I tried to post this yesterday, but the flight attendants were not amused that I still had my BlackBerry on while we were taxiing.

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I always seem to be the first to leave, but I guess that's inevitable since I travel the farthest.

SCR XI was another great reunion. It seemed a bit mellower somehow this year, but was really a family event with kids and grandparents participating. I think this is a great testament to how much of a community we've all created. It may be the cars that bring us together, but it's the people that bring us back.

It was awesome catching up with old friends, even though a few regulars weren't able to attend (e.g. Helen, Marlin - however, this did keep alive Marlin's streak of not winning the Deuce shootout, so some things don't change

). But this allowed more time to turn acquaintances into friends and welcome some new faces to the family.

We've got some great story tellers and standup comedians in our midst (Howie's restoration stories cover both

). Having the chance to sit down with a Barnhart and have him recount every nick, ding and battle scar on his car is an amazing thing (plus getting advice from the master on how to properly care for and drive a ZL-1 is pretty damn cool, I must say

). I think the video outfit that Tom brought in this year is going to come up with something pretty neat since it seems they spent about as much time interviewing the owners as they did filming the cars.

Without the cars we wouldn't be anywhere and they were as impressive as ever. For me the black RS COPO was the hit of the show -- BADASS!

I loved all the takes on Day 2 -- I like the individuality it brings into the hobby. Finally, seeing Barnhart, Howie and Red Alert all making (or trying to make) passes against each other was pretty cool. Honorable mention goes to Kana, for consistently spanking Colin's ass on the tree and occasionally pulling off a win in her GTO vs Colin's '68 Yenko Camaro -- girl can shift

Thanks to the Clarys, SCW, Nickey Chicago, the other sponsors, car owners and all the participants for making the SCR the premier event that it is. Special mention should be made to Cumby (all the little design details he does every year), Bruce/Ken (intrepid photographers providing realtime coverage) and the Barr brothers (for repeating their standup/auction routine on Friday).

I am always impressed by the generosity and camaraderie that I witness at the show. It is clearly widely known outside our ranks too -- I met a family from Ontario that flew down, without knowing anybody, because they wanted the right answers on how to get started on restoring the '69 427 Chevelle that has been in their garage since '73. I basically did the same thing at SCR V and it was one the best decisions I've ever made...