In the Zone by Sean CridlandJan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2010
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2009
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
–
Zone Rep Report December 2012
Remember those Energizer Bunny commercials with the litle pink rabbit endlessly beating the drum? That’s me. Except that I’m not little, pink and I don’t have a drum. But I keep going and going and going…..And still enjoying it too. After I last checked in with you, I headed down to Las Cruces, NM for the Carrera Region’s oldest and largest event. I’ve done a little historical digging too and it turns out that Oktoberfiesta is one of Zone 9’s longest running multi-day, multi-region events, stretching all the way back into the mid-70s.
It’s an event that’s had its ups and downs over the years, but this year was their strongest in memory with sixty-two cars entered in the various touring and track events. That’s about double the year before. Members came from all around the southwest, including Carrera, Roadrunner, Southern Arizona, Arizona, and West Texas Regions.
This year the organizing committee decided to host the event in Las Cruces, rather than Deming, as it has been the past few years. While I at first questioned their decision, I quickly became a firm convertee. Why, you might ask? Simple. Deming is about 16 miles to the west of the Arroyo Seco raceway where the track events are held. That means driving directly into the sunrise – squinting the whole way — to get to the track in time for the drivers’ meeting. Then concentrating intently all day long on the task at hand, and…squinting into the sunset all the way back to the hotel before dinner. This year, the sun was at our backs in both directions. I seem to remember seeing a list of the all-time best college commencement speeches in which the esteemed guest came out, gazed pointedly into the expectant eyes of the graduates, said with great pomp and circumstance “When you get a job, be sure to get a house on the east side of town. That way you won’t have to spend two hours a day squinting,” then strode off the speaker’s dais to loud applause from the commencers. Three Cheers to the Carreras for applying that lesson!
The event was well run in every other way, as well. A great tour up through the mountains of Southern New Mexico ended up at Arroyo Seco for lunch. The folks doing the Drivers’ Ed portion of the weekend drove and drove and drove without any incident, building up great appetites for the Saturday night banquet at the St. Clair Vinyards Bistro, which had great food and great service. And the Sunday autocross was both challenging and fun. It seemed like everyone was full of praise for the event chairs and volunteers and I can imagine that next year’s event will be even larger.
For me it was back home to finish up a couple of writing projects and get started on some others, and to attend the last few autocrosses put on my by home region the Roadrunners who do an amazing twelve of them a year!
Oh, and one more bit from the Carrera Region event. Some of you on the northern end of Zone 9 have been asking about Fran and Bill Walker, long time PCA leaders and competitors. Both were in attendance throughout the weekend at track and social events. In fact, Bill who is famous for the message “Give the Old Fart a Brake” message on the back of his 911 race-car, came third in the autocross behind a couple of GT3s driven by guys thirty and forty years younger…. That said, he’s considering selling the race-car…because he wants to build a Beck 904…. Some of us NEVER grow up!
I look forward to seeing you at an event soon!
–
Zone Rep Report November 2012
Dang, does it EVER let up? I mean the FUN, of course. When I last wrote, I was packing to head off to the Alpine Mountain Region’s Fall Tour. I got to Colorado Springs late the night before, then set off in the morning to find the group. We had a nice breakfast at the Monument Hill Country Club, then received our first set of directions — they don’t tell 
you your final destination till the late afternoon! Off we went over some of the most beautiful roads the front range has to offer. At lunch we found out we’d be heading up and over Trail-Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. And on our last stop — in Kremmling, Colorado — we discovered our final destination would be Steamboat Springs. The fall colors were at their peak and we had dinner on top of the ski mountain at sunset time. Their tour is truly magical and mysterious!
For the last two years, the last weekend has been the calendar slot for the Santa Fe Concorso, hosted just over the mountain from us. For me, that’s been a busy weekend since the Intermountain Region had traditionally hosted their Club Race that time of year. Low and behold, this year the IR’s moved their race to June and my weekend was open. I attended all three days of events as a correspondent for 9 Magazine. Wow, what a great weekend.
Organizers Dennis and Beverly Little of Santa Fe have been working hard to put on a show that they hope to bring to the level of Amelia Island and Pebble Beach. And they’re on their way. Quite an amazing array of classic vehicles of all sorts were on display and Sir Stirling Moss was back again as Grand Marshall. Local writer and racing legend Denise McCluggage has contributed to the event in many ways, helping to bring in stars, cars, and dignitaries. A GRAND event it was.
While there, I ran into my Bonneville buddy Jeff Brock, who lives just up the road in Abiquiu. Jeff built and races one of the most iconic and most photographed cars on the web, a 1952 Buick Super-Riviera. He was on the Design Forum panel discussion with former Cadillac Design Cheif Kip Wasenko and Pebble Beach Overall Winner Paul Russell. The panel 
was hosted by automotive journalist and actor Tim Consadine and was an amazing discussion of design trends past, present, and outlaw! After the panel Jeff mentioned he was headed out to Bonneville to participate in the last meet of the year and wondered if I’d like to come along. Hmmmm, I said, let me think about that for…YES!!! Of course I would…. So Sandra and I loaded up all our camera stuff — both video and still — and on Monday morning got up at 4am and drove…to the Santa Fe ski area; two hundred miles out of the direct path to Wendover. Why? To take some photos of some beautifully classic Porsches for a couple of stories I’m working on. (More on that another time). Then we turned around and made the long drive to the Salt Flats.
It was a great trip for all kinds of reasons. We got some great photos and video of Jeff’s car. To see some of the video go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olhJD6Qu9js
Plus I got to see my friends at Team Vesco set a new record of 339mph with their #444 car, the one I rode on as a skier back in 1985. Jeff set a new class record of 165.380 What can I say, I have “salt fever” and there’s just no getting over it.
We made the long drive home through Moab and the Four Corners on a beautifully sunny day, with just enough time to un-pack the car, download video and stills, get cleaned up and head off to the Roadrunner Region’s annual Chili Cook-off. If you’ live in New Mexico, you can’t live without your “chili-fix” and we’re definitely addicted to the many great flavors of red and green to be found both in the super-hot and the deliciously sweet dishes you always find at thest kinds of events. The cook-off is always one of the best attended events in the Region and is hosted in the beautiful racing-themed home of Bruce Phillips and Debra Burns. There’s always a great mix of new and veteran members and this year was no different. One of the Regions founders and its 1969 President, Jim Miller was on hand for a Roadrunner event for the first time in years to enjoy the fun!
As I write this, I’m getting ready to head off to Las Cruces and Deming, NM for the Carrera Region’s big event, the Oktoberfiesta, always a good time and one of the last warm weekends before the winter winds blow in. It’s not that long before I’ll be heading to some of the holiday parties for my last official appearances as your Zone Rep. I hope to see you at one of those events. I look forward to seeing you there!
–
Zone Rep Report October 2012
The sunlight comes from a different angle, warming the glow of the mountains, the golden aspen leaves and deepening the blueness of the autumn sky. The nights are beginning to be cold, but the days are still warm, even hot. Snow can be seen on the mountains and farmers markets are begining to sell pumpkins. You have to plan your mornings around the school buses picking up the kids for school. Yes, it’s fall and, as we know, it’s one of the best times of the year for driving Porsches on the roads of Zone 9. The days are a little shorter, but that’s ok. It’s that glow that makes it all worth it. That and the sound of a Weissach precisely tuned Porsche exhaust summoning, impelling us to go one more time through the gears, just that extra bit further before checking into the B+B or just pulling it back into our own garages. Ahhhh.
Since I last checked in with you, I’ve been enjoying some quiet time and working on gearing my business back up at the beginning of the year once my Zone 9 Rep duties are put to sleep. That’s not to say that I haven’t been working all along, only that it’s a little harder to make committments when I’m traveling around seeing all of you and having a damned good time doing it! So I do some work, then go out to enjoy the early autumn days, then back to work, and so on….
I did make a trip up to Farmington, NM for the Roadrunner Region’s best autocross event of the year. For those of you who don’t know, the Roadrunners are well known for their autocrossing talents. Without 
much of a DE program they focus on the cones, having at least twelve autocrosses a year and sometime as many as fourteen! Most of the lots are pretty small, but the one up in Farmington is a national-level sized lot and has a very smooth surface. So two times a year, you’ll see the Roadrunners up there for a pair to two day events, one in the spring and one in the fall, avoiding the summer heat. Because many of the usual suspects were off at SCCA nationals, there was a light crowd, meaning that competitors had an epic 16 runs! Plus Farmington has some great, reasonably priced restaurants, meaning that there was good food to be had before collapsing and starting all over the next day.
I have a couple more events to attend this month before we head into October. I’ll be attending the AMR’s legendary Fall Tour for the first time. I’m really looking forward to seeing the folks from AMR again and experiencing this event as the Rockies light up with the peak of the leaf-season colors. It should be great. My last event of the month won’t be a PCA one, but I will be on assignment for 9 Magazine, the nice little Porsche-themed magazine that got its start here in New Mexico about ten years ago, but has since been 
bought and improved dramatically by Vince Catena in Florida. I’ll be covering the Santa Fe Concorso where there will be a wide range of beautiful classics, including but not limited to Porsches. The grand marshals will be Santa Fe’s own Denise Mcluggage, her old racing friend Sir Stirling Moss, and local four-time Indy-winner Al Unser Sr. Plus my good Bonneville friend and neighbor Jeff Brock will be on hand with his Bombshell Betty Buick, which has become iconic in the world of hot-rodding these last few years. Then, it’s a few weeks off before heading down to Arroyo Seco Raceway for the Carrera Region’s annual Oktoberfiesta weekend, always a fun weekend as it’s like having just that one last weekend of summer before winter sets in. I hope you’re all enjoying the fall weather and getting out for some epic drives of your own!
–
Zone Rep Report September 2012
Ahhhhhhh (with a sigh of relief….). This last month has been a relatively quiet one for me in my Zone 9 travels. Still, that’s not to say that I haven’t been busy, just a much easier time than I described in my previous column. After Parade in Salt Lake City, I was able to catch some down-time, take a breather, and get caught up on rest and some odds and ends at home.
But then it was back on the road to another of my favorite events of the year, the Rocky Mountain Region’s Club Race and Solo DE at High Plains Raceway. Having lived in Colorado for thirty years before moving to New Mexico nine years ago, I can say with a great sense of nostalgia that I do miss Colorado. There’s just something about the air and energy that found its way into my soul. So I always enjoy coming “home.”
The annual RMR High Plains Thunder event is not just great because it’s in Colorado, or because it’s put on by RMR’s finely tuned staff led by Kathy Fricke, and co-chaired by PCA Club Racing Head Steward Vicki Earnshaw and chair-trainee Brian Leary. It’s always a pleasure to be around both the hosting staff as well as all the Club Racing and DE drivers, who show such a great spirit of camaraderie both on and off the track.
Besides my usual Zone Rep duties, this year I also served as pace-car communications liaison between Race-Control and the pace-car driver. Our pace-car was a beautiful, brand-new 981 Boxster S. Wow, what a great car! A definitive step ahead of all the recent Boxster models. This one had the PDK and all the other cool Porsche engine and chassis tuning stuff. Of course it was also fun to be riding around the serpentine High Plains circuit with all the race-cars zig-zagging in the mirrors warming up their tires and brakes, too.
