mbca|kc - der benz newsletter october/november 2015

Mercedes-Benz Club of AmericaKansas City Section

October - November 201 5

No surprises about where our First-Sunday drive wil l take us this time.Make plans to drive with fel lowMercedes-Benz travelers to Watkins Mil lon October 4th, 201 5. We will meet at11AM, please note the earlier thannormal departure time. We wil l departfrom our usual location at the US Bankparking lot on 11 9th St. just west of Roein Leawood.

I f you want to go directly to the park andmeet us at the mil l , we should arriveabout 1 :1 5PM. The mil l is located in amore remote part of the park and doesnot have a street address, you canhowever use a GPS and locate thecoordinates North 39.41 01 74 by West94.259666.

The Watkins Mil l is about 40 miles northof Kansas City in Watkins Mil l StatePark near Kearney, Missouri. WatkinsMil l was a woolen mil l that produceddenim and other fabrics during the mid-1 9th century. The adjoining state parkis a scenic road through a forest ofstately trees. The trip wil l include a stopfor lunch at the historic Elms hotel inExcelsior Springs Mo.

October First Sunday Driveto Watkins Mill

By Bob Smith

Once again this year wil l be hosting our OktoberfestConcours d'Elegance, on Sunday October 1 8th inconjunction withthe otherGerman carclubs in KansasCity. This yearwe have movedour event to theRosana Squareparking lot, northof 11 9th St, justwest of Metcalf.We wil l park ourcars just in front of the Hobby Lobby and Mardel stores.This new location wil l al low us to accommodate manymore cars, so we're looking forward to seeing you andyour Benz there!

This location wil l also al low us to be seen by and meetwith other automotive enthusiasts in our community andencourage them to join our club. I know many of youperhaps have not considered showing your car at thisevent in that past, however it real ly is for everyone. Giveyour car a wash, and come on out. You don't have to haveyour car in the competition, just show it off and meet withyour fel low club members.

Please join us on Saturday November 7th, at our First Saturday Breakfast event to support UpliftOrganization. Our guest speaker wil l be Jim Schmidt, board member of Uplift, and Shop Manager atAristocrat Motors. Jim wil l tel l us about the work that he and others do with Uplift, an al l volunteerorganization committed to supporting the homeless here in Kansas City.

This is our annual donation collection and fund raising event for Uplift. Please bring any items youcan donate, canned food, mens clothing, camping gear and bicycles. We wil l also be collectingmonetary donations to support their mission. For more information about their needs and mission,visit their website at www.uplift.org.

November First Saturday Breakfast - Support Uplift Organization

Oktoberfest Concours d'Elegance -Sunday October 1 8

Continues on Page 3

Oktoberfest 2013

Questions? Call your section president at 91 3.579.631 8 or the National Business Office at 1 .800.637.2360 M-F, 8am-5pm MT. Or visit www.mbca.org

President's Message

https://www.facebook.com/kcmbca

Fall is around the corner and its been businessas usual for the Kansas City Section: the officersand board labored long and hard to provide acouple of stel lar events in August and Septemberthat, if I do say so myself, went off very well . TheDefensive Driving and Autocross in August waswell attended despite the rainy start, and theannual Smith Rallye was predictably challenging.This year we fol lowed up the ral lye with a cateredpicnic that nicely capped off the event. You canread the detai ls of both in this issue of "derBenz!".

We also had officer and board elections at theSeptember breakfast meeting and no surprisesthere: the same slate of officers and boardmembers wil l once again be serving for the 201 5-201 6 period, along with three NEW boardmembers: Phil Brubaker, John Foster and JoeWeinrich. Welcome aboard! We appreciate yourspirit of volunteerism.

Speaking of which, I hate to say this but while201 5 has been a good year, I have my doubtsabout our abil ities to continue to provide thesame level of activities for the section as we havebeen. A very small percentage of the sectionworks very dil igently to try to keep existing eventsgoing and come up with ideas for new ones . . .and pardon the pun . . . we're running out of gas.So, we are asking . . . again . . . for members tostep forward to assist with event planning andexecution. Many hands make light work and allthat, but if we are going to maintain our traditionsand come up with new and exciting things to do,we are going to need more help. Period.

