Volume 16 #6 July, 2006 Upcoming Events Jul 22 I-79 Mazda 4 Cylinder Car Show Andiamo Cruise BY Ray and Joy Calfo Wed-Sun Jul 26-30 Sun Jul 30 Aug 12 Fri-Sun Aug 18-20 -Mon Sep 2-4 Sep 9 Fri-Sun Sep 8-10 -Sun Oct 14-15 Dec 2 10th Anniversary Miatas at the Gap Andiamo Cruise Monthly Meeting and Fuscaldo s Cruise Miatas at Mentone www.rocketcitymiata.org opless in the Mountains Monthly Meeting and Mason-Dixon Cruise Midwest Miata Gathering Fifth Annual rain Cruise Christmas Party B ack by popular demand with some arm twisting, Joy and I decided to come out of retirement. We dusted off our old cruise directions and hit the road with the intention of making a change or two. We kept the twisty and curvy section along with the stop in Saxonburg, but we added more miles, exotic animals, and included lunch at a castle. But with the good, comes the bad - we had to eliminate the Junk Yard. hat really breaks my heart. A 2:30 lunch is planned. We are limiting the cruise to 15 cars so call early. WHEN: July 30 WHERE: We ll meet behind the McDonald s restaurant on Freeport Road in Harmar ownship IME: 11:30 AM with an 11:50 departure - Please bring a cell phone RSVP: Call Ray Calfo at (412)362-5658 by July 19 DIRECIONS: From the turnpike, take the Allegheny Valley Exit. ravel 1/2 mile to Alpha Drive E. urn right and drive to the rear of McDonald s. We ll meet in the lot between McDonald s and KFC. From Rt. 28, take the PA 910 Harmar exit. urn left at the second light onto Freeport Road. urn left at Alpha Drive E. Drive behind McDonald s and park between McDonald s and KFC.
2 Miatas at Deals Gap Event Celebrates tenth anniversary BY hom & Sue Stuewe welfth, and final, opless in the Mountains by Steve Lapp his summer marks the tenth anniversary of Miatas at Deals Gap. Word is that there will be a huge turn out for this years special event and motel rooms in the area will fill up quickly. It would be a good idea to reserve your room now if you have any intention of going. You can always cancel it with 24 hours notice if you do not attend. he Northcoast Miata club and many others will be staying at http://valleyviewlodge.com or call 1-800- 292-4844. I would love to have some of the members from the West Penn Miata Club join us down there or on the way. Sue and myself are looking forward to meeting many of the members of our new Miata club. he Northcoast participants will be leaving for the Gap Wednesday July 26, 2006 and return on urday July 29, 2006 that afternoon. We have not yet confirmed our directions hoping the West Penn people will hook up with us for the trip down. We are planning to arrive Wednesday afternoon about 4 pm with time to get something to eat, take a run through the dragon, go back to our rooms, wash the cars, and enjoy some wine and good conversation with all our new friends at West Penn. Any questions, e-mail me at SU@alltel.net or call hom at 219-598-0295. he twelfth, and last, opless in the Mountains is scheduled for September 2-4, 2006. rillium Club members Rick and Chris Annis, who have done an absolutely fantastic job with this event, are retiring. his event is really about one thing - DRIVING. Over the course of two days, expect to take your Miata over 500 miles on some of the best roads West Virginia has to offer. Registration for this event is now closed. WPMC members who will be attending are Steve Lapp, Paul McCullough and Lulu, Dave and Carole McLaughlin, Joe and Linda Zimliki, and Bryan and Leslie Bond. WPMC SORE by Linda Zimliki he store now has the 2006 MX-5 Miata digitized for anyone wanting their 2006 Miata on a denim or polo shirt. We also have extra MMM Shirts, 1/72 MMM Miata cars & event pins for sale. For those that emailed me they wanted a 1/72 scale model MMM car, they have been placed aside. For anyone wanting MMM event items, please contact me at lzimliki@westpennmiataclub.com.
