Where is the 2020 Grand National going to be held?

[Tom Boehm]

2019 is in Louisville and 2021 is in New Jersey. Where is 2020?  Thanks

[Jason Edge]

Overland Park, KS.  June 9 - 13, 2020.

[slowpoke17]

Just curious as to how far out do they plan these events? 2 to 3 years out seems like it would be the max. 2021 in NJ sounds good and it would be nice to go to KC again. We lived near Overland Park in Shawnee.

[BJM]

Overland Park is pretty close to me in Des Moines, Iowa. I go to KC on business a lot.  That being said, Overland Park seems like a poor spot for a GN. I know, it's easy to be an armchair quarterback so this is meant to be more of a generality statement, I am sure the event will be fine.

BUT -

My sister lives in O.P., my mom did until she recently passed, and my dad was in Independence, Missouri.  Just thinking about the where, leads me to one of the nice ritzy hotels just south of I435.  Nice enough locations, but it's essentially a concrete jungle. I can't picture driving tours, or tours to attractions.

Greater Kansas City has their usual suspects of Union Station and the Plaza, and maybe a homes tour, but not sure what else - for an old car club event. 

BCA had their National meet in Springfield, Missouri on Route 66 a couple of years ago. That lends itself to route 66 nostalgia and less hustle and bustle of a smaller location, with scenic tours of the Ozarks coming, going.   

I think the future of GN's should take them out of major metro areas where some older Cadillacs might struggle and find yuppie commuters who don't care about your car.  Seemingly smaller venues which can still easily support a GN.  And which might offer scenic driving tours and tours to museums and events which might help support those museums, many with decreasing attendance. 

[gkhashem]

Also early June is not prime time vacation time.

Sorry flame me but that time frame makes it difficult for those not retired.

Yes I understand the heat but it might as well be January in the snow belt.

Yes you cannot please everyone, but the CLC GN was often in late July early August.

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

The 2010 GN was held in Overland Park (KC) and
if I remember correctly it was in August.  The heat
and humidity were intense.  OK for a few hours
but I was judging and we had 15 cars to do.  It
almost killed me!!

Moving it to June is a wise decision -- but as you
stated, you can't please everyone!

Mike

[savemy67]

Hello all,

My personal preference is for a late July or early August date.  If you live in Maine or Minnesota, the ice is barely off the pond by early June, so there is not much time to give your car a few good shakedown cruises.

I wonder if there is any correlation between Scot Minesinger's observation (previously posted) about the declining number of cars entered at GNs, and June GN dates.  Who would have the data on the number of carts entered for each GN, and has anyone charted the number of cars entered and the calendar dates of the GN?

Respectfully submitted,

Christopher Winter

[Dan LeBlanc]

We were still getting snow here (close to the Maine border) in May.  It was early June before the 70 came out this year.

[slowpoke17]

I remember the heat and humidity was so bad I mowed my lawn at night after the sun went down! If I recall that's still tornado season. Not much in the line of activities, I think you listed all the ones that might be of interest.

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

Except for the heat, I enjoyed my first trip to KC in my '79 Fleetwood. There were the usual tours and activities and I think it was judged a successful meet. I will be able to give you first hand (well, probably second hand from one of our local car club members who is going to be on the committee,) relative to a "small town" hosting a national GN type of meet. The Packard Club (don't know which one) is going to put on a GN type show in Lafayette, IN next year. And unless it is connected to Purdue, there's not really all that much to do close by. So that means trips to Indy or South Bend. We are going to have a longer than usual bus ride to the Corvette Museum ourselves in 2019. And while we have a fair amount of nice hotels, none are large enough to take care of being a "host" hotel that we generally enjoy.

[Scot Minesinger]

The GN for 2021 is in NM, not NJ.  It was planned for NJ in 2021, but the hotel suffered complications.  I agree that early June is not optimal schedule wise, but probably more affordable.

[STS05lg]

I looked at the web site for the 2020 Grand National Host Hotel, Marriott Hotel KCOP. It looks like a nice property but it is a business hotel located in a modern office park. A representative of the hotel was taking reservations at the Louisville GN last week but the room block has not been released for general reservations on the Marriott web site yet. My reservations have not shown up on the my account yet. The representative told me they would not be entered until the room block was released which is apparently true.