Almost forgot: exciting news for October! Wehave a new location for our annual Oktoberfest

All-GermanCar Show.We hadoutgrown ourlong termvenue at theUS Bankparking lot inHawthornePlaza, and after a couple of months of negotiationwe came to an arrangement with the owners ofRosana Square Shopping Center at 11 9th &Metcalf. There is plenty of room for our growingshow and plenty of nearby amenities for theparticipants and the public. The other Germancar clubs are on board and we look forward to agreatly expanded show this year and beyond.We would be remiss not to thank our friends atthe US Bank location in Hawthorne Plaza,specifical ly the manager of this fine financialfaci l ity, Sharon Angotti . Her efforts on our behalfover the years wil l always be appreciated.

Thanks as always for taking the time to read "derBenz!" - Mark Moody does an excellent job ofpublishing a very informative newsletter time aftertime, so next time you see him make sure to saythanks. (thanks Boss! -ed) He wil l soon have thenuts and bolts of "der Benz!" transitioned tonewer and better software, which wil l make iteasy for someone in the section with journalisticaspirations to take over!

Unti l next time, drive safe and please think aboutwhat you can do to help the Kansas City Section!

- Kevin Arburn

Save the Date:

The 201 6 Winter Gala and Awards Banquet wil l be heldat Yia Yia's in Overland Park on Saturday, January 9th.Look for your invitation in the mail soon.

Questions? Call your section president at 91 3.579.631 8 or the National Business Office at 1 .800.637.2360 M-F, 8am-5pm MT. Or visit www.mbca.orgQuestions? Call your section president at 91 3.579.631 8 or the National Business Office at 1 .800.637.2360 M-F, 8am-5pm MT. Or visit www.mbca.org

October Sunday Drive 1

Oktoberfest Concours

d'Elegance 1

Uplift - November 1

President's Message 2

Winter Gala 2

MB Museum Display 3

MBKC Ad 4

Board Directory 5

Spaßnacht Calendar 5

Election Results 5

Eveland Coll ision Ad 6

Smith Rallye & Picnic 6

Star Motors Ad 7

201 5 DD/AX 9

Core First Ad 1 0

Alloy Wheel Repair Ad 1 0

Aristocrat Ad 1 2

Uplift Ad 1 4

Butler C&D Ad 1 4

Welcome New Members 1 5

Calendar of Events 1 6

In This Issue:Oktoberfest Concours d'Elegance

Sunday October 1 8Continued from Page 1

There's also a friendly competition between each of the differentcar clubs presenting, the Hog award goes to the club whichbrings the most cars, and “hogs” the parking lot. I t's a travelingtrophy which displays the name of the club and the year of theirwin. We came in second last year, let's see if we can top themthis year. There's no cost to simply display your car, and a $20fee if you want to enter the competition.

On Saturday October 3rd, Rich Carlson, our Chief ConcoursJudge wil l be the featured guest speaker for our First SaturdayBreakfast. Rich wil l be discussing in detai l how judging in theConcours works and how to best prepare your car. We alsoneed lots of volunteer judges, if you've judged for us before wecan use your help again. I f you haven't judged in the past, andyou would l ike to help, let us know, we can pair you up with anexperienced judge for some “on the job training.”

November is Mercedes-Benz Month at theKansas City Automotive Museum

The museum, located inOlathe, has invited al l ofthe car clubs in the areato display a limited set oftheir cars at the museumfor one month. Earl ier thisyear our Board ofDirectors selectedNovember of 201 5 to place some of our members cars at themuseum. Several of our members have volunteered theirvehicles for the month.

I f you haven't been to the museum, it's a very nicerepresentation of automotive history here in Kansas City.Information about Ford, GM and Harley-Davison manufacturingin Kansas City, along with displays about historical ly significantdealerships and of course, the cars. We hope you'l l find sometime to stop by the museum and see what they have to offer.


