Hi Guys,

Looks like Spring is here judging by our recent weather. It is really nice to see the sun for a change. Time to fire up that barbeque and get that GTO ready for some cruising!

We got our Dyno Day in on March 3rd, in between rainy days. Nine members ran their cars and many more members came by to watch. A really fun time was had by all. We definitely are planning on doing this again. Horsepower readings at the rear wheels went from 225 to 430. The 400 cars were at 225 and the top 389 tri-power car was at 290. The 455’s took over from there. 4-speeds are more efficient than automatics and lose less power through the driveline.

Individual bragging rights belong to the participants and I will not be one of them as I had a mechanical problem on my way there and did not participate. I did make it to watch though. It was a learning experience for all of us! Overall, some cars made less power than their owners thought and some made more. No doubt that the horsepower and torque printout you get is a great conversation piece!

Our year end 2000 Treasurers Report was presented at our recent meeting by Will Valle. We also talked a bit about our upcoming May 5th event featuring Jim Wangers. As always, we had a very productive meeting although attendance was a bit low this time around. Our next meeting is on April 4th in San Leandro. On May 2nd we are back in Redwood City, both meetings at Harry's Hofbrau. Both of these meetings are very important as we will be getting ready for our upcoming events including the Jim Wangers event and June GGuys. Both those events are covered in detail in this newsletter. Your participation at both these meetings is requested. Lot’s of opportunity for you to be involved and help out for these two events. We need help in several areas for the Jim Wangers event and we cannot have too many volunteers for June GGuys.

Chronologically, here is what we have for you through early June. Details are in this newsletter for all the events discussed here. There truly is something here for everyone. Please for all these events, follow the instructions provided by the event coordinators. Some events can be laid back with no sign ups required while others require a lot of structure. Your cooperation with this makes everyone’s job easier and goes a long ways towards having these events runs monthly. Your enjoyment is our primary goal. We begin with our next club meeting on April 4th. April 14th is our Day at Filoli in Woodside. You can join us for breakfast and a cruise to Filoli or simply meet us there. 

Sunday, April 29th, we return to Benicia for the Benicia High School Band Car Show. GGG has won the club participation award at this show for top attendance, so come on out! On May 2nd, we are back in Redwood City for another meeting. May 5th we are in San Jose for our car show and presentation by  the one and only Mr. Jim Wangers. This event has specific instructions as there are only so many spaces available for both the car show and the theatre. Please take the time to CLOSELY read the flyer on this event. It is truly something special and we may not be able to do this again. Seize the opportunity you have been presented with and signup TODAY. THIS EVENT ROCKS !!!!

On May 11th and 12th, we have been invited to participate in the Central Pontiacs of CA. car show in Madera. These folks are really pleasant to be around and put on a really nice show. It is open to Pontiac, Olds and Buick and gives you a chance to see something a little different. Great way to spend a couple of days or just jet down there on Saturday. May 19th has us up to Sonoma and Sears Point Raceway for the Vintage Car Races. This event also requires you to follow specific instructions so please read the information carefully. On May 26-28th we have been invited to participate in the Tiger Run GTOAA Regional show in Bend Or. This is one of the best shows in the country and allows you to visit western Oregon. 

June 2nd and 3rd has us once again being the HOST CLUB for our 5th year at the GGuys Summer Get Together in Pleasanton. You can let me know immediately if you want to participate. We cannot have too many cars and volunteers for this event. With our current roster at 200 plus members let us set a goal of 100 cars for both the Jim Wangers event and GGuys. Optimistic you say? Yeah, definitely, but we CAN MEET THESE GOALS. We have the members, we have the cars, we have the events. If we get enough of you fired up to come on out and join us, we make the number. I cannot emphasize enough and this is directed at what Jim Lent refers to as “ Ghost Members”. You owe it to yourselves to come out to some of these events and join in the GGG Experience. Your car does not need to be perfect. Rest assured that mine is CERTAINLY NOT. You will enjoy the time you spend participating in club activities. You will learn more about your car and make new friends. That is without question, time well spent. We truly enjoy seeing cars we have not seen before and meeting their owners. We all benefit from increased member participation. Make the commitment to attend an upcoming event TODAY. The GGG Experience is honestly something special.

That covers everything between our next club meeting and June GGuys. We are one busy club! Look for updates online and on the website in addition to the newsletter as these events get closer. Any questions on any of these events, just ask the event coordinators. They will be more than happy to help you in any way they can.

