A Community Car Show That Funds Healing at the Warrior Retreat

A great car can stop you in your tracks, but a great car show can do more than that. We’re joined by Chuck Berge, board member at Willing Warriors and the team lead behind Vettes For Willing Warriors, to lay out exactly what happens when hundreds of vehicles roll onto the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run and the community shows up in force.

We talk real numbers and real details: 240 cars and about 865 visitors last year, with expectations of 1,000+ spectators this time. You’ll hear how judging actually works from someone who’s spent decades around Corvettes, from factory-correct originality to the craftsmanship behind smart modifications. We also cover practical basics that make planning easy: spectators are free, car owners can pre-register for $25 (then $30 later), car registration starts at 7:30 a.m., the public gates open at 10:00 a.m., and awards happen at 1:30 p.m. Expect food on site, plenty of variety beyond Corvettes, and awards like People’s Choice plus fun categories such as most unique license plate.

The best part is the setting and the mission. Hosting on the retreat property means you can tour the grounds, see the homes that host Wounded Warriors and their families, and understand how this retreat supports recovery from PTS and moral injury. We also preview special guests like Wayne Carini from the TV show "Chasing Classic Cars," as well as familiar local faces like weatherman Chuck Bell, and we explain the bead-voting fundraiser that lets the public vote while donating.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the next conversation, and if you know a car lover or a supporter of military families, share this episode and leave a review. What would you bring to the show, and what would you vote for?

Transcript

Welcome And Car Show Preview

Larry Zilliox 0:14

Good morning. I'm your host, Larry Zilliox, Director of Culinary Services here at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run. And this week our guest is Chuck Burge. He's a board member here at the Warrior Retreat with Willing Warriors. He's also our team lead for our car show that we have annually, which is coming up May 16th, Saturday. And I asked him to join me to tell us a little bit about the car show. The car show is really a big hit in the community, and we have large, large crowds, a lot of cars. So, Chuck, uh, welcome to the podcast.

Chuck Berge 0:52

Thank you. Pleasure.

Last Year’s Crowd And Big Goals

Larry Zilliox 0:53

So this is our seventh or eighth annual. Seventh annual. Seventh annual, okay. And each year it gets better. Each year we get more people, more cars. Let's talk a little bit about last year's show. How many cars do you did we have?

Chuck Berge 1:10

The show last year drew 240 cars. It's vets for willing warriors, but it's not exclusively to Corvettes. You have a Mustang or a street ride, you're welcome. Okay, so basically any car. Four-wheel drive. I mean four four wheels.

How Chuck Became A Corvette Judge

Larry Zilliox 1:27

Okay. If it has a motor and four wheels, you're in. All right. And so I know that we had about 865 people on the property last year, which was a record, I think. That's probably the most. So we're looking to to uh to blow that record out of the water. We've been we've been advertising, we've been putting it out there. For those listeners that don't know, Chuck has been volunteering as a board member here and doing the car show. Well, it was his idea to start it. So he is a Corvette judge. So he will travel around to shows and judge Corvettes, which I didn't even know was a thing, but I just thought, I don't know, everybody picked one they liked, and that's how it went. But apparently it's way more in depth. So Chuck, tell us how does how does one get to be a Corvette judge?

Chuck Berge 2:21

First off, have the love in your heart for Corvettes. I've been doing this for about 30 years. I travel around the countryside looking at Corvettes. Uh, I also look at them for purchase, pre-purchase inspections, which I do. And also judging in NCRS of Bloomington Gold and Bakak and Muscle Car Corvette Nationals. Wow.

Larry Zilliox 2:43

And about how many shows a year do you do? Probably about eight. Oh, okay.

Chuck Berge 2:48

I've cut back a little bit.

Larry Zilliox 2:50

Well, I understand that. Well, plus this show itself, being the organizer, really that the head promoter uh for all things uh show here, um, is a it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. So we start really kind of planning this one after the last one. Exactly.

Chuck Berge 3:10

We take take about three weeks off and start planning for 2027.

Larry Zilliox 3:15

Well, okay. Um we do have it on the calendar for 2027 already. I will say that. So you you go to a car show, and what what are you looking for when you're judging a Corvette? What what are the things that stand out for you that make a a great car or a winning car?

What Makes A Corvette A Winner

Chuck Berge 3:37

Typically, originality is number one, uh, uniqueness and possibly how the car appears. We like to we like to see them as they left the factory, no better, no worse, but then that's like a stock division. Then we look at like modified cars and you evaluate the workmanship, the unique features, and last of all, the performance.

Larry Zilliox 4:03

And so there's two categories. There's those that are really close to the original. So it it looks like you just bought it, you know, in in 1972, or there's those that have been worked on and modified with different electrical systems, bigger engines. What what uh what kind of modifications?

