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Contacts: Graeme Kinsey, President Mary Diamond, VP/Secy Linda Derby, Treasurer Bonni Weatherwax, Tech Dir Connie Kellner, Newsletter Ken Christensen, Webmaster |
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Note from the Prez DMC Members Celebrating Birthdays in July Membership Report Dinner on the Delta MIATA MIXER & STREET SHOW A Very Fast Miataphile |
We’re moving through some hot
times, and RED RULES, as you can see from our visit to Larry and Barbara’s
beautiful home after our Delta Miata Club Social dinner (thanks, Mary, for
organizing it!) by the Stockton marina earlier this month (gad, those boats were
awesome!!). Who would’ve thought you could put 4 Miatas in a driveway – we
tried the garage but Larry and Barbara go there first! Gina is the roadblock in
front, showing her Yokohama tires for the last time – tomorrow I get Toyo
T1S’s! Three sets of tires in 31,000 miles – I must be doing something right.
I joined Delta a few weeks after I found Gina and have never regretted either
decision!
Our Delta social was a great meal and our picnic is in just a few days – I must be hungry as I write this! I hope we all see each other then and look forward to leading you on the secret route from our Brentwood meeting place to the picnic. If we’re lucky, we won’t have to do TOO many U-turns…
I’m at the half-way point in 2003 leading this great group of people and cars – it was pretty scary to start with, but I’ve really smiled at all of the support all of you have lent to me – I have a great board and volunteers and I thank you all. We’ve shifted to a more relaxed meeting format, we’re having more fun than work, but don’t relax TOO much! Elections will be coming up in a few months, and we need some members to step up to take over, to keep new ideas coming in and keep the fun growing -- Mary and I agreed a long time ago that we will not be running a second year because we want you members to run the club. In the meantime, keep hammering on me if I don’t get it right… let me know how you like the email announcements, thank Ken for the great website support, Connie for the newsletter, Mary and Shirley for the picnic – and more! -- Bonnie for her tech notes, Cathy for her Jackson run, Gaylon and Connie for their East Bay Valleys run, Misti and John for their Paso Robles event… the list goes on and on (sorry if I forgot someone!). And it’s all YOU, folk. It’s all us Miata lovers helping each other have a good time. Please consider jumping in a bit deeper and leading an event or running for a position later on this year so we don’t burn out the folk who have already done their share.
Thanks for helping me have a great time with Delta Miata Club! I look forward to many more years of fun. Even though you don’t all have RED cars, you’re pretty neat… Please join us for more fun as the summer winds its way into Fall. Check our calendar often and keep the shiny side up!
Graeme
DMC Members Celebrating Birthdays In August
Gaylon Kellner 8/18
Graeme Kinsey 8/20
Ken Larrabure 8/14
Bev McLain 8/26
Denise Pearson 8/11
Yong Simas 8/16
Karen Yee 8/16
Happy Birthday Wishes From Everyone At DMC !!!
We currently have 46 memberships and 71 members. Our newest member is Danny Santos. Welcome Danny – we are very glad to have you.
*******************The flyers can be downloaded from the website*******************
On Sunday evening, July 13th eleven DMC members got together for an impromptu “mini” run and dinner on the delta. We sent out word a few days before to see if anyone was interested in getting together for a casual meal at Garlic Bros. restaurant at Village West Marina in Stockton. We were surprised and pleased to have so many takers! Part of the group met in Byron and drove up together; the rest met us at the restaurant. The weather was great and we were able to sit outside, under the umbrellas watching the boats come and go into the marina. After dinner Barbara & Larry Mensch invited the group to their home at Discovery Bay for dessert. The Mensch’s live right on the water and have lots of water toys, ski-doo’s, boats etc. to play with. They were very gracious to share this wonderful setting with us and it was a beautiful evening to sit on the deck and visit with friends.
All of us agreed that getting together on the spur of the moment is a relaxing way to keep in touch between runs. Let’s try and do more of these “mini dinner runs” especially while the weather is nice.
Looking forward to the next one!
John & Mary Diamond
Upcoming Events
MIATA MIXER & STREET SHOW
Date: August 20, 2003 (Wed.)
Time: 5:00 until 8:30 PM (Get there whenever you can. Access for Miatas will
be open the entire event)
Location: 400 block of Georgia Street/Downtown Vallejo
BAMA Contact & RSVP to: Greg Leopold @ 707-648-2787 or
procyon@scrserv.com
The Vallejo Main Street Organization is organizing "theme nights" for their
Wednesday Night Celebrations this summer. These have been held in beautiful,
historic, downtown Vallejo for the past three years. There will be two bands on
two different stages that will be performing until 8:45 p.m. Bands will be: The
Real Imposters and the Adriana Cap Quartet...Rock and Jazz respectively. Street
vendors are there to provide food, beverages, and craft items. There will also
be a small Farmers Market.
