The Best Years of Our Lives

I really didn't want to get involved. Honest.

I've always had a deep dislike of any group activity. I quit Boy Scouts while still a tenderfoot because I hated lining up in a formation and wearing uniforms. Later, the Air Force made me do it, of course, but it was worth it because I was going to get to fly and shoot down the Bad Guys.

The Grand Poohbah Dear friend and long-time Roundel staff writer Ellie MacDougall christened me "Grand Poobah." This make-believe Roundel cover was presented to me at an Oktoberfest banquet. First Cover This is the first cover shot I ever made. It was taken in the early morning fog outside the Sharon Motor Inn, where most of stayed before a Lime Rock driver school. The photo is the exact shape (reduced, of course) of the early Roundel. My '74 tii is the white one. Editor Emeritus Yale won a door prize at the 1998 Boston Chapter Holiday Party, and it wasn't tires! First Logo This was the first trade mark I designed for the Boston Chapter. It was in use for quite a while until BMW NA's lawyers decided the use of their "roundel" was illegal. I then designed the one now in use.

When I bought my first BMW, a 2002 (naturally), I joined the BMW CCA only because I thought they'd send me technical and maintenance information. But get involved? Me? No way. Then I read that there would be a speaker at an upcoming meeting and the topic was one I had an interest in. Bette reluctantly agreed to accompany me. As soon as we arrived, we were told to put on one of those "Hi! My name is... " badges. We were off to a bad start.

But it was the badge that did it. A young lady named Cheryll Plotkin greeted me and asked what I did for a living. When I told her I was an advertising artist/writer, she mentioned that she was the Editor of the Boston Bimmer and she could sure use some help. Indeed she could!

I went to her home to watch the Bimmer being put together. I couldn't believe my eyes. She and Mark Engelberg (who later became Activities Director) were crouching on her carpet over a bunch of typewritten papers, cutting them with a scissors and pasting them together with rubber cement. No ruler. No T-square. No drawing board.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" I asked, and, having asked the question, I was quickly "volunteered" to be the Bimmer Art Director.

So began my entrance into the BMW CCA arena. There were then around 600 members of the Boston Chapter. While many of you may think of me as one of the early CCA members, my membership number is 6301, so there are six thousand three hundred people who were there before me. They include now long-time friends Joseph Chamberlain, member number 7, (then Editor of the Roundel); Michel Potheau, member number 2 and the real force behind the CCA's beginning; the late Parker Spooner, then Roundel Publisher, and Michael Izor, member 225, now among the world's leading BMW model collectors and author of "Little Cars" in the Roundel.

Bette and I soon realized we had been welcomed into a whole new, wonderfully friendly world. We spent an evening each month at a member's home, walking with others around a dining table, collating and stapling the monthly Bimmer. We owned a big old Victorian house in Brookline, and soon sponsored a wine tasting that was attended by over forty members. It was so successful, we did it again and were overwhelmed with an attendance of over a hundred. We often wondered what the police thought at seeing all those BMWs lined up for over two blocks.

Then came our first driver school. It was at Thompson Raceway, near Connecticut. I remember that Margo Potheau was among the instructors. We novices were restricted to a maximum 60 mph. My introduction to track driving was not auspicious. I had neglected to fasten the hood after checking the oil, and spent many anxious moments on the track, trying to drive with one hand while desperately reaching for the hood latch with the other. But the die was cast. I was hooked.

The Boston Chapter held a driver school at the then Bryar track in New Hampshire, along with a club called C.O.M. which had originated as "Corvettes of Massachusetts" but gradually opened up to all cars. It was a tiny, curve-filled, up-and-down track entirely surrounded by rocks in the middle of nowhere, but it was an ideal learning course. (It's now completely changed, big-time, and known as New Hampshire International Speedway).

I began attending the New Jersey and Connecticut Chapter driver schools at Lime Rock, and Boston Chapter events at Bryar. After suitable experience, I became an instructor with all three. Due to Oktoberfests, I've had the chance to drive and instruct at some of the country's most famous tracks, including Bridgehampton, Watkins Glen, Pocono, Sebring, Road America, Laguna Seca, Riverside and many more.

When Cheryll Plotkin headed South with her husband, I became Bimmer Editor. Parker Spooner asked me for help in designing the Roundel, then a strangely-sized little horizontal magazine of maybe 50 or so pages. Under his leadership, it soon grew to real magazine size. When illness prevented him from continuing, the Board asked me to take over the job as Editor. It soon became a full time job, and I gave up my career in advertising art and writing, a decision I've never regretted.

Now, in my "semi-retirement," I look back at that fateful day I put on the "Hi, my name is..." badge, and wonder, along with Bette, what our life would be like today had we not attended that meeting.

With few exceptions, our dearest friends are BMW people. Our social life has almost always revolved around CCA activities. My job as Roundel Editor has taken me often to Frankfurt for the Auto Show and to Munich for interviews with BMW executives or for new car intros. Oktoberfests have taken us to many wonderful parts of the country we might never have seen, and brought us so many wonderful friendships we might never have known.

I offer my heartfelt congratulations to the Boston Chapter on its 30th Anniversary, and I add special congratulations to BIMMER Editor in Chief Greg Scott, Art Director Suzin Koehler and the entire staff who have made the Bimmer a truly class act. Most of all, Bette and I sincerely thank the Boston Chapter and, indeed, the BMW CCA, for so enriching our lives.

To those of you reading these words who may have shied away from participation in Club activities, I offer this advice: whether you're a student or a stockbroker, whether you're driving a rusted-out 1600 or a '99 750iL, go to that next meeting. Put on that name badge. I know it will open a door for you into an exciting and fun-filled new life, as it most certainly did for us.

March 1999 BIMMER

Behind the Wheel: Simple Joys by Mike Webb

Under the Hood: Do You Believe in Fate? by Greg Scott

March 1999 New Members by Barry Tarr

Keys In Hand: Start Your Engines by Fred Beck

The Best Years of Our Lives by Yale Rachlin

Horsepower and Torque: A Primer by Bruce Augenstein

More Boston Bimmer articles by Yale Rachlin

Boston Goes To A Picnic November/December 2000 Bimmer

Fundy: The first three letters say it all September 2000 Bimmer