This year, I saw one of my first PCA friends at the event. Early on in my PCA membership, I volunteered to be the Roadrunner Region newsletter editor. One of my very first issues included an article about (then) Los Alamos resident Bob Patterson, who was just finishing a 2-year project of rebuilding his race-car from the ground up. I had heard all the stories and visited the garage where he was doing the work and then I was lucky enough to go on some of his very first shake-down runs as a passenger. I took photos, interviewed Bob and wrote a feature story. Then, the following year, Bob was kind enough to write a year-long, monthly column on his build process. (To see all of these articles, visit http://visionsofpower.com/pdfs/Bob_Patterson_article_sm.pdf ). Of course, building the race-car was only part of the adventure and Bob went through all kinds of travails for several years after getting it all dialed in. But this year at HPR, it was working perfectly (as far as I could tell) and he won his class in each of the races. Since I last saw him, he’s moved to Colorado, so it was great to spend some time together again and see all his work had come to fruition.
I also had the opportunity to meet and spend time with some of the racing Fritze family. Kim Fritze is the Zone 10 rep, hailing from Minneapolis. Her husband Keith is a Club Racer, and Keith’s brother Alan is a long-time Club Racer from Colorado. It turned out that we had haunted some of the same places and knew several of the same people. It’s always fun to see the world become a little smaller.
The very next weekend was closer to home, visiting the 42nd Annual Corrales Roundup, just on the outskirts of Albuquerque. PCAers Dave and Ann Stinchcomb have been hosting this event at their beautiful home in the Rio Grande bosque for all these years and this edition was one of the best, with so many Porsches the front yard was full and they had to park several of the cars out back. Each year there is a “featured car” and this year it was the Boxster. So all the Boxsters were parked in the first couple rows and we did a special group photo with all the owners. A good time was had by all.
I have a little more time off from PCA stuff before heading out to my next event. In the meantime, there is a different kind of action happening in Zone 9. At the end of the year my term will come to an end and you will have a new Zone 9 Rep. Right now we have two very strong candidates who are vying for the job: Joe Warren of Rocky Mountain Region and Liz Shaw of the Roadrunner Region. Both have been very engaged in PCA activities at the Regional, Zone, and National levels. If you meet either of them at an event, listen to what they have to say and feel free to ask questions. Your Regions’ presidents will be making their recommendations to the PCA Executive Committee in the next couple months…And come January, someone besides me will be writing this column.
Stay tuned….
–
Zone Rep Report August 2012
It’s hard to believe how fast the year is going. Porsche Parade in Salt Lake City, which so many of us have been planning for so long is now but a memory, though one that will be cherished for some time. We all have our favorite Parade moments. Certainly dinner on the carrier USS Midway was one at the 2007 Parade in San Diego. The tours and concours of the 2009 Parade in Keystone are another. But for me personally I have to say that the 2012 Parade in Salt Lake City is my favorite. Was it the setting? Partially, though I much prefer mountains to cities. Was it the venue? The Little and Grand America hotels were nice, for sure…. But, more than anything else it really comes down to involvement and the people. I had a tremendously busy Parade for 2012 as your Zone 9 Rep and that’s really what made it my favorite. I just like PCA, its activities, its people, and…oh yeah…the cars!
Touchdown for me in SLC was on pre-Parade Friday. A quick un-packing of the car (filled with enough stuff for a week!), then it was off to my first meeting with the PCA Policy/Bylaws Committee. We started on the project of doing the first update to PCA’s 
bylaws in ten years sometime last January. It’s a daunting task. The project includes keeping the spirit and intent of the original bylaws as set out by Bill Sholar in 1955, but accounting for an increase of 62,000 members, a week-long Parade, Club Racing, and committees which couldn’t have been conceived in 1955 (or even 2005), let alone predicted and properly organized. But we’re getting close and hope to have a final draft ready for the fall.
A little sleep, then it was off to meet briefly with Executive Council, back to the room to work on details of the Historic Display I would be chairing during the concours event, then a three hour meeting with my fellow Zone Reps and a social dinner with them afterward. It was the final time several of us would be with the group, since there are five of us who will reach the end of our terms in January. Then more work on the Historic Display and a couple hours of sleep.
Sunday was up early again, meet with the Executive Council for three hours, National Staff luncheon, another meeting with the EC, then the National Board meeting and from there straight to the Parade Welcome Party (which was a GREAT, by the way: so much fun to connect with everyone again and meet new people too!). Leave early from the party and work out final details of the Historic Display, including writing out all the descriptive panels for the signs. Thank God and Ellen Beck for cheap color printers available at Costco and especially Ellen for staying up till almost midnight printing the plaquards for me.
Monday morning it up at OH-dark-thirty to get the cars off-loaded from their transporters and placed on the steps of the Utah State Capital building. Many thanks to all the people I was able to cajole to get up with me at 4:00am to do this task. Their work contributed to a very fine show of beautiful and priceless Porsches in the Historic Display and made me look very good! After many months of stress the event came off beautifully and was a centerpiece of the concours. And a mighty big thanks to all the participants too! We had some great cars on display, all looking beautiful and shiny and all of great interest. We wound up our part just in time to get in a quick shower and go off to the Presidents’ Reception that evening.
Just a few more winks and it was time to get moving for the tour I hosted on Tuesday (with the help of Liz Shaw and Sandra One Feather) to the Nish and Kirkham speedshops. The Nishes are a Bonneville-racer racer family who run a 415+ mph car. The Kirkhams build the finest replica Cobras possible. So much so that Shelby contracts them for fabrication of some of their parts. The tour wound up being a smashing success. In fact, both Nishes and Kirkhams told me later they had many informal guests throughout the week who dropped by because they had heard how interesting it was.
Wednesday morning was another early one, to help out Liz Shaw (who also was up at 4:00am on Monday to help me push cars around) and Jo Martin with the Michelin Drive and Compare, which they’ve been chairing for three years now, then later to give away the awards for the PCA Website Contest (several of which went to Zone 9 members, including the very first Overall trophy to Kathleen Lennon of AMR!). A little bit of a break on Thursday and then back at it on Friday and Saturday to help out the Intermountain Region with their Drivers Education event at Miller Motorsports Park. Whew!
It seemed like it was non-stop for nine days till leaving on Sunday at 4:00am to come back home to New Mexico, but that’s what we PCA people do. It’s always more fun to participate! See you soon!
–
Zone Rep Report July 2012
This has been a great month in my time as Zone 9 Rep. By the time you read this I will have visited my own Region for the 35th Fiesta New Mexico (formerly Fiesta del Porsche), then made the trip up to Salt Lake City to help out at the Intermountain Region’s annual Club Race and DE and to do some final checking on the site venues for the Parade events I’m chairing and a few other items. But really, this doesn’t sound like all that much does it? Well, as they say, the devil is in the details.
Fiesta this year was extra special for so many reasons. For one, we had some very special visitors. In early May, I got a call from former Roadrunner President and Zone 9 Rep Cal Hansen’s daughter Janet saying that her mom Bonnie had passed away and as a way to heal the wound, she and her dad would be coming to Santa Fe for Fiesta. Though I had only “met” Cal via e-mail and Facebook as I was working on a Zone 9 history project this past year, I began to hear all kinds of great stories about him from all over the Zone. Putting out word to his PCA friends resulted in a great and enthusiastic response. Everyone was glad to hear that Cal was coming to visit.
Sure enough, Cal and Janet showed up for registration on Thursday and everyone was effusive in greeting their good friend. Cal hadn’t been to a Fiesta since 1993, but you wouldn’t have known it by the reception he received. It was like he’d never been away. Some of his friends who weren’t registered for Fiesta even made the trip to Santa Fe for concours day just to visit with Cal. And it made for a rare occasion when four Zone 9 Reps were all in one place. Beside Cal and me, we also had on hand Larry Pittsley and Dale Thero. Adding to the luster, we also had former Zone 6 Rep Linda Bein and former Zone 10 Rep Hank Godfredson, both of whom had worked with Cal. It was great to welcome home a Roadrunner with such fanfare and I was honored to be able to play a part in this reunion.
This was another great Fiesta. It was the second year the event was back in Santa Fe, but the first year the cars were back on the plaza since 2004. Event chairs Liz Shaw and Jo Martin were able to procure an autocross venue within city limits, so the autocrossers didn’t have to drive all day to and from the venue. There were at least seven tours and a poker rally and the Sunday night banquet featured a fantastic talk by Porsche Panorama editor Betty Jo and chief photographer Leonard Turner.
They gave a slideshow presentation called “Beneath the Covers” during which the two of them told some really great stories about the travels, trials, and tribulations, that resulted in six of their most iconic cover shots. Adding to the poignancy of the event is the knowledge that these two PCA icons are retiring at the end 
of this year from their positions at Panorama after more than forty years of steward-ship. Sandra and I acted as “hosts” during the weekend and spent many an hour on tours and during meals soaking in their amazing wealth of knowledge and spirit of adventure. I doubt there is anyone in the world of Porsche outside the family itself who knows more about the people and cars called Porsche.
In addition, all the events went off without a hitch and the Roadrunner Region raised thousands of dollars for their chosen charity, the Barrett Foundation of Albuquerque. Everyone agreed: this was a weekend to remember!
A short respite and then it was off to Salt Lake City to work with the Intermountain folks on their always great Club Race and DE weekend. For several years, it was held in September, but this year they moved it to June to take advantage of a gap in the busy Club Race schedule and, I suspect, to give themselves a rest this fall after having so much going on in their Region this year, with the Zone 9 and Parade Planning meetings, the Race weekend, and Porsche Parade in July. They are an able and enthusiastic bunch, but come August and September they’re gong to deserve a rest!
Intermountain is not a large region, about 340 members, but they act large when it comes to putting on events. The Club Race/DE event at Miller is at the top of the heap when it comes to a quality event and the facility at Miller Motorsports Park is without equal. If you’ve never been, put in on your calendar. You’ll be glad you did.
A brief stop at home and it’s time to turn around and go back up to Parade in Salt Lake City. I hope you’ve signed up. There are so many great events and tours and dinners and socials lined up it’ll have your head spinning. Since I’m chairing three events and participating in a few more, I’m going to be pretty busy, but don’t let that stop you from saying hello. I’m here for Zone 9 and I always like meeting my fellow PCAers from around our seven great Regions. See you there!
–
Zone Rep Report June 2012
I think I’m going crazy. I spent an entire weekend going in circles, another one scampering in the shadow of a legend, and have one coming up that will lead me to enchantment and back before a trip across the desert to parade practice. I must be dreaming….Or not! Let me explain.
In late April I spent a great weekend with the Alpine Mountain Region at their “Return to PIkes Peak International” Drivers Education event. Chaired by AMR CDI Chris Lennon, along with sponsor Dwight Kasten and soon to be departing (for the Rennsport Region) Pat Dufour, the 
event used PPIR’s Oval/infield roadcourse hybrid. It was a really great event with fantastic participation from AMR members as well as participants from a few other Regions too. And though there were a few “brand-x” cars on hand, the overwhelming majority were Porsches. It was my first time on an oval and it was a great experience that gives me much more feeling for what I’ve been watching on TV. A great (learning) time was had by all. But the event also carried greater significance. At the Saturday night dinner 
party, I had the GREAT honor to present Hank Godfredson with his 50-year PCA pin and certificate. Hank has been a truly active member in PCA, acting as almost every officer in his Regions (yes, more than one) at one time or another, was a Zone 10 Rep, and has been active and influential in Club Racing since its inception. . He currently serves as AMR’s Social Chair while wife Phyllis is AMR’s award-winning newsletter editor. To see more from that event click here.