3 MMM UPDAE BY LINDA ZIMLIKI Phil & Diane Prier, Bryan & Leslie Bond, Wally & Sherry Swarmer, Carole & Dave McLaughlin, Betty & Don Heim & Clara & John Fuscaldo. Also thanks to Nancy & Bill Willis & hom & Sue Stuewe for being sweeps. I want to thank the people who manned stations for hours at registration. Registration able Pat Harris, Clara Fuscaldo, Eleanor & Rich Lowden & Karen McMahon Sign up able Doug McPheron, Clark Harris & John Whitmire WPMC Store Shar Whitmire Car Wash Station Phil Prier & Wally Swarmer he West Penn Miata Club s 1 st Regional event, Miata Mountain Mania, took place June 15-18 at Holidome in Uniontown. For me, it was the fruition of 2 years plus of intense planning. he Laurel Highlands area was my first & only choice to host an event. I felt it would be a great place because it has so many places & activities for people to enjoy, Nemacoln Woodslands, Frank Lloyd Wright s Fallingwater & Kentuck Knob, Ohiopyle & the historic sites in the area, to name a few. hen you mix in our twisty roads in Western Pa & West Virginia for a winning combination. From the all the emails I have received from participants thanking our club & committee, they agreed. hey really enjoyed themselves & what our surrounding area had to offer. he MMM committee s one year plus planning resulted in a very successful event. You are to be commended for all your hard work & planning. I know that participants thanked you at the event but it never hurts to hear it again. hey thank you for a great time, good food, great hotel location, wonderful roads & guided cruises, beautiful scenery, enjoyable time at Stretch Your Legs Party, car wash station and for planning such an event for them to enjoy. I believe one comment was We hit a home run. So Steve Lapp, Doug & Candace McPheron, Bill & Joan Stenger, Bryan & Leslie Bond, Mark & Sue uite & John & Shar Whitmire, you can be proud of all your efforts that resulted in a successful event. At this time I would like to thank other WPMC members whose efforts helped in making MMM possible. First, members who lead tours or cruises. hey are John & Shar Whitmire, Clark & Pat Harris, Eleanor & Rich Lowden, I also want to thank Phil & Diane Prier for taking photos on the overpass Friday morning of the 124 cars traveling down Rt 40 on their way to the MMM photo shoot. A very special thanks to Eleanor & Rich Lowden & Betty & Don Heim. Well, there is one person I forgot to thank at the closing ceremonies and he is not letting me forget it either. Words cannot express the gratitude I owe him. He is Joe Zimliki, my husband. He was with me every step of the way. A simple hank You isn t enough for the 12 hour days spent every weekend, weather permitting from January on, doing self guided cruises or the day before the event when he took his employees and cut the 3 foot high grass at photo location which took 8 hours. For those & numerous other things he did, I thank him. I don t think he is going to let me forget my oversight any time soon. o all the above people mentioned, a very heart felt thank you for all your efforts and hard work in making Miata Mountain Mania a memorable event for the 250 people who participated. I not only thank you but the participants thank you. Just a note, the self-guided cruises that Joe & I did for MMM, we will be using these in the future for WPMC cruises. I have received photos of the MMM from participants & I will be working on photo web pages next week to be placed on website so make sure you check for them. I have also had requests for a future event. After things quiet down, I will have a meeting concerning a future event.
4 Report on Bill and Juliette Flasche s Cranberry Cruise and Meeting by Paul and Collette Knoll Y ou tell them and they will come. And come they did, eighteen in all - red, gray, green, black, blue, and yellow. he cruise started in the parking lot behind King s Restaurant in Cranberry, PA on a partly sunny day. We then took off on some beautiful country roads. he drive took us to tree lined roads, some of them rough, up and down hills, and through twists and turns. At our morning stop at McConnell s Mill, we crossed a covered bridge - horns honking - and then weaved through very large boulders. After stretching our legs, we were back in our cars for a short drive to lunch. Brown s Country Kitchen, known for their good pie, was our lunch stop. While waiting for our lunch, we had a short meeting. All enjoyed the food and the pie was declared delicious. After a short ride, our final stop was the Cranberry Creamery. he feature here was homemade ice cream. With our little tummies refreshed, we said our good-byes. hanks Bill and Juliette for a wonderful time. P Miatas at Mentone by Clem Akins Rocket City Miata Club reparations for the 2nd Rocket City Miata Club s MIAAS A MENONE are almost finished. We will have several late summer drives to, through, and around the mountains of northeast Alabama, northwest Georgia and southern ennessee