Topic: National Meets, Topic: Attendance at meets.....................come on man

[PDodson]

How can we as a group have 13000 members and have only about I would have to guess around 200 active members and we have a "NATIONAL MEET" in Kemah Texas and only 21 cars show up, kinda pathetic if you ask me, everybody had ample time to prepare for this meet and still had 21 cars show up

 

I know that there was a "National Meet" in 2004 In PF and had 50 cars show up but come on guys lets make a good showing for a meet

Edited November 6, 2014 by PDodson

[PSiTSi]

I would have loved to have made the meet but being from Michigan makes it too far for me.

 

I wish they'd move the Pigeon Forge meet to sometime in the fall or later spring.

[freebird]

I am guilty of not attending meets......always too busy.

 

The other times.....Them damm cars are just not ready for the road yet....

 

I do try and help out around the club though.....

[Funky Phil]

move the meet further north than texas and you prolly will see more cars.

[scott87star]

It just takes too damn long to drive, I would have been driving for 6 days to attend the meet. Then three-four days for the meet. Can't be done Son.

 

Although I did fly.

[hopefull noob]

Kansas is in the middle... Haha

Hn

[markhansenconquest]

Hey im trying to set up a meet at my house and everyone is welcome....Its not as easy as it sounds... Life all ways gets in he way...... :Dbut if u don't try ...who will??? ^^^^^ just saw your post and your right....Kansas.. :o . Edited November 6, 2014 by markhansenconquest

[chiplee]

It's not a Ferrari group. Folks that make enough to comfortably afford the trip will tend to work too much to be able to commit the time to a cross country road trip. Folks that have the free time will tend not to have the cash flow to make it happen. You end up with attendance from fortunate members in the work/life sweet spot and folks who are close by. We could easily ship my conquest there and fly in to attend, but we can't justify the time off with family vacay's and holiday travel competing for our leave time. I thought I was going to be able to fly in to see Shelby and the rest of the gang, but a last minute work obligation got in the way. I still wouldn't have had my car there. I asked if the group would consider coming up to DFW next time so it's easier to get to, but it might be even better to get up to Oklahoma City so it's a straight shot across 40 from either coast. No idea what would drive attendance up, but I agree that it's a lot of work for 21 attendees. Don't envy the coordinators so not trying to armchair QB. Just spitballing.

[IntercooledFlatty]

i can't say what the REAL answer is, but it's NOT LOCATION. Branson, PF, Vegas, Texas ( Houston and Dallas ), Georgia ( Jimmy Meets ), Michigan, Tye's Indiana Meets. " we ", meaning as a collective group here, will never bring the numbers when it comes to a " Nation Meet " as " we " have proved time and time again...

 

i was in a Dakota R/T club back in 2000, the first Meet idea was posted in December, the meet was in June, in Hell, Michigan. about 120 R/T's showed up. a club that was in existence for less than 2 years at a location FAR north with that kind of a turnout. the following years it only improved.

 

we, are weak

 

shut it mikie

[carguygibby]

I'm sure most of us would love to go to these meets but like Chip says a lot of us are not in a position to make long trips and take the time off plus the expenditure to go. I have managed a few in the past when times were better but I, and am sure many others here now have other priorities which prevent us from attending. My personal circumstances at the moment are such that I can't even attend Pigeon Forge which is only a 4 hour drive from here.

So it's not pathetic Paul, it's just the way things are.

Colin

[MikeMeyerhoff]

I'd love to come this year, just too busy (10K into a backyard project and none of that has been to contractors.) I would have loved to make Vegas last year and almost pulled it off even with remodeling my mom's kitchen and putting in new floors in the rest of her house. Hopefully I can make a meet somewhere next year, just a timing thing.

[PDodson]

Even when we had a national meet in 2009 in Branson Mo, I think the count was like 25??? I can't remember, that was more centrally located

 

 

[SOTTY]

Most we gathered at a Mesquite/Vegas meet was 27 in and out over the weekend for Mesquite "2" in 2011 , we hope to beat that number next year and feel moving the meet into Vegas itself will boost attendance some , i missed TSQ only due to contractors screwing around paying me in timely fashion, i`m truly sad i missed out as these meets are GREAT fun !

[mr-starion]

I wanted to come to the texas meet, but i live in montreal, quebec, canada lol. I was willing to make the drive but my sq wasnt, i hope in the following years i will be able to attend one meet at least!, ive always wanted to, but with travelling for work and what not, its difficult to find time. Mind you, i dont think i would drive my car for 4 days straight, so id have to buy a truck and trailer to haul her around. Sucks to just know you guys virtually since i live so far away. Ive never seen a starion or conquest in my life till i found mine. And still today after owning my starion for 9 years, ive never seen another one on the road... I feel left out up here! Ill organize a meet up here in canada lol. Ill probably be the only 1 that shows lol. You guys are lucky that you could find 25 guys to show up with their cars!!

[wrngwae]

Well..... its like this... rare care.. not "high" dollar but some die hard people.....and people do what they can do..... some have more, some have less.... that is why we are here to bridge the gap..... still a good community willing to help and i for one have received free advice and free parts when needed..... its like that extended family that cant make it to Thanksgiving dinner every year. life just gets in the way. doesn't mean more or less desire, just life..... Pauuuuly... text me any time.. i need to get you my new number.. your still texting the old phone number. which is going bye bye real soon.... And to the Harry, Scott, John, Phil, Ryan, Gaywee, Tim, Joe,Jeff, Ect ect ect even Shelby and his sun burn......we are here as a small niche group. we help where we can,,,, with a trailer,,,, or whatever. i feel damn good knowing..... if i break down some where in the continental US,,,, i stand a good chance of being helped by this community.... and i truly honestly think that. even if not in a starquest.... cause i have all your numbers and ya all better answer when i call,,,,,, lol

[Fanta]

Chip and Colin said it best. Here's the reality of it - the ownership base is strung out all across the US, and is very limited. Also add between funds, time, family, and if the car is even reliable enough to make it, and you have a compounding issue. I know of at least 30 SQ's in the Atlanta area, and I'd be surprised to get 1/3 to show up to a meet in Atlanta.

