Well, now that the ice cream has settled down and the credit cards cooled off, let me give my view on my first “driving” event with my fellow SCMMers! Ya know, there is no sound quite like Bill’s barking blue MINI cruising through the canyons….it makes those cool musical CDs pointless, but I’m getting ahead of myself………ah the Crack of Dawn and I’m trying to rush out of the house to meet with Craig and his CR Cobalt in Corona so we can get to Sylmar in time. Rushing all the way, I almost went the wrong way (a recurring theme it seems) and just made the 118 cutoff to the 5, meeting the group just as they were heading out, so off to our first stop, breakfast in Tehachapi.

Good food and decent service given the amount of us that dropped in on the restaurant. Here we had a quick drivers meeting and followed George to the famous “Tehachapi Loop” were the train (if long enough) will actually loop over itself as it goes up hill. We found a few motorcyclists who’ve been there for well over an hour! After about 25 minutes we could hear the distant sound of a train horn, cool we’re going to get a chance to see this happen, and happen it did. This freight train was long enough to not only pass over itself, but to travel next to the back half of itself as it cruised through the loop, it looked like two trains! But places to go, food to eat still!

Our next stop was to meet up with the group that started from Bakersfield. The official drivers meeting and the passing out of the CDs and Bowling shirts (in some weird red color) out of the way, it was now on to the driving, yee haw….I choose to stay with the “sane” Yellow group and follow one of the “Yellow Leaders” in the mid-pack since this was all new territory for me. With Tavis’ instructions still ringing in our ears of “…stay to the left at all “Y” intersections…” we went right the first chance we got. Okay, we’re a FUN group, not a SMART group! As I’m telling my wife “I think we went the wrong way”, George verifies it by uttering the words I’d hear all day “Yellow Leader, you went the wrong way”. Sooooo, a quick u-turn, back to the “Y” and now we’re back on track. I was looking to catch up with the cars in front, only to find out that two of the three stopped with Lex, and viola, I’m “Yellow Leader”..damn! Well, okay, keep an eye out for the “Ys” and go left, here’s one now, cool, everyone’s following us. This is going pretty good, Michelle is calling out warnings and I’m trying to stay in front of the DS stuck to my bumper. We made it to the flat grounds and whoosh, there went our left turn! Go ahead George “Yellow leader, you went the wrong way”….yeah yeah yeah, another u-turn and off we go to Mickey Ds. Without much more drama, we finally arrived at the stop, to meet up with the fast group. I noticed Tavis was in the back, but I swore he was the leader…..seems the “missed turn” syndrome wasn’t exclusive to the yellow group. After a quick stop, we all lined up and headed to Kernville for, yup, more food. Seems our little car club, is in fact a food club that just happens to drive the same make of vehicles. Good food, me and Michelle shared our lunch, as I had a challenge awaiting me…more on that later.

Lunch done, Roadmaster Craig made it up from Steve’s in record time with CF MINI, so he donned the “Yellow Leader” cap and we were off again, heading up the mountain where there was still snow on the ground and back to Bakersfield. Nice tight turns and cool weather made for a fun run, and oh yeah, another u-turn for yours truly. I am getting damn good at these turns on tight roads! Now I’m in the back with George following me (less chance for mistakes) and we headed to Lengthwise Brewery for more food and beer. None for me, thank you, there was some ice cream with my name on it waiting for me…..It seems that when Lex posted up the picture of Erik and his sundae, stating that “no one could touch Erik at ice cream eating”, I posted, tongue firmly in cheek, that it looks like a “piece of cake”. Mr President, of course, took this as a challenge and we’re off to the “Showdown in B-town”. For those of you who think you can put away a hefty amount of food, be forewarned, never challenge the skinny guys, they’re unnatural! So, stepping down in weight class to take on Erik, eating for all of us “non” CR MINIs, bring on “Frank Daddy’s Super Sundae”……DAMN, that’s a lot of ice cream! Oh well, let’s get on with the beating. I thought I was doing okay, getting a bit tired of strawberry ice cream (another mistake, I feel), but I think I can finish this…..then looking down the table, I see Erik tipping up the bowl to scoop the last of his desert, and presto, he’s done! After checking the floor underneath him for dropped food, I threw in the napkin, picked up the check, tail tucked firmly between the legs and went bowling!!