What a perfect opportunity to showcase our beautiful cars to the unsuspecting
public. It will also be a geat time to purchase or sell BAMA and Delta Miata
Club t-shirts and to solicit new members. Bill Lang from the local Mazda
dealership may also have a few new Miatas on display. We will have an entire
city block cordoned off for our use. Here's what we'll do:
BAMA and Delta will host a "car show" with a beautiful plaque going to the winner that receives the most votes from the public. Voting will be Popular Choice.
This will be a static display of our cars, our
club and our passion for Miatas. Bring a picnic dinner for yourself or try the
delicious food at the event. Restrictions on alcoholic beverages being consumed
outside will not be enforced that night. Call it a street party, a meet & greet,
a car show...whatever. Just consider it a GREAT time to have a GOOD time!
Directions:
From I-80 take the Georgia Street exit westbound (toward the waterfront
/downtown area). The 400 block of Georgia street will be at the intersection of
Hwy29 (Sonoma Blvd). The street will be barricaded. There will be just enough
room to drive your Miata past the barricade and line up with all the other
Miatas that will be parked there.
An Interview with Pro Spec Miata Racer Ed Zabinski
By Bonni Weatherwax, Delta Miata Club Technical Adviser
In last month’s tech article, if you read it, I discussed a weekend I recently spent as a member of Pro Spec Miata racer Ed Zabinski’s pit crew at Portland International Raceway. In that same article I also promised an interview with this somewhat famous racer, and so here it is! Enjoy it – I know I sure did!
DMC: When did you first get into racing?
Zabinski: I started racing in 1985, taking an ICSCC drivers school in my 1978 Corvette.
DMC: What format did you start out with (i.e., SSC, Pro 7, autocross, etc.)?
Zabinski: My first racecar was a 1969 Fiat 124 Coupe. I ran it in ICSCC G Production, which is sort of like ITC in SCCA. Interestingly, I bought that same Fiat back a few weeks ago and now it’s a Vintage Class legal car. I think I am getting old. The Fiat taught me more about being a race mechanic than it did about driving, but it was a fun car.
DMC: In what classes of racing have you participated in, and in what cars?
Zabinski: After the Fiat I ran a 1980 RX-7 in ICSCC E Production. I finished first or second in a club racing championship from 1987 until 1993. I helped write the rules of the very first "Spec RX7" concept that we started in ICSCC in 1988. After the RX-7, I ran a Miata in the SCCA Nationals in SSC, winning the Nor Pac division championship in 1992 and finishing 4th at the SCCA Runoffs in Atlanta. Then I ran a very slow third generation RX7 in the IMSA Bridgestone Supercar Championship. During that time I had also been running the IMSA endurance series in a Ford Mustang Cobra "R". After doing that for a couple of years I got the offer to run LeMans Prototypes and finished 4th at Sebring in my debut race. When that finally got too expensive to fund adequately, I started a Star Mazda Formula Mazda team and we ran that for the last 2 years. This year I am back in Miatas in the SCCA Pro Spec Miata Series. Maybe next year we will have a bigger Spec Miata team or a World Challenge program.
DMC: What made you switch to Miatas, when did you make that switch, and in what class did you first represent the Miata?
Zabinski: I have always loved sports cars, and when the Miata was first announced, I was right there wanting a car. I started racing them in 1991, where I ran a 1990 Miata in SSC.
DMC: What is your favorite Miata attribute? Your least favorite?
Zabinski: The best thing about the Miata is its balance. A well set-up Miata is a joy to toss around. From a driver’s standpoint, it’s a wonderful little car. Like the best of the 60s sports cars, but without the oil leaks and the bad tops. My least favorite thing? Well, I guess I’d like it more if it had 400 HP.
DMC: If you could drive any car, in any race, in any class, what would this selection be?
Zabinski: A Ferrari at LeMans. Nothing would be better than that!
DMC: What sage words of wisdom might you impart onto folks interested in starting out in racing, especially folks considering SM or PSM racing?
Zabinski: In the immortal words of NIKE, “Just Do It.” Racing is a very expensive sport, and you will never have "enough" spare money to justify it to you or your family. But if it’s in your blood, then find a way to make it work. Also, unless you have a taste for carnage, and/or a body shop as a sponsor, stay out of the pro series until you get some experience. It’s still very clean racing, but as soon as you add the word "pro" to a series, the stakes will go up and it starts to attract aggressive drivers. Fenders are cheap and people will put 3 Miatas in the space for two all the time.
DMC: Any kind of quote that you'd like to make sure this group of Miata enthusiast's is left with?
Zabinski: We only have a finite number of heartbeats in our lifetime -- don’t sell them too cheap, or waste them on activities or people who don’t deserve them -- you can never get them back. Driving a Miata is good way to spend some of those heartbeats, even if they go by a little faster while you’re doing it!