derBayerische March/April 2022 - 13

N C C V O L U N T E E R S P O T L I G H T
moving East and started participating in various activities such as the fall
autocross where I was seen three wheeling my 320i and the more recent El
Cheapo Driving School where I finally had a chance to get on the track. I have
been a spectator in numerous races for years and, of course, receive a great
number of car publications available. I have enjoyed the Club activities,
especially meeting the members and talking about their cars. But, as they say,
the more - the merrier, and that means I'd like to see many more of you BMW
enthusiasts at the next event. " That's the outgoing attitude and can-do spirit that
makes our club thrive and that Raine has exemplified all these years.
Those feelings about the club
still hold true as Raine recently said,
" What sets the club apart is being able
to have a common interest without
getting personal about who you are. "
I've heard a number of club members
say, " we came for the cars, we stayed
for the people " . Our chapter is the
largest and most diverse in the U.S.,
and we're proud of it.
In 1984, Raine passed the
Editor's baton back to John Hartge and
the Winthrops, then taking on the role
of Photographer and Public Relations
for the club. After 12 years of sharing
his NCC experiences in the magazine
through writing and photography, he
took on the role of production manager
in 1996, which he has continued to
present day (save for a very short
break). That's over 40 years of dB
involvement with 25 years as production
manager, laying out six issues
per year!
In addition to his dB-related
work, Raine has worn many other
NCC hats throughout the club's
history. He organized a Do-It-Yourself
event and was an NCC Autocross
program chair in the mid 1980s. He
has performed graphic design work
for our chapter, for BMW CCA, and
beyond. He has been the photographer
for dB's " Traditions " series. And
as previously mentioned, he was in
charge of Public Relations for a time,
even having the club covered in The
Washington Post.
Though Raine now resides in
Finland, he still works as dB's production
manager. Putting this in perspective
(for myself at least), I just turned
40; that's five years shy of how long
Raine Mantysalo has been an active
member of our wonderful chapter of
BMW CCA. Wow.
I've actually never met Raine in
March I April
13
person, however, I have gotten to know him through many hundreds (perhaps
thousands?) of dB-related emails, through email exchanges of photography and
car-purchasing advice, through his articles published in dB, and through the
stories told by other club members.
Here are a few of those " Raine stories " both found in dB and from other
foundational, legendary NCC members which I had the pleasure of contacting:
Woody Hair, John Hartge, Cory Laws, and Lothar Schuettler.
I'm particularly fond of the story about Raine's red 1976 2002, which
exchanged hands between four NCC members over the course of 35 years. As
Raine put it in the September-October
2020 issue of dB, " It had once been
transformed into a track rack, then
sold three times, perhaps forgotten
for a while, then in the care of
loving hands it was given a second
chance at life. "
Raine was reminded of this car
■ Raine's 1978 320 Sport received dual 45 Weber carburetors (therefore no
" i " ), Alpina progressive suspension and 15 " Alpina wheels.
when George Milonogiannis, who had
purchased the car from Raine in 1989
reached out to him via email in 2020,
curious about what had happened to
the car, after once again finding him
through our club. This prompted
Raine to track down the owners and
put together a two-part " Traditions "
article series covering the car's history
and its owners. As the story goes,
Raine had purchased this '76 2002 in
the 1980s and modified it to be a track
car. After some time, it was returned to
a more stock form (and more saleable
form) and sold to George. When
George moved overseas to Greece, he
sold the car to the editor of dB at the
time in 1990, David Sossamon.
David drove the car for 10 years, all
while having Clay Aulebach of
R.A.C.Engines keep it in good running
condition. Clay bought the 2002 from
■ (Above) ) The 1985 M535i was originally imported and federalized by Lothar for a customer. It featured an all-green
interior and trim. (Below) The gang in Potomac, MD after taking turns to drive the field-prepared 320i.

https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/derBayerische/derBayerische_SeptOct2020/index.php https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/derBayerische/derBayerische_SeptOct2020/index.php https://db.nccbmwcca.org/1996/1996_1112.pdf https://db.nccbmwcca.org/1985/1985_0304.pdf

derBayerische March/April 2022

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