Here is a link to the hotel if you want to see what it looks like.

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mciop-marriott-kansas-city-overland-park/

There was no information on the host hotel for the 2021 GN in Albuquerque New Mexico (and no Americans do not need a passport to travel to New Mexico, it is one of the 50 states,  ) at the Louisville GN.

[Tom Boehm]

So let me get this straight, 2020 is in Overland Park Kansas, 2021 is in New Mexico, 2022 is in Chicago. 2023 was supposed to be in New Mexico but they took 2021. Have they figured out a new place for 2023?

[BJM]

3 years out is pretty good. They can work on a good site for 2023.

I am familiar with that motel/hotel and it is a nice hotel, secure and scenic in the respect that they have allowed some wooded areas to remain.  Good BBQ nearby. As I mentioned, not sure what too see in greater KC that many of us have not already seen.

[Dan LeBlanc]

Efforts are being made to resurrect New Jersey for 2023.

[David Greenburg]

Maybe one of these decades it will be on the west coast again.  No, Albuquerque doesn't count.  1100 miles for me, so the cars will stay home.

[Dan LeBlanc]

Maybe one of these decades it will be on the west coast again.  No, Albuquerque doesn't count.  1100 miles for me, so the cars will stay home.

2579 miles for me.  LOL.

[David Greenburg]

Yes, but you've had NY, Boston, and apparently New Jersey coming up. And even DC was closer to you.  Since San Jose in 1999, there has been exactly one GN on the West Coast, LA in 2006, plus Vegas in 2016, which was within range for me, or would have been except fort the imploding water pump.

[chrisntam]

It'd be great if we could have them in Dallas every year, I like close to home.  The only problem is not too many Cadillacs are around here.  They seem to cluster around the New England area, which is not Dallas

How does the GN location get selected?  I assume a region has to put in for it and Headquarters makes the choice?

Another question, which may have been previously answered.  Do we get "professional" help in planning the GN or is it planned by the region members and HQ?  Is the only pro help we get is the host hotel and the busses?

As a side note, the Embassy Suites was pretty nice, I suggest one of those for an upcoming event.     Fridge, microwave, free b'fast, free happy hour drinks, two rooms, what else?  The free stuff helps offset the cost of hi-test fuel for my thirsty Cadillac.

[STS05lg]

Chris,

I will attempt to answer some of your questions while my understanding of what the CLC does is elementary these are the points i have heard from more then one source when I have asked.

Yes, a Region puts in a proposal to host a GN. It takes a large number of volunteers to put on the event. In McLean we started with about 40 and approximately 30 spent the week working the event. The CLC Board then approves the proposal and then the work starts.

The CLC has hired a conference planner to assist with working with the hotel which is selected by a team of volunteers lead by Ronnie Hux of the Valley Forge Region.

In the past the Region had greater control over the event. The McLean GN was the last. Now the the CLC Board takes a greater roll. Specifically CLC has taken the lead in managing the finances. You may have noted that we now send the event registration and car registration to CLC Headquarters. In the past the event registration went to the sponsoring region which managed the finances and the vehicle registration went to CLC Headquarters. At McLean we had a retired lifelong banker serving as the chief financial officer and were very lucky to have his outstanding support. Some Regions do not have a member with that experience so CLC HQ took over that roll.

The buses are handled by the region in that they seek out firms and get proposals from various tour bus companies to fill that requirement.

I concur that the Embassy Suites San Marcos was the best hotel we have had for a Grand National in recent memory even better then the Hilton in McLean. However, there is one small problem in that Hilton which owns Embassy Suites has only three properties like the San Marcos hotel in their portfolio. That property and its two other twins were not duplicated across the brand. You know things are bigger in Texas and that hotel was really nice. I agree the perks were great but most Embassy Suites are Business Hotels with out the conference space and oversize parking that the San Marcos property had.

I hope this has helped answer some of your questions.

Also, when I worked in the Big D in the late 1980's and early 1990's it seemed everyone drove a Cadillac what happened? 

Lynn