Welcome to the Windy City Miata Club!

The Windy City Miata Club (WCMC) is a not-for-profit organization designed to promote the enjoyment of good will and fellowship derived from owning a Mazda Miata. Though most of our membership is located in the Chicagoland area, we have members in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and other states. As of the end of 2008, we have 365 members, with 247 Miatas.

You're invited to join us at our next meeting or activity! Regular club meetings are held the fourth Tuesday of each month at Fuddruckers in Downers Grove (Click Here).

New and prospective members are always welcome at our events. Some events may require an RSVP to the organizer. If you want more information about an upcoming event, please email the event organizer at the address shown on the event page or you may contact us here.

A Word from our President - March 9, 2010

Since my last article to you, the officers have completed the turnover meeting. Our new officers have been officially installed and they are already settling in to their new responsibilities. Our first GMM (general membership meeting) for the year was lightly attended, compared to last year, but to be fair, last year Fuddruckers was holding a 5 pound burger eating contest, on Fat Tuesday, while we were trying to hold our meeting! Maybe that’s what made it seem like there were more people there than there actually were.

The weather is starting to break and the glaciers outside have begun to show signs of defeat with the dormant grass below struggling to break through. It is a sure sign that the rains are around the corner and Miata weather is just beyond that.

The last couple of sunny days in the high 40's were extremely tempting to go top down if my Miata had not been in storage. I envy you hardcore year round Miata drivers. You have the option to enjoy a warm, sunny March day top down, if you feel the desire to. I don’t even have a sunroof. Oh, poor, poor me.

After our March breakfast, a bunch of us went over to play Whirlyball and everyone had a great time. It is so much fun tooling around in a gussied up carnival bumper car while trying to perform your best impersonation of a seated Michael Jordan holding a plastic “scooper” in which you must launch a wiffle ball into a basketball sized hole in your team’s backboard. I know it sounds crazy, and, it actually is.

With warm weather making its return in the southern states and parts of Europe, the racing season is almost under way with NASCAR and Formula One leaning on their season openers. Our A-X team is also working hard to put together another fun packed racing season. You should come out and test your legs out on an autocross circuit. Members pay $25 for about 8 runs all day. Don’t be shy. My very first autocross (A-X), back in 1982, I had three runs (I got there late…I know, hard to believe!) and DNF’d (did not finish) all three runs. I couldn’t figure out the course! That didn’t stop me. Well, it did for about 13 years because my next A-X event was after joining our little club. Actually, that is the main reason I joined the WCMC.

I knew that the tours, gatherings and other activities would be fun but what lured me in was the opportunity to do some cheap, fun racing in a controlled, safe environment. I was so taken by it that I joined 4 other A-X clubs and raced every weekend, both days, at race tracks and parking lots in and around the area, for a couple of seasons. That endeavor sparked an interest in tracks and track days.

Honestly, if you drive a car that is less than 15 years old, it most likely has the latest safety features and quite a bit of horsepower and performance compared to cars from earlier eras. So much, in fact, that to fully enjoy the capabilities of your ride (and yourself), you really should be on a track where you can access the full (or as much as you can without scaring yourself silly) potential of your car. I found that out right after buying my 350Z. Can you say, “101 mph with an unmarked cop behind you” three times real fast? Neither could I. That experience drove home a quick lesson in math: Fine+lawyer for getting busted at 101 mph = 4 track days. Believe me, track days are more fun. I thought that lesson had sunk in until just a few months after that when I had to retake the math test.

Be safe and hope to see you at our next event.

Your WCMC President,
Sal Leonardi