Author: Jeff Lane

It really sneaks up on you, doesn’t it? Today we are now less than 180 days away from the start of Miatas at the Gap 2022, once again at the lovely Fontana Village Resort. Some of you have your Miatas nestled away from the weather, put into hibernation for the winter, while others in warmer climates have been out enjoying Miata driving this whole time. Regardless, the warm months approach, and now that we’re under the 180 day mark, you can rest assured that the time will start to fly and before you know it, we’ll all be back at Ground Zero enjoying all that makes MATG the best, longest running, and one of the largest gathering of Miataphiles in the US.

So now is the time, if you haven’t done so already, to find lodging (most places will be booked solid by now, so get on those waiting lists!), schedule that vacation time, and start planning your trip to Deal’s Gap. We’re looking forward to seeing each and every one of you there in less than 6 months!

With Dragon Season officially opening in less than a week, we wanted to take one more opportunity to remind you to drive within your own limits. We enjoy getting together with each and every one of you at each MATG event and want you to have a safe, enjoyable time and be able to get home in your own Miata. With that said, a few guidelines to keep us all safe and make it home in one piece:

• DO NOT CROSS THE DOUBLE YELLOW LINE
• At all times, do not drive like an idiot.
• Do not drive outside your own abilities, especially if you’re in a run and trying to keep up with the leader or the car ahead of you.
• Don’t speed, these are public roads.
• At night and in low-visibility conditions, be very careful. Large wildlife can jump out of the woods in any curve, and people HAVE hit things like boar, bear, and deer. Hitting a 400 pound wild boar can ruin your weekend.
• Slow in the Village. Even though we have packed Fontana, there will be a lot of your fellow Miataphiles and their families here and occasionally small children running around, so be very careful and don’t drive fast in the Village. Additionally, because of where the vendor area there will be a lot of pedestrian traffic around the Wildwood Grill lot and the road in front of the Grill, so please be observant and drive slowly in these areas. Take your time and enjoy the scenery.
• Pull Over!! If you have vehicles stacking up behind you, pull over in a safe area and let them pass. The Dragon has many paved pull-offs explicitly for this. Use them.
• Beware of very large trucks. Though they’re illegal on the Dragon, they do still find their way up there from time to time, and they are still legal on all the other area roads. They take up a LOT of space, especially when trying to navigate the tight corners that the Miatas eat for lunch.

Also, as you have heard in our previous posts and comments, this year we’ve moved the vendor area in front of the Wildwood Grill. The entire parking area in front of the grill will be closed to traffic.  Additionally, the parking area on the road on front of the grill will also be filled with vendor tents.  Because of this, we want to repeat this one:

Do not park on the sides of the roads. Fontana has asked that you only park in parking areas to avoid blocking any driveways and entrances and to avoid creating traffic hazards in the village roads themselves. Fontana vehicles need to be able to move freely about. If we cannot keep these areas open and freely moving, we won’t be able to keep the vendors in front of the Grill in the future.

Everyone please drive safely and have a great time this weekend at Miatas At The Gap

We’re all part of the Miata family and each year we try to bring some of the best Miata vendors to Fontana Village and this year is no different. So here is a recap of our 2021 MATG XXV Vendors and Sponsors, and don’t forget that this year Registration and Vendors will all be in front of the Wildwood Grill!

Sponsors. These fine folk may not be able to attend in person, but support us and the local rescue squads by donating raffle items for the Saturday Night Raffle.
* Appalachian Inn (Lodging)
* Fontana Village (Lodging)
* MiataGear (NEW! Custom Interior Accessories)

Vendors are with us in person every year, filling the Vendor area with all manner of goods and services from dent removal and detailing to parts and sometimes even entire cars.
* ChathamCNC / Beer Money Motorsports (NEW! Custom built components, stand-alone ECU)
* Exomotive (Exocets and Performance Parts)
* Fab 9 Tuning / VersaTune (Performance Parts)
* Flyin’ Miata (NEW! Performance and Maintenance Components)
* Jeff Dofing / Bonnie Weekes (T-Shirts)
* K Power Industries (K Swap Kits and Components, Performance Parts)
* Miata Fix (Used Parts)
* MK Turbo (Turbo Parts and Kits)
* Moss Motors (All Manner of Miata Parts and Products)
* MX-5 Digital (Digital Gauge Clusters)
* Paco Motorsports (Miata Lift Kits, Performance Parts)
* Palm Breeze Car Care (Cleaning Products and Detailing Services)
* R-Speed (Performance Parts)
* Ride Rage (Powdercoating)
* SNS Mazda Parts (Used Parts, Rare Import Miata Parts)
* Spinnywhoosh Graphics (Decals, Exterior and Interior parts)
* Sun Coast Dent Removal (NEW! On-site dent removal services)

We are fortunate enough to count many big names in the Miata world amongst our Vendors and Sponsors, and today we are thrilled to announce that Flyin’ Miata will be joining us in person for Miatas at the Gap XXV!

