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2006

December 2

Holiday Party at Wild Horse Pass Resort

What a great way to close out this very active year!

Our annual Holiday Dinner Party and Toy Drive took place at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort, located in the Gila River Indian Community and features authentic Native American arts and crafts throughout.

The evening started on the outdoor patio giving us time to mingle and enjoy hors d'oeuvres.

After an exquisite dinner our club president held a short speech, summarizing his rookie year and entertained the group with a fun and sold out raffle. Raffle items were provided by Daimler Chrysler, Bill Luke Dodge and individuals who we thank a lot!

Several chose to continue the party at the resorts outdoor fireplace and took it well into the night.

What a great year this was!

A big THANK YOU goes out to everybody who contributed a toy!

You definitely brightened Christmas for some families.

Story and pictures by Ingrid Schloissnik

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November 11

Tech Session & Cars Show

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A good time was had by all who attended the Viper Cruise to Safford!
Ten or so cars met up off of Rt. 60 in Mesa and all caravanned along the scenic route to Globe and then along Rt. 70 into Safford. The weather was terrific and the drive was quite pleasant.
Of course, some of us saw the sights a whole lot quicker than others. You know who you are!

Sadly, one among us lagged woefully behind, having been sternly chastened not too long ago by one of DPS' finest about the evils of excessive speed and various other allegedly anti-social driving characteristics. But, the whole caravan arrived safe and sound with nary even a warning from authorities.

Everyone enjoyed lunch at the Manor House in Safford. We had several new members in attendance and a big WELCOME to Mike and Janet Weese, Tom Kabat and daughter Kristen, and Mike Toth. We all look forward to seeing you folks at many events to come.
Mike and Janet had been Viper owners for two whole days before the Cruise. Their Hennessey Venom 650 was just unloaded from the truck on Thursday before the cruise...it's screaming yellow, it's loud and it's ohmygawd fast. (Survival tip for all Viper owners: Don't nail the throttle until you're pointed straight and that goes double or triple for Venom and other such packages.) Thanks to all who organized the event! And hope to see you all at the next event!

Story by AJ & Byron
Pictures by Alex Schloissnik

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September 24

VOI9 in Las Vegas

VOI9, was again, a unforgettable Viper party.
Our Arizona club had good attendance with 30 cars showing off their muscle in Vegas! Club members arrived on various days and in various ways. Some trailered their cars, but most drove them. Some drove on their own, but more enjoyed traveling together in caravans. One of the biggest caravans left on Sunday and was even joined along the way by members of other clubs. Thankfully nothing was heard of any mishaps along the way which means that everybody drove like law abiding citizens, right?!?! RIGHT!!! (uh huh, sure)
Once arriving at the Venetian, members signed in and received their goody bags. Boy were they filled with nice stuff this year! By the way, if you didn't try out the little personal fan, you need to turn it on and check out how cool it is!!!!!! And I don't just mean the air. Our members seemed to enjoy all of the activities that were planned.
The scenic cruise on Tuesday to either Red Rock Canyon or Lake Mead was beautiful and the weather was perfect. (There were some confusing directions, but we all figured it out!)
Track day on Wednesday was a lot of fun, and for some members it was their first time driving their cars on any kind of race track. They drag raced, auto crossed, and road raced. There were a lot of smiling faces at the track on Wednesday, so it was apparent that everyone was having a great time. Kart racing was entertaining, as expected, with Andreas and Marv having their usual "race battle". It is said that after the final flag Marv was trying so hard and going so fast that he missed the turn and off the course he went! Those karts were as bumpy as a big old Dodge 4X4! Wednesday nights' banquet included the presentation of awards for all of the track events. We were proud that our Arizona club was represented when Shelli Jelle won a 2nd place trophy in Women's Autocross – Congratulations!
Thursday was an open day, and again there were busy racers out at the track improving on what they did with their cars on Wednesday. The banquets were quite enjoyable with good food, good entertainment, good ‘Viper' friends, and GOOD FUN! A few of our members even got to bring home an awesome center piece from the table that they were sitting at if they were the next birthday or the oldest at the table. A women is never to tell her age, but Karen Chengalis was happy to tell, if it meant winning the centerpiece! Which, by the way, Gus was gladly adopting as his own to put in HIS garage. (Karen thinks NOT) Overall, VOI9 was enjoyed by our members and we are all looking forward to, and hoping for, VOI10! But.......we were all left wondering..........2008 Viper??????? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Story by Shelli Jelle
Pictures by Ingrid & Andreas Schloissnik

