Mark your calendars. The Jim Thorpe Classic Run is back for its fourth year! The run is open to any car, 25 years or older.

The date: Saturday, September 19, 2009 (rain date: September 26, 2009)
The meeting place: The Cracker Barrel (21 Industrial Drive in Hamburg, PA - near the intersection of I-78 and Rt. 61)
Departure time: 10:00am (driver's meeting at 9:55am Please arrive by at least 9:45)

Join us for a scenic cruise to the quaint town of Jim Thorpe, PA. We'll enjoy a drive along some back roads in Berks, Schuylkill, and Carbon counties in Pennsylvania. Along the way, we'll have a couple stops for lunch, and a scenic overlook of Jim Thorpe before we roll into town for the climax of the drive. Lunch will be a BBQ at the farm my parents own along the route. It's a great place to stretch our legs and get some group shots of the cars. Lunch will be $7 per person and will include your choice of hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, chips, soda, water, and some of the best ice cream you've ever had for dessert!

For pictures from previous year's runs and additional Jim Thorpe, click here.

Formal registration is required due to the planning necessary for our BBQ lunch. Registration forms can be downloaded here. All registration forms must be postmarked by September 5, 2009. Money is refundable until September 12, 2009. After that time, I will have already begun spending that money to buy supplies.

If you've never been to Jim Thorpe, you are in for a treat. It is a small town originally built up around the coal industry, and famous for it's gravity railroad that, at one time (way back when), made it the second largest tourist destination in the country, behind Niagara Falls! After a decline, the town has been reborn once again as a tourist destination, offering quaint shops, restaurants, and B&B's. Tour the Packer Mansion - the house that inspired the haunted house in Disney World. Or make a weekend of it and enjoy some of the biking or whitewater rafting that draw thousands to the town each year. Like trains? Take one of the scenic train rides that leave from town at numerous times during the day.

I'm inviting several local car clubs that I'm involved with to join us, but this is not strictly a "club" event. If you've got a club or group of friends who'd like to join us, just have them send in a registration form. The more the merrier!

Directions to the Cracker Barrel for those coming via I-78:
- I-78 to exit 29 for Rt. 61 N toward Pottsville
- Right at light onto Jetson Dr
- Bear right after the gas station (on your right) and follow that road to the Cracker Barrel

What you need to bring:
1. Two way radio - to receive instructions/information or ask for help if your car decides to be tempermental!
2. Full tank of gas (you can top off near the starting point)
3. $5 for parking in Jim Thorpe. Sometimes they charge, sometimes they don't, but be prepared.
4. Spare parts, oil, coolant, whatever other fluids may leak out of your car, tools, a sense of humor, and some patience. Hopefully nobody will have any problems but it helps to be prepared.

Long distance travellers:
For those who'd like to drive out the night before, there is a hotel just up the road from the Cracker Barrel:

Microtel Inn & Suites
(610) 562-4234
50 Industrial Dr
Hamburg, PA 19526

I suggest making reservations at least a couple weeks in advance. The Microtel is the ONLY hotel in the area and it fills up with people looking to head across the highway to Cabelas.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or post in this thread. Hope to see you in September!

Oh Robyn...I had so hoped you would do this on the weekend of the 12th. Now it conflicts with Stowe again. We had such a nice time in JT last year on the rainy days that we were ready to go back. Have a great time!!!

Sorry Dale. One of these years we'll get this to work out.

Just thought I'd bump this up. A little over a month until this event, so if you're thinking of joining us, don't forget to get your registrations in.

Well, the run is shaping up nicely. We're up to 12 cars, with many repeat "customers" along with a few new participants this year. Still time to sign up if you're interested in joining us.

Attending so far:
1. Jerseygirl (Triumph Spitfire)
2. Ian (either Volvo 1800ES or Triumph Spitfire)
3. Marty (MGB)
4. Ken (MGB)
5. George (Volvo 1800)
6. Paul (Volvo 1800)
7. Art (MGB)
8. TR3Sharon (Triumph TR3)
9. Frank (Triumph Spitfire)
10. Don (Triumph Spitfire)
11. Terry (Corvette)
12. Tom (Corvette or Triumph TR6)

Looking forward to it!

So am I Marty. We've got a great turnout this year assuming we don't have to go to the rain date, which would cause me to lose a few cars due to a schedule conflict.

Our final total comes to 18 cars this year!!!

Final list:
1. Jerseygirl (Triumph Spitfire)
2. Ian F (either Volvo 1800ES or Triumph Spitfire)
3. Marty (MGB)
4. Ken (MGB)
5. George (Volvo 1800)
6. Paul (Volvo 1800)
7. Art (MGB)
8. TR3Sharon (TR3)
9. Frank (Triumph Spitfire)
10. Don (Triumph Spitfire)
11. Terry (Corvette)
12. Tom (Corvette or Triumph TR6)
13. Tom (Triumph TR4)
14. Bill (Mini)
15. Ken (1800ES)
16. Greg (Triumph Spitfire)
17. Jim (Pontiac Catalina)
18. Paul (Mercedes 190SL)

Robyn,

Man I wish I could make it back for that.Looks
like a scenic drive.
My Wife's family is from the Allentown area,so
I'm a little familiar with the area.I didn't know
that JT,PA was just a short drive away.We were in
Walnutport about 4 years ago.

- Doug

There's always next year Doug.

The Anglia will be 50 years old next year.If I can
get things sorted out,it may be back on the road.Remind me
next year.

- Doug

Consider yourself reminded. Next year's date should be 9/18.

Well, we could not have asked for a more perfect day for this event this year. Not a cloud in the sky and a high approaching 70 degrees. Fantastic. We had a great turnout this year, which will hopefully continue next year, and we had a nice variety of cars as well.

There were oodles of cameras out at the lunch stop and I had only a little bit of time to get some pictures between making sure lunch went smoothly and dishing out ice cream, but here are a few pictures I did manage to take:

Oh Robyn..that is the Stowe British Invasion weekend again. Maybe some day...

I love that Pontiac Catalina,but I wouldn't want to
try & keep up with a TR6 with it.
Any chance of changing the date so it doesn't conflict
with other events?


- Doug

The problem is that trying to find a weekend that doesn’t conflict with another event is virtually impossible. There are just a lot of local clubs and so many events, which is actually a good thing. If I then try to make sure I don’t conflict with events as far away from PA as Stowe, VT, then I might as well not even try to do the run at all, because there’s no way I’ll find a weekend that doesn’t have something going on within that large a radius.

The third Saturday in September has worked well for me, and more importantly, it works well for my family, who are generous enough to host the BBQ during the run. The weather is usually pretty decent this time of year, and my turnout each year has been slowly growing, so while I’m sorry the date doesn’t work for everyone (no date ever would), I think I’m going to stick with it. Besides, this run isn’t exclusively for British cars, so moving the date might avoid Stowe, but might conflict with a big American, Swedish, German, or Italian car club event.

Maybe those who want a change of pace from the British Invasion one year will decide to join our run instead. It’s always nice to have options.

More photos here...finally got around to posting:

http://mofugly.blogspot.com/2009/09/jim-thorpe-classic-run-iv.html

Robyn, thanks a lot for doing these runs! And thanks to your family for being such great hosts! We had a blast!

Marty and Marybeth