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!

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

To start, for those of you having trouble with iTunes, I have no idea what the problem is. The only thing I can think is to try to subscribe manually instead. Of course, any tips or tricks that you might have for us and the WRR listeners would be greatly appreciated!

AMVIV is coming up sooner than you think. Click over and register and get your room if you are planning on staying at Palace Station. There you will also find the schedule of events and other things that are going on in Las Vegas that same weekend.

Keep an eye out for a live show schedule. We’ve got it down enough to actually be able to do it on a regular basis.

Finally, news of the week from Motoringfile. Yes, I’m pretty sure we did some of the news last week, but we pushed on regardless.

Check back tomorrow for some rousing opinions on the Smart car.

Woofcast 213:

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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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Happy New Year from SCMM!!! We have had an AMAZING year in 2007, and we know that 2008 will be even more amazing. We have a million plans for Motoring fun coming up this year, and we hope that all of you out there in MINI-land will come and join in!

Sincerely,

The Entire SCMM Team!

To each and every MINI owner on the planet, SCMM wishes you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Of course, we also cover news of the week from Motoringfile.

Great shows this week! I think you’ll approve. We have also decided that we are going to do 1 show next week and we are going to do it live! Next Thursday, 7PM PST. Keep an eye on the sites for details Wednesday.

Woofcast 208:

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If you are a Zune owner, don’t forget you can now find the Woofcast in the Zune Marketplace. We are there under Lifestyle –> Hobbies. Even near the top too!

Check back tomorrow. We do an audio Ask MF!

Woofcast 206:

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Woo Hoo!!! It’s TOY TIME! Check out the coolest RC MINI on the planet! Get it fast, ’cause like all Fireballed Cars, it’s a LIMITED EDITION!

Hey,…. I better get one, too! Only from RIDEMAKERZ!

Wow! Very cool. You can get this one, or build one of your own, over at Ridemakerz.com.

Then, Todd tells a horror story concerning the ‘widow makers’. Oh no, you’ll have to listen to find out what he means. I can say that winter roads can, possibly, cause some embarrassment, not to mention serious car damage. Lessons to live by people.

Gabe didn’t really take 24 hours to build a clubman. That’s the magic of the internets right there! Long live the tubes!

Not quite 175K miles, but I’ll be there by the end of the week. Watch the Flickr for when it does happen.

We finally get around to talking about The Motoringfile Gift Guide and what we would like to have off of it.

R50/R53 owners looking for some cool accessories might want to put a call into the parts desk. There are some smokin’ hot deals to be had. Check it out.

Yes I did, in fact, buy skinyourfridge.com. Watch for it!

And, finally, add another classic TV show theme song to our repertoire, and Gabe doesn’t know about the Rockford Files! Someone back us up here.

Woofcast 205:

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