The Spark
The DISTRIBUTOR
Well, the club’s first event of the year is in the books and no one drove their MG, not even me, but that’s okay since the weather wasn’t exactly what one would call MG-friendly. So we can all take a pass. But don’t worry, there are a LOT of events on the 2012 calendar, as you can see elsewhere in this issue and on the club’s web site, so you will have plenty of opportunities to drive your MG. The first event of the year was the Annual Awards Banquet and if you weren’t able to make it you missed a good time – PJ Skidoo’s again provided an excellent forum and meal. The banquet provides the opportunity to say farewell to departing Board members, recognize new Board members, and pass out some awards to deserving members. We said farewell and thanks! to departing Board members Linda Flickinger, Jim Lunson, Bob Schoeplein, Mark Turner, and Nelson Wilson. We welcomed Todd Wells and Ted Whitehouse to the Board. I’ll repeat the plug for the Club Historian Jim Byers – if you have any old or not so old bits about the club please get them to Jim so he can add them to our archives. The rest of the Board was introduced, but if you look at the second page of the Spark you’ll see the full listing of Club Officers and Directors. Evelyn and John Hambleton were acknowledged for hosting the club’s holiday party last year, and if you look you’ll see that we don’t have a host for this year’s holiday party … it’s not too early to volunteer and start planning. A portion of the proceeds from the Hunt Country Classic were donated to the SPARC Foundation and the Marshall Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad. I noted that we received thank you notes from both, as well as a note from Barbara – she said “It was Bill’s hope that the fund would provide education or training to someone in Jefferson County that would enable the recipient to move forward in life.” And then we moved on to the awards. First up was the Spirit Award, presented to a member of our club who has demonstrated true MG spirit with enthusiasm and excitement about the MG experience and a willingness to share that experience with other club members. The recipient of this award will have actively participated in the leadership of the club, organized or assisted in the organization of club-sponsored events, showed support for the club while attending other club functions, and represented our club proudly during attendance at functions sponsored by other marques. This year’s recipient was Carl Kratzer who did all those things as one of our Activities Co-Directors and a regular contributor to the Spark. The Golden Wrench Award is presented to one of our members who demonstrated knowledge of things mechanical and a willingness to use that knowledge to help other members with mechanical problems that arise during club events. This year’s Gold Wrench awardee was Wade Alexander. He was the lead for the 2-day John Twist tech seminar, hosted several tech sessions at his house at which he could have used a clone or two since he was so busy providing tools, equipment, and technical assistance. All you had to do was ask and Wade was there to help diagnose and repair whatever ailed your MG. A member who was unfortunate enough to have had some break down, fender bender or other misfortune during a club event finds himself in possession of the Broken Plank Award. Last year’s recipient suffered a heater valve failure on his first club outing in his MG whereas this year’s suffered not one, not two, but three failures – an electrical failure following a tech session, a tire failure following a tech session, and was a clutch hydraulics failure the day before the Hunt Country Classic. I wrote about all those things so it should be no surprise that I awarded the Broken Plank to Me … even though my brother was driving my B when the clutch hydraulics failed – my car, my brother, and no go to the show. A member who exemplifies the spirit of sportscar racing and/or club competition events stands a good chance of finding himself in possession of the Broken Wheel Award, and this year’s recipient is a perfect example of just that. He was bitten by the racing bug in the late 80s, ran his first race at Lime Rock in 1990, and has racing since – he may well have forgotten more about racing than most of us will ever know. He completed sort of a farewell tour of race tracks this past year ending with the Turkey Bowl at summit point and is a one-time prior recipient of this award, over 15 years ago. In fact he is the reason we have this award since the “broken wheel” is actually a wheel from his MGA that broke in turn 1 at Summit Point on October 5th, 1991. If you haven’t guessed yet, Bob Schoeplein is the 2011 recipient of the Broken Wheel Award. The last club award is not so much an award as a punishment or opportunity for public humiliation as the result of some ignominious or illogical act related to club activities – Morris. Morris is a stuffed pheasant who has a history of losing his tail. Of all the nominations I received for Morris one stood out, for one of our board members who seemed to have a little difficulty with the timing of board meetings. That Board member was Bob Schoeplein and although he didn’t actually get to take Morris home with him (Morris’ on his stand in his box is large) he had to make due with a picture, but that’s probably a good thing since the reason Bob is leaving the Board is that he and his wife Jane are moving to North Carolina. At this point I turned the podium over to our guest speaker Richard Liddick, Chairman of the North American MGB Register (NAMGBR) and President of MGs of Baltimore. Richard told us about plans for MG 2012 in Dillard, Georgia and presented the club with the NAMGBR Chapter of the Year award previously reported on in the December 2011 Spark. Then in a surprise move to everyone in the room except Richard and his guest, on behalf of the MG Car Club UK he presented the club with the Nuffield Challenge Cup for North America for 2011. The MG Car Club UK selected the DC Centre as the most deserving MG Car Club Centre in North America in 2011 in recognition of the 60th anniversary of our founding as the DC Centre and a participating Centre of the MG Car Club, and the 49th Braille Rallye and 16th Hunt Country Classic we conducted in 2011. You can read more about the Nuffield Cup elsewhere in this issue of the Spark. Although we all missed the opportunity to drive our MGs to the first club event of the year there will be many more events to which we can drive our cars. Start thinking about waking your MG up and getting it ready for the road and don’t forget Ruth’s tip for topless driving – remember to wear sunscreen. Cheers and...
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