[Clois Harlan]

I do not own the name, Jay Nordstrom does.

Last year was a difficult time for many of us old time Run N Gunners. Several of us were in between projects with nothing to drive or the economy had beaten us down so badly that we were watching our nickles and dimes. Run N Gun is a great event and the St. Louis Cobra Club founders (Mark, Tim, and Paul) ran into the same issues we had at our last RNG. The fact is Dean and I came up almost $3,000 short of expenses which we had to make up out of pocket with a little help from our friends.

It had became more and more difficult to get Cobra owners to commit to the event three months out. The manufacturers needed exposure but our magazine coverage was down to only one magazine. Now, that magazine will only be available online but it will become a monthly issue rather than a bi-monthly. Additionally, many of those manufacturers were fighting their own battles with the slowing demand due to the economy. Today some of those manufacturers are no longer in business. In some cases that is a good thing. The quality of the Cobra's today couldn't be stronger with our core Cobra Manufacturers. The bottom line is the Manufacturers are necessary to make an event happen because of the cost to rent a track and all the necessary workers.

Going forward I believe the Cobra industry is strong and the demand for a Run N Gun event will happen and hopefully it will return to St. Louis where I believe is one of the best locations ever. Centrally located and the best facilities I have ever experienced.

The key to making the NEXT RNG successfuly will be to get the track on board with the event and not expect to clear X number of dollars. Unfortunately, the tracks have people to answer to as well that may not like them giving away track time at a reduced rate. Double edged sword.

Clois