Corvette Culture - Part II

My Corvette Club participates in the Toys for Tots Run, a popular event held every year in November. Kerbeck Dealership, the world's largest Corvette Dealership located in Atlantic City, NJ, sponsors the event every year, and has done so, since it first started four or five years ago. It's quite a popular event with people traveling from all over the east coast to participate. Up until 2007, the event was held at Kerbeck's dealership but it has gotten so big he know holds the Toys for Tots Run at the baseball stadium across the street.

Now the Toys for Tots Run is even more fun. Mr. Kerbeck really goes all out. This past year he rented a tent with heat that cost him in the neighborhood of $10,000. He had enough food to feed an army - hoagie trays with all the fixin's, sodas, bottled water, and Philly pretzels - all on the house. It didn't cost participants a thing except the cost of a toy for the Toys for Tots Run. Miss America was there signing autographs and mounds of toys were collected. The pile was really a small mountain. Everyone was very generous.

We had a nice time watching ice sculptors chiseling out a life-like Corvette all made of ice. What talent! And although we didn't win one door prize, we really enjoyed watching our friends win several of the prizes. There was some really good stuff like bar stools, leather jackets, and a trip for two to the Bob Bondurant racing school. One of our Club members won! That's a big deal in the Corvette world.

Still with all the fun we had the event, it wasn't just the event that was the highlight of the day - it was getting there. Although the event didn't start until noon, my husband and I started out in the early hours of the morning to meet up with our Corvette Club at a local McDonald's. Now you don't just show up and drive off - you have to linger for a while. Stand around, talk, meet up with others you haven't seen in a while. Then there is the ritual of getting coffee to keep warm and, then of course, using the ladies' room a little while later because you had to have that coffee. Sometimes you are there for so long, you may need to even stop in the ladies' room twice!

Usually a few hours later, someone in the Club announces it's time to go and everyone starts their engines as if their about to compete in the Indy 500! After all the hoopla, we sometimes sit their a while waiting for everyone to get it together. Then we finally head out.

The day of the Toys for Tots run was no different. We started at McDonald's and then headed down to the rest stop on the Atlantic City Expressway. That's about a 25 minute ride from the McDonald's we were at - about a 12-15 minute ride in the 'Vette.

Once we got there, the routine started all over again. Stand around. Talk. Chat. Meet up with others we haven't seen in a while. Drink coffee. Ladies room stop. Drink hot chocolate. Ladies room stop. Ladies room stop. Take pictures. Shiver in the cold. It was even worse than at McDonald's because now we were with hundreds of other Corvette lovers in the Corvette culture. They were from all areas and numerous Corvette Clubs.

After a lot of lingering, we started our engines again, ready for the next race, but this time we were really going to race. We were being accompanied by State Troopers who were giving us access to the entire Atlantic City Expressway from the rest stop all the way down until Exit 2. That's almost at the casinos of Atlantic City. All other traffic was being blocked and the road was just for us. We'd have a police in the front with a pace car. All exits to the AC Expressway were blocked by troopers and the same with side streets once we got off the Expressway. We were told when we left, "No going over 100 m.p.h."

I am not sure if everyone, including my husband and I, were deaf or if we just couldn't hear with the loud sounds of the engines, but I assure you most 'Vettes in the pack went well over 100 m.p.h.

As we started out, the leading cars stayed in the right lane. With such an enormous number of 'Vettes in line, we were backed up, and at a stand still, once the first few cars hit the toll booth about two miles from the rest stop. We were confused. What fun would this be? We could go faster without a police escort. There were plenty of grumblings over the C.B. radios that we always carry with us. Then a tiny dot in our rear view mirror got closer and closer, pretty quickly. One of our Corvette brothers busted out of line and sped like lighting in the middle lane. We did the same and one by one, so did everyone else. Before you knew it there were a sea of Corvettes storming the AC Expressway like violent waves in the ocean. You couldn't hear your radio over the sound of the signing engines going up through the gears. I tried talking to my husband but there was no use. He couldn't hear me and even if he could he wasn't going to respond. His eyes were locked on the road and his fingers were clenched around the steering wheel - once you get your car up to 160 m.p.h. it takes some concentration.

If was a load of fun that didn't last long - you can only go 160 m.p.h. for so long before you catch up to the pace car and reach your destination. We were there in no time. As one of our club members said, "The kids got a lot of toys from Toys for Tots that day, but we got to have all the fun."