 

We're not the Honda crowd, the Subaru crowd or the Miata crowd. We're the old school crowd.

Edited November 6, 2014 by Fanta

[PDodson]

Chip and Colin said it best. Here's the reality of it - the ownership base is strung out all across the US, and is very limited. Also add between funds, time, family, and if the car is even reliable enough to make it, and you have a compounding issue. I know of at least 30 SQ's in the Atlanta area, and I'd be surprised to get 1/3 to show up to a meet in Atlanta.

 

We're not the Honda crowd, the Subaru crowd or the Miata crowd. We're the old school crowd.

 

I understand what you are saying and it sounds like excuses to me, you have plenty of time to prepare, and get car ready etc, the meet preparers give everybody at least a year to prepare

 

Excuses excuses

 

 

[averse]

I kinda like the small nature, to be honest. I get a chance to really get to know folks at the meet since we aren't so big. I like when I read posts by folks I got to meet at Mesquite 2 and TSQ 1 and can remember their personalities, not just a vague image of their face and 10 minutes of conversation I got to have with them. Heck, even at TSQ I didn't get around to spending enough time with members there that I wanted to do, and that was on a 4 day meet!

 

Hopefully, people like Sotty and Niko don't measure success of their meets in car count. To me, that's not what makes an event successful. Both meets I went to were awesome and I am thankful for the opportunity to attend due to some hard working folks on a thankless job.

[nomad]

I'm with P-dawg, if you didn't make it, you suck.

 

 

[chiplee]

I understand what you are saying and it sounds like excuses to me, you have plenty of time to prepare, and get car ready etc, the meet preparers give everybody at least a year to prepare

 

Excuses excuses

 

Lol, one man's excuses are another man's wife/kids/job, aka, good excuses.

[carguygibby]

Must be nice to be you Paul.

The rest of us have to juggle with bills, feeding mouths and generally trying to survive.

Colin

[LSQuest88]

I'm fairly new here so any closer meets back in the day I was not aware of. But being in the north part of Illinois about 20 minutes from the wisconsin border is hard for me to make it to a meet. It's definitely nothing more than location for me. 17 hours of driving to texas with a swapped quest with some parts no where to be found at local parts stores makes it unrealistic for me. If I break down I'm stuck for a while and I don't have a trailer. Wish I did, if that was the case I might consider it. But hell like others said too cash is tight. It would cost me probably about $3000 by the time everything is done. Plus I have a wedding to pay for coming up in may. If there was a closer meet only a few hours away...I'd be there and you could count on it. So for me it's location

[SOTTY]

I kinda like the small nature, to be honest. I get a chance to really get to know folks at the meet since we aren't so big. I like when I read posts by folks I got to meet at Mesquite 2 and TSQ 1 and can remember their personalities, not just a vague image of their face and 10 minutes of conversation I got to have with them. Heck, even at TSQ I didn't get around to spending enough time with members there that I wanted to do, and that was on a 4 day meet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully, people like Sotty and Niko don't measure success of their meets in car count. To me, that's not what makes an event successful. Both meets I went to were awesome and I am thankful for the opportunity to attend due to some hard working folks on a thankless job.

These meets are first and foremost designed around the people ,their comfort and enjoyment come first and foremost and nothing to do with 'counting cars' , the cars come second ,more the merrier though , both the peeps and cars .

[Fuze]

I understand what you are saying and it sounds like excuses to me, you have plenty of time to prepare, and get car ready etc, the meet preparers give everybody at least a year to prepare

 

Excuses excuses

 

LOL if we had one up here in NJ would you be here? Didn't see you at the meet in Newark over the summer.

 

The last big one we had was in 2000 and I even made a Tshirt for it. There were like 15 cars, just enough for a show class at the Summer Slam at Englishtown. Since then I've yet to even see more than a couple old school Jap car meets in the state, much less a single model meet. I'm lucky if I can get my buddy to park his 85 Supra next to my car at the little local weekly car meets that are 80% Hondas and VW's.

 

Let's get real, most SQ owners are broke. It's kinda easy for a guy from Louisiana to talk about ppl not making it to Texas, but trailering a car from NJ, over 3000 miles... honestly I'll probably just wait for the pictures.

[PDodson]

 

 

LOL if we had one up here in NJ would you be here? Didn't see you at the meet in Newark over the summer.

 

The last big one we had was in 2000 and I even made a Tshirt for it. There were like 15 cars, just enough for a show class at the Summer Slam at Englishtown. Since then I've yet to even see more than a couple old school Jap car meets in the state, much less a single model meet. I'm lucky if I can get my buddy to park his 85 Supra next to my car at the little local weekly car meets that are 80% Hondas and VW's.

 

Let's get real, most SQ owners are broke. It's kinda easy for a guy from Louisiana to talk about ppl not making it to Texas, but trailering a car from NJ, over 3000 miles... honestly I'll probably just wait for the pictures.

 

Didn't know about that one dude