Roundup Wrap-Up 2010

Roundup Wrap-Up 2010

“RIDE & DRIVE”

By Shannon Wolk

Gallery: RU2010Track

July 15, 2010 —We had 60 participants with 14 having this be their first time on track. Unfortunately, our friends at Mac Towing, who so kindly donated their services to us, were kept fairly busy throughout the day. We were lucky and had no sheet metal bending incidences, but lost a few older steeds to mechanical failure. Though it wasn't the same as being on the track in a run group, a few of us were lucky enough to get a ride in some of our sponsor's cars. I was able to ride in the Miller Motorsports school car (sadly they packed the FR500S that only had a drivers seat), the new Roush, and the 2011 GT350 driven by the MCA president, Steven McCarley (who has beautiful lines by the way). However, the highlight of my day was a ride with Brian in the Brad's Mystic Cobra. OMG! All in all, it was a great day and I think everyone had a good time!

- Shannon Wolk

“PONY TRAILS”

Gallery: PTrails

July 16, 2010—Having “Dam” fun on the Trails—This year we started our Pony Trails from the Monroe Evergreen Speedway. We had a total of 267 cars come through our front gates!! Not a bad turn out! Unfortunately though, I found out we also had a handful of cars come in through the back gates that were not counted...so the exact number we may never know.

We headed out of Monroe through many country roads on the outskirts of other towns such as Snohomish, Lake Stevens, Granite Falls, Arlington and Darrington. Beautiful scenic routes that showed off many beautiful homes, small farms, rolling green hills, refreshing rivers and snow capped mountains.

Along the route Larry took off first to set up some directional signs and get our wonderful volunteers set up on their assigned corners, and I was the last car out of Monroe with the help of some wonderful guys to be the "tail runners" to make sure no car would be left behind along the route. The funny thing was, we had to pull over a couple of times to allow the mysterious groups of 10+ Mustangs pass us. We figured they waited for us along the route- which means we really do not know the exact count of cars we had that day!

Our route also consisted of a few onlookers sitting out on lawn chairs, on the backs of their tail gates, and even posed on the side of the road with their own Fords and signs! Comical!

We continued up Hwy 20 (North Cascades Hwy) up through Rockport and Marblemount into Newhalem (Gorge dam). It was a gorgeous hot day and again, it was such a scenic area witih all those ponies coming through.

Newhalem is the "power plant" for the city of Seattle. It is better known as "Seattle City Lights". The Skagit River rolls through the area and the many trails and day hikes available up there are simply breath taking. Hopefully, many took advantage of these different areas such as the suspension bridge, the Gorge Dam, the Botanical Gardens, Ladder Creek Falls, the Trail of Cedars, among many other areas.

We had Gip's Downhome BBQ up there offering some great food for lunch, and the city workers came out in force to enjoy the new sites of horses coming into town. It was an overall fantastic day! The ponies had a fabulous run, and with the help of some awesome volunteers and friends, it was a very successful day. Thank you everyone for helping out or just joining us on this wonderful trail.

-Tannette & Larry Russell

“MCA GRAND NATIONAL JUDGED SHOW”

Gallery: Judgedshow

July 17—2010—Over 260 cars from across the United States and Canada, came together at the 2010 MCA Grand National Judged Show. This is almost double the number of cars that we had in our MCA Judged Show, just last year. Participants from as far away as Texas, Michigan, Kentucky, and even the US Virgin Islands, were able to have their cars judged, by first class MCA-trained judges. Special Thanks to Rob Ogden and Steve Hermans for chairing this exciting event!

“ROUNDUP BANQUET”

Gallery: RU2010BQ

July 17, 2010—The 2010 MCA Grand National / Mustang Roundup Banquet was once again a rousing success! Over 250 participants were treated to a great dinner and spectacular views of Seattle and the surrounding Puget Sound area, aboard the Royal Argosy. Highlights of the evening included several guest speakers, including NPD’s Rick Schmidt, renowned automaker Steve Saleen, MCA president Steve McCarley, and Motorsports Hall of Fame racecar driver, George Follmer. However, perhaps the greatest highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Lee Iacocca Award to Mustang Northwest’s own Lance Lambert—for his “Dedication to Excellence in Perpetuating an American Automotive Tradition”. Way to go Lance!

“PEOPLE’S CHOICE SHOW”

By Jeanie McCain

Gallery: PChoice

July 18, 2010—The 2010 MCA Grand National, aka 30^th Annual Mustangs Northwest Roundup, is in the books and from what I can tell, it was a rousing success. I have received emails from around the country complementing us on everything from the wonderful information packets they were given, to the friendly and professional assistance extended to some of our handicapped participants. There were some unexpected challenges – like where to stash close to 100 trailers on Sunday – but team work resolved them in short order. And that seemed to be the common theme during the weekend – team work. I am very proud of all of the folks who worked so hard to make certain this show was a success – you did your job and the results were spectacular.

The final results have not yet been tabulated, but from the initial count, it looks as if we had almost 1300 cars at Sunday’s People’s Choice Show. Way to go Mustangs Northwest for a job well done!

Thank you,

- Jeanie McCain