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 - July 8, 2010
 

We are already half way through our 20^th year as a club.  While pondering that fact I realized that in the twenty years that this club has existed, there has been quite a turnover of members; but, there are also a handful of original, or near-original, members that are still around and very connected to the club.

I must admit that back in 1990 when I purchased my first Miata, I found no reason for joining the WCMC.  I actually had no idea it even existed.  There were no flyers, newsletters, stickers (that stick and stickers that don’t) or mention from the dealer of the WCMC.  Regardless, I wouldn’t have been interested, anyway.

I owned my Miata since July of 1991, after wrapping my 1990 Miata into a ball precisely on the 23 ½ mile marker on the northbound lanes of I-355 on June 5^th, 1991.  I couldn’t bear not having my beloved Miata so I quickly negotiated another sweet deal from then dealer O’Hare Mazda.  I knew I wanted to replace my “A” package Miata with another one so I upgraded to the “B” package.

My plan to arrive at the dealership around 5:00pm on a Saturday was pretty shrewd, if I may say so myself, just when the salesperson is ready to go home and relax after a long week pushing cars out the door.  He was putty in my hands, I would like to think (this was all pre-internet and Kelly Blue Book.com, so I am pretty sure I could have done better today).  Regardless, I got my new Miata and was on my way home with my top-down-smile fully restored.

Almost 300,000 miles and countless oil changes later, I am still driving my favorite Miata, my longest relationship.  But, the real fun didn’t start until AFTER I joined the WCMC.

I was happy tooling around in my car, finding some twisties, showing off the car (it was quite an attention getter those initial years) and generally having a good time.  So, when I read in Car and Driver that the local Chicago chapter of the Miata Club of America was going to be given exclusive access to the Miata Roadster show car at the upcoming Chicago Auto Show, I contacted then WCMC President Marta Waters and told her that, being a Miata owner, I would like to attend the event, if possible.  Come to a meeting and get the info, was her response.

The meetings back then were held in the tiny back room of the Russell’s BBQ on Algonquin road and it was obvious that the group was pressure testing the restaurant’s ability to host the monthly meetings (although they had great corn-on-the-cob).  I  sat through the meeting, listening to all the upcoming events the club had planned…tour to here (not interested), tour to there (not really), this other tour (not for me) and then Randy Stocker, the Speed Events Coordinator stood up to take the podium and started talking about auto-crossing events.  Hold on one minute…did he say we can take our cars racing???  Well, that was it.  I looked for the treasurer and handed over my check at that meeting.  That was early 1995.

After a meeting in 1997, I was approached (or rather cornered) by Randy Stocker and Dan Baker (Dan and his wife, Valerie have one of the original Miatas in white and now live in Texas and Randy is the ultimate Miata gear head and lives in Atlanta with his wife Darcy and children) to step up and run for president.  So I did and won the election.

I found out that Rock Yarrington, our founding member, was still very concerned with and connected to the club he brought to life.  He was very influential in the running and shaping of our club then, and for years after.

Well, I was very involved with the racing aspect of the club for quite a while before I started experiencing the touring aspect.  I really hadn’t given it a fair shake and was quite surprised on my first Door County tour, my first Deal’s Gap tour, my first Southern Indiana tour, etc., and the list goes on and on.

For a twenty year old club, it is still very active and growing.  I am glad that I joined and that I have held so many positions within the club because I have gotten so much from the club.  Here’s to 20 more.

Sal Leonardi

Your WCMC President