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Another Year Another Meet, and what a great meet it was. This years annual East coast meet was held in Frederick MD. A mere 300 miles away this was once again one of the closer meets to home. Despite that, I opted to tow the Mini as my tolerance for sitting in the “tin box” baking in the sun has dropped off dramatically in the past few years. As far as prep, I was quick to pick up on the correlation last year when I spent days detailing my car for the meet, only to have it drop inches of torrential rain on us going out to Dublin Ohio. The car was a mess after that, and I repeated my cleaning efforts well into the night we had arrived. This year I didn’t even wash it, and sure enough nice Sunny weather befriended use all the way there. We arrived Early on Thursday only to see Howard Collins roaming the parking lot with his two daughters. We spoke for a few minutes. Howard is a really great guy. My first introduction to him was back in 2002. We touched base quickly, and Soon all of us were melting in the Sun. I unhitched the car and while Terri went in for a room I grabbed the kids and the dog some shade and lunch. That is right you read correctly the family dog Maggi went along for this one. Actually she has been doing it longer than the kids. When she was a puppy we took her to Dayton Ohio in the back of the Mini. Back when I used to actually drive it to meets. That was 13 hours each way of heat and exhaust leak that I will never forget. I think they both still hold it against me. When we arrived this year, I counted less than 10 Mini’s, including us. We checked ourselves in and made for the pool. I have mentioned it before but it is worth repeating. These events are kid friendly. The participants are always very friendly and approachable. Mini people love to talk about their cars.
In the evening I decided to do a quick detail to the car. I cleaned the windows, and did the no-touch thing to the tires. Done, that was it. I am really not a concour guy. I would much rather wrench than polish.
Friday started with the Concour. I woke up, moved the car into my class parking area (personalized MK1) and we grabbed breakfast. We returned to the hotel and walked the rows of cars being shown. I was glad to see about 80 classics and 30 new Mini’s had shown up during the night and early morning.
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I bee-lined to the vendors to spend more of the kids college fund. You just never know what you will find. There were a number of good buys, but in the end I bought nothing. Depressing, I know… I met Jim Ding in the lot and we talked for a bit. Jim brought a beautiful green Mini with him and he was showing it off to passers by. Not long after, I was walking with the Kids and Terri when we spotted the LIME banner hanging from a nice shady tent. We approached, and it was Ken Danzinger. Ken had been thoughtful enough to set up the tent with chairs in the shade. Ken had gotten to the event on Wednesday and did the track event on Thursday. You have to corner him to hear all about it. He said it was great. All we needed was some liquid refreshment which I soon took care of, and we were set. I relaxed into early afternoon when Charlie and his Wife showed up. I had never met Charlie’s wife, and I am very glad I finally did. She is just as pleasant as Charlie with the patients of a saint, as my kids tested that out climbing all over her. My 4 year old Mieles had an instant attachment. I forgot to mention that my dog has a new best friend in Ken. When you spend more time together you learn more about people, and Ken used to train dogs in obedience.
At 3 the Funkhana event was getting ready to run so despite the heat, and a little too much “relaxation” we went out to see what we could do. The Funkhanna is a low speed driving event that involves the driver and navigator to exit the car and perform some type of tasks during the run. A portion of this one had the driver with a sack over their head while the navigator instructed them in where to drive. We really had trouble with that one part. The first run was not pretty. During that run Al showed up to help cheer us on. It must have helped, the second run was much better, and in the end we took 2nd place. Not too bad. I’ll drink to that.
With the Funkhanna done we neared dinner time. One nice part of these events is the social aspect. You can do as much or as little as possible. A group of folks decided to gather to dine together and LIME was well represented. With the exception of Charlie and his wife who had to leave we all went. After a little confusion we ended up at Dave’s “self proclaimed” Famous Barbeque. Terri, the kids, and I shared a table with Ken, Mike Guido and his wife Rhonnie. For those of you who don’t recognize the name Mike is the “Worlds fastest Clown”. A week before the meet his knee acted up and he was either hobbling or wheelchair bound during the whole event. Mike didn’t seem to let that bother him, and we all had a great meal. After the meal we headed back to the hotel with Al and Ken in close pursuit behind. I again put my faith in a GPS and it led me astray. I think I need to change the voice to a man’s voice. I may listen more closely when it talks. Anyway a few extra miles after re-mapping and we were there.
