Michigan Ave, Dearborn. Check-in for those registered can be completed that night.

Kirk and Carol Dale (kcdale@centurytel.net) will lead Corvettes from the Thumb Area.

A group will launch from Genesee Valley Mall parking lot, in Flint. Don & Janelle Crane (crane138@comcast.net) along with Team Corvette will be the hosts at this site.

Bruce DeBoe (drbadb@qix.net) group leader for the Bay City area will bring a group of Corvettes south to the Monroe launch site. Bruce & the Bay City Corvette Club will assist George Matick Chevrolet as the hosts at this site.

Oakland Community College, Orchard Ridge Campus in Farmington Hills will be another launch site. Cauley Chevrolet of West Bloomfield, sponsor of America’s Corvette Club, will be the host of this site. Cauley Chevrolet will host a Cookout at the dealership (7020 Orchard Lake Rd) on Tuesday, June 24 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Registration packets and goodie bags, for those pre-registered, can be picked up that evening. Shelly Prew (mprew1@comcast.net) is the group leader for this site.
 
The GM Tech Center in Warren will be the East side Launch site. Frank Litfin (flitfin3@msn.com) is the group leader. This promises to be a very special launch site also. Details are being worked on and will be emailed to registered participants once they are finalized.

The Corvettes from these launch sites will depart Wednesday morning, June 25, 2003. Please see the times detailed below so that we all meet at the Horizon Outlet Mall parking lot located just off the La Plaisance Rd. exit 11 of I-75 in Monroe, MI. Once all the sub-caravans have merged at this site, the entire group will continue on I-75 south to Ohio. There will be a rest stop/fuel stop point in Piqua, Ohio where the Michigan and Northern Ohio caravans meet and then make their way south.

On Wednesday night, we will spend the night at Rising Sun, IN and enjoy some Corvette Festivities with a few Caravan Groups. On Thursday morning we will proceed into Kentucky for some laps of the Kentucky Speedway. We expect a late afternoon arrival in Bowling Green.

Here's the detailed information:

Genesse Valley Mall/Flint launch will leave from the Marshall Fields area, on the Miller Rd. side, about 6:15 AM

The GM Tech Center launch will leave about 7:15 AM. -  which parking area to gather in will be available soon and emailed to participants.

OCC Orchard Ridge and the Corvette Club of Michigan Automotive Hall of Fame launch sites will leave their sites promptly at 7:30 AM.

All caravan participants must ARRIVE at the Horizon Outlet Mall parking lot on La Plaisance Rd. (Exit 11 of I-75) before 8:30 AM. We will form one large caravan at this site. The entire Michigan Caravan will LEAVE at 9 AM.

We highly recommend that all Caravan attendees fuel up at their respective launch sites prior to heading to Exit 11. If fuel is needed at Exit 11, fueling must be completed and all attendees ready to roll for the 9AM launch to Ohio. We will try to accommodate group photographs of the Caravan at the Exit 11 site.

The Michigan Caravan will proceed due south on I-75 from the Monroe area. Michigan Captains Pam Dansbury and Colleen Egan will lead this Caravan to Piqua, Ohio for a Caravan gas/rest stop. (Approx. 11:00 AM). Here we join with the Northern Ohio group. Doug & Carol Burke and the National Road Corvette Club of Ohio will be the hosts for this stop.  They will lead the Caravan to Northern Cincinnati, Ohio where the Caravan will be met by the Ohio Caravan Captain, Duffy Parsons, the Columbus, Ohio Captains, Lloyd and Judie Harvey and The Capital City Corvette Club.  We’ll meet at the Lakota West High School, off Interstate 75 at exit #19, Union Center Boulevard, in northern Cincinnati. for lunch. 

We will have lunch at Corvettes by Performance Plus. Tom Keen of Keen Corvette Parts and Noel Grace, owner of Corvettes by Performance Plus will host this lunch. Tom will also have the Keen Corvette Parts trailer at the Lakota High School staging point with maps, directions and plenty of Keen Corvette Parts Catalogs. Shuttles will be provided to and from the luncheon site.

