Page 5 - BMW CCA Mountain State Chapter October 2015 Newsletter

Slightly chilly and a light mist and fog in the morning hours lingered for the first part of our drive. But
traffic was light and the scenery great so even with some restrained driving I knew the day was going to
be exciting. We visited some of the best roads in WV on Saturday, driving route 60 through Gauley
Bridge, route 16 to Clay, and on to a little known mountain road that lead back to Birch River. Then up
route 20 to a stretch on route 15 that crossed back over to route 219. It was a wonderful day and I will be
attending again next year!

20th Anniversary BMW Club Racing – By: Dave Chenoweth

In April 1995 I made the trek to West Palm Beach Florida to enter the 1st ever BMW Club Race at
Moroso Raceway. The event was all in one day and included a drivers school. My crew member was
Bud Fairchild from Orlando. I talked him into doing the drivers school in my ///M3 race car. I was his
instructor so I got to ride around the unfamiliar track. Who said race car drivers are dumb?

It was a busy but fun filled day. There were 11 cars for the Club Race. I finished 1st in class and
battled for 2nd overall most of the race losing it on the last lap to finish 3rd overall. A good time was had
by everyone and I made some lifelong friends

Fast forward 20 years to May 2015 and the 20th Anniversary of the 1st BMW Club Race is going to
be held at Sebring Raceway. The deal closer was the Airport next to the track. I was able to fly my V-Tail
Bonanza down in 4 1/2 hours and enjoyed both of my favorite hobbies! The weather was beautiful and
there was a lot of great racing.

I got to spend time with some very dear friends like Don McCoin ( Club Racing Steward ) his wife
Peggy Amy & Mark Rutenburg and Bud Fairchild. We missed Scott Hughes the 1st Club Racing
Chairman that was unable to attend.

On Friday night after the racing there was a cookout at the track and a lot of people that had attended
20 years ago told story's and remembered those that are no longer with us including Bud Merrill a
longtime supporter and past chief Steward. Saturday was a full day of Club Racing And several NASA
race groups. The Sebring Airport was having practice for an upcoming Air Show so that kept us
entertained between races. Saturday at the banquet I was asked to talk about my love of BMW racing.
Of course I told a couple of race story's because it was all new material to most of the crowd! Plans are
in the works for a 25th reunion and if I have anything to do with the planning it will be next to an Airport

June 2015 Volume 37, Issue 2