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In Memory of our friend Bob Lotito 2010

Without Bob, there would have been no “us”.

I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to say a few words about Bob Lotitio. He was a long time friend of mine, all of ours actually, and I just want to tell you how important he was to all of us. Bob was a great guy, he was one of the good guys and he was a friend for life to anyone he met. This may sound cliché but really, Bob was the nicest guy you would ever want to know. I can say this straight up, no lie, that without Bob, there would be no us. This Camaro world we live in, without Bob, it doesn’t exist. All this stuff we know, all these fine people we know. I can say without a doubt that if it were not for Bob, there is no us. The world we have been living in since summer of 1987 would be far different. This one was never born. Think about it, imagine, go back to 1987, cruising North Avenue in a big block way-back machine to a world without the Illinois Camaro Club. None of us know each other, there is no club, no newsletter, no car shows. There is no Skwira, no Rubenacker, or Smith or Allen or any one else you can think of. I cannot imagine a world where I did not know Al & Lucy, Tom & Pat, or Bob & Betty. My God what a sorry world that would be. For me, it is a world without my wife Karen. Bob is responsible for all of this. It doesn’t matter what I did that summer of 1987, it was what Bob did. I know what you’re thinking right about now. How the heck can Bob be responsible for all this? You don’t believe me, do you? Well let me tell you a little story to explain why without Bob Lotito this world isn’t here, why there would be no us.

Shortly after I bought my 1986 Z, I started looking around for a local Camaro club to join. There was none to be found. There was however, a national Camaro club, the U.S. Camaro Club. So, in the summer of 1987 I went to the national show in Norwood, Ohio and there I met up with Jim Wirth and company who promptly convinced me to start a local chapter. It seemed like a lot of work but I decided to give it a whirl. So I looked in some car magazines and found a show somewhere in the western suburbs. I don’t remember the place, but I drove up there with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head thinking this was going to be pretty cool. I got out of my car and who was the first guy I ran into? Bob. The first guy out of the box was Bob. Holy crap think how lucky that was. It could have been anybody; it could have been some freak job who wanted nothing to do with any car club. But it wasn’t anybody; it was Bob. He made me think that a Camaro club in Illinois was a good idea. He talked to me, made me feel like it was a cool thing to do, and encouraged me to keep at it. I don’t remember who the second guy was I talked to that day, but I remember the first guy was Bob, and thank heaven that it was. Would I have kept going if that first guy wasn’t Bob, and had told me to get lost? I don’t know, I really don’t want to know the answer to that question. I can tell you that if it wasn’t Bob, this world is probably different. I can tell you that if that first guy wasn’t Bob Lotito, who was the nicest guy in the world to some one he didn’t know from Adam, then all of this, all this stuff we now take for granted, all this stuff that we have because we all know each other, isn’t here. And I don’t have a wife. No Bob, no Camaro club, no Mike and Donna, no Karen. So just take a moment, and think about a world without all of us. If it wasn’t for the nicest guy in the world, there would be no us. Thank you Bob, we will never forget you.

Paul Weinert

Club History

 A Brief History of the Illinois Camaro Club

by Bob Lotito

It's June 1985, a hot sunny day in Maywood Park, IL. I'm participating in a car show, showing off my newly acquired '68. A young man approaches me: "Nice car" - "thanks." He talks a bit about Camaros, his and mine an '86. "I'm thinking of starting a Camaro Club. Would you be interested?" "Sure, here's my name and phone number."

To my surprise, this brash and talky young man, who is Paul Wienert, calls me and asks if I would like to meet with him and several others to discuss the beginning of a Camaro Club. I agree; we meet and decide to publish flyers and pass them out at car shows, parts stores, etc., in order to create an interest in forming the Camaro Club.

From this point on, Paul takes the responsibility of most all preparations. He arranges our first meeting. The meeting is held at Wendy's in Aug. 1987. Eighteen people and some spouses show up and agree to form an official Camaro Club. Tom Lima, who produces car shows in the Chicago area, is urged by Paul to attend the meeting. Tom is a great help in providing information as to car club operations and start-up procedures. We agree on the name "Illinois Camaro Club" and set dues at $15.00 to cover expenses. The Club is up and running. Paul becomes a work-a-holic for the club and is the driving force behind its success. The club becomes his baby, his pride and joy for many years to come.

Excluding all regular cruises - picnics, get-together meetings, car displays, car shows, invites to car-related businesses, and link-ups at local cruise spots.

A Brief Outline of Past Events

August, 1987
P.O. Box established.
Paul gets himself on Paul Brian's Motor Sports Radio Show on WGN and gets plenty of publicity for the club.
Logo chosen.
Elections held -- President: Paul Wienert, Vice President: Gordon Baily, Treasurer: Jackie Borucki, and Secretary: Amy Berg.