Chuck Berge 4:22

All of the above. Uh guys and gals like to brag about the power, so the horsepower is one of the unique things. You put them in, there's so many technology changes every year. You might have built the greatest, most unique Corvette in 2026, and then 2027 gets introduced with some new features that weren't available electronically and mechanically, and so on and so forth.

Larry Zilliox 4:46

Wow.

Chuck Berge 4:46

Um, what's your favorite Corvette? All of the above.

Larry Zilliox 4:51

Are you not able to show uh that you're partial to one or I would probably say 57 because that was the first Corvette I ever bought in 1957?

Chuck Berge 4:59

So Corvette. Yeah, how many do you have? Right now, currently just one. I've had multitudes over the years. Right. Yeah. What what year is yours? What is yours? Mine mine is in 1969.

Larry Zilliox 5:09

Okay. And why did you choose that one? Is it just it can came to you as a potential purchase or did you go looking for that?

Chuck Berge 5:18

Or no, it came available and a good friend of mine had owned it for many years. I was always intrigued by the car. The color of it is four speed.

Larry Zilliox 5:28

And um, well, that's that kind of provenance where you know the owner, you know the care that went into it. So it's that you're just not buying it like off the street. But then you did mention that you do um kind of four potential buyers examine or or look at the potential Corvettes they're willing to put their money into. And I'm thinking some of these are pretty expensive. And so that is uh just something you do where you just evaluate it to make sure that what they're charging for it's worth the price.

Chuck Berge 6:04

Yes, I I really don't negotiate the price with the owner, I mean, of that car, but 99% of my clients never see the car till they paid for it. It's in their driveway. So I'm very, very fussy because I don't don't want to explain why I missed a certain detail that I shouldn't have. So I'm I'm real fussy on that. And I I travel all over the country. Uh I have gone over to Switzerland for an appraisal of about 60 cars that were going on an auction in Europe.

Larry Zilliox 6:35

Wow. And but this is for these are for older Corvettes. This is like something from the 60s or 70s. This isn't, you know, uh it's two years old. Nobody needs to do that.

Chuck Berge 6:47

This is the older exact older kind of you know you know back back in the day performance if you went a quarter of a mile, 12 seconds was pretty good. Now you can buy a car right from the factory that will go nine and a half seconds at a quarter forty miles an hour. So it's insane. Wow.

Registration Costs And Free Entry

Larry Zilliox 7:04

Oh yeah, that's pretty fast. I could see getting in trouble with that, really. I don't think the police are too fond of that. No. I have seen a few around the area, especially out on 66, that have that uh rear-mounted elevated camera. Like uh, I've got a YouTube channel, try and catch me.

Chuck Berge 7:24

Um the the negative on that is you cannot outrun the radio. Yeah, right, right. Yeah, they'll they'll get you.

Larry Zilliox 7:33

Well, so this car show, what does it cost to enter? Is there is it pretty expensive or no?

Chuck Berge 7:41

The for the guys and gals that are bringing their cars for display, uh pre-registration is $25 up until the week before, and then it will go $30. The key thing is spectators are absolutely free. There's no charging spectators bring your children. I would think this year will probably exceed a thousand spectators. And this is spectators, not car owners and yeah.

Larry Zilliox 8:06

Uh the it's definitely open to the public. We want everybody to be aware of that. Absolutely. There's no uh no charge, just uh the car show for the public opens at 10 a.m.

Chuck Berge 8:16

Correct.

Larry Zilliox 8:17

And we want uh everybody to come and the Knights of Columbus will be here as they always are annually, uh, to serve up hot dogs and hamburgers. Uh no charge. Um, just ask for a small donation, which is it's a great day. Um, there's a lot to do, a lot to see. And also, too, these cars that uh they come, they're gonna be judged in in a number of different ways. What are the type of judges that we have?

Awards Categories And Sponsor Highlights

Chuck Berge 8:46

We we'll have the people's choice, we will have the founder's choice, we have a category for the most unique license plate, which will be judged by a weather forecaster from Channel 4, Chuck Bell. A Corvette owner himself. Corvette owner, his car will be here. We will have a display of red, white, and blue display up by the registration. We'll have challenge coin for the car owners. And on that coin will be a 69 Corvette L88 that was purchased by a gentleman at Kissemi Auction, and he's our presentation sponsor this year. Wow. And that that car is one of 116 out of 35,000 builds. So it's unique, eye power. Wow. But the unique thing about this show, we like it because the spectators come up, possibly they've never been up here, gives them a chance to view our three homes where we put warriors, suffer PTSD, moral injury, et cetera, et cetera, with their family for five days, five nights.

Larry Zilliox 9:47

Yeah. So part of having it here on the property is allowing the public to come and tour the homes and see the property, which is beautiful. Could even walk the trails if you want. We have uh we have quite a few trails on the property with it's a total of 37 acres. But the the cars themselves, uh, we get a number of cars that are not even driven here. They come in on trailers. What why is that?

