If you weren't at the recent BMC Annual Meeting, you may not know that Don Gervais has stepped down as President of the club and I was elected as new the President. Don has done a great job over the last six years, and I will do my best to carry on his fine example. I am an "old retired guy" but Jan and I are relatively new to the club. We joined very shortly after I purchased Melissa, our 2002 NB SE in 2018. (Jan gave her that name as a tribute to the Allman Bros. classic song, "Sweet Melissa") Over the past six years we have gotten to know many, but I'm sure not most of you. We will try to remedy that. We have thoroughly enjoyed all of the Club events in which we have participated, and we have especially enjoyed socializing with you members.

I thought it would be a good idea to outline some things that I plan to work on in the coming year. As Henry Netzinger always says, "we need more events." I agree. More rides would be great, but a successful event can be anything. Do you have something in your area that you think some members would enjoy? Submit it as an event. We have long cold winters in WI, and many of us have our Miata(s) tucked safely away. But we can still venture out for some social time with other members. I know of a country bar in S WI that serves the best hamburgers I have ever tasted. I plan to invite you to join me there to see if you agree.

I am a racing, motorsports, and car show enthusiast. I'm not an active participant in competitions like Don, I'm just an interested spectator. I know some of you share this interest. We are blessed to have a truly world class road racing facility right here in WI in Road America. If you have even the slightest interest in sports car racing and its history you owe it to yourself to visit Road America and beautiful Elkhart Lake, and Don Gervais's event on May 18th would be the perfect time to do it.

Aside from Road America there are numerous events of various kinds throughout the summer. What if we display our Miatas at a local car show? There is a great one every Wednesday evening in Waukesha at Fox View Lanes with food, beverages and a band. I happened to run into Bob Borkowski at one of these last summer. I'll work on a date for this. If there is some event in your area that you think would be fun, let's put it on the calendar.

Our club's and the Mazda Miata's 35th Anniversary are coming up in 2025. For the 25th the club had a multi-day event, and we are planning to do this again next year. I wasn't a BMC member then so I will defer to those who were to plan this event. Thanks goes to Tim Deadrick who offered to head up the planning committee for this. Tim has some great ideas and I'm sure he will do a fine job. I would urge anyone who is interested to contact Tim at deadricktim@yahoo.com.

Thank you for your patience if you have made it this far. I want to close with these thoughts. This is your club. If you have an idea for an event or how we might do things better, get it to a Board member. This club is about enjoying the company of people who share a common interest in our cars and all that our beautiful state has to offer. More ideas can only help. I look forward to seeing you at the next event.

Bill Bright