GN - who won the long distance (driving) award? The Frank DeCou Award.

[chrisntam]

I can't recall the name of the award, but I think I recall the story.  Long time member who generally drove his Cadillac the longest distance to most of the GNs and he recently passed.  Of what I recall, it was a great story and the award was named for him.

Who won it this year, how far and what was the Cadillac?

I know it will be in the Self Starter, but I'm curious now.

[STS05lg]

Evening,

It was won by a father and son from South America, who drove a 1964 Sedan deVille. They were two really nice guys and I am glad they won.

I am sorry I don't have their name because they are not listed in the program. Some one else may chime in with their names.

You should have drove the 70 it would have had lots of company... San Marcos is a little closer to you for next year. It will be a two day drive for me.

[Jay Friedman]

I was at the Awards Banquet at the GN and the following is what I remember.  The two winner's last name is I think Merkus and I think one of their first names is Chris.  They are from Curacao in the Caribbean and had their Cadillac sent on a ship to Miami.  From Miami they drove it to the GN in Mclean VA, a distance of 1,050 miles. 

[chrisntam]

I do plan to attend the '18 GN, looking forward to it!  I'm surprised it is scheduled for 1st week of June, given that it is Texas and it is generally hot by then.

So to clarify, the award is given for the longest distance "traveled", not necessarily for the longest distance "driven".  I say that because I assume no one came from farther driving distance than from Miami?

As a side question, how are the locations for the GNs chosen?  I've been involved with the club for 3 or 4 years and notice they are "mostly" located at the "perimeter" of the contiguous 48....Las Vegas, DC, New York, Wisconsin, Texas.   Nothing going in Kansas City (most centered city I could think of)?

[Jay Friedman]

I've driven to 18 GNs with my '49 Cadillac and flew to 2 others. 

I think they schedule those in hot places such as TX the earliest possible in the year after members' children are probably out of school.  The exception is GNs in very hot places such as Las Vegas which take place in April.

To my knowledge here are 2 awards: one for longest distance driven in an old car; the second for the longest distance an attendee travelled, which are usually won by someone from Australia or New Zealand. 

There is also another award, named after the late Frank DeCou, who drove his '40 LaSalle from his home in Chicago to many GNs as far away as New York and California.  This award is given, I think, to the member who has driven his old car successively to the two furthest apart GN locations, such as New York followed by California. 

I think the GN locations are chosen for several reasons.  1. A regional group volunteers to organize it.  This is lots of work. 2. To alternate between regions of the US.  There may be other reasons I'm not aware of.  There have been GNs in the "center" of the country: Chicago, Kansas City, Des Moines, Columbus OH, Milwaukee, South Bend IN, Detroit, Dallas, Cincinnati in the last 25 years. 

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I think they schedule those in hot places such as TX the earliest possible in the year after members' children are probably out of school.  The exception is GNs in very hot places such as Las Vegas which take place in April.

I have found that the GN's appear to be scheduled in the hottest, muggiest time of the year that can be found for that region.

But, seriously, I am sure it has to coincide to take place at a time when the most people can get a week off work, and get there and back home within a short time.

Here in Australia, it is always at the nicest time of year for the location selected, and the participants are able to take a few weeks off work, as part of their Annual Leave, or Long Service Leave and combine it with an adventure and holiday.

Bruce.

PS.   I was lucky enough to receive the Long Distance Travelled at Cherry Hill in 2008, and also drove my own car to the event from Detroit.   Really nice to finally have my own Cadillac on display in the Show Field, even though it would be classed as a twenty footer.

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

You have Kansas City coming in two or three years. 2019 is Louisville hosted by Indiana Region. When we first started we tried to have a windshield wiper effect.  I.E. East Coast, middle, West Coast, middle, etc. Warm regions are usually as "early" as possible consistent with the kids getting out of school.

The planners do try to think of "everything." When Indiana started this series of events in 1980, we never dreamed of tours. We took the ladies out on the front steps of the Speedway Motel, made them look to their left and told them, "Downtown Indy is that way." '

While I think I heard someone say that this year had the best "goodie bag" ever, I think the one the St. Louis people had in 1979 was the best over all. They sent me the list to re-use for 1980. Jack Daniels sent at least three nice items. We had them stacked in our dining room for several weeks. I do think that the actual bag WAS the fanciest one we've ever had for this year.

