Historic NVE Extravaganza Lives up to the Hype!

This historic event finally came! We merged our summer cruise with the first VOA hosted National Viper Event (NVE)! There were over 100 IL Region members involved with this trip. The event began on Thursday with most Vipers converging at a meeting point to begin the initial trek into Detroit for the big event and a few fun things were planned along the way.

IL Region Vipers left the meeting point at 9am and headed to a lunch stop. They then headed to a factory tour of the nationwide producer of bake mix products – Jiffy. This was a shockingly neat tour as the CEO spontaneously visited with our group, it led to some really neat discussions (he’s even a racer). The group then hopped into their cars and headed on to the hotel. At the hotel members checked in and registered for the NVE event to get their credentials! The evening concluded with a special IL VOA dinner at Lelli’s. Our friends Ralph and Doris Gilles even joined up informally to spend some time with friends!

The next day began with the offical “day 1″ activities for the NVE event. Pieces of this event were hosted by Chrysler and open to all Viper owners, however most of the event was VOA hosted and nearly all of them VOA members. Vipers first began their grand caravan to the Conner Assembly plant in the morning. Over 200 Vipers filled the front lawn! Ironically this was identical to the first Viper gathering 20 years ago. It was a great sight. As part of this visit, members were encouraged to bring canned goods to donate to the charity that the plant supports, it was incredibly successful as huge bins were filled with donations.

All morning, Chrysler had opened their doors to provide a complete tour of the newly remodeled assembly plant. This was a real treat, and for those IL Region folks who were lucky enough to have done this before, we did notice MUCH more liberal access this time around. We got up close to everything (you could easily have reached out to touch anything). You could also wander the entire plant and take pics – never allowed before. The plant was paused on this day, however Vipers were on the line and the plant was filled. There were many demonstration areas and booths as plant employees hosted many Q&A’s at their stations.

Club members were then treated to a lunch outside under a massive tent setup for the event. Everyone ate BBQ and had a good time chatting with folks from 33 of the 34 VOA regions around the world. As folks had their fill, they began the trek back to the hotel to freshen up and get ready for the next activity.

In the late afternoon, members headed off to the Chrysler museum. This museum closed to the public years ago, but was opened for us for a private visit. It begin with a car display arranged in front of the museum. Members all gathered for what may have been the largest member photo in history. The doors then opened and drinks and a walking buffet were served. As always the cars there were eye candy! We were also addressed by various SRT VIP’s and got a chance to mingle with them all – including the new CEO overseeing Viper. The evening concluded as folks began to depart for the hotel. Some IL Region members got together for a late dinner at a popular Mexican restaurant – and that’s all the detail that we can provide relative to what took place there… This group is nuts!

Day 2 started off with a visit to the Prefix plant. Here they paint the panels and pieces for the Viper. Members got a remarkable tour of the entire plant as they saw how extremely well this plant preps the parts that go on our cars. However there was a big surprise as they were led to a room with several Vipers, including a Prefix built convertible “Medusa” Viper. Very cool to see the new generation Viper in this flavor! After drooling over the various exhibits, members then got in their cars and began the car cruise! The cruise was to the popular Frankenmeuth area, known as little Bavaria, it’s like going on a German vacation. The entire village was adorned with German ornamentation, buildings, food, and yes – beer. The place was bustling as people from around the world converge here to shop, dine, and enjoy the exciting sounds. VOA members arrived and were greeted with Viper-only parking. They then went to their lunch stop for a buffet before heading out to walk around the town. It was a relaxing afternoon as members just perused under blue skies and beautiful scenery.

The day wasn’t over yet as people piled into their cars and headed back to the hotel to freshen up before the next activity. When the evening hour came, buses arrived to cart away the members to a riverboat cruise dinner! Bus transportation was necessary as the port area is extremely busy and not a very Viper “friendly” place. The boat was jam packed. Members grabbed a bite at the buffet, but seemed to relish the outdoor view the most as many folks were out on the decks socializing. The cruise lasted for 2 hours and returned to port. Everyone jumped back on the busses and headed back to the hotel to retire (or recover…).

Day 3 was action packed and diverse. For those with Vipers and also wishing to push them to their limits, early morning departures began for the Chelsea Proving grounds! This is a place few people have seen (much less entered). This is where a lot of the magic happens. On occasion you could see odd vehicles covered up and being tested in the background, but it was a “no pictures” occasion as we were there to race! SRT had assembled a wonderful set of activities. They had a place where you could test drive Gen5 Vipers. There was also an organized trek on the high speed oval! Some members hit over 140mph as they stretched their cars legs on the massive test track. This was a true joy as it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to test their car out on the vary place many of their cars were born and tested. A pretty diverse lunch was also provided to everyone in attendance. SRT also had 2 huge autocrosses setup! There is a huge area of perfect asphalt known as “black lake” where they setup cones and timing systems for drivers to really test their skills and speed. Lots of tire screeching and smoke occurred all throughout the day as laps were timed. There weren’t awards, but in the end there stood one overall fastest driver across all attendees, our own IL Region President and National VOA Vice-President, Alex Ristanovic! This was a repeat of his win at the last large national event. Congrats Alex!! Looking at the rest of the lap times it was clear IL dominated racing as over 40% of the fastest times were all IL Region members! The race bred IL crew made it clear they had skills.

Simultaneously there was another event going on. Those who didn’t drive cars or chose a more relaxed day, registered for the Dodge mansion tour. This was amazing! Everyone was truly surprised with how interesting this tour was and how great the food was. But the big evening was nearing and all groups headed back to the hotel to freshen up for the big night…

When 7:30pm approached the hallways were abound with activity. People were shopping, sipping cocktails, and stood in line to get their tickets to the car giveaway. Unfortunately the initial process for the car giveaway created a serious backup, the line extended to the entrance of the hotel, but things were changed and the line finally moved through quickly. The doors opened on time and people flooded the ballroom and took their seats. Opening remarks took place by our national President, Maurice Liang. Dinner was served and anticipation grew as the night went on. During the evening there were introductions of VIPs, a live auction (that raised a TON of money for the club and charity), paid room comp prizes, and a centerpiece giveaway. There was also a really cool reveal… The VOA has already planned the NEXT national event in 2016 and it’s going to be big (no 500 person limit this time)! A special video was shown to pump people up and reveal the location. It started subtly with Viper action footage, it raised in volume and tempo as little tidbits revealed the next potential location, and at its peak, the final location was shown – New Orleans! IL Region members will be ready…

But that wasn’t all. The most important part of the evening was at hand – the brand new Launch Edition Viper doorprize giveaway! This was an elaborately planned process that involved a live video feed to the location where the ticket was drawn. It was hilarious as the mayor of the OH city where our club is headquartered was on hand to draw the ticket. Everyone held their breath as those administering the tickets taunted the crowd. In the end the winning ticket was drawn – #22 won the prize – it was the president of the NY Region, congrats to Tony! The crowd erupted in glee, you could see everyone supportive of the winner and were happy he won. This was the first time in history such a ridiculous prize was given away! The evening ended on quite a high, people began to disperse and head to their rooms near midnight.

The next morning, Vipers could be heard firing up and leaving the host hotel. It’s always sad going, but the memories from these events last forever. It was a heck of a time, and a great summer cruise event. And as always, the IL Region was the largest group in attendance, it just never stops! I guess we’ll just need to see what happens at the next one. And yes, as for the doorprize, it WILL happen again at NVE2 in 2016…!

If your interested in checking out some pictures from the event head on over to the original write up on the Illinois VOA website: http://www.illinoisvipers.com/histor...p-to-the-hype/