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Ron Swiger, President Tampa Bay Austin Healey Club July 1, 2010
The Southeastern Classic XXIV (SEC), hosted by the Tampa Bay Austin Healey Club, was held May 13-16, 2010 in Ocala Florida. Ocala and the surrounding area has over 200
hundred horse farms raising prize winning race horses second only to Kentucky. The Ocala back roads connecting the farms are lightly traveled offering the Healey driver wonderful top down adventure. May in Florida is also a great time of the year for the weather with moderate temperatures and sunny skies. It was this setting that welcomed the 60+ Healey cars and over 120 Healey owners to our host hotel, the Hilton Ocala on Thursday May 13. Marion and Kay Brantley manned the registration table in the hotel lobby getting everybody signed up and outfitted in their special “Healeys in Horse Country” regalia. After a quick lunch we gathered in the parking lot for the short drive to our first activity, a visit to Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing. Don has assembled a large collection of his and other famous racers in his sprawling museum 10 miles south of Ocala. In addition to the drag cars, a separate building was completely filled with Don’s classic car collection including the MG TD owned by his wife. The MG ended up in the museum when she refused to drive it after he had it restored.
We left the museum following our leader, Ron Fitch, who along with Healey historian Bill Emerson had mapped out an 80 mile drive through horse country reinforcing our “Healeys in Horse Country” theme. This driving tour passed many of the beautiful horse farms with their white fences and large pastures that run for miles. Ron and Bill had gotten permission to drive through the 4000 acre Adina Springs Farm as part of the tour. Horse farms are BIG business in this area selling many millions of dollars worth of race horses every year and Adina Springs is one of the biggest.
Following the tour it was dinner on your own with all gathering in the hospitality room later to greet old friends and meet new ones. On display were the photo contest entries as well as Bill Emerson’s extensive model collection of Lemans Healeys placed in a diorama of the Lemans pits, very impressive. We enjoyed seeing old friends from previous Healey events and Southeastern Classics along with enjoying a cold one (or two).
Friday began early with the registration table open to sign in late comers and the racers warming up their engines for the autocross held a few blocks away at in the Paddock Mall parking lot. The course, set up by John Plankey, was tight with 1st gear only required. Each competitor got three attempts to achieve their best time. Robb Handshuh had driven through the night arriving in Ocala in time for a few hours sleep before putting his 100/6 on the grid. The quick run down from Atlanta had loosened something up and his Healey was really “smokin” as he and a succession of friends put the pedal down hard. Robb thinks the engine is ready for some TLC, or a case of oil.
The next event was the Funkana designed by Walt Mainberger with assistance from his wife Joanne and the Plankeys, John and Emily. The theme was cleaning up the Gulf oil spill and was fun to watch. At one point the driver is completely blindfolded as the navigator gives direction for taking the dome to seal the leaking well. It was a great event enjoyed by spectators as well as the participants.
While the guys went to the local burger joint for lunch following the morning driving events, the ladies went to their Luncheon and Tea in historic old Ocala at the Veranda Tea Room, an 1888 Victorian
house. They were treated to an excellent meal with wonderful desserts. All returned to the hotel in time for the start of the Fun Rally. Once again Ron Fitch had worked his map magic and sent the rally teams off in search of answers to questions posed on the rally sheet. The tie breaker (and this was needed as many of the sharp eyed rally teams got all the answers correct) was to guess how many horses Ron counted on his dry run of the rally route. There were 25 rally teams including Frazier Carraway, who picked up special guest Gerry Coker as his navigator. Octogenarian Gerry commented at the start of the rally that he hoped Frazier didn’t have any hopes of winning as his eyesight is not what it used to be. The rally was enjoyed by all the teams, but they were glad the hospitality room was open on their return as the afternoon had warmed up considerably and some cold libations were in order.
