Straight Talk Nov/Dec 2024
Straight Talk from the “Mann” Cave
Bruce Mann
The holiday season is just around the corner. The end of the driving season for many of us is fast approaching. Winter is just about here. Well, that doesn’t sound good for many of us but on the other hand, it will allow some of us to get our cars in good shape for next year. Drive your MGA day is just around the corner.
As most of you know by now, a tragic accident occurred at a NAMGAR Regional in Dillard, Georgia on September 13 involving Ralph Ratta and Greg Poffenbarger. Unfortunately, and sadly, Ralph lost his life instantly and Greg NAMGAR’s Communication Manager was hospitalized in the Georgia area, Greg was released and is back home in the Dallas area recovering from multiple broken bones, with the support of his wife, Mary. If you would like to reach out to Greg, his address is 308 Rocky Ridge Terrace, Lakeside, Texas 76108. We send our condolences to Fay Ratta family and friends.
How about a little good news, we had a board meeting a few weeks ago and I am pleased to announce that Dean Hickenlooper of the Chicagoland MG Club, one of NAMGAR’s chapters has been unanimously voted to be our next Vice Chairman.
Dean was previously the President from 2018-2020 of the Chicagoland MG chapter of NAMGAR. Dean is also the lead person of an ongoing traveling mechanics group that he put together. Their charter is to put distressed MGAs back on the road. Dean and his wife Kerry have three MGAs and drive them to many events. Dean’s official duties will commence in January of 2025. Please welcome Dean to his new position.
We also decided to add a couple of additional staff positions to the organization, which is a big departure from the norm. These positions will be members at large, giving NAMGAR the opportunity to pull from our staff in the future to backfill key positions rather than to be searching for people and loosing valuable time in the process. We feel these additions will give us a lot of flexibility going forward.
Lastly, we had a productive meeting with the North American Council of MG Registers executive staff and reached a tentative agreement with the council on all concerns outstanding. These concerns have been around for a few years, as well as the main drivers for NAMGAR leaving the Council a couple of years ago.
The NAMGAR board will be reaching a decision in the near term to finalize and turn this over to a vote to either rejoin the council or to remain as we are today. More to come.
Wishing all Happy Holidays from NAMGAR and remember,
The road to success is always under construction