A brief respite at home, then I headed down to the West Texas Region to visit one of our most active small Regions. I’d always heard the WTR does great autocrosses, but this was my first time to one. Unfortunately for them, they recently lost their long-time venue at Big Springs, but they were able to secure a space at a residential runway (only in Texas!). The course was a mile-long (one-way!) with a “box” feature at the end and a one-mile return. That put the fastest run-times at over two minutes! With four runs in a day that was over eight minutes (and as much as ten for some of the slower driver/cars) of autocross time! To see some of the photos, click here.
Unfortunately, the event was interrupted midway through. No, no accidents, or rain, or wild-life running around…. It turned out that the owner lets one of the local vintage racers test-and-tune his cars there from time to time. None other than Jim Hall turned up with the Chaparral 2H (one model before the sucker-car) to run GM Vice President for Global Design Ed Welburn for a few lengths of the circuit. So the WTR folks graciously moved their cones off the surface and watched “the half-time show” and snapped countless photos of Jim, Ed and the car before resuming the autocross runs after his departure. 
What can one say, other than “WOW!” To see more of the scene when Jim and Ed were there, click here.
As I write this I have another short break before heading over to Santa Fe for the Roadrunner Region’s premier event, “Fiesta New Mexico,” now in it 34th or 35th year, depending on how you count them. The concours will be back in the Plaza, the autocross is within the city limits and special guests for the weekend are Betty Jo and Leonard Turner, legends in the world of PCA as Editor and Chief Photographer of Porsche Panorama. I’ll write more about it in my next installment, but I know this is going to be a great weekend! To see more about Fiesta New Mexico, click here.
Only a brief breath and a few winks later and I’ll be heading up through the 4 Corners region (Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico), Moab and north to Salt Lake City for the Intermountain Region’s Club Race and DE at Miller Motorsports Park on the full 4.5 mile, 25 corner course. This is the Intermountain Region’s premier event and always has a great turnout and is run with great care and precision by the IMR team. Traditionally, it’s been held in September, but they’re looking forward to their new June date. Again, I know this will be a great one. Plus it will give me time to visit a few of the Parade venues one more time before we all descend on Salt Lake City “en masse” for Parade in early July.
From all indications, Parade is shaping up to be another great one. Salt Lake is a beautiful city with mountains and deserts, great roads, and, of course, the great cars and friends we’ll be with. It’s really amazing to think about all the great friendships we’ll renew and all the new ones we’ll build in this most fantastic of PCA traditions. I hope you’re already signed up…
Best wishes and I look forward to seeing and meeting each of you at an event somewhere this year; hopefully at Parade!.
–
Zone Rep Report May 2012
The last weekend in March was a busy one for all of the Zone 9 leaders as we met in Salt Lake City for the annual meeting. This was the second year since we’ve started to moving the meeting around the Zone and the Intermountain Region responded with enthusiasm. President Will Crowther coordinated the effort and with the support of Strong Porsche we had our meeting at their fine facility just a few blocks south of our Parade host-hotel, Little America. Most of the attendees arrived the night before, so we had a get together at the hotel and then went off to one of my favorite SLC places, the Red Iguana for a fine meal and some time together.
The next morrning we started our meeting early and got down to business with introuductions and discussion about the various events and issues we have going on in each of our very different Regions. Shortly after break we had visits from several of our Parade and National staff, including PCA President Manny Alban, Excutive Director Vu Nguyen, Parade Chair Susan Brown, Concours Chair Dan DiRiemer. Zone 8 Rep Tom Brown also sat in with our meeting for the entire day. After presentations from each, we broke for lunch, during which everyone got to know our National staff a little better. I think it’s always good to have some face-to-face time with those names we see in the back of Panorama every month.
After lunch, we were visited by our host, Eliot Strong, so we all got a chance to thank him for his hospitlity. Next came Parade Facilities Chair Francie Kish and Porsche Cars AG Club Director Paul Gregor, who had flown in from Germany just the night before to be with us. Each of them talked about what their roles are during Parade and of all the team coordination that goes on to make such an event possible.
Some of the other topics we covered this year were insurance/liability (as always!), club media — including newsletters, websites and social media — and the various “signature” events put on by each of the Regions in the Zone. We also chose the site of next year’s Zone 9 meeting. It will be hosted by the Llano Estacado Region in Amarillo, Texas. PCA’s smallest Region will play host to the Zone 9 dignitaries next year. It’ll be a great opportunity for Llano Estacado President Joe Papp and his steadfast group of supporters to show the Zone 9 leaders and (no doubt) some of the National staff why our small Regions still carry the spirit of PCA.
Of course this year was my last meeting as your Zone 9 Rep, as my term will come to an end at the first of the year. So far we don’t know who the Zone 9 Rep will be next year, but whoever it is, I can certainly say that s/he will have a great time representing and visiting all of our great Regions. If anyone is interested in serving in that position, please contact me so that I can pass your name along to National for consideration.
On Saturday evening, we all joined the Intermountain Region at Rodizio’s Grille for a great Argentinian-style barbeque dinner. About 60 members of the Intermountain Region were on hand, plus the Zone 9 and National dignitaries and a great time was had by all as we feasted on an amazing array of meats and buffet items and desserts. It’s a good thing I walked the ten blocks or so to the restaurant, because I sure needed the exercise afterward! But we still weren’t finished. The next day several of the Zone 9 group met early to take a tour of the Utah State Capital grounds where the Parade concours will be held, then drove west to Miller Motorsports Park for a guided tour of their Cobra museum, a parade lap of the full MMP 4.5 mile road-course, and a tour of the other facilities on the grounds. We were originally planning to take a look at the Parade autocross venue, but by that time it was snowing (!), hard!
Before closing this installment, I’d like to remind all of you to get registered for Parade in Salt Lake City. It’s going to be a great one! And, if you have any interest in DE/track-days, please register for the Intermountain Region hosted DE that will be taking place at Miller Motorsport Park on the final day of Parade. It’s not an offical Parade event, so you’ll have to register separately. Aside from doing it just to have fun — which you will — another very good reason to do it is to reward the Intermountain folks for their hard work this year. While the old Parade model allowed for the hosting Region to benefit (or lose) financially from hosting a Parade, the new model does not. The Intermountain folks have stepped up admirably to help out with this year’s Parade. Entering their DE allows them to benefit financially from all that work they’ve been doing for the past two years. Oh, and when you see them, be sure to say “thanks” for all they’ve done for Parade and for Zone 9 this year. It’s a job (or several jobs!) well done!
I look forward to seeing each of you at some event this summer.
–
Zone Rep Report April 2012
It’s now official: the busy season is upon us. For the Regions of Zone 9, that means that planning season is over and the first events of the year are coming to fruition. Several autocrosses have already been run, tours and show-and-shines will start up this month. And so will track days for the Intermountain, Rocky Mountain, and Alpine Mountain Regions. As for your Zone Rep, I’ve been staying busy over the winter months. I’ve co-written two pieces of PCA policy on social media with Zone 11 Rep Aaron Ambrosino. One is for the RPM and one for Region Focus. The RegionFocus won’t be out till summer, but to look at PCA guidelines for social media in the RPM, turn to page 43 in the 2012 edition. Whether we like it or not, the age of smart-phones, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and others is already upon us. These are great tools to add to your communications belt, but as with other forms of media, there are several things to think about to keep your Region from getting in trouble. Both pieces are good food for thought.
Another piece of writing was a job description for a PCA National position for a Regions Website Chair. The National Website Chair position of a few years ago was primarily to develop, build, and maintain the National website, and to also help out wherever possible for the Regions struggling to get their own websites up. In the past couple of years, the National Website Chair position was subsumed in the National management organization and is a full-time professional job. But the club is lacking someone to help guide the smaller regions who are still struggling with building and maintaining their own websites. As the web takes on more and more of the regular communications of a Region, it’s more crucial now that there be someone to help out on that front. I’ve finished the description, now it’ll be up to the EC to find the appropriate candidate.
Of course, I’m still the chair for the PCA Website Contest, so I’ve been busy working on a new set of rules and criteria for this year’s contest and soon the entries will be pouring in. I have a great group of judges this year who will be deciding the finalists in each category. New for this year is a category for Zone websites and an Overall Award, similar to the Robert Heinmiller award for newsletters. If this year’s contest is anything at all like last year’s, it’s going to be hotly contested. We’ll find out at Parade in July.
Some of you may know that I’ve also been working on a proposal from one of my members in the Roadrunner Region that would allow for more family participation in our autocrosses. It’s gone through several levels of scrutiny and is now in the hands of the EC to see if it’s possible given the practicalities of insurance and liability. That’s been a labor of love for the last several months, but I’m relieved that it’s out of my hands…for now.
Like many of you, I have a twitch in my arm that is triggered by the phrase “who want’s to volunteer for….” So, I’ve found myself as co-chair of the Historic Display at this year’s Parade AND leading a bus tour to one of the Salt Lake City area Bonneville speed-shops. The historic display takes place during the concours and will include many rare and priceless Porsches from around the western half of the United States. I’m extremely honored to be entrusted with this task, as it’ll mean that I’ll be able to get hands-on with several priceless cars…even if I am just pushing them around, on and off transporters and lining them up in their appropriate places on the Utah State Capital steps.
The bus-tour will be of interest to anyone who loves cars, especially REALLY fast ones. We’ll be visiting the Nish family shop to see their Royal Purple streamliner as it’s being prepared for a 415mph run at Bonneville later in the summer. It’s one thing to see photos of this stuff, but when you see it in person — even just sitting still — it’s jaw-dropping. After spending some time there, we’ll head down to Provo to visit the Kirkham Motorsports headquarters to see final assembly on the finest Cobra reproduction cars anywhere. New, they tell me, are their Daytona Coupe reproductions, which will be on display as well.
As I write this, I’m making final preparations for the Zone 9 meeting in Salt Lake City. Our Zone 9 Region leaders will be convening there for our annual meeting, this year held at Strong Porsche, with several of the National and Parade staff on hand to meet and talk with us.
And, of course, I’m starting my annual trek around the Zone to visit each of our great Regions at least once or more before the end of my term in December. It’s going to be a great and busy year! I look forward to seeing you at an event somewhere!
–
Zone Rep Report March 2012
This is the time of year I can only associate with being in the blocks. On your mark, get set…. Planning is done, dates and locations picked, volunteers are recruited, discussions at socials center less and less on last summer and fall, more and more on the first driving tours and autocrosses coming up. Each winter snowstorm, cloudy and wind day is less and less about the current season, instead a barrier keeping us from spring and our first confident drives on dry, and clean, pavement. Of course we’ll still have a few of those days before spring is firmly in our grips and summer is on its way, but we all know that it’s time to be ready, to get set with getting equipment clean and functioning, and … any day now…GO!