Chuck Berge 10:12

Sometimes they're restored and they don't want to get the possibility of a scratch in the paint, and they're very, very fussy. Uh so they they trailer them rather than drive them. I maintain that real Corvettes are driven, not trailer. That's that's just my theory.

Larry Zilliox 10:28

That's like that's a show piece, that's a museum piece, exactly.

Chuck Berge 10:33

Wow. But there's all kinds of Corvettes and other cars here. We have one award, which is a chairman's award, which is my award, for non-Corvettes. Okay. So I don't want a Corvette meeting, I guess, maybe a 32 Ford Street Rod or a 55 antique Buick. So we segregate those, so to speak, and that's that's the class that I judge.

Touring The Retreat And Why It Matters

Larry Zilliox 10:54

So what do you think about a I I'm thinking about entering my uh 2006 Toyota Tacoma um with roll-up windows, uh, does not have intermittent wheelchair wipers, but what do you think the chances are for me to take that award, that chairman's award?

Chuck Berge 11:11

Unless, unless there's somebody nicer than you, no. Uh what I would what I would suggest is bring that. You don't have a chance unless you bring it. So you have to bring it and enter to get in that category. Okay.

Larry Zilliox 11:24

I I'm I'm willing to put up the the get my wife to sponsor me. There you go. Put up the $30 and uh enter my uh 2006 Tacoma. Pretty basically.

Chuck Berge 11:36

Or you could receive that and save her five dollars by registering uh this podcast.

Larry Zilliox 11:42

Okay, yeah, I think I will register, pre-register. Pre-register. That's the key. Yep. Save uh save five dollars and um and then uh I get a choice spot um and keep my fingers crossed because I I just I just had the truck painted, yeah, so it doesn't look nice because it only has 116,000 miles on it. So I'm not sure. You already broke in. Yeah, I I I'm not sure you know how you judge the Tacomas, but maybe blindfold them. It's not that bad. Um well I may have to reconsider now that uh my my chances are really low of taking that chairman's award. We do have a special guest, right?

Chuck Berge 12:22

Yes, we have a gentleman by the name of Wayne Creaney that has had a TV show, Chasing Classic Cars. This will be his second appearance here. He's a very knowledgeable gentleman. He'll walk around, he'll look at the cars, and if things follow suit, I'll be a photographer for him. Walking around, everybody wants a photo shot with Wayne. Oh, yeah.

Celebrity Guests And Local Favorites

Larry Zilliox 12:44

Yeah, sure. Uh nice guy, really nice guy. And uh uh you've all seen him. You I know you've seen him. You're probably on a Saturday morning, you know, scrolling through your TV channels, and you land on that auction, car auction channel, and he's the guy with the white hair and the mustache. You've all seen him, uh, but very nice guy.

Chuck Berge 13:05

So really come out on Saturday, May 16th, and another gentleman who may have here is a gentleman by the name of Tommy Milner, who lives in Round Hill. Okay, Tommy races Corvettes for GM. Oh wow, he's been doing that for 20-some years. Well, hopefully he can make it. He may drop in and see us, and of course, Chuck Bell, yeah, notoriety.

Larry Zilliox 13:28

Sure. Yeah, he's our local weatherman, and he's uh responsible for the good weather. So we're gonna hold him personally responsible. In addition to that, he always likes that.

Chuck Berge 13:36

In addition to that, you'll get to meet Chef Larry and myself. What else could he ask for?

Larry Zilliox 13:42

Yeah, right. Yeah. Well, yeah, you can come find me. I'll be in the uh Grand Lodge Kitchen with uh some of our chefs. Um you can come meet uh some some of the top military chefs in the country. Um we we're gonna have the uh chef or the chairman of the joint chiefs will be joining us in his residence. So it's a fun day. Our military chefs love to come out, and uh most of the time they're here, they're cooking dinner for our our wounded warriors and their families, either Saturday night or Sunday night. But it'll be it'll be a fun time uh for sure. So we've got the judges, we've got the awards. What time is the award ceremony?

Event Schedule And Best Arrival Times

Chuck Berge 14:22

The awards ceremony will be at 1 30. Okay. So get a chance to get home and you know take your wife, girlfriend, boyfriend out to dinner afterwards. Yeah. One of the things, go to war willingwarriors.org, our website. Yep. K and events, it'll tell you about the events, the registration. You can do it all online. It's painless, it's easy. Yeah. And if you're not bringing a car and you feel generous, we also take donations and sponsorships right from their website. Yes.

