May 25th and 26th 2012
Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega, AL
For the past two months we have been struggling with PayPal and Adobe Acrobat for our on-line registration. A lot of people have conquered the beast and registered already. Some were able to print out the registration form and mail them along with their checks to me.
Well, we have made some changes and it is much easier to register. We have eliminated the .pdf registration form since a lot of people use their smart phones to register and most are not Adobe friendly. The registration is not an .html page that is easily filled in and an the information is emailed to me. It then takes you to Google, where you can make your payment wit ha credit card or set-up a Google account and use your checking account.
In addition to the on-line registration you can download and print the .pdf registration form and mail it to me along with your check.
So far, I have 116 registration received and more coming each day.
There are 270 spots available this year.
The Host Hotel is ready for booking: It is the Holiday Inn Express at Pell City. We have the host hotel information listed on the web site. It is the same hotel we had last year, and they have agreed to hold the pricing at last year’s level. Just tell them you are with Vettes4Vets and you will get the special rate. There are a limited number of rooms available, but the Hampton Inn next door will take spillover and honor the special rate.
We have a New Co-sponsor: The Outlet Shops of Grand River (http://www.shopsofgrandriver.com) is setting up special parking on Friday for Vettes4Vets participants. They are providing Some prizes for a raffle drawing as well. The details are not complete, but this will be a great beginning to the weekend. The plan is to have an informal car corral meet at the shopping mall for a few hours, hold the drawing for the prize(s), then a leader will caravan the group to the NASCAR museum and the Speed Channel Dome.
Party All Night: -Not Really! The Friday party at the SPEED Channel Dome will be similar to last year. We have a new caterer, but the menu will still be BBQ (what else is there, in Alabama?). The event tee shirts will be available for pick-up, the museum will be open exclusively to V4V participants, and after dinner, a live band will play a couple sets. We do have to wrap things up at 9:00 PM, but I have heard that the fun continues at the hotel parking lot!
Track Day: The track day festivities will be the same as last year. I have added 30 more registrations, so we will run a little later in the day, but there should still be plenty of time for those that want a few extra laps and want to give the veterans a ride. Photos will be available like before. Hamburgers and Hot Dogs will be available again along with reasonable priced drinks. There is a rumor going around that the ice cream chest will be unlocked this year – we shall see. We will again be doing the 50/50 drawing and hopefully we will have some great prizes to raffle off along with some extra event tee shirts and dash plaques to sell.
Charities: As you know, the reason for this event is to raise money and awareness for the veterans and veteran organizations. This year, we will again send proceeds to the Wounded Warriors via the Lakeshore Foundation. We will also send proceeds to the 3 Hots-And-A-Cot organization. In addition to this we will be setting up a scholarship program for Veterans at The University of Alabama in Birmingham. I am excited about this last one. Once the scholarship program is started, it will be self-sustaining.
Veterans: There will be a lot of veterans in attendance at this year’s event. We have a special gift for attending veterans, so if you are participating and are a veteran, please let me know so we can honor you on this special occasion.
Website: Please check back often on the Vettes4Vets website for further updates and additional information. www.Vettes4Vets.org
Thanks for your time, and have a blessed day.
Jeff Williams
Executive Director