Tigers United XXII
The After-glow (Installment Nine)

Sunday was upon us. Even before sunrise, the parking lot was busy with preparation for the "Concours". Delaying the "show-n-shine" until the closing day of Tigers United, served to even out the advantage trailered cars have historically been granted and gave many of us the chance to check out the top dogs and a few of their detailing tricks. The Woodly Island Marina, a short five minute drive from the Eureka Inn, was the site for this year's scrutineering. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying the ambiance of this location. To my way of thinking, water, sail boats, lazy coastal breezes, grass, restrooms, a restaurant and lots of open space, made for a perfect spectacle, but what do I know?.

Foreground: Bob Palmer's "Mean green". Background: Tom Hall's latest Lord Rootes creation.

My "beater" gets the once over by Ms. Ettinger.

Paul Nanzig's broken beast, but there nonetheless.

A stunning display of sexy back sides.

Left: Concours chair, Bill Martin, and
Right: worker bee, Marc Miller, deal with the paperwork.

Beauty and the beast. Dick Barker's "mule" is awesome and that
old guy with the beard and the hat is not.

For the first time to my knowledge, those showing their cars were required to work the event as judges. None of that standing around waiting for an overburdened tribunal of volunteers - just get everyone involved. Never one to miss a selling opportunity, Ms. Krudihof wasted little time claiming a pivotal section of the parking lot for the CAT club's parts pavilion. Following her lead, Mr. Duncanson co-opted an adjoining corner for his entourage of offerings and McLeod hawked Sunbeam Specialties' wares from the back of his ever-present El Camino. Judging was adjourned long enough to consume box lunches and any parts that might have been missed the day before, then it was back to scoring sheets and the chore of shaking out a final ranking. The last check marks were noted a full hour before the projected 4:00 p.m. finish, leaving plenty of time for a leisurely return to headquarters and relaxed preparation for the evening awards festivities. Event trophies, which had been on display all week in the hospitality room of the Annex, were transported across the street to the Inn's main banquet room. After-banquet auction items were deployed next to the Colonnade's main entrance, so everyone could see the treasures to be battled for later. Off in the proverbial smoke filled room, "Concours" scoring sheets and "Popular Vote" ballots were collated, totaled and the numbers transferred into the computer program that was tracking "Lord Rootes" competition. In short, everything was in place for the celebration to begin.

Virginia's Chris Williams and son, Jeremy, check out Dan Westland's beautiful GT.

Ian Hall gets the grand tour of Bill Wallner's pride and joy.

On the prowl to make sure all is in order. Ian talks to me about
the ex Marcus Chambers "recce" car, while Marc Miller awaits completed judging forms.

Lunch for the "Barker bunch" - right behind Dad's, or is that
Granddad's car.

It isn't often that banquet food becomes the center of conversation. However, to a person, people could not stop commenting on the out of the ordinary buffet put forth by the Eureka Inn's staff that night. Ian Hall was a complete riot. He had more food on one plate than looked possible. It was all heaped together and in one case with surprising results. Combining cantaloupe and undiluted horseradish is not the best menuing, regardless of your culinary tastes, especially if you're not aware of the coupling. Unlike Mr. Hall, Rosemary, who had hinted her love of "proper" horseradish the night of the VIP dinner, used the occasion for a second, planned, eye watering, sinus clearing experience. Many went back for seconds and as always a few even queued for thirds, before hitting the dessert table. By then it was time to get down to the business at hand. Mr. Duncanson whipped through the preliminaries of the "thank yous" and settled on the first group of honorees. With Rosemary handing out the trophies, David gave the rundown for the "Quiz" and "Autocross". Rosemary and Ian combined to congratulate the "Rally" winners, with Ian fussing over the importance of the navigators. Yours truly assisted with special recognition citations, including the first ever "Fallehy" award. Gracious as always, Laura Garrad helped acknowledged the "Concours" finishers and later, both the "Howie Schoenfeld" and "Lord Rootes" beneficiaries. With all of the trophies majestically in the hands of deserving recipients, one could hardly help looking back to the origins of some of these honors.

Tom & Trish Ballou with their "Rally" winnings. Very nice
folks from Texas.

Graham & Ruth Vickery with a special thank you for sharing
the last Tiger built. Equally nice folks from England.

Just minutes away from knowing who the winners would be.

Goodies galore for the high bidders.

The horseradish table.

Duncanson preaching to the faithful.

Just one last picture. With the celebration continuing in the Palm Lounge, the Taylors (Maria & Terry) pose with Laura Garrad and
two of their trophies. Rick McLeod seems to approve.

By nature, traditions, develop slowly and frequently with very little forethought. Imagine the first presentation of the "Lord Rootes" trophy, some 20 years ago. On that occasion, flushed with the presence of Ian Garrad (the father of the Sunbeam Tiger), a freshly engraved cup (donated by Lord "Billy" Rootes himself) and the desire to herald the excellence of combined accomplishment, few could have anticipated the need to note information concerning the identity of the vehicle about to be honored. After all, everyone would have known the name, Bruce Shaffer, and most would have recognized his car as well. In the years that followed, others joined the list in similar fashion, until today we find a collection of twenty-five cars and twenty-two owners sharing the "Lord Rootes Trophy" distinction. As often happens with the passage of time, Mr. Shaffer and his car of 1977, are considerably less familiar, if recognized at all, in 1997. So too, have we lost from memory, the names of many other past winners, prompting me to do something about that. Oddly, even though according to the guidelines the trophy goes to the car, and once a Tiger has been honored it can never be considered for the award again, you cannot turn to any event maintained resource to find descriptive, identification information about previous honorees, not even the trophy itself. It seems simple enough to correct this oversight and to that end, I recall for you each of the nineteen, fantastic "Lord Rootes Tigers" and their rightfully proud owners, followed by a listing of this year's Tigers United XXII winners.