Officers Phone E-mailKevin Arburn, President (91 3) 648-7675 [email protected] Harns, Vice President (81 6) 81 2-9495 [email protected] Moody, Past President (91 3) 685-8573 [email protected] Moody, Secretary (91 3) 685-8573 [email protected] Harns, Treasurer (81 6) 81 2-9495 [email protected]

Board of DirectorsBob Del Popolo (91 3) 888-261 7 [email protected] Poduch (91 3) 327-1 632 [email protected] Carlson (91 3) 897-0260 [email protected] Smith (91 3) 268-8984 [email protected] Smith (91 3) 338-0766Dudley Smith (91 3) 338-0766Ian Harns (81 6) 81 2-9495 [email protected] Ryan (91 3) 543-1 252 [email protected]

Newsletter EditorMark Moody (91 3) 685-8573 [email protected] Ryan (91 3) 268-1 252 [email protected] DirectorBob Del Popolo (91 3) 888-261 7 [email protected] Regional DirectorJohn Ryan (91 3) 543-1 252 [email protected]

201 5 MBCA Kansas City SectionOfficers and Board of Directors

October 1 9, 201 5

Jazz1 859 Vil lage West Prky

Kansas City, KS

Spaßnacht

November 1 6, 201 5

Grinders Stonewall1 0240 Pflumm Rd.

Lenexa, KS

December 21 , 201 5

Rock & Brews5701 W. 1 35th St.Overland Park, KS

January 1 8, 201 5

Cinzetti's Italian Market7201 W. 91 st St.Overland Park, KS

President Kevin ArburnVice President Ian HarnsTreasurer Ian HarnsSecretary Mark Moody

Director John RyanDirector Rich CarlsonDirector Bob SmithDirector Bob Del PopoloDirector Bob PoduchDirector Phil BrubakerDirector John FosterDirector Joe Weinrich

201 5 Election Results


201 5 Smith Rallye and Picnic

In the Kansas City Section, the annual SmithRallye has been a tradition, solely due to thetireless effort and creativity of Joyce and DudleySmith. I personally have not driven one of theirchallenging ral lye routes, but judging by thebehavior and commentary by other members asthey arrive at the final destination, I think that“challenging” can be replaced by several, morecolorful adjectives – none of which can be printedhere.

This year we tried something new, in that wecombined the popular ral lye event with a picnic,catered by a local barbeque establishment: CrazyGood Eats of Olathe, Kansas. They provided anoutstanding buffet for the ral lye survivors and ourother members, but more on that later.

By the time the first cars & drivers were checkedin and ready to head out, the temperature wasalready inching into the 90’s – on its way to an

Dudlley Smith talks to Ed Blasco, just before departingon the Rallye.

by Kevin Arburn. Photos by Mark Moody


eventual 97. The Smiths handled the registrationand made sure each driver team had a set ofral lye instructions: a series of clues to fol low andquestions to answer that would prove to theral lye-masters that the route was completed,successful ly or unsuccessful ly, by each team.

Over the years Joyce & Dudley have developedthe cunning knack of creating directions andclues that defy the use of GPS or Smartphone-Internet to decipher them. They are always readywith photos to prove to those doubting driversthat protest some of the clues that yes, the objector place in question really DID exist and WAS atthe location specified. Fun stuff for spectatorsl ike me.

Back to the picnic: Our ral lye-lagged group hitthe BBQ buffet l ike a herd of locusts on a wheatfield. Crazy Good Eats has earned a solidreputation in the tough Kansas City barbecuecommunity, and today they did not disappoint.One KCMBCA Silver Star goes to Bruce andMaggie Lemay, the proprietors who themselvescame to make sure our picnic was a success.

Adding to the festivities was the chance tocelebrate Ian & Mandy Harns’ son Balian’s 2ndbirthday! They brought a great birthday cake for

Rich Carlson and Ann Melina's cars lined up waiting todepart on the Rallye.


Geneva Moody, Donna Ryan, Bob Smith, John Ryanand Dudley Smith visit during the picnic.