The plan for Friday evening was an Ice Cream Social following supper on your own. The Hilton staff set out buckets of the cold stuff in multiple flavors with all the toppings needed to make a killer sundae. After we stuffed ourselves, Jerry Thompson announced the winners of the day’s events. Not surprisingly John Plankey took the guys Fastest Time of the Day in his quick little Bugeye but the ladies Fastest Time of the Day went to Hilary Cooper in Robb Handshuh’s “smokin” Healey. Dick Lunney took the 100/4 class, Len Thomas the 100/6 class, John Homonek the 3000 class and Chuck Billingsly won the BJ8 class. The team of Walt Mainberger and fast lady Hilary Cooper stopped the oil spill the fastest and won the Funkana. The Rally was won by the team of Jim and Gayla Russell (235 horses was the correct answer) with Second Place going to Will Walton and Debbie White. The Photo Contest was won by yours truly (twin grandsons with Pop Pop’s Healey) and Bill Emerson took the Model Contest. We all returned to the hospitality room following the Social to watch the finals in the Pinewood Derby. All the dads that had kids or grandkids in the Cub Scouts were on hand with their cars but engineer Clete Gardenhour had developed the wood racer to it’s pinnacle of speed and won all the heats earning First Place with John Plankey in Second.
Saturday was another early start as everybody was using the wash station to remove the love bugs and road dirt from their Healeys in preparation for the big event, the car show. Tampa Bay AHC member Ken Dieffenbach brought his band from The Villages to entertain during the show. The cars were displayed on the large field behind the hotel with trees lining the perimeter and canopies set up in various areas to cool off and relax during the event. Many of the hotel guests wandered the show field checking out the 60+ Healeys on display. The voting was by participant’s choice with all ballots submitted by the appointed time and winners to be announced at the evening Banquet dinner.
Cocktails started early in the hospitality room prior to the Banquet and the room was buzzing with conversation. At the appointed hour we all moved to the dining room where we were welcomed by MC Walt Mainberger. Following the meal, Walt began the evening’s proceedings by introducing me to give my welcome on behalf of the Tampa Bay AHC. In addition to thanking all the participants for attending, I also wanted to thank all the club members who helped make the event a success. Some have already been mentioned in this narrative but I need to highlight several others starting with the SEC XXIV Chair Dennis Day and his wife Carol. Pulling together the resources for an event of this size requires a lot of work and we thank Dennis for his time and for taking on the job. The other special thank you goes to Bob and Denise Mullis. They took some ideas we had brainstormed and a 1957 Road and Track ad for Austin Healey and working with their graphics folks designed the “Healeys in Horse Country” logo used on all our publicity and regalia. Many have commented that it is the best SEC logo they have seen. Next up was Bill
Emerson who introduced his friend and our special guest Gerry Coker. Gerry gave a very interesting and humorous talk on his time with the Donald Healey Motor Car Co. and his disagreements with Donald himself; including the story of the original Healey 100 grille that Donald disliked so much that he parked the car facing the wall at Earl’s Court. Many of you may know that Gerry penned the Bugeye Sprite just before he left Healey for America, only his drawing had the headlights retractable. The “Bugeye” (or fixed headlight) was the result of economics which Gerry disagreed with, but he did confess that since the Bugeye or Frogeye has become such a beloved little car that he will take credit for the design (well his design was a Bugeye if you did not retract the headlights). We thank Gerry for being our guest for the entire SEC XXIV and for so graciously signing the many autographs requested. He describes himself as a hobby designer who just happened to be at the right place at the right time. We are all so glad he was there.
Walt next introduced Charlie Asbill from the Atlanta AHC who had volunteered to be the auctioneer for the various items we had collected to unload on somebody else. Charlie was able to wring a sizable amount of cash from the audience for all the items, especially the $26 for the genuine imitation wool seat covers. I am sure that great bid was helped by Marion Brantley and Debbie White modeling the seat covers as hats (wigs?). Top item auctioned for the night was an autographed engineering drawing of the Healey 100 donated by Gerry Coker.