P. S. NOTE, I have added the names for '97, '99, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006,  2007 & 2008 to the "Lord Rootes" chart as a part of my ongoing record keeping.

If you are interested in a bit of Tigers United history and some background on the major trophies, have a look at:

XXII HISTORY

_{1977 United 4}

Bruce Shaffer

Medford, OR

Red MK II

B382100256

1978 United 5

Charlie Russell

Redding, CA

Black I-A

B382002547

1979 United 6

Gary Haslip

Santa Maria, CA

White MK I

B9471410

1980 United 7

Cheryl Bates

Eugene, OR

Red GT

B9470185

1981 United 8

Tom Hall

Fremont, CA

White I-A

B382000850

1982 United 9

Terry Taylor

Santa Maria, CA

Gray MK I

B9472331

1983 United 10

Glenn Fukui

Grants Pass, OR

Candy Apple Red I-A

B382000553

1984 United 11

Peter Phelps

Grants Pass, OR

Black MK I

B9472118

1985 United 12

Albert Cohen

Santa Barbara, CA

Blue I-A

B382002676

1986 United 13

Dave Bates

Lake Tahoe, CA

Green I-A

B382002242

1987 United 14

John Peterson

Atascadero, CA

Blue MK I

B9472701

1988 United 15

Phillip Cohen

Napa, CA

Red MK I

B9470754

1989 SUNI

1990 United 16

Bob Lobdill

_{Mammoth, CA}

Green MK II

B382100197

1991 United 17

Stan Clark

Santa Rosa, CA

Green I-A

B382002197

1992 United 18

Bruce Ulrich

Temecula, CA

Red MK I

B9470723

1993 United 19

Dave Dunn

Lake Tahoe, CA

Red MK I

B9471778

1994 SUNI II

1995 United 20

Bruce Ulrich

Grants Pass, OR

Green MK II

B382100268

1996 United 21

Tom McDaniel

Bakersfield, CA

Blue MK I

B9471668

1997 United 22

Tom Hall

Eureka, CA

Blue MK I

B9470410

1998 SUNI III

1999 United 23

Ed & Karen Foster

Big Bear, CA

Yellow I-A

B382002035

2000 United 24

Eric Heuscher

Grants Pass, OR

Green I-A

B382002577

_{2001 United 25}

_{Rob Guerra}

_{Salinas, CA}

_{Blue MK I}

_B9470129

_{2002 United 26}

_{Dale Akuszewski}

_{Mammoth, CA}

_{White MK I-A}

_B382000874

_{2003 United 27}

_{John Stithem}

Stock

Personalized

Modified

1st: Bill Van Velkinburg

1st: Lary Atkisson

1st: Tom McDaniel

2nd: Laura Ettinger

2nd: Collin Hook

2nd: Tom Hall

3rd: Jan Harde

3rd: Bob Wright

3rd: Bob Palmer

Stock/Men

Stock/Women

1st: Terry Taylor

1st: Maria Taylor

2nd: John Peterson

2nd: Laura Ettinger

3rd: Dave Dunn

Personalized/Men

Personalized/Women

1st: Stan Clark

1st: Deborah Phelps

2nd: Peter Phelps

2nd: Marla Meek

3rd: John Stithem

Modified/Men

Modified/Women

1st: Tom McDaniel

1st: Rosemary Smith

2nd: Bud Bohrer

2nd: Brenda Matthews

3rd: Dan Walters

Driver

Navigator

1st: Larry Albritton

1st: Gary Winblad

2nd: Brad Barker

2nd: Peggy Barker

3rd: Kevin Meek

3rd: Marla Meek

4th: Trish Ballou

4th: Tom Ballou

5th: Rick Muller

5th: Bonnie Muller

1st: Ed & Karen Foster

2nd: Marlene Vanderpool

3rd: Terry Taylor

Tom & Bette Hall

B382002687 LRXFE - Dave Dunn

B9470410 LRXFE - Tom & Bette Hall

Mark Olson

Trophies of a different kind formed the core of a very successful closing night auction. Along with an impressive collection of historic photos, bearing autographs from various marque luminaries, bidders were also presented with collectibles of a more novel nature. Ian Hall, as example, donated a never worn LAT 18 jacket. I think in all the time I have been messing with Tigers I've seen only one other jacket like that one. Dick and Anne Barker gifted some totally unique, handmade, Laura Garrad pottery and even the CHP ticket given to the Le Mans coupe became fair game during the merriment. When the last bids of the evening signaled an official close to Tigers United XXII, a boisterous throng adjourned to the lounge and continued to savor one of the most exciting Tiger gatherings in memory. Getting home would be uneventful for our contingent, but filled with the glow of having shared the most meaningful collection of factory significant people and machinery ever assembled.