John Foster, Cathy Cox, Ed Blasco, Rich Carlson and??? Carlson gather around the table.

the occasion that disappeared almost as fast asthe barbecue. Balian shared his very coolbirthday present with us: a miniature AMG/SLSthat he could drive – with supporting wirelessradio controls that can be directed by mom &dad. Die Beste Oder Nichts indeed!

At the end of the day, combining the two eventsinto one probably provided a certain synergy thatmade this occasion even more special. The parksetting for the start/finish for the ral lye and for thepicnic proved to be a good choice, despite theheat. We had selected a great park shelter thathad a spectacular lake view and provided rel ieffrom the heat. We had it made in the shade!

Balian Harns and his SLS Roadster.

Joyce Smith provides some last minute advice.The rallye winners are Ken Sidorowicz & Jennell Hall


201 5 Defensive Driving and Autocross Event

Once again the Kansas City Sectionhosted its annual Defensive Drivingand Autocross event at the PrecisionDriving Center, located at the BlueRiver Campus of the MetropolitanCommunity College in Independence,

Mo. This was a regional event with participants invited fromsections throughout the midwest. With help from the localBMWCCA club and Audi club members, our participantshad a good time and a safe event.

The day began with heavy rain on the course early, whilethe participants l istened to instructors Ned and DudleySmith safe and dry in the classroom, other volunteers weresetting out cones, laying out the course and wondering ifthe whole course was going to be a skid pad this year.

Mary Marks on the Skidpad with her SLK.

Ron Hill takes a turn on the Autocross.

John Foster waits with an instructor on theDefensive Driving course.

Terry Kiwala instructs as John Foster makes a splash on the Skidpad.

Mary Marks waits to begin the Autocross.


Page 1 0


However the rain ended and by the time students werebeginning their exercises behind the wheel, the course haddried off.

The Defensive Driving portion of the class consists of four dry pavement exercises, and a wet skidpad. Each student paired with and instructor, moved through the exercises where they were givenpractice at hard braking, col l ision avoidance, a slalom and a combined steering braking maneuver.On the skid pad the student and instructor would begin by hard braking in the wet sl ippery surface,and then practice putting the car into a skid, and recovering control.

MBCA National President, Terry Kiwala our own Ned Smith, Dudley Smith and John Ryan, plusseveral instructors from the BMW club were on hand to help set everything up, and work with ourstudents. in addition, Jason Burton from the Chicagoland section was here to volunteer and instruct,

Geneva Moody picks up some speed on the Autocross course.

Mary Marks on the Skidpad.

Ian Harns, "Cone Killer" in action!

Yes, that's a Merkur XR4TI on the Autocross.

Ron Hill tests the GLA on the Skidpad.


Page 1 3

preparing fortheir own eventcoming upOctober 1 0th.

After a busymorning on thecourse,students andvolunteers tooka lunch break,then returned tothe course foran afternoon ofAutocross.This timedevent gives thestudents achance to puttheir ski l ls tothe test on atight course ofturns. Eachstudent makesthree trips onthe Autocrosscourse with aninstructor, andthen threetimed runs ontheir own, orwith aninstructor if theywish. Themorning rain

was just a memory, and the track and the temperatures warmed up in theafternoon. A ful l class of students made for a busy afternoon on the Autocrosscourse.

This event could not happen without the dedicated team of volunteers tomake it happen. Our thanks to Kevin Arburn for relentlessly tracking down theappropriate staff at MCC Blue River Campus to lease the course andclassroom for the day, plus Kevin worked to coordinate the volunteers andsaw to it that everything got done. Thanks to Joyce and Dudley Smith andtheir son Ned for starting early on a Saturday morning after a long trip out oftown to manage registration, instruction and many other tasks. Thanks to

John Ryan instructs on the Autocross.

Phil Brubaker enters the stop box on the Autocross.


Page 1 4

KCMBCA Supports Uplift

Uplift, an al lvolunteerorganizationprovidesmany basicnecessitiesto thehomeless inKansas City. Uplift does not receive anysupport from government or other agencies,instead they rely solely on donations from thecommunity. To find out more about how youcan help, visit their website at www.uplift.org.