As I write this, I’m boarding the plane to attend the PCA Winter meeting at the PCA headquarters in Columbia, Maryland. I’m looking forward to it for several reasons. One, I have a lot of work to do with the other Zone Reps and on a couple committees I’m on. I’m also looking forward to seeing the PCA headquarters that the club acquired almost two years ago, giving it a permanent home and helping to ensure the future of the club in this modern era. Besides housing the staff that serve all of us in the day-to-day workings of the club that keep so many different programs working, it also houses the PCA historical archives and some permanent collections donated by PCA members over the years. On top of that, this trip will be a little bittersweet, since it will be the last winter meeting I’ll attend as your Zone Rep. But I am looking forward to meeting all the new Zone Reps that have come on board since last fall.
I’m also chomping at the bit to get moving on the 2012 PCA Website Contest. This is my second year of chairing the contest and I feel as if I’ve learned a lot and hopefully made some positive changes for this year. To see them, go to PCA.org and to the Regions/forms and documents page. Things are ready to go now. I have my judges chosen, the new judging criteria in place, and a tested entry form that will hopefully be easier to use for both entrants and judges. There are also a couple new features for this year. One is a new Overall award, parallel to the Robert Heinmiller award for the newsletter contest. The other is that the PCA Zones have their own class, although they won’t be eligible for the Overall award. Entries will be open for all Regions and Zones till March 25 and judging will be from April 1 to May 1. It’s a challenge to do among all the other ZR duties, but it’s incredibly rewarding getting to know so many of our PCAers from around the country through their creative abilities and their dedication to their Regions and Zones. In the past four years I’ve been extremely privileged to be involved with both the Newsletter and Website contests and I can’t begin to tell you how much each has taught me about our great club.
As soon as I get back and get the Website Contest going, I’ll be heading off to start my annual visits to the Regions and then the Zone 9 meeting in Salt Lake City. So, even though I’m still tense with anticipation in the proverbial “starting blocks,” I know it’s going to seem like only seconds till the gun fires and we all start sprinting into action toward an action packed year of great events in all seven Regions and, of course Porsche Parade in Salt Lake City in July.
I look forward to seeing you at one of the events!
–
Zone Rep Report February 2012
As we head into February, there’s still enough of a lull that I can reflect on the year ahead. So much to do and – though the year is young – so little time. This is the last year of my Zone Rep tenure, so I’m hoping it’s a good one. I know it will be for me. I’ve been working with Will Crowther of the Intermountain Region on securing the details for our Zone 9 meeting in Salt Lake City on March 31. Usually we have that meeting much earlier, but we’ve delayed it this year so that we could coordinate with the PCA Parade Committee who will be meeting there that same weekend. Even though it makes the week end a bit crazier, it gives us the added advantage of our Zone 9 leaders being able to see this summer’s Parade venues, to meet with the Parade Chair and various event chairs who will be on hand, and also the extra added advantage of having a member or two of the PCA Executive present to sit in on our meetings. Rumor has it that we may even have our President, Manny Alban there. This year we have several new Region Presidents in Zone 9, so they’ll really be able to take advantage of the number and caliber of PCA leadership in Salt Lake as they’re getting their feet on the ground (running!) in their new positions. I also have to thank Parade logistics coordinator Francie Kish for doing the groundwork for us at the host Little America Hotel, which will also be the host hotel for Parade.
If that seems like a lot, it is. But even before I get there, I’ll be visiting the PCA National Headquarters in Columbia, Maryland for the Winter Board meeting. This is the meeting that kicks off the year in terms of all PCA activities. We have three new Zone Reps (from Zones 8, 10, and 12) who will be getting their feet wet in terms of what to do and how to do it and have some rather large shoes to fill in their respective Zones. We’ll be meeting with the various committees of PCA to get the latest info on what is going on in all the various PCA activities, including Club Racing, the Bylaws Review Committee, Safety and Liability concerns, etc. Though I’m sure we’ll have a little fun with each other, this year’s schedule is jam-packed with meetings and …more meetings. I’ve got a full plate since I’m also on the Bylaws Review Committee, and am again Chairing the PCA Website Contest, have volunteered for the Parade Historical Display chair position and still have all my usual things to do throughout the year.
Once I make it home from the National and the Zone Meetings, I’ll be out on the road for my usual visits to our great regions of Zone 9. There are all kinds of great activities going on again. Just those I can think of off the top of my head right now are: the great club races at Miller Motorsports Park and High Plains Raceway, organized by the Intermountain and Rocky Mountain Regions, respectively. I’ve just got a report that Alpine Mountain Region will be hosting a DE event at Pikes Peak Raceway (just south of Colorado Springs) for the first time in over 10 years. That’s sure to be a great event. The Roadrunner Region will again be hosting Fiesta New Mexico (nee Fiesta del Porsche) back in Santa Fe, but this year the cars will be back on the Santa Fe Plaza and they have secured an autocross facility within the city limits, too! They’re bringing in Betty Jo and Leonard Turner as their speakers and guest hosts for the weekend, as an added bonus. The Carrera Region will again host their Oktoberfiesta in Deming, always a great weekend in late October and the Llano Estacado and West Texas Regions always have something interesting happening during the year. If you’ve never been on one of their tours, you might be VERY surprised what kinds of interesting roads there are in northwest Texas. Oh, and there’s that other thing going on in our Zone this year…Porsche Parade in Salt Lake City!!! I certainly hope that many of you will get signed up and come on out for the biggest PCA event of the year. This year’s promises to be a GREAT one!
Of course I say all of that with the thought that several of you might try to make it to some of these events outside of your regions and challenge the Roadrunners, who have swept the Zone 9 Challenge Cup in the last two years. Could this be the year when someone from another Region will take it home with them? Only time will tell.
And so it is, that even though next December seems soooo faaaarrrr away from the chilly mornings of early February, that I know I can almost guarantee I’ll be writing my last column next December wondering where the time went on the year; or, for that matter, from that last four years. But with all this being said, I know it’ll be a great time for all of us. I can’t wait to see you at an event in 2012!
–
Zone Rep Report January 2012
Here we are in the “slow” season for Zone 9. I’m writing this just after the completion of the Holiday party season. No autocrosses, no track days, no car shows going on now. This is the time when we put away the driving gloves for a few weeks and spend time with our families and getting some R+R, stocking up on calories, and watching the bowl games, skiing, or assembling our new toys. It’s a time of regrouping. But that doesn’t mean we’re not thinking about our PCA activities. Here in Zone 9 we have 5 new Region Presidents coming into their terms whose heads are no doubt swimming with ideas.
Intermountain Region’s Will Crowther will be presiding over one of the biggest years in Intermountain history. Besides their annual Club Race/DE at Miller Motorsport Park, the many tours they do annually, and hosting this year’s Zone 9 Presidents meeting, they’re also hosting the 2012 Porsche Parade. While it’s true that the National model means far less demand on a Region, Intermountain is really stepping up to bat with a great spirit of voluntarism and many people are already planning tours and events. Club President Crowther will find himself very busy this year. Let’s all be sure to give him a pat on the back and words of encouragement when we see him at an event. Let’s also offer a hearty “thank you” to Doug Turquist, IMR’s outgoing president. Good job Doug! And we hope to see you around in PCA’s best job “past-President” this coming year at the events.
In the Rocky Mountain Region, longtime member and active participant Rick Goncalves is coming into the point position as president after serving as VP and several other club positions in the past several years. He’ll be well versed in the demands placed on him. Still, taking on a position of leadership always means new challenges and increased time involvement for him and his family. Rocky Mountain always has a full card of socials, autocrosses, track days, and tours. So, three cheers to Rick for taking on the president position for 2012. And to Rex Heck we wish a very warm thank you for your service the past two years. During Rex’s time, a lot of great events were staged successfully, and Rocky Mountain Region won the prestigious Overall Growth contest at Porsche Parade 2010.
In the Alpine Mountain Region, Tom Kautz is coming into the President’s postion, taking over the reins from Tim Drummer, who did a very fine job the past two years. Tom has been involved in many AMR events and projects over the past several years and is looking to take the Region into a couple more good ones with autocrosses, track-days and some of AMR’s legendary tours and socials on the books for next year. Tim has had a fine run as president and we all want to thank him for his generous donation of time and energy.
In the Roadrunner Region, Michael Galaviz is looking at his first year of presidency. Michael is a longtime PCA and Roadrunner Region member who has really stepped up to the plate in the last few years, first serving on the board, then as VP, chairing several events, and really doing an amazing job as Roadrunner Charity Chair, earning an Honorable Mention at this year’s Parade competing in a class with some much, much larger Regions and longer established programs. He also won this year’s Zone 9 Challenge by participating in PCA events in four of Zone 9’s seven Regions: Roadrunner, Llano Estacado, West Texas, and Carrera. Michael will be taking over from a very active Tony Richey, who will be transferring his energies as Past-President on his other role as Region Webmaster. Thanks to Tony for a job well done.
West Texas is the other Region in Zone 9 with a new President, though in this case, it’s worth noting that “new” is a relative term. Fred Stubbs will be stepping back into the role that he has occupied for many years in service to WTR. Fred is long experienced in all things PCA and along with his wife has attended many PCA Parades around the country. Fred takes over from Robert Harrington, who’s done a fine job this past year, even playing host to the rest of Zone 9 at the first Zone 9 Presidents meeting held outside of Albuquerque, this past year in Midland at the famous Jim Hall Chaparral Museum.
We also have two returning Presidents. Joe Papp leads the Llano Estacado Region over in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. LE is the smallest PCA Region in the country and often has one of the highest participation rates of any Region. Joe and his dad have also been regular Parade goers over the years and an extraordinary PCA family.
Last, and far, far from least, Dede Rogers is once again leading the Carrera Region on what she says will be her “victory lap,” with her own inimitable style and enthusiasm. Dede is a big presence in Zone 9 and anywhere else she goes, event to the far ends of the earth (literally, as she is one of only a small handful of people to have travelled to both poles of the earth).
I want to thank all of our outgoing Regional Presidents, officers, board members and all the other event chairs and volunteers who contribute to making PCA the largest and most active single-marque car-club in the world. And I also welcome our new officers as they enter a busy year of great PCA, Zone 9 and Regional activities. Let’s all give them the support they need to fulfill their promise as we head toward a another fantastic year of fun Porsche-related activities and friendship.
–
Zone Rep Report December 2011
If you’ve read my columns before, you know that I don’t shy away from my love for new technology. Certainly Porsche has made its reputation on the world stage by being a step or several ahead of its competitors in engine, handling, and aerodynamic developments. At the same time, much of our PCA activity has centered on tradition. And that often means fetishizing a particular favorite model or period. Sometimes that leads to an interesting tension between Porsche’s reputation as an innovator and Porsche enthusiasts’ love for the brand as they’ve come to know it.
This past month I’ve found myself at a similar crossroads with a project I’ve been working on for Zone 9. I’ve been updating the Zone 9 website (see http://zone9.pca.org ) and have been working on a couple of historical pages. One of them is a listing of all our Zone 9 Reps and the other is a page which commemorates Zone 9’s Regions and members who have won either National or Overall Parade trophies.
This project came about when I was over in Amarillo this fall visiting the Llano Estacado Region for their 45th anniversary. While there, I met former Zone 9 Rep Mike Tiernan and we started talking about who all the Zone 9 Reps had been. I said, “you know, Mike, a couple of years ago Frank Barrett and Dale Thero — also former Zone 9 reps — put together a list. I’ll send it to you.” Of course, when I got home, I couldn’t find it. So, recently I got back in touch with Frank and Dale and we reconstructed the list. Then we ran it by other former Zone 9 Reps Kathy Fricke and Larry Pittsley. OK, we got it and did it.