Larry Zilliox 14:50

So please go go to the web page, which is willingwarriors.org or g and uh click on events and it'll drop down. You'll see it. You have all the information there. You can come out to the retreat starting at 10 a.m., take a look at the cars, and then have lunch. Registration will start at 7 30 for the car owners. Okay. So if you're uh you're planning on bringing your car up, whether it's a Corvette or another classic car, 7 30, you can start arriving. It's a little nippy that time of the morning. But it's one of the reasons we changed the date. Now, previous years we've been in July, but sometimes the heat can pre- rather stifling in July. So we changed it to May to kind of make it a little bit easier on everybody. And I I think that's really gonna turn out to be a great way to go. Um, I'm really, really looking forward to it. What uh other than the Corvette, what is your favorite car to see here as a classic car?

Chuck Berge 15:57

I kind of like the old pre-war cars, uh, you know, 40s, sometimes 30s. We get a few of them. Yeah, not a lot. And sometimes you'll see a 32-Ford thing driven in trailer. Yeah. These these guys and gals like to show them off on the highway.

Larry Zilliox 16:14

Yeah. And and we do have clubs that come and participate. I'm thinking of the Acquire Corvette, yeah.

Chuck Berge 16:21

Northern Virginia Corvette Club. There's probably about half a dozen clubs that come and come with maybe 10 or 15 members of their clubs. Yeah.

Armed Forces Day And Supporting Families

Larry Zilliox 16:33

We get a club from Maryland, too. Yeah. Wow. Well, it's it's definitely um well attended by Corvette owners. Um, it is gonna be Armed Forces Day, which is uh which is special. And of course, this is the 250th uh anniversary of our country. And so uh it is gonna be a really fun, fun day. It's a great way to to uh spend Armed Forces Day and salute the work of the soldiers that uh we invite to come and stay with us, those wounded warriors and their families that just need a break. So when you come and you donate or you you just participate, you're supporting our work here that we do to help these families get through really tough times. And it's special to see. We'll have a number of our warrior families who live in the area who've stayed with us in the past will be coming by um to see the cars and to uh talk to folks. Um so please uh think about a great way to spend the day here at the Warrior Retreat. I'm I'll tell you, I got a one of my fondest memories was coming, it was a couple years ago, I think it was the 75th anniversary of Corvette, I think, and we had a model from the very first year that it was made and the current year, nose to nose. And uh that was quite a sight to see. That was 1953 to 2003. Wow, wow. And what do you think the oldest Corvette is that we'll see here on the property? We've got a 54 registered right now. Wow, okay, wow.

Chuck Berge 18:16

That's uh Wow. What's a car like that worth? The fifth 54 is worth a little less than the 53. In 1953, their first production year, they produced 300 Corvettes. Ooh. That was back in you older people. Remember a lady by the name of Dinah Shore? Oh, yeah. Dinah Shore was all about Chevrolet. So yeah, USA and your Chevrolet. That's right.

Bead Voting Fundraiser For People’s Choice

Final Details And Where To Listen

Larry Zilliox 18:40

Wow. So there's not many of those left. Oh. Wow. So that's that's hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars we're talking about. So yes. Wow. No wonder they trail her. Oh my goodness. Well, uh, listeners, again, uh the the show is vets for willing warriors. It's Saturday, May 16th. Uh uh registration is open now if you want to bring your car and put it in the show. You can register online at willingwarriors.org, then click on events and it'll drop down and you'll see the car show. Go ahead and click on that. You can register. Um, $25 if you pre-register, $30 if you register on the day that you show up. And we'll open the gates to the car to come on in onto the property at 7 30 and then to the public at 10. And we tend to serve lunch early, only because we've had quite a few Corvette owners on the property um bright and early. And so around 10:30, maybe a quarter to 11, we're gonna start serving lunch. And uh it's it's just uh we'll have some veteran service organizations here tabling. So there'll be plenty to do, plenty to see. Um, we do uh a fundraiser while you're here, where you purchase beads from us and then use those beads to vote for your favorite Corvette. So you could buy uh a couple strings of beads, and as you go around and look at the cars, you like this one best, you can put your beads on that car. And that's how we judge the people's choice is I think cutoff is probably 1230 or somewhere around. Yeah, probably about 11. Yeah, yeah. So we'll have that cutoff time and um go around and collect the beads and count them, and uh whoever you know has the most beads um wins. Now, we change the color of the beads every year so that nobody's bringing back beads and adding them on themselves. Uh, but it's a great way for you, the public, to participate and in naming that Corvette that's the people's choice, but also donating here to the retreat. Uh, we really, really appreciate that. Well, Chuck, I can't thank you enough for sitting down with us and and just letting everybody know what the show is going to be like. And we'll uh hopefully see everyone out on uh Saturday, May 16th. Thank you. Thank you very much for listening. Drive Service.

Chuck Berge 21:11

God bless you.

Larry Zilliox 21:12

Listeners, we'll have another episode next Monday morning at 0500. You can find us on all the major podcast platforms. We're on YouTube and Reese Across America Radio. So until then, thanks for listening.