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 Media Days 2008 |
From the desk of WAJ President Ron Harrison.
On behalf of myself and the WAJ board of directors: thank you to all the manufacturer, aftermarket participants and WAJ members for making the 16th annual WAJ Media Days, in my opinion, the best event we have ever produced!
Tuesday’s second annual Show-n-Shine shone through despite a couple of very brief sprinkles that failed to dampen anyone’s spirits with some spectacular cars featuring landmark marquees. Tuesday evening’s reception, sponsored by Suzuki, proved to be the best kick-off of any previous WAJ Media Days welcomer.
Wednesday’s Ride-n-Drive began with cloudy skies and wet roadways, which only made for greater contrast for those visually documenting their drives on the beautiful California Cypress Coast and up the scenic Carmel Valley. Right on cue, the sun came out to brighten the sky and add a little warmth to Hyundai’s luncheon at Chamisal Tennis and Fitness Club and afforded opportunities to “shoot” the cars with the dynamic Carmel Valley as a backdrop for the greatest assortment of cars WAJ has ever had for Media Days.
Wednesday evening was full of excitement and surprises as the Guest of Honor for the Maserati reception was none other than the legendary American Gran Prix Champion: Phil Hill! Phil, who was accompanied by his lovely wife Alma and his son Derek Hill, also a famous racing driver in his own right, were the special guests of Maserati to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his first Gran Prix season. Broad-smiles and watery-eyes filled the room during the toast to Phil, which was presented by Jeff Ehoodin, Maserati’s public relations manager.
Following the celebration of Phil Hill’s illustrious career, the party moved to the Embassy Suites’ ballroom for the General Motors Banquet, which featured the unveiling of a new WAJ Media Days commemorative poster that will be sold to benefit the WAJ scholarship fund in the name of Cordell Koland and a brief presentation from OnStar regarding their new “Stolen Vehicle Slowdown” service. As we dined on our delicious dinners, my personal assistant and supervising producer of my radio show, Monty Wolf, issued prizes donated by Hooked on Driving, Bose, Mio, Kia, MINI and Jaguar.
Track Day at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca saw perfect weather and the best assortment of high performance vehicles we have ever seen at one time! Maserati Granturismo, Roush Trak Pak Mustang, Porsche Carrera, Dodge Viper, Audi R8, Griggs Racing Mustang and Mercedes-Benz AMG are just a few of the cars our members were able to experience as drivers or passengers.
The highlight of day was when Phil Hill sat in the right seat of the 1 of only 3 Maserati MC12’s ever produced while his son Derek Hill drove around the famous track putting the spectacular car through its paces that placed a huge smile on Phil’s face and the faces of those of us fortunate enough to witness those historic laps. But, Phil was not the only person to be lucky enough to take a ride in the MC12; owner Doug Magnon eagerly took many of our members for the rides of their lives across Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca’s dog-legged straightaway and down the most famous turns in the world: the legendary corkscrew! Surely this was the capper to the Media Days that will never be forgotten by those members and participating manufacturers and sponsors in attendance.
Another sumptuous meal was provided courtesy of Bob Gordon and Marc Rauch from the Auto Channel in a befitting location: one of the garage paddocks along pit row.
The MINI autocross tested the driving skills of many journalists in a competition that was fun and exhilarating with a special award from Michelin going to the quickest driver of the day: Mark Olson.
Of course, we could never pull off an event like this without the invaluable help of David Ray and his knowledgeable and competent staff from Hooked on Driving! David’s expertise gave us all the vital information we needed to stay safe while standing on the throttle on one of the most famous racetracks in the world!
I want to thank Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for allowing us the use of their wonderful facility, which is truly one of the greatest automotive venues in the world!
And if it were not for Stuart Langager, Melissa Taylor, Chris Williams and the rest of the folks at Page One Automotive and Paul Myers and his staff at Specialty Transport, we might not have any of the great cars on hand for us to drive and report on.
In closing I want to thank all of the manufacturers: Acura, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Dodge/Jeep, Ford/Lincoln/Mercury, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Lexus, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, MINI, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo for providing the greatest fleet of vehicles we have ever had for Media Days; our aftermarket participants: The Auto Channel, California Bureau of Automotive Repair, Driv Luxury Car Club, Griggs Racing, Michelin, Mio GPS Navigation Devices, OnStar and Roush Performance Products for their support; meal and party sponsors: the Auto Channel; General Motors, Hyundai; Maserati and Suzuki and Phil, Alma and Derek Hill, Doug Magnon, Deb Pollack and the WAJ board of directors (Gary Anderson, Mike Campbell, Rick Dupuy, Mark Fulmer, Maneesh Reddy, Jon Rosner, Philip Ruth and Martin Swig and past-president Michael Coates for their invaluable contributions in making the 16th annual WAJ Media Days the greatest event WAJ has ever produced.
Plans for the 17th annual WAJ Media Days are now underway and we hope to top this year in 2008.
Yours truly,
Ron Harrison
Western Automotive Journalists, president |         |
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