A professional photographer (Tim Galyean) was also taking a lot of pictures.

Check them out on his web site at: http://tgfoto.com/VOI9DodgeVipers.html

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Our annual Cruise to Payson saw a last minute change in plans, but still resulted in a number of attendees signing up the day of the event. This was one of the strongest events we’ve had with 28 cars that where gathering at the Scottsdale Pavilions that morning to cruise to Payson.
The two to three hour drive was divided up into two sections.
The initial section had us cruise along I-17 from Phoenix to Camp Verde. This section did not have a lead car and we soon found ourselves split into several small groups of cars.(Some drawing more attention than others….)
This must have been something very exiting to see for the rest of traffic.
In Camp Verde we took a short break to regroup and discuss traffic conditions for the second half of the trip.
We left in one large snake onto the two lane road winding through the highlands of Arizona. What a great feeling! The cool weather, scenery and the sight of so many Vipers in the rear view mirror was just breathtaking.
We all arrived very hungry at the members only Chaparral Pines, Golf Club House to have lunch. The buffet style lunch was excellent and my short announcement of upcoming events concluded this wonderful cruise.

Story and pictures by Andreas Schloissnik (Sen. & Jun.)

August 18

Men's Toy Expo, Glendale

This weekend we caravanned to the newly build Cardinals Stadium in Glendale where we participated in the Highline Autos Show part of the Men’s Toy Expo.
The rumbling of our cars did not need an introduction as it immediately drew a large crowd of spectators while we lined up to park the cars. The Viper Club had a very strong showing, filling up the Exclusive Car Show Tent right outside the auction block with 18 beautiful vipers (straight from the Meguiar’s meet).
Many visitors had a chance to get a close-up of our cars, mingle with the owners and ask questions during the two hour display.
All participants (and almost some spectators posing to be VCA members) where treated with a goody bag from Highline Autos.
A big thank you goes out to Brock Keeler, Thanks!

Story by Andreas Schloissnik

August 12

Meguiar's detailing clinic

The Meguiar’s Detailing Clinic couldn’t have come at a better time, providing some much needed shade from the Arizona heat. The Meguiar’s staff was extremely helpful in clearing up the do’s and don’ts of paint maintenance. (For those who weren’t there, stop washing your car with dish-wash detergent!) Several of our members attended and walked away with some much needed detailing expertise as well as products to make the cleaning experience much easier and more rewarding. The next day my Snake got the Royal Treatment…



Story by Andreas Schloissnik Jun.

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July 16

Indoor Karting at Speed Street

July is traditionally one of the hottest months here in Arizona. To escape the heat we traveled to Speed Street Indoor Racetrack for some air-conditioned fun. Everyone was happy to temporarily trade their snake for these nifty little karts.
The indoor track offers an impressive 1/3-mile+ technical road course. The track was professionally designed to optimize the available indoor space and to allow a variety of racing styles (some more efficient than others).
Club-members where joined by Dave Bailey (Sen. Manager of AZ Proving Grounds) and Gary Felton (Driving Instructor for NASA, SCCA, Viper Days,…)
We where divided up into two run groups and off we went for three heats. Not everyone was able to successfully control their kart resulting in several spins, light crashes and the unavoidable brake check incidents. (partly contributed by the water puddle filling the apex of a turn). Almost instantly Dave and Gary seemed to have a target painted on their back as everyone was trying to outperform them.
Lap times where coming down very quickly and in the last heat and almost last lap, Tom Glen (veteran Viper Days participant) pulled off the fastest lap – congratulations!