September, 1987
Received State of Illinois Registration Certificate.
We are the "Illinois Camaro Club."

February, 1988
First Car display for the club -- 22 members display their Camaros in the Orland Park Place Mall.

March, 1988
Membership reaches 58.
Preliminary Bylaws discussions.

June, 1988
Membership reaches 80.
First 'Tee' shirts are ordered.

August, 1988
Membership reaches 100.
First Rockford Speedway Display & Run.
The Rubenackers initiate "The Bash" at their home in Island Lake. This event has become an annual I.C.C. tradition.

September, 1988
Membership reaches 106.
Dues -- $18.00 annually.

October, 1988
The Club receives its first inquiry from outside of the continental USA -- a young man from the Netherlands.

November, 1988
Membership reaches 120.

December, 1988
Plans for the 1st car show.
Club jackets coming.

July, 1989
Our first car show. 131 cars participate.
Surprise: $750.00 for one day's liability insurance needed for a car show.
50 Club members worked the show.

August, 1989
Paul Wienert proposes to Karen over the P.A. system at Rockford
Speedway -- spectators in the stands. Karen accepts Paul's proposal.

July, 1990
Our 2nd annual car show -- 101 cars participate. First over night Car Club cruise to Springfield, IL.

September, 1990
1st Club road rally.

November, 1990
Plans for the 3rd annual car show.

July, 1991
The club spends a day with the Illinois Live Streamers Train Club. 3rd annual car show -- 92 cars participate; we lose money.

October, 1991
2nd annual road rally.

February, 1992
The club is invited by the Chevrolet Division of GM, to attend a press conference on Friday prior to the opening of the 1992 Chicago Auto Show. We are to help celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Camaro; 35 members attend. We are treated to hors d'oeuvres and Jim Perkins, manager of Chevrolet, speaks to us. We are interviewed for a Chevy Video magazine. Some members are interviewed by WMAQ-TV, channel 5, which is then aired on the 6 p.m. news.

July, 1992
4th annual car show -- 50 members help to make the show a success. 145 cars participate.

August, 1992
1st annual Union Railroad Museum Transportation Extravaganza.

October, 1992
We are introduced to autocross.

January, 1993
Annual video pizza party initiated.
Membership drops to 87.
5th annual car show canceled.

March, 1993
The club rents Union Grove Dragway for half a day. We race each other till the tires and time run out.
Annual "Rubenacker Bash" now entrenched.

March, 1994
Road trip to "Indy."

April, 1994
Our first bowling outing.

July, 1994
Drags again at Great Lakes -- 20 cars show up. Three members have problems/breakdowns; thanks to the help of other club members, all is made well.
Our first club hats.

September, 1994
Cruise to Starved Rock and Duffy's Tavern in Utica. "Club members eat turtle."

October, 1994
GM invites the I.C.C. Club to their service training center to help celebrate the center's 40th Anniversary; we display our Camaros and receive a guided tour.
From this point the Club has tried almost every type of function; and added to our annual schedule those events which are most attended.

June, 1995
The club is contacted by a Detroit firm, which produces commercials for the Chevrolet Division of GM. We are asked for 100-point Camaros for the "Photo Shoot." Four Camaros attend an all-day shoot at Navy Pier. Two members are then chosen for another "Photo Shoot" in Waukegan.

July, 1996
Our first "Hook-up" for cruising with another car club, the Northern Illinois Mustang Corral Club.

June, 1997
The club is invited to a private showing of our Camaros, at the Cantigny Museum in Wheaton. 30 cars are displayed.

September, 1997
10th anniversary of our incorporation as the Illinois Camaro Club.
We cruise with the Fox Valley Corvette Club.

December, 1997
We are selected by Hot Rod magazine to be the host of Club for the "Hot Rod Power Festival" for July, to be held at the (then) new Route 66 Drag Strip in Joliet. The club was featured in an issue of Hot Rod Magazine.

January, 1998
Club membership reaches 114.

July, 1998
Three-Day Hot Rod Power Fest. We are congratulated by the Hot Rod Magazine staff on a job very well done. 51 Club members work for three hot, grueling days to make the event a success.

September, 1998
Our club, along with the Fox Valley Corvette Club, is invited to view Lord Palumbo's Private Car Collection. "What a beautiful collection."

July, 1999
Once again the Club hosts the Hot Rod Power Festival at Route 66 Dragway in Joliet.

March, 2000
Membership reaches 140.

January 2008

Today, The club is over 20 years old and 200 members strong!