The 2009 BCA Nationals are being held in Colorado Springs July 1st - 4th. Lots of tours and lots of activities planned.
Pikes Peak, Royal Gorge and Cripple Creek are just some of them.
The banquet will be held on July 4th evening in a glass walled room facing the Rockies. You will be able to see the fireworks in the Mountains.

The Host Hotel will be "The Crowne Plaza" in Colorado Springs and they will have Room Rates that are $109 and are good 3 days before and 3 days after the meet. Please wait till June 24th to register in order to get the correct rates.

Use this link to get the BCA rates:
https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=67743

Registration will be available in the August Bugle and soon online.

Bill, can you confirm that the Crown Plaza Hotel is the principal host hotel for the meet?

Thanks!

Yes, and I added the host hotel to the original Post. I will have a link to a Special Buick registration site soon.

I will add that when I get it.

Bill,

Thank You!!

It's "Crowne (with an "e") Plaza", in case anyone is having trouble finding it on the internet.
Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Bill, Will there be judging of the cars?

1143 miles by the quickest route...6 miles farther than Flint (of course, I flew to Flint, so it would be a bit more direct)...estimated just over 17 hours of driving...we'll most likely do it in 3 days if time allows.

Really looking forward to it.

I heard there will be judging at the next one.

Ken, You may not remember me, but I was once a member of the Capitol Chapter BCA. I lived in Fairfield and drove to Sac-ra-tomatoe for meetings.

Looks like you have a nice advantage from your position Thriller. Mapquest pins the trip at 1,863 miles for us, and estimates an unbelievable 28 hours and 48 minutes. By comparison we drove almost 2,000 roundtrip for Flint this year. Of course that includes day trips within Flint. If we can attend looks like it will be via Southwest Air.

Yes there will be judging at this meet.

Almost 900 miles for me, just barely out of Texas.

To make hotel reservations online using the Buick block of rooms and also to see what the banquet room looks like go to:

https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=67743

I am going to update my original post too.

You know this is a great venue and I will be there, as a BCA member again. I can't imagine a better national "general" area, as it should attract those from the west and central areas. It's a long way from most everywhere I suppose but Colorado is a nice state to visit even without a National.

A person can tour the mountains before getting to the drier Colorado Springs area or can take in the Pueblo Indians sites further south.

Albuquerque and Santa Fe aren't far away and make great stops. Plus it will not be too hot in early July and the humidity will be very low. Add to that there will very little chance for rains/storms.

I know there was some friction last year from some BCA locals and I don't want to rehash that but I do want to help as a volunteer and was hoping the actual local region/chapter might have a forum member that would address the National instead of Bill, so that I could offer my Volunteer services in any way.

This will be a benchmark event in my opinion (for what that is worth) because we know the Flint folks know how to do Nationals, but there is always this struggle to get a national seated and moving so non chapter volunteers will be needed to help those local folks out. And we need to ALL pitch in as judges, organizers, etc to see what IMPACT that has on the quality of the event and stress out of the sponsors. I know I have been hit hard for suggesting spots for Nationals like it was no big deal, I know it's tough, but part of that reason is that usually only a small group does 95% of things. IF non local BCA'ers volunteered and did smaller rolesm then we could leave the locals to planning, not so much the execution.

So what i mean by Benchmark is if a cross section of non local volunteers make this a smoother, more successful event, then perhaps other chapters/regions considering a National can see that this is a way to go, and we might see future Nationals with this kind of non local assistance.

I'm not suggesting this hasn't happened in the past, as I judged at Rochester, Derek helped place cars, and so on, but I think it needs to be better (and sooner) organized. And more diverse-

For instance, we outside the local chapter that want to volunteer need to know what opportunities exist, kind of like a help wanted post. HELP WANTED: 4 people to register cars when they come in on Weds. HELP WANTED: 3 people to help ccordinate the swap meet, and so on...

Does that make sense? Can others pitch in and commit to help inareas? And can we get the local contacts on a post for this event?

I'll send my application in to the BCA office next week so will be a BCA member for at least a year, and qualified to assist and attend the Colorado National. Hope to see everyone there, gas prices be darned.

Bryan,

You mention several issues regarding hosting the Nationals that the BCA Board of Directors have addressed recently. For example, one of the largest tasks of hosting a Nationals is the entire registration process. The registration process is more than just entering the registrant's information into a computer and noting what events he signed up for and collecting a payment. In a judged BCA Nationals, the registered cars have to be carefully placed in the proper judged classes, windshield cards and judging sheets need to be printed and managed, and the judges results have to be tallied, awards calculated, trophies built, and awards ceremony prepared for. For the first time, this entire registration process will be managed by knowledgable people selected by the Board of Directors, experienced in the entire registration process, including the software being used. This takes a tremendous burden off of the host chapter. All they need to do is have several volunteers available at the show to help at the registration desk, handing the registrants their registration packets, etc.

I know a registration form is being composed for this meet with a volunteer section so the registrants can voice their willingness to help. There's no doubt that the host chapter will welcome any outside help they can get.

Also, a National Meet Committee has been formed to help the host chapter in contract negotiations with hotels, event coordinators, etc.

The 2009 BCA Nationals is the first chapter to take advantage of these services. Once the word gets out, we are hoping more chapters step up to host a BCA Nationals without fear.

Thanks for the update Roy. I will 1st get back in membership then take it from there. That's good leadership on the Board's part for tackling this issue. Thank goodness for laptops, computers, and the many business professionals in the BCA in general.

I though that I would mention that I have done the Pikes Peak Cograil in the past and IT WAS GREAT ! I cant wait to do it again ! It is something you will never forget . Bring your camera and enjoy ! CU there.

Wow, what an idea! A national convention in a city not likely to be in the high 90s or low 100s....or at least feel that way.

Hope to be there!

I'm looking at going next year, will be my first national. Is it anything like the regionals?

Usually bigger and better than a Regional!

Thanks, I'll be watching for more info on it to come up.

That was easy (to book the room)
See you there

Ted

More updated info HERE

The Days Inn is looking like a value. The host hotel is very nice and $109 per night. The Days Inn is the next closest motel/lodging and was looking like $59 per night. I am going to try reserving that rate, that's what ot shows now.

Based on their website it looks like a clean nice property witha pool and breakfast area.

Sounds like a nice savings. Thanks for sharing that info Jake. Now if we could only reserve the current gas price rates.