and we invite you to join us. We are expecting club participation from the Music City, CAMS, Peachtree, the Carolinas, the West Penn, Scenic City, and the RCMC plus a few lone Miatas that are not lucky enough to have a club close to them. his year has the promise of a bigger and better turn out than we had last year. We have 28 cars from the RCMC alone, 41 people planning on being there and the number is growing daily. he second "Miatas at Mentone" event will be held the weekend of August 18, 19 and 20, 2006 in Mentone AL. We are planning this event, with our local Mazda dealer support, as a social gathering for those who own, drive and support the Mazda Miata/MX5 sports cars. We have different clubs leading several drive outs which when combined will provide a couple of days of driving pleasure in our area along with the opportunity to show off your cars and some great social opportunities. We are planning some self-guided driving tours and a place to show off your cars. We are expecting over 100 cars to be involved. he main area of operation will be the porch of he Mentone Inn in Mentone, AL at the flashing light on Hwy 117, top of the mountain. Look for the club banners and the Miatas. If your club has a banner feel free to bring it and hang it with ours. Mentone is located near the AL/GA/N borders in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. here are a number of lodging and dining possibilities. Each group will be responsible for their own lodging and dinning reservations. here are no fees or charges for the drive outs or activities. None of the events are competitive type racing events and all are conducted on public highways open to general traffic, all traffic laws apply. Some of the lodges in the area require a 2-night minimum. Lodging in the Mentone area may be found by going to www.tourdekalb.com and varies from camping to bed & breakfast to hotels. he planning is complete and we are ready for the fun to begin. Many of the resorts and lodges in the Mentone area are full beginning in mid September through November with old folks, not like us, to look at the Fall Color. One additional note; Mentone is in a dry county so bring it with you or do without, bring it in a bag and keep it out of sight. Additional information and event updates will be posted on our web site www.rocketcitymiata.org or you can email me at info@rocketcitymiata.org. We have four drive outs planned, Little River Canyon (RCMC), Crow Mountain (RCMC), A Mountain Run (Scenic City) and the Unclaimed Baggage / Ice Cream Parlor rail (RCMC). We ll have a Bar-B-Q late urday afternoon at the Mentone Inn courtesy of Jeff Sikes Mazda in Huntsville, AL, followed by some evening entertainment. Remember It s AUGUS 18, 19 & 20 2006 in Mentone, AL
5 W Live and Let Drive by President Bond, James Bond hat a ride!! It s hard to believe that a month has passed since Miata Mountain Mania it seems like last week! After breakfast on Father s Day Sunday, we breathed a collective sigh of relief that our club s firstever regional event came off basically without a hitch and received rave reviews from countless participants. It wasn t long after moving to Uniontown that I discovered some of the great driving roads around this area. hen in 03, I was driving by the Holidome one day and noticed a huge group of Ford Retractables parked in front and stopped by to have a look. Cars from all over the country were there with their enthusiastic owners and all I could think was they d have more fun if they were in Miatas! HHhmmmmm.. hen when Les and I and Linda and Joe attended Miatas at the Biltmore, the juices really began to flow, and the idea of WPMC hosting a regional event began to take shape. We are all grateful to the Zimlikis (both of em!) for the countless hours they put in making the event such a big success. As all of us on the inside of this event know, Linda took on what was probably too much of the tedious, time-consuming grunt work all by herself it s Miller ime, Linda kick back and chill! I know that Linda is individually thanking all of those club members who participated and/or contributed in some way, so I won t list you all again. Please know that MMM wouldn t have happened and certainly wouldn t have happened so well! had you not pitched in with your time, ingenuity and special talents. here is true brilliance among our ranks. Steve and Doug amaze me all the time with their technical knowledge and abilities. You are ALL sincerely appreciated. And for anyone who was not involved we love and appreciate you, too, and wish you could ve been there because it was awesome. Next time! And just so I don t get in trouble like Linda did with Joe.thanks to my own partner, Leslie, for her support, assistance with publicity and for her special creative touches like decorations for the dance party, songwriting, and Father s Day poem. We should all be riding the post MMM high for quite awhile! Right on the heels of MMM was the Make-a-Wish car