by Tom Lesko
AONE President

I would first like to thank and congratulate the AONE National Convention Committee headed up by Brian Shorey for winning the bid so that we can host the 2004 Alfa Romeo Owners Club National Convention! Brian was the "Twin Spark 2-Liter" behind this effort that he started working on LAST YEAR! He, as well as all the committee members, have worked hundreds of hours putting together a great agenda and Brian did a wonderful job with the visual presentation that he took to California to present to the AROC National Board of Directors. Planning for an event that may draw as many as 1000 (!) Alfa lovers from all over the world is a monumental task. My Alfa cap is off to all of you!

So the dog days of summer are finally over and we are soon to be looking at a beautiful autumn, complete with many wonderful AONE events. Hard to beat the great events we had this spring and summer, including the "second annual" South Shore Rally ending up at this guy’s house for a barbecue on my back deck! (We even had veggie burgers!) Why weren’t you there? We missed you! If you missed it, you really owe it to yourself to attend a "fun rally"—it’s not a race and it’s not difficult—it’s just fun! I want to thank all of the people who plan and make these events happen. Reminder: these are club members just like you, who want to see things happen in our club. So they pitch in and spend a little of their time; there is no pay, no accolades, other than the joy of having a great Alfa club. Thank you all!

Speaking of events, I hope to see many more of you at Lime Rock Park on Labor Day weekend, to watch some Alfas (and "others") race and take in the display of all kinds of cars and goodies at the swap meet. Last year, I did a photo exposé of "dashboards", which I believe are one of the most beautiful parts of a car.