Master's Miata Club

Seeing as it was just going to be Donna and I attending the Steepelchase, we concocted a plan to just walk over. This would make getting out at the end of the day much quicker, there would be no car to have to drive out one of the only three exits, along with the other 10,000 vehicles at 4:15 PM after the last race.

That plan promptly fell apart on Thursday afternoon when we realized that our Little Red Academy Sports Wagon was over 50% full with just our small gas grill in it. After stacking the two small chairs on top of the grill (the other two, optimistically for guests, would be carried by the person not dragging the wagon) there wasn’t any room left over to take all the other items we needed. There was still a tray of chicken shishkabobs, a bag of hot dogs, cookies, brownies, and chip & dip, and another bag with the tablecloth, condiments, paper plates, bowls, and utensils. Don’t even think about adding the styrofoam cooler with ice and drinks on top of that.

Plan B was implemented. On race day, Brian packed up the gas grill, the 4 chairs and the bag with the tablecloth, condiments, paper plates, bowls, and utensils into the Big Red Mini Cooper Wagon and drove over right at 9:00 AM, when the gates opened. He parked the car and walked the mile home. At 11:00 AM we walked over with cooler and food in the Little Red Academy Sports Wagon. Then maybe after the 4th race they would pack everything into the Big Red Mini Cooper Wagon and drive out the gate with maybe tens of cars.

After we walked over and set everything up, we started eating. Hard not to, with the once or twice a year treat of chips and dip staring right at us. Didn’t help that the tent next door was grilling chicken on their grill. After our pre-meal we walked over towards the finish line to the rail side spot of the company (ASCO) we used to work at, to bring them some of Donna’s chocolate cookies in trade for a drink and to sample some of their bountiful spread. When we got back to spot #471, its owner Tom Varallo, was next door chatting up with the the chicken grilling crew. He talked with us a bit and said he’d probably be done working somewhere between 2 & 3:00 PM and would stop back over for a longer visit. We promised to save him some chicken and a hot dog.

The rest of this timeline and details are hazy, might be old age or it might have been the Moscow Mule I got at the ASCO spot, but two women popped into our rail side spot and asked if we knew a so and so. They were supposed to meet them at spot 471. We of course didn’t because as far as we knew we were the only ones from the Club coming, so we told them maybe they got the number wrong. They hustled off texting madly.

A minute or two later a couple showed up and said their names were Renee and Allen. They had run into this nice man called Tom and explained that they had purchased Guarantor tickets to the VIP tent but were supposed meet someone, but those folks couldn’t get in to the VIP tent. Tom, knowing it was just Donna and I at his spot, told them to meet their friends at #471. At this point in the story we said, “I think they were just here.” “Two women, one older than the other?” we asked. “Yes” We said, “They just went that way maybe you can catch them.” But they didn’t.

Sometime after the first race, two women did show up, a mother, Shirley and her daughter, Kate. The daughter is Renee’s dressage instructor and was accompanied by her boyfriend Eric. They brought with them a couple kinds of chips, a couple kinds of dip and some potent potables. We welcomed them to stay. Eric and Allen were sent across the street to their truck to get some more chairs. Then another mother/daughter team joined our group, Randy and Katelyn. At this point I’m not sure which duo was the one that showed up first. The second pair brought some chicken wings and cookies to add to the smorgasbord. After the second race, Donna and Renee walked across the street to get a cooler that had wine and cookies out of their truck (stuff the guys should have brought)

This is where Plan B dematerialized. We were having too good of a time and the weather was too nice to go home early, so Donna and I stayed with our new found friends until all 6 races were through. Everyone pitched in to cleanup and started packing up. Renee and Allen left. Randy and Katelyn drifted off. Finally then Shirley, Kate and Eric left, leaving Donna and I to wait out the thinning crowd. To kill some time waiting for the roads to clear we made a loop of the inside of the track stopping in at the ASCO tent again for a few minutes. We then tried to stop in at Donna’s Yoga teachers spot to say hello again, but they had already gone.

I guess because this was (supposedly) a Masters Miata Club event, I should mention that Chip Cunningham dropped in for a bit of a chit chat and Tom Varallo did make it back in the afternoon, not to eat though as he was still driving around on a golf cart solving event issues.

Members Attending: Brian & Donna Bogardus, Trudy & Hal Scott, Dennis Mason, Glenn Link & Deb Tonini, Kurt Breitinger, Stacey & Cindy Timmerman, Don & Kaye Boltz, Daryl Shipman, Ralf & Annie Wilms, Mike & Shirley Dyer and Jennie & Thomas Hodges plus grandson Caleb & friend.

When we rolled out of Greg’s Gas Plus at 11:30 for the drive to Greenwood we were 8 Miatas strong. We also had an OTM bringing up the rear, a Ram pickup truck, because Caleb and his friend refused to ride in the trunk of Jennie’s Mazdaspeed Miata. The Wilms’ got a late start and met us at the lunch spot and Daryl Shipman met us in Greenwood.

The drive started cloudy and a bit chilly so everyone’s top was firmly in the up and locked position. The fog was supposed to break near midday, so we hoped to be able to put the tops down part way to Greenwood, instead, the further north we got, the thicker the fog became. Amazingly enough our practically mile long conga line of cars remained intact on the back road drive, until we got into the Saturday afternoon traffic on the US25 bypass around Greenwood. The left turn into our lunch spot was the trickiest part of the drive and true to form, we lost one car, temporarily, in the maneuver.

On the recommendation of Mr. Shipman, lunch was at a place called Migs Pizza Castle and it turned out perfectly in nearly every way. You ordered at the counter, so no waiting to be seated and can I get you drinks, etc. It was crowded so we sat where we fit, no rearranging the furniture into one long “last supper” style table. The food was actually quite good and the service was fast, I’d be willing to bet this is the first time in history that 20 people from this Miata Club got out of a restaurant in an hour.

Knowing the trouble we had getting into lunch, with the left turn needed,  it would be impossible to get eleven vehicles in row, so Brian made sure everyone knew the short route to meet up with the Corvette Club just short of our final destination. When we got to the correct Greenwood High School parking lot we found not many Vettes and a whole lot of pickup trunks and SUVs. Quite a few of them were coming with more than two guests. It was suggested that anyone who could, carpool, so as to not overwhelm the quiet subdivison we were headed to. It helped some, but we still lined the street in front of the Von Seleens.

Arranged up the driveway hill to Hartmut’s two garages were a series of Porsche automobiles to boggle the mind. From the amazing 911R, to an 80’s cool slant nose 930 Turbo Convertible, to the insane 911GT2 RS, to the bonkers hybrid 918 Spyder, to my favorite, the 1969 911S in Cream with a brown interior. At the end of the driveway was the Lava Orange 911GT3 RS that came to Deals Gap with us in November. There was also the relatively sedate late model 911GTS and LeMans race car in street car clothing, a Carrera GT.

All these cars fit in the one garage at the top of the hill, with the red and yellow tiled floor and one wall covered with trophy cases filled with awards from car show and racetracks across America. The two car garage attached to the house held the “pedestrian” family cars, a Porsche Macan SUV (the GTS version) and an S Class Mercedes Benz (the AMG version of course.)

If that wasn’t enough, we then packed up and drove a couple miles cross town to visit Hartmut’s other garage where he keeps his more eclectic collection of cars. There were a little over 20 cars parked cheek by jowl and ran the gamut from a 1959 Corvette race car to a McLaren 650s Spider, a 1963 Porsche 356C to a Spyker C8, including the first car he bought when he came to America, a 1970 Mustang Boss 302. The last photo below is a 90° panorama I took from the front left corner, how many cars can you identify?