The 2013 Driving Events program continues with several events in July and August. Saturday the 13th is the second Garage Tour and it promises something not to be missed. The full details are in the official announcement in this issue, but it is difficult to do the event justice in only a few words. It will be exciting and with something new for everyone. These garages are much more than just places to park and work on cars. They're almost small private museums as well, and include cars, car related memorabilia, MG stuff etc. Lots of it, too much to describe here. Some of the VMGCC members have been at Rey's and Jeff's before. I have been at Jeff's place many times myself. But every time I return there is more to see, things I missed the last time, and new additions that were there. And Andy Simo's garage is new to most of us. I guess that I am trying to say that you shouldn't think: "we've seen it before" but come and join us for a most interesting Saturday morning.

Then we have the Annual Camping Trip at Road America. The Vintage Races at Road America are a fantastic opportunity to see many vintage cars, in the paddock and on the track. Most owners and mechanics are more than happy to talk about their car, especially on Saturday, before the real races on Sunday. And if you plan on going both days, the campground across the track is a great place to stay.

The last Sunday in July, Ray and Sue Hansen host the second edition of the Lake Shore Tour. It'll go the other direction this year, starting at Northerly Island, a.k.a. the old Megs Field airport. There will be a stop and short tour at the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette.

Early August, shortly after the August newsletters arrive in the mail, Carl Vogel hosts the Tally Ho Rally; details to follow in an email.

As you can see there are a great variety of events for all of us, members of the CMGC and the VMGCC. Sometimes I still

hear "we're invited to their event" and sometimes I see more participants from one club than from another club. I hope that these things will wear off over time. These are your events and it doesn't matter who organizes it and to which club you belong. What matters is that you drive a MG to a driving event for MGs.

The Autocross program has suffered a little bit of a setback. Coordinator Joel Brossard moved away from Chicago. Joel's enthusiast leadership brought the program into a revival mode. Thanks for your great help Joel, and I wish you all the best out in your new place. We're very lucky that Bill Mennell, the CMGC librarian, has picked up the baton and will be coordinating the Auto Cross events for the remainder of the season. The first one will be August 10. Check the Miata Club website or touch base with Bill if you're thinking of participating.

And before I end this column I'd like to call your attention to an event in the far future, the week of June 15 in 2014 to be specific. That is when the North American MGB Register will have its annual convention in French Lick resort about two hours south of Indianapolis. It has been a while since the NAMGBR convention was so close. And it has also been a while since members of our clubs are participating in the organization of a NAMGBR convention. Roger and Shirley Goebbert and Oscar and Diana Gonzales are asking all of us to mark that week on our calendars so that Chicago will be represented with a great number of MG's in next year's convention.

Well, that's it for July. As always, please give me a call at 847 342 9804 or email me at reinoutvogt@gmail.com if you have questions or good ideas. I'd love to hear from you.

"The more you drive, the more you smile".

-- Reinout Vogt

Preliminary Standings

After about two months of Driving Events, these are the preliminary standings. The points schedule is part of the Driving Event rules that are published on our websites. There were already a total of 10 events. Three were autocross events that didn't get much traction but all the other events had great participation and the top three positions are:

Drivers 12 points, Ralph Arata 11 points, Roger Goebbert 10 points, Jim Evans, Victor L'Heureux, and Dino Perez

Navigators 11 points, Susan Arata and Shirley Goebbert 10 points, Penny L'Heureux 9 points, Lois Evans and Sue Hansen

Please note that participating in many events or winning a few competitive events, rally or auto cross, are good recipes to get high in the standings. Doing both is even better.