The Recipe Corner has been up and running in the newsletter for several months now. How are you all enjoying it? Please send any suggestions, comments and of course recipes to my wife Marsha at email: MITYGTO@aol.com, fax to 650-349-2095 or mail to her at 435 West 25th Ave. in San Mateo, 94403.Thanks a lot!

We have a really fantastic assortment of club Tees, tank tops (Ladies too!), caps, pins and window stickers in stock. Ordering info is in the newsletter. Get your stuff today!

I do believe we have a wrap so to speak.

Hope to see all of you real soon and as always;

SEE YA  IN THE FAST LANE !!!!!     Bye for now,

JOHN

If you are interested in the food and wine tasting in Sonoma Saturday evening, call Sears Point Raceway for tickets to that event. If you want to stay overnight in Sonoma, there are several motels and many Bed and Breakfast Inns. We will be staying at the El Pueblo Inn, 896 W. Napa Street, Sonoma, phone 800/900-8844. Its parking lot seems very GTO friendly. You must make your reservations early, as rooms fill up early. Call me for other suggestions of places to stay.

As many of you already know, Golden Gate Goats is the host club for the Good Guys 8th Summer Get Together at the Pleasanton fairgrounds. This has proven to be our largest event to date with 50+ GTO’s in attendance last year. Our club has become one of the largest GTO clubs in the nation with approximately 200+ current members. The enormous amount of exposure we get at this show has played a large part in helping us increase our membership. Good Guys management was very happy with the job we have done as well as the fact that we pretty much blew 'em away with our level of participation! They invited us back for this years show during last years show! For a niche club such as ours, the opportunity to host a show of this caliber is a really big deal!

Let me go back to early 1997 when our club was but a few months old. Club member John Phillips was at the right place at the right time and was instrumental in introducing us to the Good Guys. John also belongs to the P-Town Pushrods, the club that hosts many Good Guys shows each year. He found out that P-Town was not going to be hosting the upcoming Muscle Car Nationals as they were already doing three shows and their members are heavy into rods. John called me immediately and we were able to get the “gig” so to speak. Without John’s help, we never would have been given this opportunity. Thanks a lot, John and I hope I got the facts close to correct!

Those of you that have not yet participated must be curious as to what “hosting” the show entails. Here is what is in store for ya! Our day begins early. We rendezvous in front of Specialty Sales on 1st street in Pleasanton at 5:30 a.m.! We leave promptly for the fairgrounds at 5:45 a.m. We drive to our club parking area near the museum and park the cars. The fairgrounds are very quiet until the exhaust note of 20,000 GTO horsepower fills the air, along with blipping throttles as we back em in. Unless you plan to cruise the fairgrounds, this will be your spot for the day. Good Guys event personnel will meet us here and outline what weneed to do. We have done everything in previous years from helping with the special areas to directing traffic inside the fairgrounds. Whatever assignment we get is always a good time. Our level of participation determines how long we each need to work. I anticipate one hour per day per person. Those of you with cars in progress, come on out and join in the fun! As more information comes in, we will do a work schedule and post it via e mail and on the website so each of you knows exactly where you need to be and when so you can maximize your fun at the show.

Once again, we will be discussing this event in great detail at the next two club meetings. With our April meeting in San Leandro and our May meeting in Redwood City, we will have a great, opportunity to pre-plan for this event. This hopefully will result in a record number of cars along with a new attendance record. Let us set an aggressive goal of 100 cars to attend. I will be e mailing all the car mags letting them know that we are coming out in force. They are always looking for GTO’s to do articles on and we have some mighty fine examples of the ORIGINAL MUSCLECAR!

Rinse walnuts, then boil in 5 cups water for 10 minutes. Remove walnuts from boiling water and discard water. Bring 4 cups water and 1/2 cup sugar to a boil. When sugar is dissolved,  add walnuts and boil for another 10 minutes. Remove walnuts from the boiling sugar water and drain. Allow to dry completely.

Heat 2 cups oil until almost smoking, then deep-fry walnuts until they are shiny and brown, no longer golden. Remove walnuts to cookie sheet, let cool. 

Mix cornstarch and egg whites together to form a thick, sticky texture and mix well with prawns. Set aside. Mix honey mayonnaise, lemon juice and condensed milk in medium bowl until smooth.