2009 A time to reflect

[Pops]

This thread is about the past year. Feel free to post your thoughts about life here at MM.Net. Please keep this positive.

The first thing that comes to my mind is the trip that Hack Goby and I made to Atlanta for SSHS9. Paul has been a great friend to have along on my road trips. Its not often you can come up with friends like him!:)

Martyo I can not say enough about you taking us in to your home. You made us feel like family. By the way have you made the trip up to the mountains yet with the Marauder? Your car loaning to us was one of the highlights of the trip!:D How long did it take to get her cleaned back up from the two track road Paul and I went on to get to the top of the mountain?:o

Paul Casey you are one hell of a drag racer! I still see the smile on your face when you made a pass in the T Bolt.:D I tell all my friends about how you beat me on the reaction time and what I gave you for beating me. I hope to have a rematch next year!;)

Sherman it has been a true honor to become friends with you and I look forward to spending more time with you next year. My hat is off to the level of competion that you and your family have set here. Remember I am going to take a shot at you next year! I also expect to see some T Bolt seat time out of you. You are never to old to shift gears!:P

For Mary and rest of the owners of this site, Thanks for all you have done to keep this place up and running. You run a good show and have made great things possible for the membership here!

Drag racing the Grand Marquis was the thrill of a life time. 11.24 on pump gas and a street tune! Wait till next year! Plus running the T Bolt and taking her to Atlanta has to be one of the great moments of the year. Winning the Best of show with her at SSHS9 was a great honor. The one thing that was even better was Marty when I pulled her out of the trailer at Mo's Speed Shop! Seems Marty had a big problem when he saw the car!;)

This is for the rest of the members here. Happy Holidays and may 2010 be a great year for you! I hope to meet even more of you!:)

[Ms. Denmark]

The past year has made mm.net and the friends/members we've met in person or enjoy knowing on line even more important to us. Eric and I had a blast attending several meets/shows in 2009: Louisville where we met so many of you guys for the first time, and enjoyed seeing "old friends", Carlisle (our 2nd time) and not to be missed for the great comerauderie, fun and passion everyone shares for the cars and our club, and of course MV7 in Indy. We always comment to each other that for basically having only one common interest which draws us together, we have met the most interesting, smart, funny and just plain great people on mm.net. (Hell, we'd hang with you guys even if you didn't know what a Marauder is!)

Then recently it dawned on us that the car (and all you guys) had really become a hobby. One that Eric and I enjoyed equally and looked forward to sharing together. That's when I knew it was time to preserve my Silver Birch for as long as I can. So I got myself something else to drive.

Retiring my Marauder and laying out the cold, hard cash to buy another car, which was not a necessity, in order to enjoy what we have now with mm.net......that's my reflection on 2009! It's been a great year!:beer:

[martyo]

John:

You are one of the absolute gems of this site. A gentlemen among gentlemen!

Sharing my home/car/shop with friends like you and Hack is what this is all about. As much as you may have enjoyed it, I enjoyed it even more! My only disappointment was not being able to get more pictures of the T'bolt in front of my shop!

Speaking of which tell Hack that he better get Santa a disc of photos to bring to me for the holidays!!!

I hope that you ,John, get everything that you want and deserve in the New Year!!!

:beer:

[SC Cheesehead]

2009 was great for me. Made a bunch of new friends at Louisville, Indy, and SSHS9, and built on some other great friendships I already had: Doomie, Pops, all the Blues Brothers, Ms. D. and Mr. Man, the Carolina Marauders (especially 03mmmonroe), the Chicagoland guys, and so many others.

Seeing Pops run in the 11's with his GM and T-Bolt, Sherman and Chris in the 10's, and Marty-O's car in the 9's; FANTASTIC!

If 2010 turns out to be half as much fun as 2009, it'll be another great Marauder year!

[justbob]

For me it was putting many more faces to screen names, Kentucky, about 20 car shows, my awesome trophy from one of them, days at the track sharing greasy cheeseburgers with good friends. Getting to catch up with Rex once again, wrenching on friends cars in my garage while hungover (LowbuckMM:D). All the local meets, where it has gone to a point of being completely unrelated to cars. Crossing state lines just for BBQ's (thanks Tom), racking up more miles than any previous years. NO BREAKDOWNS, and most of all good times right here behind the screen. :beer:

[ImpalaSlayer]

getting s/ced would have to be the high light of my mm year. getting a new best time with new blower, learning a ton more about the car, beating up on ricers, making my deadline to make OC even though it was a bust. going to carlisle for the first time.

im sure theres more.

[CWright]

I would have to say this year was a huge blessing. When I bought my car in 08' I never thought I would want to do all the extra mods. I have always wanted to keep vehicles as close to stock as possible. I want to say thanks to all the friends I have made out here this year and all the great advice when looking to get s/c'd. After talking to all of you I went ahead and made the supercharger a reality. It has been so much fun and opened my eyes to the boost world. Just wanted to extend a special thanks to Marauderman, Glenn, and all the Southern Marauders for all the advice and hospitality. Also to Dennis Reinhart for the great job on the supercharger kit and headers for my car. I hopefully can make more meets in 2010 and make many new friends. I want to wish EVERYONE a great 2010!:beer:

[ntd]

I'm most greatfull for my very understanding wife, Secondly to have a job that has always payed the bills, & thirdly for buying one of the best cars ever made.

