Presidents Column July 2012

Not a “car guy or car gal”? You belong to this club, but not sure why? Do you think the Iowa BMW CCA is all about going to the track? Wrong!! The history of this club goes back 11 years now with it being formed essentially so that the early members could attend events that primarily revolved around car activities. As our club has evolved over the years, the activity planners have determined in order to have a strong and vibrant club, we must involve the spouses that are not interested in cars, and the primary members who joined just to get the Roundel because they wanted something interesting to read.

The club’s Longest Day Driving School has just occurred at Mid-America Motorplex near Omaha. For those of you that have attended, you know my spouse Becky gets nervous on parade laps on the track at 55 mph, but that has not stopped her from attending LDDS each year as a volunteer to help with many of the responsibilities there. You know you can always find her under the blue pop-up canopy where she has a cooler full of soft drinks, cookies, bread, meat and cheese for sandwiches. She spends her time there in the shade reading books and ready for conversation to those passing by or to make a sandwich for anyone that is in need of food.

July has been the month normally scheduled to attend the annual picnic. Not usually a car event, there will still be many beautiful cars to look at and admire, but it is a traditional social event with great food and conversation. For some of our members, it may be only one or two events that they attend each year.

One of our most popular social events has become the Iowa Cubs Outing and Car Show. Since this event involves club members socializing in a Skybox at Principal Park, it has always sold out. Once again, for those that really want to have something that involves their car, a limited number of cars can be shown directly outside the main gates. The reason most people attend is for the social aspect and visiting with club members during the game. Of course, for hard core baseball fans, there is also the game to enjoy from either inside or outside the Skybox. One small change this year will be the members that will be showing their cars will stay outside and visit with fans coming to the game that may be interested in talking about our cars and the reason for our club.

I hope to see you at one of these social events soon.