Words & Thoughts from the President

[Lugnut]

I dunno what the fuel price will be come June, for the drive to Rapid City SD. I filled the truck at Costco last week and cost me almost $50 for 13 gallons of fuel. IF the LGSM was not painted, I would seriously think about driving the bucket over, but.......Lisa said our coming over will greatly depend on fuel cost. Of course had we known about cost of fuel going up, we would have planned better for it, but who in the hell knew? Tough to plan anything when on a fixed income and other repairs get in the way, had issues with water softner, and a few other sorties regarding the house that no one planned on.

We already are booked in at the host hotel. We would really like to attend, but of course that all depends on fuel price. We could take the bug instead, but like Lisa said, it's not as much fun as being in the bucket. Guess we'll cross that bridge as time nears. Y'all be safe out there.

Luggy

[Bruce DeAngelis]

A Note from the NTBA President
Hi All,

NTBA Nationals Bowling Green, Kentucky. July 11-16. This is going to be a great event!!

A few of us were in Bowling Green the past couple of days doing our pre runs, setting up routes and checking out destinations. The Holiday Inn is very nice, the scenery on the drives is nice, the people are nice, the places were going will be fun, what else can I say! . This is going to be an enjoyable week with the NTBA family you don’t want to miss!

One of the runs, probably Thursday, takes us to a museum called “Days gone by”. I looked at this place and all I could think of is Antique Everything!! They have old planes, cars, Maytag washing machines, train cars, buses, cameras, and the biggest collection of John Deere tractors I’ve ever seen. I guarantee each and everyone of you, there is an item that you used or was in your house growing up, that will take you hop skipping and jumping down memory lane. The sad part of this is everything is going to be sold or auctioned off two months after we’re there. While we are there, a lot of it will be for sale. So you never know, you might want bring something back with you!

We’re going to have guided and self guided runs, like we did in Townsend. There’s quite a few attractions close to the hotel you’ll enjoy visiting on your own, or with a small group. The big runs we’ll lead. The good news on the guided runs is the longest one is under 100 miles round trip. Others are 30 miles out and back. And, ice cream runs every night!

We’ll be putting out more information in the upcoming days and weeks. If you haven’t made your hotel reservation or registered on the website, now is the time! We will have a special drawing for just the people pre registered on the website. All the details for the event are on our website nationaltbucketalliance.com.

I look forward to seeing all of you in Bowling Green!

Bruce DeAngelis
NTBA President

[Bruce DeAngelis]

NTBA Nationals Valve Cover Race

Every year we have the World Championship Valve Cover Races, and this year we will again compete at the NTBA National event in Bowling Green!
If you haven’t entered yet you still have time to put together your valve cover racer and run it on the internationally recognized downhill gravity course! All the details are explained on the nationaltbucketalliance.com. website. On the forum under NTBA tech pages, general information, valve cover rules.
The race is run on gravity similar to the Soap Box Derby, but on a much scaled down course. This gives maximum safety to the driver, being outside and hovering over the valve cover race car!
Dewey Burton is the race boss who coordinates the competition, and hands out the trophies. He is also a past champion and a fierce competitor! The finals will be on Friday night inside the registration room. Dewey will announce any qualifying runs scheduled prior to the finals.
Get your race cars ready and bring them to the track. It’s a good time for racers and spectators alike!

Bruce DeAngelis
NTBA President

[Bruce DeAngelis]

NTBA Nationals

Hi Again all,

Traditionally each one of the chapters donate a club raffle basket for Nationals. There displayed in the registration room, members buy raffle tickets, place them in front of the basket they like, and then the winning ticket is drawn to see who gets to take the basket home!
Last few years more baskets have been showing up from individual members also. The chapters have dwindled some in numbers, so more people are making up the raffle baskets as individual’s and contributing them. This is one of the ways the NTBA makes money to keep the club going.
So, I’m asking everybody to put your creative thinking cap on and come up with a basket of items that represent you, your group, or your state or city. It can be anything from BB-Q sauce to blankets, to aprons to car parts. Anything you think would be fun for someone else to win. Don’t spend a lot of money, but please no junk . A few years ago I won the basket from the Arizona chapter containing my favorite Indian blanket!
Make it a fun basket with interesting items! I hope a lot of you contribute! Thanks.

Bruce DeAngelis
NTBA President

[rbsWELDER]

Laurie and I have our basket ready to go!