Summer Urgent Needs:T-shirts, baseball caps, socks,deodorant, insect repellent,

sunscreen, canned meat and cannedfruit.

Uplift Organization1 51 6 Prospect Ave.Kansas City, MO 641 2781 6-241 -0060

5747 KesslerMerriam, Kansas 66203Tel: (91 3) 262-91 09Fax: (91 3) 262-2828

Web: www.butlerbody.com

Butler's C & D Body Shop

Rich Carlson, Ian Harns, Phil Brubaker,Mark Moody and Terry Kiwala forcoordinating breakfast and lunch, tentsetups, cone setup (in the rain) andother tasks. Thanks to Ned Smith,John Fickel and Tim Gerrity from theBMWCCA club for use of their conesand instructors. Thanks to MikeGamble and Bil l Blumhardt from theAudi club who acted as safety officersat the skidpad and autocross course.

After al l the driving was done, it wastime to pick up, clean up, and get backtogether for dinner. Many of the daysparticapants gathered at the HerefordHouse restaurant to have dinner and Ron Hill waits for a turn on the Autocross.


Page 1 5

Willkommen New Members !

We look forward to meeting you soon at one of our events.

Joe Combs - Bradleyvil le, MOKathleen Cox - Overland Park, KSHugh Curran - Columbia, MOBrenda Douglas - Raymore, MO

James Hannen - Parkvil le, MODavid Hassett - Leawood, KSCarol Keen - Lawrence, KSJay Lenny - Leawood, KS

social ize. John Ryan gave out several “awards” to somewho were there. Ian Harns won the dubious distinction of“Cone Kil ler” while driving a large Ford Bronco around thecourse.

John Foster gets around the Autcross with hisE350.

Jason Burton gets some driving time on theAutocross.

John Foster waits to enter the Autcross course.

Ned and Dudley Smith instruct in the classroom

FIRST CLASS MAILU. S. POSTAGE

PAIDKANSAS CITY, MOPERMIT NO. 2498

Mercedes-Benz Club of AmericaKansas City Section

9403 Hayes Dr.Overland Park, KS 6621 2

Upcoming Club EventsDetails on upcoming events, including breakfast speakers and drive destinations

Be sure to check our website, www.kcmbca.org for the latest information

Oct 3

First Sunday Drive - Watkins Mil l State Park, See page # for detai ls

Breakfast meeting 9:00AM, Guest Speaker Rich Carlson, Concours information

Oktoberfest Concours - Rosana Square (11 9th & Metcalf) 9:00AM

Spaßnacht 6:30PM - Jazz, a Louisiana Kitchen, 1 859 Vil lage West Parkway, KCK

Oct 4

Oct 1 8

Oct 1 9

Nov 7 Breakfast meeting 9:00AM, Jim Schmidt, Uplift Organization

Nov 1 6 Spaßnacht 6:30PM - Grinders at Stonewall , 1 0240 Pflumm Rd. Lenexa, KS

Dec 5 Breakfast meeting 9:00AM, Hagerty Collector Car Insurance

Dec 21 Spaßnacht 6:30PM - Rock & Brews, 5701 W. 1 35th St. Overland Park, KS

Jan 2 Breakfast meeting 9:00AM, No Speaker, Social Hour. Tell us your new years resolution!

Jan 9 Winter Gala - Yia-Yia's - Stay tuned for more detai ls.

Jan 1 8 Spaßnacht 6:30PM - Cinzetti 's I tal ian Market, 7201 W. 91 st St. , Overland Park, KS

October

November

December

January

Are YouGetting ourEmail?

Make sure you get al lthe latest information.Sign up on our websiteat www.kcmbca.org. Oruse your smart phoneand the QR code below.

Breakfast is at 9AM the firstSaturday of each month. Wemeet at the Newport Gri l lelocated at 5501 W. 1 35th St. ,Overland Park.

mbca|kc - der benz newsletter october/november 2015

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