With most of the MG Clubs of Chicago 2017 Driving Season over, we have updated the scoring. Of course, “we” means Jamie Schafer, the new Driving Events coordinator and myself. The standings, going into the final stretch of October and November events are as follows. Dean and Kerry Hickenlooper are leading for the Moss Motors Trophy (MMT including all events) with 32 points and for the Victoria British Trophy (VBT for competitive rallies and autocross events only) with 19 points. Second and third for the MMT are Stephen Sparks & Jody Simon with 26.5 points and Bill Kalafut & Jean Heasley with 25.5 points. They are followed by Phil & Sandy Wydra, Victor & Penny L’Heureu, Jim Compton & Bob Dorley, and Steve & Liz Gor with 20.5, 20, 18.5 one 18 points (resp.). Second and third place for the VBT are Jim Compton & Bob Dorley with 13.5 points and Stephen Sparks & Jody Simons with 13 points. They are followed by Steve & Liz Gorr, Bill Kalafut & Jean Heasley, Phil & Sandy Wydra, and Victor & Penny L’Heureux with 12, 12, 9, and 9 points (resp.).

As you can see, the two championships are still wide open. On October 8, Jim Compton & Bob Dorley are organizing the All Aboard Fall Tour. Details about their drive to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL should be available in this newsletter. Then, on October 26, the final rally of the year; The Halloween Rally. Phil & Sandy Wydra have another real rally planned. That means that the score is based upon the MG related skill tests in forest preserves along the route. The Fall Tune Down at Cowboy’s place is on November 5. Altogether, there still a lot of points available and the competition for the Moss Motors Trophy and the Victoria British Trophy may go again, as it did in 2017, to the last event of the year, the Cruise to the Rock on Thanksgiving Day.

In this column I usually like to look ahead but this time I want to make an exception and talk about the Convalescent Care Center Car Show from a few weeks ago. I am not really a car show person and I don’t go to many cruise nights and local shows. But this time it was different. We were there not to have the best car show ever but to try to support a club member. And we did. When Marty Reilly saw the MGs and the people who came out, it put a smile on his face. Ginny Reilly, who had not told Marty in advance about the MG presence at the Center’s car show, said later that he was very surprised. And it was not just Marty. Throughout the day many residents of the care center strolled by our MGs and they all reacted the same: a big smile and a couple of happy words. Why is this important? It is important because events like this, make a difference for other people. Our hobby, cars and specially MGs, and our organizations, the VMGCC and the CMGC, are often very internally focused. Besides driving our cars, we talk about our MGs, our experiences, our daily business, and our daily (MG) related problems to ourselves. But when we go out to a care center in Wheaton, take kids from a children’s cancer hospital in Park Ridge for a ride, help the homeless in Arlington Heights, or do the car inspections

for the senior citizens of the Naperville/Lisle Townships, we are expanding the MG world to affect others. For me, those events, are some of the best MG days of the year. I hope that the MG Clubs of Chicago will continue to make our hobby relevant outside our clubs and to put smiles on the faces of people in less fortunate situations.

Now, looking forward I want you to think about 2018. The VMGCC will be hosting the GOF Central (Gathering of the Faithful) in Lake Delavan, Wi, from Wednesday, June 27 through Saturday, June 28. There are two things that all of us, members of both clubs, can do to make this convention a success. First, Ray Costa, the GOF 2018 Chairman, is soliciting help to run the event. In St. Charles at the GOF in 2012, members of the CMGC helped with the car show (setting up the field so that cars in each class are parked together) and with the rally (directions and start, check point, and finish staffing). Second, I noticed that recent GOF’s Central have become more and more ‘all MG’ events. This year, in Akron, OH, at least 25 of the about 100 MGs were As, Bs, and Cs. So, please consider joining the GOF Central. You don’t have to be a VMGCC member and you don’t have to bring a T-Series MG to be welcome. Also note that this GOF is shortly after MG2018, the NAMGBR convention in Gettysburg, PA (June 17-22). So, if Pennsylvania is too far or if you want a few relaxing MG days close by, to recover from the long drive home from MG 20018, keep Lake Delavan on your calendar.

Finally, this is probably my last column for our newsletters. As many of you already know, we are moving Emma to the Atlanta Georgia area. We get asked “Why Atlanta?” often and the answer is quite simple. We like to be close to a big city, the winter weather has to be a lot milder, it has to be green (we don’t like desert, cactuses, and palm trees), and finally, there has to be an active MG Club. Bingo on all four counts for Atlanta. The MG Clubs made our move to Chicago so easy and we are confident that MG life in Atlanta will be just as much fun. I leave the Driving Events coordination in the capable hands of Jamie Schafer. We have worked together for a while now to ensure a seamless transition. And we will continue to do so through email and telephone to close out the 2017 season with the annual awards. The only thing that I am asking of all of you is to support Jamie as you have supported me. The success of the driving season comes from you, the members, participants and organizers.

From Henneke, Emma, our MGC (some of you may remember it while it was still on the road) and myself, a BIG THANK YOU, it’s been a fun ride.

  When I started to coordinate the driving events for the CMGC, I wanted to write a monthly column and called it ‘Directions’. A few years ago, when the VMGCC and the CMGC combined the driving events into one schedule, I renamed the column ‘New Directions’. Just like Jamie and I worked on scoring the events together it seems a nice idea to write this column together also. Therefore, if you look at the top of this page one more time you’ll notice that the title now

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