Salt ROCKS !!

It's true, the Hutchinson Salt Mine tour ROCKED. Nearly 30 South Winds members and guests enjoyed the tour, followed by a great dinner at the Carriage Crossing in Yoder. Thanks to Janet and David D for organizing the event. Check out the other pictures below and then click at the bottom of this entry for even more pictures courtesy of Ron B.

Newest Addition to South Winds Family

Pictured above is the newest addition to the South Winds collection of corvettes. Meet Denny and Connie P's LeMans Blue 2007 ZO6 - WOW!! You can see full size pictures of this Blue Beast by going to the right side bar, clicking on "View Members Cars" then scrolling down and clicking on "Denny & Connie's LeMans Blue '07 ZO6".

CORVETTE RACING WINS GT1 AT LE MANS

From the Corvette Racing website-

Corvette Racing brought down the curtain on the GT1 era with a victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia scored Corvette Racing's sixth class victory in the world's biggest sports car race with the No. 63 Compuware Corvette C6.R. The winning Corvette completed 342 laps, racing to a six-lap margin of victory over the No. 73 Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R of Yann Clairay, Julien Jousse and Xavier Maassen. The No. 64 Compuware Corvette C6.R of Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta, and Marcel Fassler retired from the lead in the 22nd hour with an apparent gearbox problem.

Today's win was Corvette Racing's 16th podium finish at Le Mans since 2000. It was the fourth Le Mans class win for O'Connell and Magnussen, and the second consecutive Le Mans GT1 victory for Garcia. O'Connell became the first American driver to win four class titles in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

24 Hours of Le Mans GT1 Results:
Pos./Car No./Drivers/Car/Laps
1. (63) O'Connell/Magnussen/Garcia, Corvette C6.R, 342
2. (73) Jousse/Maassen/Clairay, Corvette C6.R, 336
3. (66) Lichtner-Hoyer/Gruber/Muller, Aston Martin DBR9, 294

Not classified:
(64) Gavin/Beretta/Fassler, Corvette C6.R, 311 (retired)
(72) Alphand/Goueslard/Gregoire, Corvette C6.R, 99 (retired)
(68) Apicella/Yogo/Yamagishi, Lamborghini Murcielago, 1 (retired)

Notice that due to the strange rules for Le Mans, the #64 Corvette actually completed more laps and a greater distance than the Aston Martin, but they were not running at race end so they were not classified.

Another Club Participation Award for SOUTH WINDS

For the second year in a row South Winds won the club participation award at the Corvette Summer Kickoff car show. Fourteen club cars were joined by four more from our sister club for the drive down to Ponca City for this terrific event hosted by the Cherokee Strip Corvette Club. The next closest club had eleven corvettes there. This show traditionally attracts some of the nicest corvettes that you will see (all generations) from Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. Winning at this show is truly something to be proud of as you are competing against the "best of the best". Seven members were fortunate enough to bring home class awards, including a clean sweep by South Winds (again) of the early C3 generation ('68 to '75), with Darrel R taking Best In Class.

A big THANK YOU to all those who participated - without you we would not have been able to defend our title of club participation! Here are some pictures of the lucky award winners-