So, I figured, rather than lose it again, we should post it on the Zone 9 site for all to see. But once I got it there, I was unsatisfied. It looked empty. In putting together the list, a number of colorful stories were told about this person or that who contributed to the Regions that make up Zone 9 and it got my mind going again. Rather than just a list, we need some photos and biographies. Well, that’s a different kind of project entirely. See, it works out that many of us who are having fun with our Porsches and great times with the people of PCA don’t ever think to write anything down or even to take photos. These days it’s a bit different because our phones have cameras and the digital age has made it much easier and cheaper to record just about everything. But that wasn’t the case in decades prior. And even if people did take photos, not as many thought anyone would want to see them in 10, 20, 30, or 50 years!
Finding info on the last four Zone 9 Reps was easy. They’re still active in the club and it’s just a matter of rousting them to get something to me. Going back a little further is harder. Luckily for me, Frank Barrett is an author and former newsletter editor and has a mind for keeping and recording things. I’m also lucky to be able to draw on some members from my own and nearby Regions who were present for some of the great adventures and stories. Roadrunner Dave Stinchcomb has a wealth of stories about Zone 9 in the 70s. Carrera past-President Fran Walker knows everyone from that era and even manages to keep track of many of them.
We’re also luck to have some PCA members who are either club-historians or just keenly interested or both. Amy Legg-Rogers is the Rocky Mountain Region’s historian and has done some good digging around for me. Phyllis Godfredson and Kathleen Lennon of Alpine Mountain Region have done some excellent research and found some info that I was having trouble with. National PCA Historian RJ Wilmoth and PCA Office Manager Charlotte Chirinos have both helped me to find bits and pieces. I was able to find a thread about one of our early Zone 9 Reps, Jim McConnell (dec.) on the Studebaker Drivers forum on-line and through them his wife Mary contacted me. And the list goes on. So now it seems that I have info on all our Zone 9 Reps, starting with Jim Stubbs at the very beginning in 1974.
Our list of Zone 9 Reps is:
- Sean Cridland (Roadrunner): 2009 to present,
- Dale Thero (Rocky Mountain): 1993-96, 2006-08,
- Howard Burr (Alpine Mountain): 2005-06,
- Kathy Fricke (Rocky Mountain) 2001-04,
- Larry Pittsley (Roadrunner): 1997-2000,
- Cal Hansen (Roadrunner): 1989-92,
- Allan Worrell (Alpine Mountain): 1985-88,
- Frank Barrett (Rocky Mountain): 1979-84,
- Mavis Hampton (Carrera): 1977-78,
- Mike Tiernan (Llano Estacado): 1977,
- Jim McConnell (Rocky Mountain): 1975-76, and
- Jim Stubbs (Rocky Mountain): 1974.
For more complete info see http://zone9.pca.org/history.html
What struck me as I was working with everyone to pull this list together was just how dedicated these people were to the Porsche marque, but also how dedicated and enthusiastic they were to serve their clubs by putting on events and organizing, but most of all, to having a GREAT time and encouraging others to have an equally great time together as a community of friends. Reading and listening to the stories makes me think that we’re going to need a couple more history pages on the website, one that might be a Wall of Fame notable Zone 9 characters and one that’s just stories and photos.
That brings me back to my original thought. When it comes to the cars, we love innovative technology, but also have great reverence for our favorite period. That’s the rub that I’m encountering in my research. Let’s call it the 356 syndrome. Everyone loves their era, but no one seems to think that it’s worth much…until it’s too pricey to retrieve. If we think only of modern cars and modern PCA we lose a great bit of the value of both. If we think only of our favorite period we don’t appreciate the developments and the excitement of the present. That’s true of our Regions as well.
When I was newsletter editor for Roadrunner, I had opportunity to write the monthly history column and that meant sifting back through old issues of our newsletter and Panorama and putting together names, faces, places and events. What struck me was how much fun was had with so little. In many of the photos the cars were being driven on dirt road and showed signs of use. The PCA Regions we all take for granted were chartered by people with great zeal and passion for their cars, for adventure, and for each other. Just as you can see the heritage of the original Gmund prototype 356 in the current 991 Carrera, you can feel the enthusiasm of our PCA forebears in our own activities today, but not without concentrated effort.
I would argue, however, that just as we worry about Porsche losing its identity as technology rushes further away from the air-cooled era, we’re in danger of losing our soul as a club if we don’t pay a little more attention to our Regional and Zone histories. So, when you get a chance, take a look at the Zone 9 website and check out some of our history. Also, support your Regional Historian with stories and photos, dig out the old stuff and take care of it. And share it. If there was anything obvious at the recent Rennsport Reunion IV at Laguna Seca it was that people still love the drivers and cars from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s and they want to know the stories! As we move into the Holiday season, let’s take some time to remember where we came from before we move into the next adventures in the New Year.
Best wishes to you for the Holiday season and I hope to see you at an event soon.
–
Zone Rep Report November 2011
I’m starting to call this year my sea-to-shining-sea tour since I’ve been on both coasts in pursuit of my PCA Zone Rep position. Last winter I was in Las Vegas, NV, then back to Parade in Savannah in August, then out to Monterey, CA for Rennsport Reunion IV just last week. And that’s not even counting the north to south travel within Zone 9.
Since I last wrote, I made a trip up to the Salt Lake City area where I visited the Intermountain Region for their annual fall Club Race/DE weekend at Miller Motorsport Park. I can’t speak highly enough of this event. First, MMP is a fantastic facility — kind of like a racer’s version of Oz — with F1 style pits, NASCAR-style garages, an amazing 4.5 mile 25 turn course and on and on…. Second, the Intermountain Region really knows how to put on a GREAT event. I’m always impressed with how well that little region puts on such a fantastic event. They are truly a dedicated group of volunteers. And, I have to admit, that I really don’t mind the long drive up there, since it goes through some of the most beautiful country in the world, including the Four Corners area and Moab, home of both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.
The last two years, I’ve taken my car up to run at Bonneville, then gone over to Miller for the PCA event. But I’ve been so busy this year I’ve barely had time to drive my car, let alone do any significant work to it. So I didn’t do B-ville and went to Miller with the intention to volunteer for the event. I like working events. It’s the best way to get to know the great people of PCA and to learn about how events like these work. So I ended up helping out with registration, then doing quite a bit of on-track instructing, a little bit with the scales, and just general gofer. As a reward, I got to drive the pace-car for the Club Race on the last day. What a great weekend! I want to send a special thanks to John Hunt and Kay Koelner for hosting me at their beautiful home in Salt Lake. It was a great weekend.
Unfortunately, at least three factors led to Intermountain’s event attendance being down. First, the economy. We all know about that, although PCA numbers show that Club Racing hasn’t really dipped that much. Second, there was a POC (Porsche Owners Club) event during the same weekend at Fontana Raceway in California. And third, many people were saving their resources for Rennsport Reunion IV at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in the middle of October. For next year, Intermountain is looking at moving their event into May, so that it has fewer conflicts with other events of its kind. I wish them luck and success. It’s an event I highly recommend to all PCA members.
Just a few days after arriving home from Utah, it was time for the Roadrunner Region’s annual chili-cook-off at the beautiful racing-themed home of Roadrunners Bruce Phillips’ and Debra Burns’ beautiful racing-themed home. If you live in NM, chili is not just a flavoring, it’s a whole culture unto itself and it’s always amazing to see what kind of wonderful recipes people come up with. I’d have to say that my favorite new items were Mac Sanford’s two chili beers, both red and green!
A short respite, then it was off to California for Rennsport. The previous Rennsport Reunions were held back east; the first at Lime Rock, and the other two at Daytona. This year’s was the first on the west coast. I’ve been wanting to attend since I first heard of them and I’ve wanted to visit the racing shrine of Laguna Seca since I was about 8 years old. Who doesn’t have the image of various historic races as the cars spilled over the famous Corkscrew turn?
Though it wasn’t an official Zone 9 Rep function for me, the PCA had requested volunteers to help run the event. So when I got there I helped Parking Chair David Bunch and PCA Cayman Registry Chair Mike Souza to layout the parking lots for the Porsche Corrals. Then I was up bright and early the next two mornings directing traffic at the “green” lot. I saw many of you as you came in to the lots. I was really amazed at how many people from Zone 9 attended the event. And, I met a lot of people from all over the country too. The saying really is true; it’s not just the cars, but the people!!!
Once my volunteer work was done, I took the time to visit people at the PCA tent and to wander around looking at the cars and meeting the drivers. It was really amazing to see the numbers of cars and drivers there from the early history of Porsche in 1948 all the way up to the present. It was really a Porscheathon of sights, sounds, people, cars, events, lectures and discussions, and demonstrations. The next one is in three years. I highly recommend that you pencil it in on your calendar and start saving your pennies and do ANYTHING you can to be there. WOW!
I’m not usually much of an autograph hound, but this time around I was on a mission. Some of you may know that at the 2008 Escape in Albuquerque I auctioned off a large-format photo of a Porsche 908 coupe that Vic Elford signed. It brought in $1200 for the Roadrunner Region’s charity program. I’m out to top that, and I mean business. I have gone through my photos from the Watkins Glen Can-Am and Six-Hour in 1973 and found one that I took of George Follmer in his Porsche 917-10, had it blown up to 20×30” and had George sign it during Rennsport. But wait…there’s more (in my best Ron Popeil voice). I also have the race program from that event in 1973 and I’ve had it autographed by most of the drivers who were in the event and attended Rennsport. But wait, there’s more. Always looking for ways to get rid of your old Panos? You’ll want to collect this one. It’s the August 1973 issue with George Follmer on the cover, autographed… But wait…yes, there’s MORE. I knew that many of the drivers at this year’s Rennsport didn’t start their careers till later. So I took a 1980 issue of Christophorus for many of the 935 era drivers to sign. This is going as a package next spring, to benefit my home Region’s charity drive. As time moves forward, the Roadrunner charity chair will send out images and more information about all of this. I hope you’ll make a bid on this great package of Porsche memorabilia for your collection.
As I write this, I’m packing to head down to the Carrera Region’s signature event, the Oktoberfiesta in Deming, NM. They always do a great job and everyone has lots of fun. Home a few weeks, then it’s back up to SLC for a Parade Planning meeting, and shortly after the Christmas Party tour starts. Lots and lots of driving, from sea to shining sea and from mountains to plains to deserts and back. I look forward to see you at one of the events soon!
–
Zone Rep Report October 2011
The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler, but that doesn’t mean that Zone 9 action is getting any slower. After a hot summer like this year’s, many of us will finally be crawling out from under our rocks to get more involved in some of the fun that’s going on.
After my last installment of In the Zone, I took in an event in my home region, the Roadrunner Region. Dave and Anne Stinchcomb hosted the 41st edition of their annual Corrales Roundup with great success. Sixty-two Porsches (and their owners and families) were in attendance for a beautiful day under the cottonwood trees in the Rio Grande bosque. Late August is always the time of year when you first notice the slightly different angle of the sun which gives everything a more golden hue and hints at the coming of autumn. This year was a special occasion in that one of the Roadrunner Region members, Dave Ward, received his 50th Anniversary pin from PCA. Region President Tony Richey did the honors of presenting the pin and certificate to Dave, who has been actively involved with several PCA regions, including Connecticut Valley, Hudson-Champlain, and Potomac during his 50 years. He was also an avid SCCA racer with his 356 Carrera back in the days before PCA offered its own version of Club Racing. Dave regaled the group with a few stories of his PCA and racing days and was, as always, the life of the party.
