John Hinckley induction to the Corvette Hall of Fame
All:
Additional CC: Alex Mair, Wendell Strode, Buzz Marston, John Pirkle ,Vito Cimilluca, Howard Hoover, Dave McLellan, David Burroughs,Noland Adams,Lance Miller,Andy Bolig,Steve Rhode,Bill Wenzel, Bruce Bursten, Joe Lucia,Beverly LeGate,Carolyn Mausley,John Browman,Roc Linkov, John HInckley
Everyone, Thanks for all your help relative to the following:
As many of you know, John Hinckley will be inducted into the National Corvette Museum (NCM) Corvette Hall of Fame (HOF) in Bowling Green,Kentucky on Friday, Sept. 4 this year. People like Zora, Ed Cole, Noland Adams, and Dave McLellan have been previously elected to the HOF.
It would be special if you could attend the induction ceremony and events relative to the induction ceremony seeing as your testimonials and support during the nomination process were a factor in John's selection to the Hall of Fame.
The induction dinner is Friday, Sept. 4 starting at 6:30 p.m., Sloan Convention Center. You need to sign up for the dinner as part of your registration for the 15th anniversary of the National Corvette museum festivities.
John will also lead two seminars during the induction festivities :
These dates and times are subject to change so please check on-line to ensure you have the correct info.
The full event agenda is on the NCM web site. It includes 17 pages of activities. Dave McLellan and David Hill former chief engineers for Corvette as an example will hold seminars during the meeting.
A web link to the overview of the ceremony is at:
http://www.corvettemuseum.com/regist...ion/info.shtml
The agenda for the meeting is at:
http://www.corvettemuseum.com/regist...n/agenda.shtml
John was elected to the hall of fame as a Corvette Enthusiast which includes his never ending help in restoration such as NCRS . The selection also recognized his contribution to Corvette as an employee.
Alex Mair was my co-nominator. Alex is 87, worked for Ed Cole and was GM vice president and Group Exec running all of GM engineering during the 60s and 70s. Alex was general manager of Pontiac for a while. Zora and John H. worked for Alex. John and Alex used to meet for lunch to discuss various manufacturing related problems. Alex gave me three patents which John initiated while working for Alex.
John's selection is extra special to me because it recognizes all of John's help especially relative to NCRS and other Corvette restoration web sites I started the nomination process 4 plus years ago and was fortunate in having your support. I included over 400 testimonials from CRPL, NCRS, Corvette Forum, and Vette Heads members as part of the nomination material. Many of these testimonials came from all of you.
Along with your individual testimonials, we were fortunate to include testimonials from Vito and Howard (Michigan chapter pres) .
I was told by a person associated with the HOF selection committee that my nomination could only be successful with support from NCRS. Your leadership and individual contributions made that possible. John was pres. of the Michigan NCRS chapter and I included over 50 testimonials from the chapter members.
The idea started as I exchanged emails with Wendell Strode who heads the museum. I asked Wendell what he might suggest as a way to thank John for all of his restoration help. He suggested to consider nominating John to the Hall of Fame.
I had lots of help in this activity. An example is Bill Wenzel who is a member of CRPL introduced me to Buzz Marston who runs the Hall of Fame selection committee. I was fortunate in having a lot of NCRS help as well including John Pirkle who is the NCRS selection committee representative. Carolyn Mausley (CRPL,NCRS) suggested that I needed a GM exec and that is how the idea to get Alex involved came about.
As you may know, John writes articles and columns for Corvette Enthusiast magazine. I compiled 3 years of these articles with the help of Andy Bolig (editor of Corvette Enthusiast magazine). I worked with Andy closely over the 3 year period as I compiled additional material for updates to John's nomination. I have included a copy of the excellent article Andy wrote relative to John's selection to the Hall of Fame. Very special.
Alan Colvin Corvette Fever editor added his testimonial even though John writes for a competitive magazine.
From my view, John's selection recognized all of his areas of contribution. Dave Burroughs (founder of Bloomingtrn Gold) and Lance Miller (Corvettes of Carlisle) also added their testimonials which recognize John's involvement in the major car shows to round out the various components of the restoration passion.
I was able to gather information from a lot of sources. Bruce Burston sent me a copy of Noland Adams retirement roast DVD when Noland retired as president of the Straight Axel Car Club (SACC). John was master of ceremonies for the event. The DVD was included in the nomination material.
There is a video that will be shown at the induction ceremony which is a recap of the inductees (3 this time) contributions. Bob Lutz, current vice chairman for GM is featured on the video speaking about his relationship with John. John worked for Bob when he ran the Viper Prowler plant at Chrysler. I was able to use Dave McLellan and Alex Mair's references when I requested Bob's help on the video.
I am also expecting that a bit of the footage of Alex Mair talking about John in our NCRS Michigan Cauley meeting will be in the HOF induction video. The video will come from the work Steve Rhode did and the footage Steve published on the Michigan web site.
Web link to the Michigan videos which I think you will enjoy:
http://www.michiganncrs.org/page1/page1.html
Particular video that is in the list of videos
Michigan Chapter of NCRS Recognizes John Hinckley
Very exciting time. They are expecting 15,000 Corvettes in Bowling Green for the anniversary ceremony so hopefully fun for all of you to see.
Be special to see you there.
Thanks so much..... for all the help. Hope to see you there.
Len Palmer
64 convertible
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