show June 25. Several WPMC members attended Rich & Ellie Lowden, Ray & Joy Calfo, Don & Betty Heim and a couple new folks/prospective members who saw the event listed on our website. Yours truly took home the Peoples Choice trophy. I used the 007 Secret Agent Brainwash Current in the console to convince the people that it was the right choice. ( Now looking into the future.. he Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix takes place the weekend of July 15-18. Although Mazda has made the supremely bad decision not to sponsor a tent, om Jack was working to put something together. he I-79 4-cylinder car show is scheduled for urday, July 22, 2006 from noon to 4 pm. I ll be at my niece s wedding that day, so someone else will need to volunteer to go and make sure John Fuscaldo doesn t make any impulse purchases. he 10 th Anniversary Miatas at the Gap is on July 26 and is expected to be enormous. hom & Sue Stuewe are planning to attend and have the scoop if anyone is interested. he Calfos are hosting a cruise on July 30 look for info! he August 12 monthly meeting & cruise will be hosted by the Fuscaldos and information can be found elsewhere in this newsletter. We ve been enjoying improved turnout at meetings, including new members, which is great! he summer is cruising by pretty quickly, so let s make the most of it by taking to the backroads as much as possible! And just a note while doing so, get out of the way of the Lapp Marina Green it s having some elective surgery and might possibly take flight. Zoom-zoom! til next time, Live and let drive August Deadline he deadline for articles for the August newsletter is August 13, 2006
Officers e-mail: web site: wpmc@westpennmiataclub.com http://www.westpennmiataclub.com Founder: Paul Fronko President: Bryan Bond Vice President: Bernadine Leach (724) 439-4001 (412) 781-1232 West Penn Club Legalese he FUN N HE SUN IMES is published as a service by the West Penn Miata Club, Inc. a non-profit corporation. reasurer: Joe Zimliki Secretary: John Whitmire Events Chair: Rich Lowden Past President: Linda Zimliki (724) 327-1762 (412) 262-1813 (412)672-1689 (724) 327-1762 Editor - In - Chief: Steve Lapp Send all editorial contributions to: WES PENN MIAA c/o Steve Lapp 105 Gadshill Place Pittsburgh, PA 15237 e-mail: slapp@westpennmiataclub.com he WES PENN MIAA assumes no liability for any information contained herein; or injury or damage resulting from the use of this information. he ideas, maintenance, opinions, or modification tips expressed are to be used at the readers discretion. Individual contributors and/or editors express no approval, authentication, or endorsement. WES PENN MIAA c/o John Whitmire 131 Nyetimber Parkway Moon ownship, PA 15108 a big thanks to billco motors for mailing this newsletter!! Address goes here West Penn Club leave room for mail bar code to go here
Minutes- July monthly meeting. July 8, 2006 Held at Brown s Family Restaurant Portersville, PA Called to Order by: Bryan Bond, President Present: Not recorded. 18 cars participated in a fine cruise lead by Bill and Juliette Flasche. Report of officers: Pres: Miata Mountain Mania was a huge success. he club made a slight profit over expenses, the exact numbers have not yet been reported. Mazda not participating in the Vintage Gran Prix.. Motion carried unanimously to spend $150.00 to rent a tent. Please contact om Jack if you plan to attend. Vice Pres: No report Secretary: Minutes of previous meeting were in the June newsletter. We have approximately 60 members. hree new members have just joined. Garry Matson, Gene Kantor, John and Carol Hisiro. Updated rosters will be sent out. Please notify the secretary, John Whitmire if there needs to be corrections to the information. E-mail address changes are a constant problem. reasurer: Balance in the club treasury as of 6/30/06 is $1461.71. his balance does not include the profit from MMM. Past Pres: No report Committee Reports: Newsletter: No report Internet: Doug McPheron reported that we have received 16,232 hits on the new web site since it opened. Membership Comm: no report Events: Lot of events upcoming. Please see the web site. Bill Flasche encouraged members who have not previously led a cruise to do so. Lots of help is available for first timers plus we have some cruises that were developed for MMM that could provide the basis for a cruise. By Laws: No report Nomination: No report Christmas Party: We are considering hiring a band this year. he response from those in attendance was generally favorable.. WPMC Store: here are MMM cars with the logo painted on the hood and pins from the event available from the store in addition to the standard items. Old Business: None New Business: We have printed new Nice Miata cards. hey have been sent to everyone with their packets. Anyone wishing extras, please contact John Whitmire. Next Meeting: August 12, 2006. Cruise to be hosted by the Fuscaldos. Details BD, check web site. Meeting Adjourned.