[Bruce DeAngelis]

A Note from the NTBA President
Hi All,
Nationals and Bowling Green are finished and I can confidently say it was a success and all who attended had a good time!
But we still have three more events to go before the 2022 season is over.
The Southeast New Mexico Desert Fun Run in Artesia, NM. September 8-10. Mike Wade and Bill Darr are hosting wide open desert running to State Parks and Cool Caves. Might even see an Alien out there!
The Show Me State Fun Run in Columbia, MO. Also September 8-10. This location was changed from the previous years at the Lake of the Ozarks, with the Kansas City and Missouri chapters hosting.
And The Great River Road Fun Run in Alton, IL. October 6-8. Put on by the St Louis folks.
Check the schedule on the website for all hotel and event details. All three promise to be fun events, and it’s a great way to get your last NTBA t bucket driving time in before winter comes around.
The board will be working on 2023 events starting in the fall and should have them out by the end of the year. We’re filling up fast so please contact us if you want to host an event in the 2023 or 2024 season. I hope to see many of you at one of the remaining events!

Bruce DeAngelis
NTBA President

[Bruce DeAngelis]

2023 Nationals Dates and Hotel
Hi All,

We have a hotel contract with the IP Biloxi Hotel and Casino for the 2023 NTBA National event June 11-17 in Biloxi, MS. This is a beautiful hotel casino with great views of the Gulf. Biloxi is 13 miles west down the coast hi way of our original announcement of Gulfport.

Before you call or go online for reservations, please read a few changes we had to make. We’ve moved everything that week up one day. Traditionally we’ve made the official day’s Thursday -Saturday, with the general meeting on Saturday. Now the official days will be Wednesday-Friday with the general meeting on Friday. However we will start “informal” runs on Monday, so we have a full week of driving our buckets! The reason for this is price! The room rate jumps dramatically over the weekend days of Friday and Saturday. This way we’re not throwing two nights of a high rate at you! Unfortunately there is a resort fee per night added we were not able to get around.

We have for our use a tremendous amount of parking. On the south side of the hotel (if your looking at a sky view) is a huge hard packed dirt lot that, I think can fit two cruise ships! This will be good for the trucks and trailers. A big bonus we’ll also have is the entire eighth floor of the parking garage! Blocked off just for us and our cars! All parking under video surveillance for security. We can socialize and bench race in our own private area!

There is also a nice RV park on the next block over. Boomtown Biloxi RV park 228-435-7000. I suggest you call soon for this reservation, not sure how quickly they fill up.

Again, the NTBA board has put a lot of work into securing this hotel for our official site. All the (fun) activities will take place there including the start and finish of our runs. So please plan to make your stay with us.

The group name is: National T Bucket Alliance
Group code: TBUF23C
Cut off date: Sunday, May 21, 2023
On line reservations: www.ipbiloxi.com/groups
Call in reservations: IP Casino Resort Spa Room Reservations
Department (888) 946-2847, press 1 for reservations,
Identify yourself as being with a group by using Group Name
Or Code.

Weekday rates are $109.99 plus a $14 resort fee and tax. Friday and Saturday night rates are $189.99 plus resort fee and tax.
Last year in Bowling Green we ran out of rooms in the early part of the week.
So we’ve blocked:
Sunday: 50 rooms
Monday and Tuesday: 75
Wednesday-Friday: 80

Please make your reservations early, even if your plans change you can always cancel. The hotel tells me that after the cutoff date you most likely will not get a room. If you call me after that date I probably can’t help.

I’ll be putting out more information as we go along. We look forward to seeing each and everyone of you at the NTBA Nationals in Biloxi, MS!

Bruce DeAngelis
NTBA President

[mike wade]

Let's do this..............................

[angie milton]

Just talked to the RV park. June 2023 has not been loaded into their computer yet. She told me to call back towards the end of the year or after the first of the new year.

[Bruce DeAngelis]

NTBA Elections

Hi All,
Two of the five positions on the NTBA board come open in 2023. The positions of President and Sergeant at Arms. A general election will be held, according to the NTBA bylaw’s. Anybody interested should submit their name, a brief description of qualifications and a short sentence on why they would like to join the board.
Interested applicants can contact any board member. All names have to be submitted by the end of January. The other three positions of Vice President, Treasure, and Secretary will be up for elections in 2024.
This is a great opportunity to contribute to and help run all the organizational functions of the NTBA. I hope to get a lot of candidates.

Bruce DeAngelis
NTBA President