[savemy67]

Hello chrisntam,

Oscar(?) Muskus was the winner of the car driven from the furthest point (Miami).  The Muskus family is from Curacao, an island off the coast of Venezuela near Aruba.  The car was shipped from Curacao to Miami, and driven from Miami to McLean, VA.  The award for the attendee who traveled the furthest distance went to an Australian whose name I do not remember.

Christopher Winter

[Glen]

One thing I learned recently is that you have to register for consideration for the long-distance award. 
After many GNs where I was not in contention I attended one where I calculated I had traveled the longest distance, but did not get the award.  When I later asked about it I was told that I had not registered for consideration.  So if you think might be eligible be sure to register. 
The award is based on the distance from starting point to the GN location.  As a point of interest, previously the driving award was based on the actual distance traveled (the odometer reading so to speak).  At one GN a member claimed the award after she had driven a circuitous route.  The rules were changed after that.   

[chrisntam]

My thought are that if you register to attend the GN, you should be in contention for the Decou.

What is the logic that you have to register for it?

[Jay Friedman]

I think for the driving award the logic is that not everybody drives their vintage Cadillac to the GN and those in charge of the award don't know this one way or the other about every attendee.  That is, some people trailer their cars, some drive in a modern car and not in a vintage car, some come by plane without a car, etc.   

Also, for both types of award, those who are in charge of the award don't know offhand how many miles it is from where you live to the GN site.  For example, 2 attendees from Australia in contention for the personal award for distance traveled can live just a few miles apart from each other, and there is no quick way for those in charge of the award to know the difference.  For that reason you fill out a form with that information.  I suppose this can be done on the form you fill out and mail in to register for the GN, but a system like that is not in place.

I filled out the form at the recent GN in McLean VA.  On it I certified that I actually drove my '49 Cad from my home and that it was X number of miles to the host hotel.  In my case it was 650 miles from the Atlanta area which was not enough to win.  I didn't win it either a few years ago when I drove the '49 1,200 miles to Lake George NY.  However, I did win it 2 years ago when I drove 820 miles to Brookfield, Wisconsin, but only by a few miles.  What happened was that several other guys from the Atlanta area drove there too, but my house is on a side of town that is a bit further from Brookfield than theirs.  I also won the DeCou award that year.  It just depends on whether there's competition or not and where your point of origin is situated. 

[chrisntam]

Well, I'll say this, whoever came up with the idea of this award and to name it "The DeCou Award" is genius.

Great way to honor Mr. DeCou and a great way to recognize a long distance driven car.

[quadfins]

The DeCou award is not limited to one person/car. Anyone who qualifies is awarded a DeCou, and they are cumulative. Drive to another GN a thousand miles apart, and you get an updated number. They do not need to be consecutive, either.

Jim

[Glen]

The one thing I don’t know is how they are currently determining the distance for winners. 
It’s not that hard to determine the distance anyone’s home is from any other place.  The GN committee has everyone’s address and probably in some kind of database.  That can be loaded into this web page  https://www.mapdevelopers.com/batch_geocode_tool.php (along with the address of the host hotel) which returns the latitude and longitude of each address.   Then those addresses can be entered here https://www.mapdevelopers.com/distance_from_to.php With a little more research one might be able to find a site that would do this in a batch mode.  They would then have the distance from each registered member’s address to the host hotel. 
The next step would be to determine which register cars were driven vice trailered.  All registered members would then be in contention for either the driving award or the non-driving award. 
Using those web sites was how I determined the distances between my house; the nearest competitor’s houses and the host hotel.  IIRC, I was some 120 miles further than the member that won. 

[quadfins]

I think it is still based upon the "Honor System".

Imagine that!


Jim

[Jay Friedman]

Well, I'll say this, whoever came up with the idea of this award and to name it "The DeCou Award" is genius.

Great way to honor Mr. DeCou and a great way to recognize a long distance driven car.

I think it was the brain child of former CLC President Glenn Brown, who often traveled with Mr. DeCou in his '40 LaSalle.

[Art Director]

My thought are that if you register to attend the GN, you should be in contention for the Decou.

What is the logic that you have to register for it?

On page 42 of your 2017 CLC International Membership Directory, the DeCou Award and the requirements are explained in detail.

[Art Director]

Well, I'll say this, whoever came up with the idea of this award and to name it "The DeCou Award" is genius.

Great way to honor Mr. DeCou and a great way to recognize a long distance driven car.

You can thank Past President Glenn Brown, who accompanied Mr. DeCou on many Grand National trips.