John It was a pleasure taking my car to the track for the 1st time with you. I haven't owned her for a year yet already I'm in love with her. Big plans for her next year, thanks all to John you sir are truly great guy and a terrible influence:D J/K. I do more reading than posting but I truly feel MM.net has the best members. I hope to make more meets and put more faces with the screen names

[Bluerauder]

Wow, I can't believe that 2009 is coming to an end here in a few short weeks. :toast: This was my fifth full year on the MM.Net and it has been a real thrill ride the entire time. Over the past several years, I have had the opportunity to attend the meets on the local, regional and national level. What a great bunch of folks to have fun with. Some of the best that I have ever met.

Seems like yesterday, we were headed to Louisville, KY for the 4th annual Marauder meet. MM2004, Embassy and gang do a great job of hosting this event. Looking forward to more to come.

The 5th (or was it 6th ???) annual CAM meeting at Bert's 50s Diner drew the biggest crowd ever in late April. 26 or 27 MMs and their owners made the trip to Mechanicsville in Southern Maryland. It was a sight to behold. Thanks to MyTMerc for setting this up each year.

ALL FORD'S WEEKEND at Carlisle, PA also drew a huge crowd and the Marauders and MM.Net were well represented. We had nearly 40 MMs this year and will probably break that number in June 2010 when we rally again. Many thanks to Blackened300a for all the effort that he puts in to make this a terrific event for everyone. He coordinates the site, the shade tent, T-Shirts, trophies, and so much more. Thanks also to MM.Net represented by Mike Poore for offsetting the costs associated with the event and for ponying up with drinks, bottled water, and snacks. ts-pa brought his grill and fed the gang under the Big Top and Ms. Denmark & Mr. Man provided cookies & goodies over the entire weekend and coffee, donuts and snacks on Sunday morning. If you haven't made it to Carlisle yet, this is gonna be your year.

CAM attended the 4th annual Safford L-M car show and walked away with several trophies and the big $500 cash prize. Andy Goldsmith does an excellent job with this car show which boasts live & DJ entertainment all day plus all the free food and drink and icecream that you can handle. GordonB and JoanB are the MM.Net point men (and lady) on this event and make sure that adequate space is available for all the MMs that show up.

Of course, Tom Doan's Annual Pig Roast follows immediately after the car show trophies and prizes. This year Tom hosted the MM.Net gang for the 4th annual meeting at his place. Thanks Tom for doing it up right each year.

Marauderville 7 was in early October and was welll attended by MM.Net members representing some 21 states. It was an event filled week that was capped with a visit to the Indy Motor Speedway (IMS) and a lap of the famous brickyard. 50 MMs made the lap and lined up in the lot for an historic photo opportunity. MERCMAN, MM03MOK, RF Overlord, BigDogJim, Mike Poore and MM2004 made this an event to remember. Thanks all for all you do.

Thanks also to all of the MM.Net members that I have met at all of the gatherings over the years. 2009 was notable in the sheer attendance at many of the events. Driving there is half the fun. MM.Net folks are among the best ANYWHERE -- great people who like to have fun.

Here's looking forward to 2010 and many more gatherings -- and here's to the members that I have yet to meet. :2thumbs:

THANKS !!!!

[DOOM]

John:

You are one of the absolute gems of this site. A gentlemen among gentlemen!

:agree: I couldn't agree anymore with marty!

Pops youre 1 in a million! :high5:

[MM2004]

2009

Finally was able to make my first Marauderville and a memorable one it was!

This, after another successful Louisville meet 4 years running!

Seeing many new faces appearing at these meets is humbling, and proves that MM.net continues to flourish due to the upstanding members that make it all happen.

Another humbling memory was to shake the hands of two of the nicest men you could ever meet...

Steve Babcock and Kenny Brown.

That, will never be forgotten.

Recognition from Ford Performance Group for our beloved MM's as a performance automobile, and having certs. (finally) to prove it.

Framed, and on the wall quickly after receipt.

These are just a few that stand out in 2009 and looking forward to 2010 being bigger and better as we move into the next year.

Mike.

[Motorhead350]

A lot has changed.

[LOWBUCKMM]

i had a great year. got my car in the 12's. hanging out with guys from the site at car shows. working on my car in someones garage while hungover (justbob). i hope to make bigger events this year cause i keep hearing about kentucky. watching zack going for the 9's and breaking the axel again. i had a great 09 year and hope 2010 will be better.

[Stoneblue]

Watching the youngest daughter play JV and AAU volleyball was the best. The week on Captiva Island was the icing on the cake. Having time to read 30 or so books. And how can I forget all the Grouper and Red Snapper friends gave me! Life's a funny thing, and I just can't stop laughing. I hope all of y'all had an even better year!