Happy New Year! I realize the New Year is nearly a month old as you read this, but it is a new year in many ways.

Let me begin by thanking Bill Mennell for serving as president the last two years. He has left the club in great shape, but he is a tough act to follow. Fortunately, Wade is on board to keep everything running smoothly this year. I am looking forward to a great year for the Chicagoland MG Club.

The next big event is our driving season planning session scheduled for February 12, at Mack s. We will be meeting at 1:00 to plan the summer driving schedule. I hope we can have at least four rallies (preferably more), several tours, and maintain our schedule of autocrosses. If any of you would like to write a rally, plan a tour, or organize an autocross, we need your input. There are a lot of great roads around here. If you have found some and think we could include them in a rally, come to the meeting. If you have never written a rally or tour, we would like to see you there. We would like to see some experienced rally writers and tour planners there to help bring some new ideas into our driving program. Bill Hedrick and I wrote last years Spring Chicken Rally and I learned a lot about what goes into planning a fun event. Anyway, don t stay home because you haven t written an event before, this could be great learning opportunity. Call Wade or me if you are interested.

We have some staff positions open. If you can donate a small amount of time to help your club, please consider helping out.

The February meeting is our annual business meeting. We will have presentations from our officers and staff to let you know where the club is and its goals for the next year. We will be presenting trophies and award for last years season. We are also looking for you suggestions for this year, so please plan to attend.

It is now less than two months until the Missouri Endurance Rally, which in my mind represents the beginning of the driving season. I have a new alternator, should have a new radio for my co-driver son (and me) soon, and get a tach in my car. I am almost ready to go. I think we will have a fantastic driving season, and hope you can join us.

See you on the road!

John Schroeder - flobearsmg@comcast.net

Welcome your CMGC Officers for 2005
Jim Evans -- Wade Keene -- John Schroeder -- Doug Clark