Not Ranked
you probably do not know is that we have always kept $2,000 to $2,500 for the following year, but I’m still shocked, amazed and very damned proud that we had that much to give to CF this year. (EIGHTY-SEVEN days if you want to count the day that the Sniper was actually caught!) Eight-Seven days.)
Mikes last comment on this thread:
“It is imperative that we, as a group, have some financial accountability—is that clear—we must have financial responsibility.”
DV: Once again…Hmmmmm. Would someone tell me why we don’t. Have anyone of you ever asked where the money was going and didn’t receive a direct answer?
JAMO- same thread:
“Way to many chef’s in the kitchen, and some a$$es are gonna bump into each other.”
DV: Just had to chuckle over that one.
Page 4:
Turk: “I don’t go to the Fling to contribute to CF, I go to be with friends and contribute while I am there.”
DV: Well said, and I don’t hold the DVSF to contribute to CF! I to, go to be with friends, that we end up donating to CF is strictly the icing in my opinion.
JP: …there was a brand new Kirkham donated free-of-charge…the proceeds donated to CF have gone down as we’ve gotten bigger.
DV: First off, although the Kirkhams did donate the car ‘free-of-charge’ to us, we still paid thousands and thousands of dollars to complete the car, not to mention a few hundred hours OF ‘DONATED’ work that was needed to complete the car.
IF ANYONE takes this as a complaint from me, then I suggest you see me first before posting anything negative. The Kirkham Cobra was and still is the greatest gift the Fling has ever received!
Second, JP, how the hell do you figure the donation has gone down, as we’ve gotten bigger?
Also, please explain bigger? More Cobras? Yes. More Cobra families? Yes. More days to the Fling? NO. Taken over more of London? NO. More events? NO. Different maybe, but certainly not more. More Vendors? Yes, because either “YOU” or the Vendors themselves asked to come.
So somebody, anybody explain to me what you’re calling “bigger”. Then explain to me why it is such a bad thing. Turk mentioned the hotels can’t handle us. Turk, since the inception of the first Fling, there have been at least three more hotels built within a mile of our original hotels. This doesn’t even account for the half dozen or so eight miles north of us. I think Hotels are not a problem. But, maybe that’s just me being stubborn. (?)
JP: And I quote, “As WE” devote more and more time and energy to make the fling “bigger and badder” than ever before, we lose sight of what it is/was all about.”
Then he continues,
“Now that the Fling has truly become a business (registering via secure internet transaction site, etc…), more and more people are putting on their accounting hats and saying, “Well, if this is a business, and we are trying to raise boatloads of cash for CF, where is all that cash going?”
DV: This is just about where I posted; it would have been nice had you been “here” from the inception of the Fling. This is where you accused me of getting an attitude when I asked if the DVSF IV wasn’t your first Fling that you actually participated in as one of our family.
My point is, you obviously have NO clue why we, all the volunteers, have taken a vast amount of time, and resources needed to not only write the web site up so it can be a secure site, but what it takes to obtain one.
Had you been here from the beginning you will find that I, the “Combs’ family” as you like to call it, refused to accept any money for the Fling. None, none, none! If you can and maybe Ron can help out, go back four years and find out how many times people volunteered to send us money just so “our” “Picnic” could continue you might get a different outlook on what you have posted. I absolutely refused, stating many, many times that you DO NOT charge people anything to come to your picnic! Once DVSF II (?) came along it was so obvious that there was no way “The Combs Family” could afford to put on this event, “WE” not me, but “US” us demanded that they pay something so we could continue on with the Flings. “WE”, the entire Cobra family, not us, decided on the amount. You were outvoted in 1990 by the ‘WE’, not the ‘ONE”.
That is when the $100.00 fee was chosen, again by “you” not us! That $100.00 now covered the expense of the BBQ, renting of the Lodge, (Never made it to the Lodge did you?), hell that covered everything but any personal expenses and STILL DOES.