After lunch, Corvettes of Hamilton, The Cincinnati Corvette Club, and The Eastgate Corvette Club, and the southwestern Ohio Leaders, Darel & Carole Bono, Rick & Tracy Peyton and Larry & Donna Boyd will lead us to the Grand Victoria Casino & Resort in Rising Sun, Indiana.  We will enjoy a buffet dinner hosted by Daryl Paddock, Heather Holt and Lisa Bennett and the Group Sales Staff at the Casino.  In addition to dinner, each caravan member will also receive $10.00 in gambling money to try your hand at one of the casino’s gaming activities. During dinner we will also have some prizes to give away from the casino and some of our sponsors, such as John, Tony & Gary at American Custom Industries, 5035 West Alexis Road, Sylvania, Ohio 43560, 1-800-822-8020

We have reserved 150 rooms at the casino and another 150 rooms at area hotels to include the Holiday Inn Express and the Riverside Inn.  All rooms, regardless of location, are $69.00.  The casino staff will coordinate reservations for all rooms at 1-800 GRAND-11. Ms. Heather Holt and Ms. Lisa Bennett will coordinate reservations for Casino rooms at 1-888-472-6344.  (1-800-472-6311 for Canada participants) Candy will coordinate reservations for the Holiday Inn Express at 1-812-537-2552. Debbie will coordinate reservations for the Riverside Inn at 1-812-537-4441.

Remember, regardless of where you will be staying, you will receive your room information, keys, dinner and other great prizes, at the casino, so everyone needs to check in at the casino.  Hotel staff from the Holiday Inn Express and the Riverside Inn will be on hand at the casino to help facilitate room reservations at those locations. Security and a shuttle will be available for those who choose to leave their Corvettes at the casino overnight.

The following morning, June 26^th, at around 9:00 AM, we will gather at the casino. Kentucky Co-captain, Kurt Meier, will lead the caravan across the Markland Dam in his 1954 Corvette.  It is the one featured in the GM video that will be played all weekend at the celebration and the one featured at the Detroit and LA auto shows. 

We will arrive at the Kentucky Speedway about 10:00 AM. Our hosts will be Karen Bannick and Andy Vertrees and they are looking forward to having the Corvette caravan as guests of the Speedway. The Fort Thomas Corvette Club is the official host club at the KY Speedway.  Tom Gill is the host Chevrolet dealer on behalf of the Fort Thomas Corvette Club.   GM has rented the track for testing that day, and we will get the track during their afternoon/lunch break. There is a mandatory $10.00 entry fee at the KY Speedway, which will cover the cost of insurance, specialty personnel, including medical, fire, ambulance and staff needed to conduct this event. You will be able to take a tour of the tracks facilities for an additional fee of $5.00.  All caravan members will receive a gift bag full of goodies from Kentucky Speedway and Tom Gill Chevrolet, in Florence, KY

There will be plenty of opportunities for Club photographs because of all the cars parked in front of the pits.  Pull your Corvette over to Victory Lane and take a picture of it.  Remember, photographs in Victory Lane will be on a first come/first served basis.  Our time schedule should allow for about 100 Corvette owners to get a picture in this unique setting.

 Following our tour, lunch and our time on the track, we will caravan to the National Corvette Museum.

Our Speedway schedule:

10:30-1:00   Enjoy lunch at Outback Steakhouse.  Yes, there's an Outback right in the pits close to your Corvette.  Andy Vertrees tells us that the food served is top shelf. Remember, lunch will be at our expense.

11:00 – 12:00 noon   Tom Gill Chevrolet will conduct a drawing every 10 minutes and give away some great Corvette-themed gifts

12:00-1:00       Get in that Corvette of yours and make 3 laps of the Kentucky Speedway.  Yes, there will be a pace car, but you won't be disappointed. 

1:00 PM     Begin the caravan to the national Corvette museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky for the 50^th Anniversary Celebration.  All cars must clear the Track by 1:00 PM so that GM can get back to testing.  We must clear the Speedway by 2:00 PM.

We plan to arrive at the museum around 3:00 PM on June 26, 2003.

We hope you choose to join us at the casino and enjoy the overnight festivities.

If you chose not to stop in Cincinnati, Ohio with us, you may continue due South on I-71 through Cincinnati, proceed across the Ohio River into Kentucky, and travel along I-71 until you reach Louisville, Kentucky.  At the intersection of I-71 and the Gene Snyder Expressway, you will follow the Gene Snyder Expressway south to I-65S, and on to the National Corvette Museum.

 There will be a Drivers Manual and of course, GOODY BAGS provided to each car at the launch. The Manual will provide the final details for the entire Caravan Route along with details/rules/suggestions, etc.! 

 Stay Tuned!