Wolverine Chapter Meet in Byron, Michigan on Saturday October 24, 2015
Wolverine Chapter Meet in Byron, Michigan on
Saturday October 24, 2015
Results of the 10-24-2015 Byron Swap Meet
Weather & Attendance
The day of the meet started out looking rather dismal... a fine mist of rain was coming down but that cleared up around 9:00 AM and the rest of the day was pretty decent. The weather forecast obviously had a significant effect on attendance. The final tally of registered attendees was 205 vs. last year's record of 270. Despite this lower number, the meet is considered a success by hosts Elaine & Mark Suter and we thank everyone that did attend.
People’s Choice Show Motor Competition
Although the number of motors was down a bit this year, the collective show of interesting and great looking motors was again fantastic. The awards were provided by the Great Lakes Chapter this year and, as such, we used the GLC guidelines for the Peoples' Choice Process. The results were tabulated by GLC President, Joe Brincat, and his "team". Their results can be found in the Meet_Results section.
Special Awards
We always seem to have special displays that don't qualify for awards under our Peoples' Choice Process but certainly help to make the meet something special and this year was no exception. Tim Kurcz brought his "Midnight Star" hydro with a turbocharged OMC 3-cylinder, 49 cubic-inch displacement "looper" motor. This rig had been shown at this meet before but now the boat & motor combo has some history of making demonstration "fly-byes" at the Hillsdale, Michigan outboard racing course and it is well known for being "scary fast." This rig was displayed with two other turbocharged motors: a 44 cubic inch Mercury four cylinder made from a Merc 500 motor and a 56 cubic-inch, 3-cylinder OMC looper. These motors were just mock-ups but the fabrication of a few remaining parts necessary to finish them is underway and they both could be running as early as next year. There is no APBA racing class for any of these 3 motors so they were or are being created to "push the envelope" and refine the technology. In appreciation for having Tim share this equipment with the attendees, Tim received a "Special Award" from host, Mark Suter. Thanks again, Tim... your display and willingness to answer questions about it during the meet was fabulous
Flea Market
Many of the attendees brought boats, motors, motor parts, marine paraphernalia, etc. to sell or swap. The size of the "flea Market" and the quality of the merch was as impressive as ever and much of the hardware changed hands. Thanks to those that brought "stuff" to sell... most of us were absolutely delighted with our purchases.
Lunch and Finances - see the special section under Lunch_and_Finances.
Thanks
As most of you know, it takes a lot of help to prepare for and put on an event of this size. I always fly many of my family members in to help. But there are always many more family members and friends that pitch in and assist in a variety of ways that help to make the meet run like clockwork. Hopefully, most, if not all, of the "helpers" are included in the following list:
Joe Brincat Linda Brock Cheryl Cobb
Jeff Cobb Ken Cobb Amy Hill
George Hill Theresa Kamensky Gina Kraft
Mark Majcher Cara Newby Kevin Newby
Alicia Suter Jeff Suter Jody Suter
Mary Suter Ginny Vance
You may note that I have not included the people that helped transport tables and chairs back to the storage corner after the meet... there were just too many people to mention. This really helps save Elaine's and my backs and is VERY much appreciated.
If I have forgotten anyone on the above list, I can assure you it was inadvertent. Assuming Elaine's & my health holds up, we will host another Byron Swap Meet in 2016.
Mark Suter
You can view individual pictures taken at the meet below. Click on any picture to bring up a larger version.
Meet_Results
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Miscellaneous
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