Mini Meet East Coverage

Mini car enthusiasts gather in Scenic City

Organizers host stunt games for fun and trophies

By Mary Barnett


Dottie Ferguson was the navigator in her 1969 Riley Elf Mini Cooper that was driven around the obstacle course at the Choo Choo. Staff photo.

People in little cars seem to like to have big fun.

That's why the organizers of the Mini Meet East, a Mini Cooper car enthusiast group who gathered in Chattanooga this week, scheduled time for a "funkhana" before they motor on down the road and roll back into their real lives.

A funkhana is "an automotive activity that combines driving dexterity, navigational skill, mental and physical coordination, teamwork, luck, and above all, a sense of humor."

Veteran funkhana-ist, Nick Lehner, put together this year's games, which were held in the back parking lot of the Chattanooga Choo-Choo Hotel in front of the new Track 29 music hall.

"I've competed in over 20 funkhana's and I've taken more 1st places than 2nd place," Lehner said.

Lehner localizes each "competition" by digging up local references and designing a course that tributes the host city.

For Chattanooga, Lehner crafted six individual stations that drivers and their navigators had to pull in and out of in the shortest amount of time.

The first station was a tribute to Ruby Falls made out of kiddie pool, a plastic dome sled, a bundt cake pan and a water pump. Players had to jump from their vehicles then find and grab one of the ruby red rocks hidden beneath the domed fountain.

He also made a train out of wood where drivers and navigators had to grab firewood from the caboose and ring the bell before getting back in their cars to drive backward around a cone and into the next station.

A whiskey still, an outhouse, a Rock City barn (made out of a dog house) and a Moon Pie station finished the course.

"The whole thing is done on a low budget but everything looks pretty cool. It's fun just to make people laugh and have a good time being goofy," Lehner said.


Melanie Jardine of Wesley Chapel, Fla. backed her 1971 Clubman Estate Mini Cooper into the whiskey still station and grabs a gallon of "shine" as part of the competition. Each of the six stations had something the driver had to pick up and bring back to the finish line. Points were taken off for an item left behind. Staff photo.

The meet-up was brought to Chattanooga by Knoxville native Hugh Cannon, who said the annual event was originally scheduled to be in Atlanta when that city's car club asked that the next gathering be held in the south.

"After they couldn't decide which part of town to host it they wanted to cancel altogether and just have the next one in 2012. This is the highlight of my year. People spend their vacation money to attend. There was no way we were going to give up on a Mini Meet East in 2011," Cannon said.

The Mini suffered a decline in sales in the United States when the government began to regulate the automotive industry and passed The Highway Safety Act and the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966.

Details regarding the height of bumpers, installing head rests and safety belts became the new standard.

Mini, a household name in Europe, was sold in the U.S. between 1960 and 1967, and around 10,000 cars were sold in that time, according to the BMW Press Group.

"Mini's weren't a big seller here to begin with so the manufacturer overseas wasn't going to invest in doing the modifications to make Mini's compliant with the new federal specifications," Cannon said.

As the story goes, according to Cannon, Doug Scribner of Webster, N.Y., saved the Mini from becoming extinct in the U.S.

"Doug had a few Mini's in the 60's and was concerned he would no longer be able to get parts for his cars after the dealers stopped carrying and servicing the cars. Doug started buying up all the parts he could get in New York and New England," Cannon said.

A few months later, Scribner decided to go retail.

"The factory abandoned the market and we picked up the slack. It was definitely worth doing," Scribner said from his home in Webster.

Forty-four years later Mini City, the business he started to keep his own car serviced, is still supplying parts and accessories for the original Minis.

Scribner, who hasn't missed a meet-up in 25 years, was unable to attend this year as he and his wife are caring for their elderly parents.

"The cars have gotten older along with us. We've all kind of grown up with the cars. There is no more factory and very little support other than from people that are enthusiasts. We're the one's keeping these cars alive," he said.

Source - Mini car enthusiasts gather in Scenic City | Nooga.com

 

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