This was the 1st National Convention I attended in many years and it was a blast. Sorry for all the folks who missed out on the fun. We started out at 10:00am on Weds., with Mike Bange and myself caravanning to Morristown, NJ to meet up with 9 other Alfa’s from AONE, NJ, Ct clubs and one brave soul, Phil, from Montreal who had been on the road since 5:00am that mornng. Mike & I now hold the club record for the smallest Alfa caravan ever seen on the Cross Bronx Expressway!! Other NYAROC members attending the 100 year celebration included George Linton, David Rivkin, George Pezold, Mike Davias, Rob Rizzo, Pino Fiduli, and Gino & John Agostino. We arrived in Frederick about 5:00pm on Weds where we all promptly checked in at the Convention Registration desk. Mike had enough time to have his ’73 GTV tech inspected at the Hotel for Thurs. track events. The time trials were held at Summit Point raceway on a very hot Thursday – ideal racing weather for Alfa’s and their drivers. The track time trials were followed on Fri. with an Auto Cross and beginners TSD Rallye. Besides the regular convention events, attendees were also afforded the opportunity to take self directed tours to the Eisenhower Farm, Gettysburg and a night bus tour of Washington DC. At the Friday evening banquet, we had the pleasure of hearing Jamie Kitman give the keynote address. He had a receptive crowd laughing in the aisles. Jamie spoke about how he had agreed to deliver the keynote address but forgot he had already booked 2 other events for the same day. So after finishing up an early day event, he hopped into his trusty non air conditioned Alfa Giulia TI and made the drive down to Frederick in 95 degree heat in several traffic jams along the way!!! Saturday was the largest crowd attending the convention. Over 600 Alfisti had 200+ Alfa’s on display at the Stone Manor Concorso outside of Frederick. The sight of waves of Alfa’s on display was breathtaking. After the Concorso, a Gimmick Rallye was run from Stone Manor back to the Convention Hotel. The Rallye ran for about 75 miles across farmland, quaint towns and Civil War battlefields. A terrific route. The Convention concluded on Sunday with the presentation of awards. NYAROC was well represented as Mike Bange and Pino Fiduli walked away with Concorso plaques for their respective Alfa’s -- John Catera