A couple weeks after that, I made my way over to Amarillo Texas for the Llano Estacado Region’s 45th anniversary. A couple of their founding and several veteran members were on hand at the breakfast and shared some great stories about the early days of Llano Estacado. One of – if not THE – smallest regions in all of PCA, LE (as I call it), is an active little region that meets monthly for breakfast meetings and to share the news of all things Porsche. For this occasion president Joe Papp organized a little tour of Amarillo and its surrounds, including a visit to the Helium Monument (I had no idea that Amarillo was home to the US helium industry for decades), the Cadillac Ranch (along with the Big Texan, the most visited feature of Amarillo), and the Palo Duro Canyon (the United States’ second largest canyon). It was a nice tour and it’s always great to spend time with the folks over there.
Other than that, I worked on getting out the judges’ comments to the PCA Website Contest entrants. Being that the web is such an important tool for getting out the word to our members, it’s always fun to get a glimpse of the look and feel of each region through the eyes of the webmasters. Conversely, it’s important for the contestants to hear the comments back from those who are making the critiques and comparisons. As always, it’s great to get to know more about all of the regions and their members. It’s amazing how many of the people I can recognize at Parade each year as I see them popping up in websites and newsletters. I had 15 volunteers this year to judge 5 classes and they all did a great job. So a big thank you to them, once again.
You probably know that I’m also on the PCA National Bylaws Review Committee, so I’ve also been busy pouring over the bylaws that allow our great organization to function. I am by far the most junior member of that committee which is also comprise of Leonard Turner, Bob Gutjhar, David Novack, and Phil Doty. I can promise you this: we won’t be making any major changes. But there are a few places where language has become obsolete or where situations have arisen where something wasn’t covered. So, we’ll be looking to massage and complete, rather than shake things up.
As I write this, some of you will be heading off to PCA Escape in Flagstaff, which ought to be a great event. And I’m getting ready to head up to Salt Lake City for the Intermountain Region’s largest annual event; their Club Race/DE weekend at Miller Motorsport Park. This year I won’t be visiting my beloved Bonneville Salt Flats, but I know that the Club Race/DE weekend will be a great event. The Intermountain folks do a superb job with that event each year. Then it will be back home for the Roadrunner Chili Cook-off, out to Rennsport Reunion IV in Monterey, California and then back to southern NM for Carrera Region’s Oktoberfiesta.
That same weekend as the Intermountain event, the Alpine Mountain Region will be doing their now legendary Fall Tour in the mountains of Colorado. I can’t wait to hear the reports on this year’s edition.
See what I mean, there’s always something going on in the world of PCA and Zone 9.
I hope to see you at an event soon.
I hope to see you at one of the events.
–
Zone Rep Report September 2011
I’ll admit, I’m a northerner and heat and humidity usually don’t serve me well. So heading into the deep south in late July/early August seemed counterintuitive for having a good time. Nonetheless, along with 1600 other PCAers, I headed toward Savannah for Porsche Parade 2011. Of course it wasn’t supposed to be that way. Originally, Parade was scheduled for Killington, Vermont this year. But with very little time to book another major resort, Killington had to renege on its contract and the Parade staff was left in the lurch and heading south in the heat of the summer. But we’re PCAers, right! We’re not thrown off by a little heat and humidity. And so it turned out to be another great Parade with attendance up over the previous year and a tremendous amount of first-timers joining the fun.
This year was a busy one for me. I’ve accepted a position on the National bylaws revue committee, it was my turn to chair the Zone Rep meeting, I was a first-time concours judge, presented the website seminar, worked at the Michelin Drive-and-Compare, and handed out trophies as the chair of the PCA Website Contest. It was a good thing I didn’t drive my Porsche to Parade this year (besides the fact that it doesn’t have A/C!). I wouldn’t have had any time to prepare it for the events. But that’s not to say that I didn’t have any fun. I really enjoy getting to know as many people as I can at Parade and I enjoy working with the other volunteers. And, I did get one day that was nothing but Porsche-related fun. I signed up for a bus tour from Savannah down to Jacksonville, Florida to the Brumos Racing shop. We started with a stop at the Brumos Porsche dealership to admire their inventory, their amazing trophy display, and to meet Hurley Haywood in person. After a brief time there, we headed over to the race shop and…the very exclusive and private Brumos museum.
The race-shop is interesting, but it’s still a race-shop like another. Only a very select few get inside the doors of the private museum and we were in that group. NO CAMERAS allowed, upon penalty of being ejected. But you can believe me that it has an amazing collection of cars, posters, photos, memorabilia, etc, etc, etc. You would think that would make for a full day. But in fact, that same evening I was signed up for a special dinner put on by The Racers Group and Adobe Road Winery, featuring a great film and talk by owner Kevin Buckler. Wow, what a great Porsche day. Believe it or not, this really wasn’t even the high point of the week.
That came during the Rally banquet when the newsletter awards were given out. Earlier in the day, I was let in on a huge secret: one of my regions would be winning the very prestigious Robert Heinmiller Award for the best newsletter in all of PCA. So, as the time came closer, I made a phone call to one of our Zone 9 newsletter editors. I said, ” I’m at the awards ceremony and I just wanted to let you know that you didn’t win your class, but I do want you to listen to this….” and held up my phone. Just then, PCA Master of Ceremonies Mark Shevitz announced “and the winner of the Heinmiller Award for PCA’s best newsletter is Jeremy Rosenberger of the Rocky Mountain Region.” Ironically, just the week earlier I had posted on my facebook page that I was on my way to Parade and Jeremy wrote, “be sure to bring back the Heinmiller for me…” Well, I did just that. He had also, just recently, assured his board that he would continue to be editor till he won the Heinmiller. Hmmmm….
There were other Zone 9 successes as well, Roadrunners Brian Leduc and Liz Shaw both trophied in autocross, Phillipe Daix took second in class for the West Texas Region website. And in concours Rocky Mountain Region’s David and Bette Seeland took class and division firsts, while Jim and Randy Osgood took third in class. In the Tech Quiz Liz Shaw took first and I took third in our respective classes. So, with only 11 Zone 9 people at Parade, we took home quite a haul of hardware!
After a busy and fun week in Savannah, it was time for the long drive home and, again, it was a HOT one, with record temperatures the whole way. I was very glad to be back in New Mexico, where we can honestly say “but it’s a DRY heat!” I wasn’t home long before Zone 9 duties called again.
Each year the Rocky Mountain Region’s big Club Race/Super DE weekend takes place in mid-August at High Plains Raceway, about 60 miles east of Denver. I’ve been trying to make it the last few years, but each time some emergency has come up. This year I finally did. After a long drive up and out into the plains of eastern Colorado I came over a rise to see the beautiful facility that HPR is. It has some great elevation changes and a really challenging layout with a combination of straights long enough for passing, corners to work your intellect and imagination, and some ups and downs that will keep you guessing lap after lap.
I always like being around the Club Racers who really take their Porsche-enthusiasm to the next level and give the phrase “it’s not just the cars, but the people” some real grit with the way they help each other out. It was great to see so many members of RMR working the event to make it the great success it is. I spent Saturday with RMR member Landon Capedeville installing and removing the in-car camera in several drivers’ cars for David Murray, a professional driving coach in for the weekend. After each session David would watch the video and provide great instructional tips to each driver to further refine their line and pick up time around the track. I attended his chalk-talk sessions also and it was plain that even though he was new to the circuit his skill and craft as a driver, combined with his communication abilities helped everyone to see it in a new light.
But the highlight of the weekend for me was to give away the trophy I had picked up in Savannah. During Saturday morning’s drivers meeting, event chair Kathy Fricke gave me a few minutes to honor Jeremy for his newsletter achievement. He got a loud, long, and well deserved round of applause from all the participants present for the job he’s doing with High Gear. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, take a look at it on http://rmr.pca.org
Sunday, I stuck around to take some photos before the long trek home over the plains of eastern Colorado and then the mountain roads between Cimarron, Angel Fire, Taos and then Espanola, Los Alamos, and Jemez Springs. It was a great few weeks of PCA and Zone 9 activity, but certainly not the end of the year by any stretch of the imagination. But I do have to say, I’m happy to be home again for a bit before heading off to more great adventures around Zone 9…and beyond.
I look forward to seeing you at an event.
I hope to see you at one of the events.
–
Zone Rep Report August 2011
Last month I described a trip up to Colorado Springs to visit the Alpine Mountain Region and a little side trip I took to Aspen so I could drive my favorite road, Route 82 over Independence Pass to Aspen. I love Independence for a number of reasons. Of course it has some of the most dramatic scenery of any road anywhere. It’s also a road that I spent a great amount of time on in my youth.
When I was a broke-teenage ski bum, I would ride my prized Cinelli bicycle to the top of the pass every day, all summer long. So I got to know every curve, every turn, even every bump and crack in the road by heart. I came to know every possible place to pass the cars I would race down every day, knowing exactly which spots would scare the tourists, causing them to slow so I could go flying past them.
A few years later, when I was a river guide, I would drive loads of tourists over the pass in an old Dodge school-bus, towing a trailer with rafts piled high, over to the Arkansas valley for all day trips down Brown’s Canyon’s great rapids. After rowing all day, I’d get back in to drive them home too. I rarely let any of the other guides drive; partly because I didn’t trust them and partly because I just loved that road so much I wanted to take every chance of driving it I could get. As river guides we didn’t get paid by the hour, but by the trip. So I never “wasted” any time dawdling going over the pass…if you get my meaning…. And I always wished that I would eventually have a car to drive over the pass that would be worthy of its status of one of the country’s — and the world’s — great roads. Anyway, I think you understand, I have a great bond with that road.
If there’s anything of great satisfaction for a writer, it’s knowing that someone is actually reading what you’re writing. If they write to offer a response, that’s even better. If it’s a good response, all the better. That’s what happened last month. Roadrunner Region Jim Puckett wrote to make a suggestion. Says Jim, “since you mention that we all have our favorite roads, why not create a list Zone 9 favorites?” Mr. Puckett goes on to say that perhaps it would be possible to list them on the Zone 9 website. Right around the same time, Stan Straus, a new member of the Rocky Mountain Region wrote to ask about some roads and sights I might suggest for his upcoming trip to Taos. As I thought about these two e-mails, I thought “Aha! Of course. We have to have a page on the Zone site for these kinds of things!” And so we will and we are. Jim Puckett has been working on the format for what kinds of information it will include. It’ll include things like, start location, end location, road features, scenery, favorite stops for food and rest, photo opportunities, etc. I’ll be creating a page on the Zone 9 site so we can start listing these.
Given the nature of Zone 9 in size and scope, we encourage that you include your favorites for whatever reason. For me, Independence is not just a favorite for its driving challenge, but also for my emotional ties. I have others that I enjoy for their cultural opportunities or just because they lead to a favorite restaurant. So feel free to start working on putting together your own personal tour-book to share with other Zone 9 members who may be traveling around. It could be your long-time favorite like “my” Independence, or it could be a recent discovery. I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t allow for comments by several people of the same route. After all, none of us have ownership over these drives and we’ll have our own emotional and practical responses. I’ll start by building a tab on the site for Favorite Drives, with guidelines. You can take it from there.
