AUGUST 2016

GAME ON !  IT’S INDY !Circle your calendar: the dates for next

year’s convention are JUNE 8-9-10, 2017 and

the place is the legendary Indianapolis Motor

Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The place

drips with automotive racing history and next

year SAAC will become part of it. We have not filled in all the blanks in the schedule yet but it will include the things that every-

one tells us that they like to see at a SAAC convention: an open track (utilizing both the fabled

2.5-mile rectangular oval and the 2.6-mile Formula 1 infield road course, constructed in 2000),

parade laps (we’ll try to have them on both the oval and road course), a popular vote car show,

judged concours and an evening program with a sit-down dinner. There will be more, of course,

but we’re still hanging some meat on the bare bones.

We can’t say enough about the Speedway. Built in

1909, it is the original speedway in this country. The

event owns Memorial Day weekend and has ever

since it was built, with the exception of the World War

II years, from 1942 through 1945. Records were

kept – and broken – every year and the evolution of

open wheeled race cars in this country can be traced

through the track’s history. It has a seating capacity

of 400,000, and is the highest capacity sports venue

in the world. We expect that not all of those seats will

be filled when SAAC is there.

The Speedway is a place of traditions, from the

original bricks that cross the track to delineate the

start/finish line to the bottle of milk each winner drinks

from in Victory Circle. The garages in the paddock are

called “Gasoline Alley” and until 1993, the track was

used only once a year – for the Indy 500. SAAC even

owns a piece of Indy history. We had a convention

there in 1994.

One of the unique attractions of the Speed-

way is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Mu-

seum. It opened in 1956 (although it was at

another location, outside of the speedway).

With an eye on history, they began collecting

cars and racing memorabilia back then. Every

year more is added. The museum is now lo-

cated inside of the Speedway’s grounds and

is sure to be a “must see” attraction for every-

one attending the convention. One car every-

one will want to see is Jimmy Clark’s winning

Lotus/Ford.

We don’t have details on con-

vention hotels or our event

schedule just yet, but as soon

as we do we will announce

them through this newsletter.

We know that once we make

the convention details known,

those planning on attending will

start tingling with excited antic-

ipation. We will develop this in-

formation as soon as possible.

We want to see you there.

GRAND OPENING !In case you missed it, we recently revamped the SAAC

Store. We turned our closets inside out and cleaned off

every shelf in the garage. We found stuff we didn’t even

know we had. Sometimes not much of it, but the store’s

site has an inventory report that indicates the total num-

ber of items left when they get down to 10. Take a look

to see if there’s anything you’d like that you may have

missed the first time around. We’ve tried to cut the

prices, too. If you want to pay more for these same items

feel free to go on eBay.

We have a few more things to add to the store – posters mostly – and we’ll get around to

photographing them and getting them posted soon. But for now, do us a favor and clean this

stuff outta of here.

GO HERE

!