We all found our tickets for the 50/50 drawing. Dennis Day and Jerry Thompson had really worked the crowd and with the pot at $800 that meant the winner would get $400. To make it a little more interesting four tickets were drawn first and all others discarded. Later during the awards, two tickets were drawn and the other two discarded. Finally at the end of the awards the winning ticket was drawn and Frank Nelson Jr. of the Central Florida AHC was $400 richer. He was a happy guy. speaking of awards, Walt, assisted by Jerry Thompson, brought up the trophies and the winners were announced. Best of Show went to Len McCue for his outstanding 1953 Nash HealeyLemans Coupe that he regularly campaigns in vintage races. Definitely the right choice for Best of Show. All class winners can be seen at www.tbahc.com but I will list the First Place in each class: AH 100 - Bill and Judy Young; AH 100/6 - Dean and Vickie Meyer; AH 3000 Mk I - Ron and Linda Swiger; AH 3000 Mk II – Clete and Karen Gardenhour; AH BJ7 – Jim and Gayla Russell; AH BJ8 Phase 1 – Charlie and Jackie Asbill; AH BJ8 Phase 2 – Marion and Kay Brantley; AH Sprite Bugeye – Ron and Marjy Lasita; AH Sprite Square Body – Bill Emerson; AH Other (Specialty) – Len McCue; AH Modified - Carl and Linda Brown; Jensen Healey – Dennis and Carol Day; Diamond in the Rough – Bill Borden.All great times must come to an end and that happened
Sunday morning as we all gathered for breakfast. Atlanta AHC President Kate O’Leary invited all Healey owners to Alabama for 2011. We look forward to that, as it will be the 25th Southeastern Classic. We would also like to invite everybody to Safety Harbor Florida October 23, 2010 for the 24th Annual All British Car Show and Autojumble hosted by Tampa Bay AHC. Last year we had 230 motorcars on Main Street. The show was also voted “Best Event” by the Safety Harbor Economic Summit. We hope you can make down for some more good old Southern hospitality!
Car Show Winners List
Class A 100’s
First Place Bill and Judy Young
Second Place Barry and Judy
Third Place Dick Lwnney
Class B 100-6
First Place Dean and Vicky Meyer
Second Place Charlie and Dorothy Carpenter
Third Place Paul and Debbie Tsikuris
Class C 3000 Mk I
First Place Ron and Linda Swiger
Second Place Bob and Marsha Hiller
Third Place John and Dave Homenek
Class D 3000 Mk II
First Place Clete and Karen Gardenhour
Second Place Bill and Debbie Walton
Third Place Ron Fitch
Class E BJ-7
First Place Jim and Gayla Russell
Second Place Ted and Sandy Goodman
Third Place Jan and Sue Allison
Class F BJ Phase 1
First Place Charlie and Jackie Asbill
Class G BJ Phase 2
First Place Marion and Kay Brantly
Second Place Chuck and Kaye Billings
Third Place Charles Williams
Class H Bugeye Sprite
First Place Ron and Marry Lasita
Second Place Jerry and Ann Thompson
Third Place John and Emily Plankey
Class I Sprite Square Body
First Place Bill emerson
Class J Jensen Healey
First Place Dennis and Carol Day
Class K Healey Other Specialty
First Place Leonard McCue
Class L Modified
First Place Carl and Linda Brown
Class M Diamond in the Rough
First Place Bill Borden
Class N Best of Show
Leonard McCue
Special Events Winners
Photo Contest - Ron Swiger
Model Contest - Bill Emerson
Rally- 1st place - Jim and Gayla Russell
Rally- 2nd place - Will Walton and Debbie White
Rally 3rd place - Ron and Linda Swiger
Autocross- Fastest time of day- Men - John Plankey
Autocross- Fastest time of day- Women - Hilary Cooper
Autocross- Sprite- John Plankey
Autocross- 100-4 - Dick Lunney
Autocross- 100-6 - Len Thomas
Autocross- 3000 - John Homonek
Autocross- BJ8 - Chuck Billings
Funkhana- Walt Mainberger - Hilary Cooper
Pinewood derby 1st - Clete Gardenhour
Pinewood derby 2nd - John Plankey
Special Message from the President May 17, 2010
The 2010 Southeastern Classic XXIV is now in the history books, but
what a story. We had a great time with 60+ registrations. Gerry Coker
was with us the whole time and gave a wonderful presentation at the
awards banquet. The autocros, funkana and fun rally were all well
attended with the big show on Saturday capping the car events. Check out
the attached photos for just a hint of what you saw if you were there,
but what you missed if you were not. Come to our next club meeting and
see all the photos from our SEC XXIV. The meeting will be Saturday June
5th at Perkins. Breakfast begins at 8:30 AM. It will also "Drive Your
British Car Week" May 30-June 5, 2010 so get the Healey out and comee
see the fun we had at the Southeastern...RonS...
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