FbodFather named 1 of 10 men who mattered at GM (article)

[badazss]

Congrats Scott

[ChrisBlair]

I don't know the man but it's a nice accolade; congratulations

What I want to know is how that 'Vette Duntov is next to looks so muscular and so delicate at the same time

[fbodfather]

Originally Posted by km9v

FbodFather 10 men who mattered, Scott is listed at 11? Does he not matter?

uhm.....the #11 refers to the picture number.

The 10 men:

Louis Chevrolet (....of course!)

William Durant (...the man created GM!)

Bill Mitchell (...the man behind the many beautiful cars of the 50s and 60s..)

Ed Cole (father of the small-block V8 and eventually President of the company)

Zora Arkus Duntov (father of the Corvette)

Dave McLellan (Corvette Chief Engineer -- he succeeded Zora)

Jim Perkins (Gen Mgr. of Chevy and one of my heros -- just an incredibly smart, kind, and gracious guy)

Jon Moss (Super car creator extraordinare and a friend)

John Heinricy (Race car driver and chief engineer of F-car -- and then Director of GM Performance Division -- another of my heros)

Me (.......golly.....)

[fbodfather]

*blushing* -

All - thank you for your kind words and thoughts. I'm grateful and realize every day how very blessed I've been to have been able to do what I've done - BUT - even moreso - how blessed I've been to meet so many incredibly great friends in the Camaro/Firebird Community.

As to the "list"--

There are so many, many more men that deserve to be on that list than I....

....where are people like Pete Estes? Or Bob Stempel -- or Bob Lund or Bob Cook or "Big Bill" Knudsen? I mean - the list of candidates is quite long -- and then let's just talk about current Camaro people like Al Oppenheiser ..... or previous Camaro people like Jerry Palmer or Hank Haga?

And what about the women? What about people like Cheryl Pilcher?

I'm not an engineer. I've never run the company. I'm just the son of a deceased Chevy Dealer - and the cousin and nephew of a another couple of Chevy Dealers - who loves Camaros and works for GM -- and sometimes loses his temper on Camaro5 and threatens people with a fleet of Black Suburbans...........

(.......or a gaggle of gray Aveos.....)




I received an email the other night with the article attached.

At first I thought it was a joke and someone was pulling my leg.

...then I got another email from a life-long friend that also gets a subscription........


........and then my eyes "started to leak" -- and here's the reason:

You see - when the Camaro/Corvette Job became available many years ago..... Richard Almond (one of the best bosses at GM ever) - was the fellow who had to make the decision as to who would be promoted into the job. There were well over 500 of us internal GM people vying for the position.......and then of course there was pressure to diversify.

Mr. Almond was getting pressure to take one particular person -- he fought back and said along the lines of - "...look - do you want me to promote 'your guy' -- or do you want me to promote Settlemire - the guy that knows these cars and has a great passion for them?...."

God bless him, he chose me.

Now - all of this wrangling was taking weeks and then into months.....my father had just passed...and I said to God one night: "Lord - if I am selected for this job - I will do it to the very best of my ability in honor of my father" -- and I got the call a few days later with the news that I was getting transferred back to Detroit and that I'd gotten the position.

I've never forgotten that. And to this day when I'm having a bad day - I'll say to myself "What would Dad want me to do?"

Now - back to the list - I'm honored -I'm humbled -- and I'm stunned.

.....And I sent an email to the author thanking him and blessing him - but telling him that I really should not be on the list.

And he responded that I should re-read the article - and pointed out that much of what I've done over the years wasn't my responsibility - and then in the email he mentioned that I've worked most weekends and spent my own funds to support many events - and that's why he feels I should be on there.

God Bless him. Mr. Barry Kluczyck. God Bless him.

Now - if only Senior Leadership at GM knew about this list!

Again - thank you for your kind words and warm wishes -- and for being my 'Camaro Comrades' -- "Youse guys" are the best.

Now - i'm gonna go sit down and blush some more.

[DanSS24]

Proud to be American and a Camaro enthusiast and soon to be owner. Congrats Sir.

[Run4two]

Scott,

Thank you for sharing your story with us. It brought tears to my eyes and goosebumps on my arms and legs. You have done your father and family proud. God bless you and keep up the great work.

[MS3DALE]

Congrats Scott!!

[kmm1412]

There is no better ambassador for Chevrolet and the Camaro. Truly a well deserved honor for a great person. His dad is surely smiling and looking down in pride.

Congratulations, Scott!

See you at Indy!!!

[Overflow]

Congrats Scott!

[JoeP@TeamBeckyD]

Truth be told, you're first in our Camaro world

Thanks for being a friend

[KarFan]

Congrats, Red Planet....

[Angrybird 12]

Congratulations Scott.
When I made the deal with Becky D. On our new Vert she asked me if she could do anything for me before we came up to pick up our car. I said well if you happen to see Scott have him sign our car. Unfortunately she could not make that happen, but I am hoping someday to get Scott to sign our car.

Thanks Scott for doing an awesome job.

[Knein]

Congratulations!
Thanks for being there for all of us freaks

[CLEAN]

You know Scott, your opinion of yourself and your work is the same as most of the more well known people that I've had the opportunity to meet over the years. Almost to a person, on some level, they don't think they've "made it" or "deserve it" or whatever, they just do their thing, and still think of themselves as "normal" people. But to their fans or admirers or what have you, they are that persons hope, hero, or inspiration for whatever it is that they're well known for, be it educator, actor, athlete, astronaut, or whatever. They're a symbol for everything that is right about whatever their craft is. In your case, it's no different. You gave a lot of people hope that their dream car wasn't dead, that it would return some day. But it goes much deeper than that. When people are dealing w/ real world problems, even something as seemingly insignificant as a car coming back brings a ray of sunshine to their lives. You may not be the sun, but you're the window.

You have a singular perspective on your own legacy, one that you may feel doesn't warrant a place on this list. But w/ no disrespect meant to the other folks you mentioned, and the dozens of others who's names we'll probably never know, your name does belong there. I've seen the effect of your efforts w/ my own eyes. Your work has made peoples lives better, and for that, you deserve much more recognition than a mention in a car magazine.

Send the black Suburbans if you must (I can outrun them anyway ;-) )