Thanks to all for the welcomes! Roberta & I have already marked our calendar for the Carlisle Chrysler event. We typically made the All-Ford Nationals event at Carlise every year. My 86 Merkur was usually a winner in Stock class every year and the 88 has taken home several awards, along with the MCA (Merkur Club of America) XR4Ti Restoration Award back in 2006. MCA has won the club participation award 9 out of the past 10 Carlisle events!

And I'm marking my calendar for this event in the Smokies. Roberta & I spend quite a bit of time in the Smokies since they're only a 1-hr drive from us.

You guys need to mark your calendars for the 2009 Euro Auto Festival held at the BMW plant in the Greenville-Spartanburg area of Upsate SC. This event is held every year in OCT and the cars have to be of European origin. Guess What - Crossfires qualify! If you enter a car, you'll get the opportunity to participate in the driving venues BMW offers to car entry owners. BMW supplies the cars and you'll get to drive in 4-5 events that are setup. Autocross, performance runs at BMW's nearby performance track & center, off-road tests, etc. Z4's, X5's and X6's typically are cars BMW provides, since these models are produced at the BMW SC plant.

You really don't want to miss this event! Besides, you'll see Porsches, Ferrari's, BMW's, M-B's, Saab's, Mini's, Triumphs, MG's, Lambo's, Pantera's, VW's, etc. all parked on the grounds of the plant. German food, there's even a road rally scheduled for Sunday AM where you'll get to drive around the nearby countryside, looking for various markings and end up back at the plant after about 2 hrs of driving enjoyment. Folks around here sorta anticipate this road rally as you'll see them sitting on front porches waiting for a Porsce, Lambo, or Ferrari to go by. Just doesn't happen on their road everyday!

I'll stay in touch.