A big “thank you” goes to: Tavis and Angela, our hosts, for this blast of a weekend; Juan and Derek for the cool tunes (and Craig for burning them); George and Lex for their organizational skills and everyone in the club for a safe trip. Can’t wait for next year, and yes, I will share a Blondie with Michelle at Rosemary’s! Drive Safe.

On January 12th, 2008 SCMM celebrated it’s 5th anniversary in the usual fashion by holding a huge birthday bash at the Santa Anita racetrack. However this year a little something unusual was added to the mix. A crew from KNBC TV’s new SoCal car culture show Whipnotic was on the scene to record the event and get a feel for the club. They interviewed several members and club officers and shot a lot of video of the real stars of the show: Our MINIs/Minis.

The clip you see above was aired on KNBC 4 TV in L.A. on Saturday February 2nd, 2008 during the 3pm hour. It turned out great! The club got about 2 minutes of airtime. Highlights included Scott Murphy with his gorgeous classic silver Mini, and Brian White with the uber-powerful 500HP “Black Widow”. Whipnotic did a great job of putting together a wonderful video glimpse of just how much fun this club is to be a part of.

Thank you KNBC and Whipnotic for joining us on our Birthday and capturing the essence of our club: Our Maniac-obsession with these sweet little cars!

“These generous contributions have enabled us to help fulfill the Christmas dreams of our nation’s neediest children.” — the Marine Corps

Toys, toys and more toys. The holiday gifts, destined for local needy children, arrived in the boots and back seats of more than 50 MINIs, donated by club members for SCMM’s annual drive to support the Marine Corps Toys for Tots campaign.

This year’s event included a breakfast meet-up at Ruby’s in Long Beach, a cruise to the Naval Marine Corps Training Center on Terminal Island, and a run through the Palos Verdes Peninsula ending at Fireball Tim’s Studio Shop in Torrance for an afternoon holiday party.

“The generosity of SCMM members is truly amazing,” said club President Lex Adams. “The toys they have donated will bring much joy and happiness during the holiday season to children who otherwise would have gone without this year.”
The day began at Ruby’s Diner in Long Beach where the large turnout overwhelmed the restaurant staff, but they managed to get all the breakfast meals served and get us on our way on time.

Cruising through Belmont Shore, it was impossible to keep the large caravan together. Dave Read’s route directions were very clear though and we all made it to the Marine’s training center on Terminal Island without any problems.

Similar to our past visit to Camp Pendleton, the Marines at the gate were all smiles when the parade of toy-filled MINIs arrived. Toys collected by the Marines remain in the area to assist families in the local community. Authorized charitable organizations and churches partner with the Marines in this effort, similar to a food bank, but with toys.

“These generous contributions have enabled us to help fulfill the Christmas dreams of our nation’s neediest children,” reads a certificate presented to SCMM on behalf of the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

Content and Photos By: George Marsh

As I said early this week, I did attend a MINI Event with the club. This time it was for our 5th (!) anniversary. That’s right, more than 5 years ago SoCal MINI Maniacs was started and we have been celebrating that fact for the last 4 years at Santa Anita Race Track.

As in years past, Fireball Tim was our trusted MC and he gave away a ton of swag from some great sponsors! You can see the complete list below.

We had great weather too. Out of nowhere we get 80 degrees! In January! A perfect day to play the ponies, including the 8th race, which was the race for SCMM.

It was great to see everyone there, especially those of you that I don’t get to see very often. I promise I’ll be going to more stuff this year!

Of course, all that great swag we were able to give away had to come from somewhere. And it did from our generous sponsors!

Follow the jump for photos and sponsors!
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Publisher’s Note: This is the first in an ongoing series of excerpts from the SCMM Monthly Newsletter. If you are a member, and you did not receive the newsletter this month, please contact George Marsh. If you are not a member yet, then look at what you’ve been missing! Join us today!

When we’re not driving our MINI, then we’re most likely washing it. It seems owning a MINI can bring out the obsessive behavior in anyone. Fortunately for us, there are people out there ready to feed our obsession, like the folks at Adam’s Polishes.

SCMM’s recent Detail Day was sponsored by Adam’s. For many members it was their first time trying the brand, which can’t be found in the average automotive retailstore. Their products are sold through local dealers and from their online store. Sales Director Heather Reynolds explained the reason.

“The cost to make our products is what you find to be retail pricing in your average auto parts locations. We don’t want to become part of the wall of confusion ‘ as we call it,” she said. “We prefer to keep with the auto enthusiast who gives that little extra something to their detailing.”

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