An AONE Director’s Perspective on the AROC National Convention in Nashville
Story and photos by Steve Silverstein
The 2001 Alfa National Convention turned out to be an exceptional event. I say this with a slight amount of surprise, since Nashville doesn’t really have a large Alfa population. However, it does have a very loyal and dedicated group who put on this wonderful event. I was truly astounded by how organized this event was, even down to the clever "pit pass" name tags that had a picture of your car on the front. Yes, they had requested photos of your car upon registration and now we know what those images were for...
The welcoming party was a tremendous amount of fun. Alfa owners from all over the US were in attendance. For me, it was a homecoming event that drew many of the other "former Nashville" Alfa owners. I didn’t realize how many Alfa owners have once called Nashville their home. So it was a great time to reunite. There were also a few New England people—Tom and Marilyn Freiberger, and also Mike and Diane McGeough (sorry if I missed more of you). AONE Founding Father Fred DiMatteo also attended, driving all the way up from Florida.
The first major event was a tour/rally to the Jack Daniels event. The route down to the Jack Daniels distillery is a wonderfully scenic drive that ends in Lynchburg. Lynchburg is your typical sleepy Southern town. I don’t have the exact numbers, but a huge percentage of convention attendees participated. You’re probably thinking that everyone ended up inebriated in Lynchburg. Well, believe it or not, Lynchburg is a "dry" county – imagine that! Scott McCuskey (ex-Nashvillian) and his family won the timed event.
The new Nashville Motor Speedway, where the track and time trial events were held, is an impressive facility. It is brand new and proved to be the perfect location for the convention’s speed events. I believe that the Alfa convention was the first "major" event held at this facility. I won’t list the results, but you can find them on the internet at this web site.
Saturday ended up being a really full day, with the track event and the banquet, but the most enjoyable part was "Alfas Under the Stars". You know how everybody always gathers in the parking lot in the evenings at conventions? Well, they planned for this and even provided live music and refreshments in the parking area! It was a great chance to catch up with Alfa friends from all over the US.
As mentioned, the banquet was the last event of the conference that I could attend. I really regretted missing the Sunday concours. The parking lot had already started to fill up with really exceptional Alfas, so I knew that it was going to be a great day for perusing fine cars.
Next year, the convention will be in California and the following
year in Florida. We need to start thinking about hosting one of these events in the
future. What a great way to welcome Alfa back to the US with a convention in Boston! 
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Steve’s "pit pass" |
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Marilyn and Tom Freiberger with family under the stars |
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Bill Daemke and Father Fred DiMatteo, AROC Tech Advisors |
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Pre-Banquet photo - Steve Silverstein, Bill Sinclair, Theresa Smith (Organizer), and Bob McKeown (Organizer) |
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Lining up for Tech Inspection |
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The Bonneville racers, which you may have read about in Alfa Owner |
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A very nice 1900 |