At the same time the raffles started to take off. “You”, not us, not only asked but damned near demanded that we join the 20th century and take credit cards on the website. I thought, why not? Sure would save me a ton of time and work. The credit card slips would make “accounting” so much easier. Then with untold contacts and work, we finally were able to get a huge break from the credit card companies and “ Merchants Services” to obtain the necessary “what ever” to use credit cards on line.
JP: to finish his statement, “…where is all that cash going?”
DV: Helluva implication JP. Second time I think that has been referred to. Why not just ASK? Why not call me? I’d be glad to answer that. Foremost, ANYONE can ask! No one ever has, EXCEPT CF, but that doesn’t mean you can’t! I intend to make a full post sometime in the very near future on this very thing. There are reasons that will become very apparent later on why I have decided to hold off a little. (Now this is a great comment that I have made which I’m sure a few of you will be more than willing to speculate on. Be careful, you might be embarrassed when it is said and done!)
Lets see, probably the biggest cost is, ‘employee’ expense. It is OK since this is a ‘business’ to have employees and pay them isn’t it?
Lets start off at the bottom and work up.
Rick Dorman, hell Rick worked through some really tough times getting the “Poker Run” that “YOU” wanted. He made the maps, drove all the routes, numerous times I might add. He also contacted everyone of the business’ involved. He then held the finale’ Friday night to determine the winner.
Rick’s’ take after it was all said and done…. $.ZERO (Thanks again Rick)
John Bower. John is the guy that has been working on the web site ever since Tom H. disappeared last year, (I’ll find out more and report on this nightmare later.) really leaving us hanging. John took at least three weeks of vacation time from his job to build the web site. In fact he used up every vacation day he had earned and is still trying to straighten out that mess as I’m typing this. I hesitate to guess as John does not know how to work less than ten-hour days minimum, but lets assume he has a minimum of 400 hours in so far.
John’s take: $.ZERO
(John, a guy couldn’t ask for a better Son-n-Law!)
Wendy (Combs) Bower, Just a hundred or so hours, meeting with London, working with the kids, working on the parades, helping John, and giving up her vacation to Europe this year. (Remember the above scenario with her husband?) Not a complaint from either one of them either, they just kept asking…what else?
Wendy’s take: $.ZERO
Mrs. DV- Diane. Let is suffice that just mentioning her name should be enough. Without her, there would be NO Flings!
Mrs. DV’s take: $.ZERO
Chris, excessive 1 as most of you knows him. I couldn’t give Chris money! I honestly cannot count the hours/days that Chris put in at the shop, not only helping with the Fling, but also actually working on the DV Cobra and some of my “shop” cars that I had to work on for the real business, so I could work on the Fling.
Chris’ take: $.ZERO
Can’t forget the “real” employees of my old shop. By now, as most of you know, Jay Kowalik (NoLimits) took over. Those guys were awesome, not only this year but also every year of the Fling. They helped put Jenny’s car together, they helped answering the hundreds of phone calls, they too worked on the DV Cobra, and they “worked the Fling-all three days on their own time!” (At least they never charged me; they might had dinged Jay for some of it though-smiley face here!)
Classics by Elite, llc.’s take: $.ZERO
I am so sorry, because I am forgetting so many people here, but trust me “their” take was: $.ZERO
I guess that leaves DV Jr. – Randy:
As I’ve previously stated, Randy actually shut his business down at least five weeks. FIVE WEEKS! I’d like to see any of you take five weeks off of work, especially if you are a “service” type business and NOT take home a single paycheck! Then of course for that five weeks alone, which certainly doesn’t count the hundreds of hours not working with/for the raffle, he spent that time, transporting the raffle car from Georgia, to Carlisle to Ohio and many points in between. Did I mention Kentucky and Tennessee? Not bad for all the time we had.
However just to keep the record straight, he was paid “FROM THE RAFFLE FUNDS ONLY”, for one meal a day, hotel rooms, entry fees to the events, (not of them let us in free), and fuel costs. He used my truck and Classics by Elite, llc’s trailer at no cost to anyone.
Randy’s take: If you want to take in a “broken home”, lost business, etc., that kid made a fortune: $.ZERO
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