What a week! From Wednesday, 29 May through Sunday, 01 June, the Triumph faithful of St Louis hosted the annual South Central Region VTR (Vintage Triumph Register) convention/ conference/confab (your choice of words). Typically one of the Texas or Oklahoma clubs host this major event; the Kansas City Triumphs Sports Car Club held it a few years back and this year marked SLTOA’s first attempt.

How’d it turn out? Outstanding, with solid reviews from several of the participating VTR chapters. We wound up with about 120 attendees driving 70+ Triumphs; they got to participate in breakfast and dinner drives, self tours and other activities, culminating in Saturday night’s awards banquet.

On Thursday, 30 May – the official start date of the event – one group did the “Gearhead Tour,” motoring from the SoCen24 central, the Sheraton West Chalet along I-270, to Fast Lane Classic Cars in St Charles County, It’s Alive Automotive and the St Louis Car Museum & Sales, the latter two in St Louis. Others chose to take part in a poker run through southwest county, culminating at the Montelle Winery. Other options included tech sessions, perusing the items in the silent auction and reviewing the submissions for the craft, model and photo contest.

Friday brought competition at Family Arena in St Charles County, the form of an autocross run by the Boeing Sports Car Club, a Le Mans start competition (how fast can you get into your vehicle?) and a funkhana; the latter featured five rather hilarious stops of a St Louis nature. Later in the day, a time-speed-distance (TSD).

Mother nature threw a curve starting Friday night and continuing into Saturday, with low scud and off and on rain. As a result, the concours and people’s choice show moved indoors, into the Sheraton’s parking garage. Despite the change of venue, another strong success with plenty of cars and the requisite tire-kicking. The banquet that evening brought the festivities to a close.

Quite a time. Our thanks to all in SLTOA who worked up the confab and worked the events, our sponsors and the Sheraton for its outstanding support and facilities. Next year’s South Central will take place in Waco, Texas, hosted by the Red River Triumph Club.