Flyin’ Miata have been a sponsor for many years, but distance and schedules (Hey, they do build race cars!) always kept them from being able to attend, but fortune smiled on us for our 25th year and they will be coming to the mountains of Western NC to hang out, bringing some goodies with them!

So be sure to stop by the Flyin’ Miata tent in the Vendors Area and say hi to Keith Tanner. We don’t know what car they’ll be bringing, but you can bet it’ll be fast.

The last time we met was in 2019, thanks to the late unpleasantness, and we are very excited to see everyone once more at Fontana Village in 2021! Our last event was record breaking with 730 registered Miatae and over 1100 attendees from 34 states and Canada. We hope to break that record this year, so don’t forget to stop by and register (It’s FREE). Each registered car will receive a free swag bag with the coveted dash plaque, coupons and information on local restaurants and shopping, vendor and sponsor information and more! Swag bags will be available while supplies last.

This year, we have once again ordered more T-Shirts than ever before for the event. T-Shirts always sell out, so be sure to get to the registration tent as soon as you arrive to ensure you get one! Besides the T-Shirts we will also have other items for sale this year, including a special horn button for the 25th MATG event.

Additionally, the raffle generated $6,000 dollars that was donated directly to the Blount County Rescue Squad who work the TN side and are the difference between life and death on the Dragon. As we rotate between the two great EMS agencies that serve the area, this year we are going to donate to the Graham County Rescue Squad on the NC side. We have a lot of incredible prizes coming from our vendors and sponsors so don’t forget to buy raffle tickets at the registration tent any time during the event. Remember, it’s cash only for raffle tickets.

Killboy will be with us again, as always, to shoot our group photo, which will be available on his website following the event. In 2019 we had 210 cars in the photo, join us on the ball field below the Wildwood Grill for the official MATG XXV Group Photo!

Paco Motorsports is one of our more popular vendors at MATG every year. Mark always brings unique and innovative products to display. He’s also donated some fantastic raffle prizes and is always a popular stop in the Vendor area to see their many different products, and to checkout true Monster Miatas.

From chassis stiffening to audio upgrades and a 3″ lift kit, Paco offers a little bit of everything for the Miata. Ask Cuppy how he likes the Paco Moto Strong Arms on The Tick, and be sure to say hello to Mark and learn all about the fun things you can do with Paco Motorsports parts.

New to our vendor area this year is the dynamic duo of ChathamCNC and Beer Money Motorsports. Chatham CNC is a small-shop machining and welding company in Pittsboro, North Carolina. If you discover a Miata part is discontinued, or you want a piece to boost your Miata performance, consider custom-fabricated parts. He’s created a range of parts for all generations of Mazda Miatas–not just V8 Miata swaps–and ships internationally. You might find some of the products below on Miatas in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, and across the United States. You may well have seen a V8 Swapped black ’94 Miata with a beautifully crafted cantilever suspension in the past. That is Mike.

Joining him will be Beer Money Motorsports, bringing a Hellen stand-alone ECU customized by rusEFI that will provide you a long list of configurable options to control your engine. Be sure to stop by their booth and check out what they’re bringing to MATG XXV!

It is with much sadness that due to the late unpleasantness, Fontana Village has not re-opened the Ice Cream Parlor this year. This means that we can’t have the annual Saturday Afternoon Ice Cream Social. Historically, this happened in the early afternoon on Saturday.

Luckily, our good friends at Moss Motors have stepped up once again in a big way and are going to be bringing along frozen treats for attendees to enjoy on the hot Saturday afternoon. So while we won’t be able to offer a choice of ice cream flavors and such, we will be able to offer you an icy treat none the less.

So be sure to stop by the Moss tent, say hi, and thank them for all that they do for Miatas at the Gap.

With a just a shade over 2 weeks before the Sunset Run officially kicks off, we at the always Unofficial MATG want to extend our gratitude to Moss Motors for their sponsorship, friendship, and support over the years! They’ve always donated to our raffle for all generations of Miatae, and in 2019 they had one of the most coveted pieces of MATG memorabilia, the laser engraved Miatas at the Gap shift knob!

Moss is back with us again and they have hinted at bigger things to come. We can’t wait to see what surprises they have cooking this year!! Check them out to see what they have to offer!

23 days to go!?!?!?!!!

As many returning attendees know we have a raffle each year. We solicit donations from Miata related companies in order to donate the funds to volunteer rescue squads around the Tail of the Dragon.

Sponsoring MATG once again is one of our Spec Miata friends; Advanced Autosports. They offer Spec Miata rentals, car setup services, and a plethora of Miata parts, including some kick ass vented wing windows. We look forward to seeing what they donate this year! Check out the website below and see what they have to offer.

www.advanced-autosports.com