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During the evening the parking lot develops into an unofficial Happy Hour at these events. In fact it was an official event making the schedule at the Tennessee MME back in 97. Groups gather and it gives everyone an opportunity to meet up with old and new acquaintances. It is nice to connect faces to Mini Mania message board names. So people gather and toast the occasion late into the morning. It can be a long night, but I call it at around Midnight and head off to bed.
Early morning wake up for the Rally.
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This is one of my most favored and hated events Every year we start with high expectations and end up dripping with sweat minus a few answers to the rally questions. This year was no different. To save myself some typing I will insert below a description of how my Rally usually goes I had posted to the MM board:
Here is how my Rally usually goes. Get sheet, review, stage, and off we go "High Expectations" we are going to win... Getting the questions right, but it sure is hot out. And just how many U turns is my navigator going to make me take to "just check" That guy in the tractor really didn't appreciate the last one... "Medium Expectations" We are going to do well We missed one Q and just can't figure it out. Driver and Navigator disagree on making another u-turn (after all this isn't Jersey) Besides Driver is getting Hungry... Navigator reminds Driver of marriage vow. Driver is subdued... More Q's missed or possible disagreement on one or more. Confusion has caused slow navigation and a turn is now missed. "Low Expectations" Just want to make it there now... Reach end no food left, no chance of winning, hey wait there is always the Funkhana...
So as sure as day follows night this is what happens year after year. We ended up in a nice location for the Panoramic Photo. Lillyponds Park, so named for the abundance of different varieties of LillyPads growing there. This was a great destination for the panoramic. I would have taken pictures, but I was too hot to drag out the camera. To get the picture in your mind think of this; Thousands of lillypads, some red, yellow, some white, some small and some bigger than me. Koi, carp or whatever they were all over the ponds. Very nice location.
Rally and photo over we headed back to the hotel and jumped in the pool. After a quick cool off the kids went to the RC races.
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They had a great time and took 1st and 2nd in class. Not too bad in a 2 car class. The Awards banquet was Saturday evening, and with some quick prep we were there. The awards ceremony was fun, and held a few suprises. We had a LIME table with Ken, Jim, Al, Terri, myself and the kids, as well as TurboDave (Dave Coxon) all at the table. The banquet was good. Food OK, but I compensated with beer. When the awards were handed out we really lucked out. My son Nolan took a 1st place in the art competition. I took a 2nd place in the Concour, and Terri and I took a 2nd in the Funkhana. Ken took his class in the Concour with a 1st place.
Banquet over it was out to the the Parking lot to catch up with where we had left off the night before. With the AutoX the next morning I didn’t want to stay out too late, but you do get sucked in when you are out carousing. Another lost evening.
Sunday, Sunday race day…
The only event on the Sunday schedule was the AutoX. I am a big fan of AutoX, but not usually the ones they set up at the meets. They tend to be small, slow, and very windy. I prefer to let the car breathe a bit but a course is a course, and everyone is on a level playing field. This years course was a modified figure 8 with three crossovers and a slalom on one end. It was a good test of keeping up the momentum as there were no straights. I am very proud to say that Ken, Al and I all trophied. I took my class with second fastest time of day (Al took FTD). Ken had some tight competition in his class, but he came through. In the end everyone was happy.
Oh I should mention the run I took in Dave’s Mini. Now I consider my car fast, and I knew Dave’s car was even faster. Last year he wanted me to drive it, but I flat refused knowing too well that it would just make me feel bad about how much slower my car is. Well he kept pushing all weekend, and I finally bit at the AutoX. I took my first drive in it as a run on the course. I won’t say the time, but it was very very fast. Nor will I mention that it may have been faster than Dave’s own time. By seconds maybe.. But I would never mention that.
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Post event Al took off for home and I ended up back at the pool with the kids in tow. There we met Ken and Dave. After some relaxation we all headed out to the local brew house for some dinner. Everyone celebrated with a beer or two. From there we said our goodbyes and started packing.
We couldn’t leave without one last visit to the Waffle House. So we joined Mike and Rhonnie, and Dave for some breakfast before leaving. Interesting, I never knew the English (Dave) were so fond of putting Maple Syrup in their coffee. Must be an English thing.. I am leaving it at that...
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Breakfast behind use we left and had a thankfully uneventful trip home.
MME 2007 in Tennessee Coming soon….