Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

November 10, 2008

Ladies & Gentlemen:

The North American Eagle™ jet car and team were on hand at the Motorsports 2008 Northwest Auto Show, held in the Tacoma Dome over the weekend.

Folks from around the Puget Sound region who entered the Tacoma Dome were treated to the sight of the NAE™ immediately in front of them before venturing out onto the floor full of hot rods, dragsters and restored classics on display.

Several who stopped to look or ask questions shared with us that they had been following the project, had seen us on the Discovery Channel, or heard about us and were delighted that we were in the show for them to see "the beast" in person.

Fans were treated to free photos of the NAETM provided by South Island Print Services of Vancouver Canada.  Nearly every person who picked up a photo requested autographs from the team members on hand.   On the back of each card were the 72+ companies supporting the project. The beautiful full color card featured a photo by Rachel Shadle.  South Island Print Services provides photo cards, envelopes, letterheads, business cards and other print services for the project.  Fans were also able to purchase hats, shirts, posters and other paraphernalia.  These are all available on the NAE™ Gear page. 

More pictures were taken than you could shake a stick at, so a photo gallery will be produced here on the site soon for you to look through. Several folks were allowed to have their pictures taken next to the cockpit as well.

Ed's notes about the event:

The NAE™ team members are really proud to have spent 4 very long, very demanding days at the Northwest Motorsports Show at the Tacoma Dome where we introduced the Northwest to the North American Eagle. We spent two weekends getting it show ready then loaded it into the Tacoma Dome on Thursday, Nov.6. Just unloading and setting up the display took about 10 hours. Included in the display were our two Bonneville Racers, the "Swamp Witch" lakester, built, owned and driven by Eric McClain and Eds "Super Slug" 160 MPH, 1927 T Roadster that he and his son Cameron had  campaigned since the early 90's. Keith also crews for Ed and is very familiar with the nuts and bolts of that car as well as every nut and bolt in the Eagle.

The show opened on Friday the 7th so team members staffed the display from morning to about 9 PM. Eds wife, Elaine had folded and bagged T shirts, polo shirts and hats during the previous week and then staffed the sales table all weekend. Long days, trapped at the table!
Nearly the entire team took turns over the three days of the event with Saturday being a 12 hour day and Sunday even longer because loadout began at 6 PM. All the other 200 vehicles were gone by the time the Eagle was finally loaded and ready to move out on Sunday evening.

Even though nearly every team member participated, I want to make mention of the special effort by some of the team members that went above and beyond. Jon Higley, Rob Martinson, Tom Pengelly and his dad Rich, Elaine, Russ and our newest team member Paul Turner were some of the outstanding contributors of time and effort. When team members like Bill Eckberg, Russ Garlow, Rich, Tom, Cam and Rachel travel about 70 to 80 miles to make the show, that is impressive. What really blew me away was Mark Sequin and his family driving all the way from Twisp, about 200 miles, to spend the three days of the show working the display. Tim Finley spent a long day on Friday doing a photo shoot with our gear model, Ananda Hart then worked Saturday and Sunday at the show. John Winchester had just returned from Texas just in time to get his NAE polo shirt on and get down to the show. Ron Doll and his family also came out to visit us for a while. Don Mitchell got his first exposure to sitting at the show and answering all sorts of questions. Bernard and John Drury had their hands full with the unloading and loading of the NAE and all the related equipment. Rex Walter, Sean Rondesvedt, and Omar Chramosta were able to work too. Omar is still recovering from open heart surgery two weeks ago and shouldn't have been there at all.

On Monday, I needed to sleep in but didn't because I felt guilty about all the others that still work for a living and had to get up and go to work even though they deserved a day off. Keith and I really appreciated the work done by everyone involved. Thanks to the team for a good show!

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