And speaking of favorite drives, at this writing, I’m about to make one of my favorite drives of the year. I’m off to Porsche Parade in Savannah, Georgia. I’m not taking any great, interesting routes, just the long trek on I-40 across the country. But I always look forward to seeing friends and PCA associates from around the country that I only get to see at Parade. This year is a busy one for me, as I’m on a few committees that will meet during Parade and I’ll be learning to be a judge for Concours. Not to worry, it won’t be all work and no play. Look for my Parade account next month.
–
Zone Rep Report July 2011
I’m sure all the Zone Reps must brag about their Zones. How could they not, every Zone has its own high points and strengths. That being said, I have a lot of reasons to think that Zone 9 is simply the best in the country. No, we don’t have Watkins Glen or Sebring, or Laguna Seca, nor do we have Pebble Beach or Amelia Island, but let me tell you about what I’ve been up to as Zone 9 Rep in the last few weeks and see if you would trade for any of those things.
The last weekend of May I attended Fiesta New Mexico (formerly known as Fiesta del Porsche) in Santa Fe. As many of you know, Santa Fe is known as the “City Different” for its high concentration of the arts, the culture and the scenery of the Southwest. Besides being the capital city of New Mexico, it’s one of the oldest cities in the United States and offers an amazing variety of restaurants, art galleries, and cultural tours that makes it a must-visit for visitors from around the globe. For many years, the Roadrunner Region hosted the Fiesta in Santa Fe before moving it down to Albuquerque for a few years. This past year Fiesta Chairs Joan and Dennis Ledbetter decided to bring it back north and the PCA community responded with great enthusiasm, bringing attendance up by one third over the previous year.
The concours was on Museum Hill and provided a wonderful combination of beautiful cars, beautiful people and surrounded by some of the great art treasures of the Southwest. After the show a nice buffet dinner brought everyone together to reflect on the day and swap stories. In fact, all three days provided a variety of beautiful tours on the awe-inspiring, twisty roads of New Mexico. Saturday was a challenging autocross at Sandia Motor Speedway and there was an intriguing “picture-rally” that challenged everyone who tried it. Everyone came away from the weekend having had a great time. Fiesta at Santa Fe is just one of those great PCA events that is a must-do for anyone who loves driving and hanging out with fun people in a fantastic setting.
Though I didn’t make it this year, the Concours d’Elegance at the Arapahoe Community College is another one of those fantastic events you only see in the Rockies. It’s an all-marques concours, so it brings a fantastic array of Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Jaguars, Corvettes, Cobras and, yes, Porsches. This year well over one hundred Porsches were entered from the AMR and RMR regions. It’s a charity event that raises thousands of dollars every year for local charities and just has a great energy about it.
I recently made it up to Colorado Springs for one of their monthly social events. This one was at the Colorado Springs Porsche dealer and was a really great time. I’ve often heard that AMR gets a great percentage of their membership out for monthly socials and I was impressed to find it was true! There was a great crowd of folks on hand to visit with each other and also to drool over the GTS cabriolet, the GT3RS and the GT2RS displayed in the lobby. There was some great food and refreshment and some great door-prizes to be had, including a set of VIP tickets for the Pikes Peak Hillclimb, supplied by AMR member and Hillclimb board member Fred Vietch.
Because of a job I had to do in northern New Mexico, I had an extra day to get to Colorado Springs, so I went up to my old haunt of Aspen for the night to visit friends and got a chance to drive over Independence Pass — my favorite road in the whole-wide world — twice! It was such a pleasure to drive that twisty, narrow road with cliffs on both sides and incredible views of the mountains. It brought back so many memories of faraway times. But as I was doing my drive, I thought: “really, if you canvassed the members of Zone 9, you’d talk for hours about all the possible ‘favorite drives’ we have in our Zone.” So while we don’t have the legendary venues I named at the beginning of this piece, we still have some of the best events, greatest people, and the best driving roads in the country. Zone 9, it’s where my heart is.
Top of Page
–
Zone Rep Report June 2011
Last month I wrote about the various Regions of Zone 9 and all the great events you might enjoy if you were to travel around our great expanse of territory and the great people you might meet. So this month I’m taking a little different approach and looking at the kinds of events you might take advantage of right in your own “back yard.” Each of the Regions of Zone 9 has their own specialties, but most of our Regions offer a good smattering of events to choose from. Most likely, you find one activity that you enjoy more than the rest, but if you’re looking for variety, there’s almost always something new to try.
Since we make the claim that “it’s not just the cars, but the people” let’s start with the social events. When Sandra and I first joined PCA we didn’t know anyone. I purchased the car in Boulder in fall 2003, then we moved to New Mexico. We joined PCA specifically to meet people. Our first event was the Zone 9 banquet put on by the Roadrunners at Little Anita’s in Albuquerque. Success! We sat with a group of people who were very open and kind to us and remain good friends to this day. They told us about all the fun they have with their cars, experiences they’ve had traveling around to different events and, especially important, were open and inviting when it came to including us in future events and personal connections. All of the Regions of Zone 9 are good at putting on social events and it’s the one kind of event where everyone can participate fully and equally. it’s just fun to get out with other people with a similar interest, swap stories, and get to know each other.
Tours take the social experience to the next level. In my home Region we do drive-outs, which are generally no more than just a full day, with a stop somewhere for lunch before heading home. Driving a Porsche is already fun. You know that. But driving with a group is a great experience too. On my first tour, I drove near the back and it was really fun to watch the double, triple, quadruple and more takes as the group of 25 or so Porsches drove by in a line. A good tour organizer will always plan a lunch near some interesting spot with some tasty food and allow time for people to have a nice meal, partake in good conversation, and do a little shopping. Some of our Regions are particularly good at two and three day tours that visit a variety of locations and stay in some fun places. Again, it’s a great way to exercise your Porsche-driving skills, see some new country, and have fun with your significant other and with a great group of fun people.
My home Region is well-known for its autocross events. And I have to say I got sucked in early. My second-ever PCA event was a parking lot autocross and I was hooked in immediately. What I can say. I’m an old ski racer and I love those kinds of challenges. Autocross is a great way to really learn about your driving without having to spend thousands of dollars on a school or fancy equipment. Of course we all consider ourselves to be good drivers, but it’s amazing what happens when you’re in the company of other experienced drivers and the timer goes on. It’s often hard to admit, but the clock doesn’t lie. I’ve learned a great deal about driving my car on autocross courses where speeds of 30 to 50 mph in tight spaces magnify all kinds of bad habits and reward sharpened skills. It’s one of those activities that can be kept very basic with stock settings and street tires or taken to extremes with lightened and lowered chassis, sticky tires, and trick suspension set-ups. Whatever level you decide on, there’s a class for everyone and it’s another fun way to get to know your fellow club members.
Not as popular now as in the past, but still a great challenge are Rallies. Counter to what most people think when watching WRC on TV, PCA rallies don’t include flying leaps over jumps in the forest or sideways drives near 1000 foot desert precipices. PCA rallies can be either TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) which are measured very carefully to challenge teams for driving and navigation skills, or they can be fun “gimmick” rallies that include visits to fun places or fun challenges or puzzles. These days more people seem to be doing gimmick rallies, but there is still a strong cadre of TSD rallyists who appear each year at Parade. Again, the activity is fun, but so are the interactions you have with other people along the way.
Some people who enjoy driving their Porsches at speed, like to go a bit faster than autocrossing speed and the PCA High Performance Drivers Education program allows us to do that in a controlled environment. HPDE — more commonly known as DE — takes place on a closed race-course with a complement of safety equipment and a staff of event and safety marshals to ensure that people have prepared themselves and their cars properly and are outfitted with the required safety equipment. Regions offer loaner helmets to beginners and require novices to attend “chalk-talks” and ride with instructors to learn driving basics and track etiquette. But it all adds up to a very satisfying experience when you drive your well-engineered Porsche vehicle in the way it was designed to go. DE’s are specifically non-competitive, so you’re not racing against anyone. It’s just a fun way to experience and appreciate your car at speed with a great group of people in a relatively safe environment.
For those who want to take it all to the next level, there’s PCA Club Racing. PCA offers a great schedule of races around the country with very specific classing for Porsche drivers who want to go head to head on the track. Run with “gentleman’s rules,” contact and overly aggressive driving is highly discouraged in order to keep things safe and to minimize wear and tear on equipment. Club Racing is very well organized and provides a great venue for those who want to satisfy their competitive urges at many of the same tracks you’ll see the pros racing at on TV. There are many PCAers who travel this circuit on varying levels of economic commitment and are a very accommodating and tight-knit group. I’ve witnessed racers helping each other late in the night to fix one problem or another or sharing parts to insure that everyone will be able to participate the next morning. It’s not just about racing either. I’ve been to some really great social events at Club Races.
Last, but not least, many of us participate vicariously each month just by reading our Panorama. Often-times, just dreaming about someone’s experience in writing and photos gets us excited that we can walk out of the house, turn the key and drive our own private example of the world’s best car. Whatever your level of participation, I hope you have a fun summer of PCA fun ahead of you.
–
Zone Rep Report May 2011
April showers bring May flowers, or so the saying goes. Among the Regions of Zone 9, the spring Porsche-related activities are beginning to flower, as they do each year about this time. More autocrosses, tours, show-and-shines, socials, and track days are happening and more and more of you are bringing out the garage queens that have been lovingly stored away during the winter months. As you know, I’ve been promoting more activity between the Regions in Zone 9 with the Zone 9 Challenge trophy. The winner of the trophy is that person or couple who have traveled to the most Regions in Zone 9 for a PCA activity. It can be any kind of activity promoted by the host Region. The trophy is huge and would look great on any mantle. But even better than the trophy, think of all the great adventures you’ll have along the way and all the great Porsche-loving people you’ll meet and make friends with. Here are a few of the things you might experience as you travel around the Zone.
If you’re visiting the Intermountain Region, you can tour through several of 27 individual mountain ranges and the amazing canyon country of Utah or cruise across the great, flat Bonneville Salt Flats . Utah has an amazing array of dramatic scenery and some great driving roads. The Intermountain Region is famous for their tours and their track-days and PCA Club Race at Miller Motorsports Park, one of the finest track facilities in the world, located just minutes west of Salt Lake City. If you haven’t already heard, Salt Lake City has been named site of the 2012 Porsche Parade. But why wait? Utah is a great state to visit any time of the year and the Intermountain Region are a great group of fun-loving, friendly people.
How about visiting the Llano Estacado Region, based in Amarillo, Texas? One of the smallest Regions in the country, Llano Estacado has a monthly breakfast at Furr’s where a staunchly enthusiastic group of Porsche aficionados meet every month to talk about their favorite marque. This year is the LE’s 45th Anniversary and they’re planning a party in July to celebrate. Amarillo is located near the Palo Duro Canyon State Park, which has some amazing scenery and great hiking. It’s one of those hidden gems of Panhandle Texas. If you want to stay close, you can always visit the world famous Big Texan Restaurant, famous for its huge steaks or take a short walk out to the Cadillac Ranch. Be sure to take your spray-paint with you: graffiti is encouraged.