Story & Pictures by Andreas Schloissnik (Sen. & Jun.)

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June 24

Scenic Drive and Lunch at Tia Rosa

This is our favorite lunch spot. A very authentic Mexican cantina and eatery called Tia Rosa. This annual event always draws a crowd and is one of the most popular events in Phoenix. We met-up at a very scenic look-out point in Fountain Hills and caravanned to Tia Rosa via some very scenic roads to be treated by a generous Mexican lunch and dessert.

Story & pictures by Andreas Schloissnik

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April 15

Spring Enduro at Firebird by Club Racing Arizona

What a busy month! This enduro saw our own Frank Parise and Phil DeLao compete in Frank's beautiful white and blue CompCoup. It was blast to watch and the competition was essentially impressed with the CompCoup's exhaust note :)

Story by Andreas Schloissnik

Pictures by Team Parise

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April 8

Auto Cross at Daimler Proving Grounds

We were invited to the Daimler Chrysler Proving Grounds for some Auto Cross. This one-two punch event schedule was a blast and again we had about 15 cars that were ready to take the asphalt off the Autocross course. We had all morning to practice, enjoyed a catered lunch and were ready to go for the actual timed runs right after that.
The results were speaking for themselves – Marv Spaz (he was on the club team for the last VCA vs. DCX battle) won without any close competition. Some of us said that it must have been the ‘material’ since there is no way… In any case, we had to eliminate Herb and Dave from DCX for this competition – they were just too fast for us…
Our big thanks go out to Herb, Dave, Susan, and Karen from DCX who were instrumental to hosting this event and we all hope to do this again next year!

Story by Andreas Schloissnik

Pictures by Alex & Andreas Schloissnik

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April 1

Poker Run

April fools day turned out to be just that! Our 2nd Poker Run was held on April 1st and brought out 15 Snakes that had to slither across town to collect their poker hand.
Participants were split in two groups and sent to different check-points for their cards. Some members were following the instructions and others got lost – what a blast! Nobody missed the clearly marked final destination and approximate arrival time at the Italian restaurant in the East Mesa Airport for a late lunch and the ‘real’ poker game.
However, fools day wasn’t over yet. We decided to turn the values of the poker cards upside down and provided ‘conversion tables’ to ‘check the new hand’ – what a fun turn of event that was! At the end everyone was winner!
We had great prizes and our thanks go out to our supporters and sponsors Avondale Dodge, Bill Luke Dodge, Ed Moses Dodge, B&B Exhaust, Viper Parts and Fat Albert Motor Sports!

Story & pictures by Andreas & Ingrid Schloissnik

March 17

HEMI shoot out at Speedworld Raceway Park in Surprise

Several members attended a two day event at the local drag strip with drag racing a car show and a swap meet, hosted by Mopars Unlimited of Arizona.
This event saw some great action and prizes going to our members annihilating the 'competition'.

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February 25

Scenic Drive to Tortilla Flat

This is a little town from the gold digging days out in the west.
We gathered for a Scenic Drive at the gas station on HWY89 & Shea Blvd. The drive took us through some of the most spectacular scenery on the winding Apache Trail with twists and turns for many miles.
We all enjoyed a great western lunch at the local Saloon before heading back to town.

Story & pictures by Ingrid & Andreas Schloissnik

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January 20

Barrett-Jackson, Scottsdale

This year’s event was a big success.
We had more than 100 of our own club members attending in addition to 170 people form the national Viper Club, Daimler Chrysler and the owners of the 50 new 2006 special edition Viper Coupe.

Story & pictures by Ingrid & Andreas Schloissnik