If you’ve never been to a Drivers Education track-day, consider one of the many events that the Rocky Mountain Region schedule each year at High Plains Raceway. Zone 9’s largest Region is well known for its great events with a large staff of well-trained instructors. Or, if you’re not into the track stuff, Rocky Mountain also sponsors one of the largest concours events in the West in Denver each year, with all proceeds going to charity. And, while you’re at it, be sure to take a drive up into the mountain, maybe along the Peak to Peak highway that runs north-south on the spine of the Front Range.
Looking for something different? Why not try a trip to the West Texas Region to peruse two great museums. The Buddy Holly Museum in Lubbock chronicles the life of one of America’s great song-writers and the man who inspired Don McLean’s classic 70s song American Pie. If you time it right, you can catch one of the autocrosses out in Big Springs put on by the WTR each month. A huge venue, the autocrosses are fun and fast and allow for enough runs to tire you out. Then head down to Midland for a trip through the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum. Texas is well-known for its oil industry, but I bet you probably don’t know how it all works. This great little museum chronicles all the advances in oil-well drilling from the early days to the present. But the real treat is found in the Jim Hall Chaparral Museum which houses all the famous technologically ground-breaking race-cars of the 1960s and 70s. If you’re a fan of racing history and technology, this is a must-see.
As we are moving into the Month of May, you should really think about a trip to the Roadrunner Region for the annual Fiesta New Mexico, held each Memorial Day weekend, this year returning to Santa Fe. The Roadrunners are well known for their autocrosses and day-tours, but Fiesta New Mexico is its hallmark event. A multi-day, multi-event weekend with participants from around the Zone, Fiesta New Mexico combines autocross, fun-rally, touring, show-and-shine concours, and great socials for a great weekend of Porsche-themed fun. But if you’re busy Memorial Day weekend, venture through the Land of Enchantment for another weekend of fun driving and social events. New Mexico has a great array of fun driving roads taking you through some incredible scenery and the Roadrunners have something scheduled nearly every weekend throughout the year.
The Carrera Region may be small, but it has a lot going on. With driving events in Alpine, Texas and Deming, New Mexico and some great social events in El Paso and Las Cruces, the Carreras know how to have a good time. The driving roads south and east of El Paso provide some surprisingly beautiful scenery and some great American history. If you’re traveling in the fall, be sure to participate in the Carrera’s Oktoberfiesta. Last year’s event featured historic racing hero Vic Elford visiting with each of the drivers and sharing some of his many great racing stories from the era that brought us some of the greatest Porsches ever, the 911, 908, and 917. Carrera Region president Dede Rogers promises an event just as great if not more so for this coming autumn.
And finally, if you love touring (and what Porsche-owner doesn’t?) then consider going on a tour with the Alpine Mountain Region of southern Colorado. The Alpines are nationally known for their tours with some of them wending up through the Black Hills of South Dakota, Jackson Hole and Yellowstone, Telluride, and the area around Crestone Mountains and the Great Sand Dunes National Park. With an amazing number of mountain passes within its borders, the Alpine Mountain Region takes great advantage not only of some great driving opportunities, but also mixes in visits to some of the most interesting historic sites and some great meals and a lot of great side-activities.
So, all this said, if you have a mind for wanderlust, not only can you win a beautiful and very large trophy, but you’ll also have some really great adventures and see some amazing country and meet some great people along the way. As we all know, Porsches are the best touring cars in the country. In Zone 9 we have some of the best touring roads and country in the world. So pack your bags and get out for an adventure this spring, summer, and/or fall. You’ll be glad that you did. If you’d like more information about the Zone 9 Trophy, go on-line to http://zone9.pca.org
–
Zone Rep Report April 2011
Whew! I’m just gathering my breath after a big month of PCA activities. The last time I checked in with you, I had just returned from the Zone 9 meeting in Midland, Texas. I had about one day of rest, a few days of catching up on my own work, then it was off to Las Vegas, NV for the PCA National winter board meeting.
For those of you who aren’t familiar, beyond all the hard work your local Region does to keep things moving, there is also an army of people who work as volunteers at the National level to be sure that events are organized properly, logistics are being handled, rule-books and manuals are updated, committees are moving forward, and all-in-all the organization as a whole is running for and by its members. It’s amazing to see how many talented people give so much of their time to insure the running of our club on a local and national level. As Zone Rep, I can tell you it’s an inspiration to work with such fine, dedicated people who have a common passion, Porsches and all the activities we do together. Once again, that saying proves to be true. It’s not just the cars, but the people…
I already know what you’re thinking….If these people were in Vegas there must be more fun than work involved. But I am here to tell you that’s not so. Our meetings went well into the late afternoon. Rather that flitting around town, the PCAers also dined together, which of course meant some catching up for those of us who hadn’t seen each other for a while, but also a fair amount of continued PCA business discussion.
Much of the discussion was centered on this year’s two main PCA events, Parade and Escape. As you all know, Parade will be held in Savannah, GA in early August. Though we know it can be hot and steamy in Georgia in the summer months, Savannah is a coastal town with plenty of opportunity to cool off in the water or in the air-conditioned Parade facilities. There are a number of historical locations nearby and a great time is being planned for all the Parade-goers. If you’ve never been to a Porsche Parade before, you should really be thinking about attending. It’s really an amazing thing to see so many of the cars together, not to mention meet with and hang out with so many great Porsche-loving people.
But if you can’t make it to Savannah in August, I hope you’ll be thinking of attending PCA Escape in Flagstaff, AZ in mid-September. Escape is now in its seventh year, Escape is quickly becoming one of the most popular events on the PCA calendar, well known for its tours, socials, and friendly atmosphere. With the tours extending out to the Grand Canyon, Hopi Mesas, and Sedona, this year’s Escape is sure to be one to remember.
Speaking of Escape and of the National meetings, I should mention that one of our own Zone 9 Regions made a splash appearance to announce their candidacy for a future Escape. Dede Rogers of the Carrera Region brought a 9-person mariachi band to one of the evening functions to announce that the Carrera Region is making a serious bid for the 2013 or 2014 Escape. Believe me, it made an impression on the PCA people present.
I have a special place in my heart for Escape, having chaired the 2008 event in Albuquerque. So, when the PCA Executive Council asked me to write the job-description for a National level advisor for future Escape committees I couldn’t say no. It also came to be that last year’s Website Contest Chair had to forsake that position since he (Tom Gorsuch) has been elected to be National Treasurer in the wake of sad passing of Tim Fleming this past fall. So, I’ve taken on that position too. This PCA stuff can really take up some time! Of course it’s all worth it since it means I get even more opportunity to interact with more people from around the USA and Canada.
I have to extend thanks to the Las Vegas Region for their kind help and gracious hosting of our group while we were in Vegas. They were kind enough to organize a very nice cocktail party at the Imperial Car Museum and then a dinner at a great restaurant at the top of the Palms Hotel, with great views of all of downtown Vegas.
Though I don’t consider myself as any kind of gambler, I did put one dollar in a slot machine at the airport before I left…and lost it. I guess that’s not bad for a weekend in Sin City.
I was home for a couple of weeks and then resumed my Zone Rep duties. I made my way over to Amarillo, TX a few weeks ago to pay a visit to the great folks of the Llano Estacada Region. Although it had been a few weeks of good, warm weather in this end of Zone 9 leading up to my visit, the weather got darker and windier as I was leaving Albuquerque. About 40 miles west of Amarillo, the weather got downright nasty with 60 miles an hour wind and snow and sleet making for some treacherous driving. Of course, by the time I got to Amarillo it had cleared completely. It’s always good to the LEs. They’re one of the smallest Regions in all of PCA, but that doesn’t diminish their enthusiasm one bit.
Finally, since I’ve last written I’ve spent some time updating the Zone 9 website. Please check out http://zone9.pca.org to see what’s going on in Zone 9. One thing I can tell you is that more people are talking about making a bid for the Zone 9 Challenge trophy, won by the individual or couple who have made visits to the most Regions in the Zone in one calendar year. For more information on how to enter in 2011 check out the Zone 9 site.
–
Zone Rep Report March 2011
This is a busy time of the year for PCA, even if most members don’t notice it. The holidays are over and spring is just around the corner. Scheduling was is done and not it’s time for actual planning. That means that the club officials you voted into office are scurrying to pull together venues, equipment, and volunteers so that when spring and summer hit, the events look as if they just “fell together.” Anyone who’s been involved in organizing knows they don’t. There’s lots of hard work by a lot of people to make any event look easy.
For some of your club officials, that also means attending the annual Zone 9 Meeting for Presidents, Newsletter Editors, and Webmasters. This is a meeting held each year for a number of reasons. It serves as a kind of retreat so that those official have an opportunity to meet their counterparts in other Regions of the Zone, but also to get up to date info on the various sets of rules, regulations, and news from PCA national. And, just as important, to share their various sets of expertise in event organization, charity fundraising, managing club finances, and so on. It is perhaps one of the most important events of the year for your club officials, even though it remains invisible to most club members and maybe even to most Region board-members.
For as long as anyone can remember, the Zone 9 meeting was held in Albuquerque, NM, in the Roadrunner Region. Given that Zone 9 stretches all the way from the Big Bend of the Rio Grande to the Bonneville Salt Flats, it was reasoned that Albuquerque was equally inconvenient for everyone (except, of course, the Roadrunners…). But during the 2010 meeting, during which the participants discussed ways of “growing” a Zone 9 consciousness, it was suggested that the meeting start circulating to the population centers of the various Regions of Zone 9. Those include the Intermountain Region of Utah, the Rocky Mountain Region of Northern Colorado, the Alpine Mountain Region of Southern Colorado, the Roadrunner Region of most of New Mexico, the Carrera Region of Southern New Mexico and the Western tip of Texas, the Llano Estacado Region of the Texas Panhandle, and the West Texas Region of Lubbock, Midland, and south. It’s a huge geographic area to cover and so spread out that it’s hard for some of the regions to generate a sense of Membership, let alone some kind of Zone community consciousness! But hey, we’re Porsche aficionados. We know how to dream!
So, it was decided that the 2011 Zone 9 meeting would be in Midland, in the West Texas Region. With a membership of about 70 members, spread out over huge distances and split between two cities (Lubbock and Midland) two hours apart from each other, the WTR also suffers from what we in PCA call the 10 percent rule: no matter the size of the Region, we seem to see about 10 percent of the overall members participating regularly…and a smaller fraction doing most of the “heavy hauling” to keep the club moving.
Having said all that, it didn’t deter the WTR from doing an amazing job of putting together a great weekend of meetings and social events for the visiting PCA dignitaries. President Robert Harrington, along with his team of volunteers (including past Presidents Fred Stubbs and Craig Corbett and others) swung into action to book the meeting room at the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, home of the Jim Hall Chaparral Collection. Club Secretary Ed Runyan and his wife Dana hosted the Friday night welcoming social at their beautiful home with some really amazing food (ask me about the cake-balls sometime!). Robert had his friend Ronnie Low, caretaker and mechanic for the cars give us an up-close and personal tour of the cars, letting us in on many of the mechanical secrets of the cars that set so many standards for technological innovation for racing cars back in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. We even got to go into the maintenance garage to see many pieces of memorabilia the public never sees. The final night was at the Midland Cattle Baron’s restaurant where the visiting dignitaries from around the Zone got to meet several of the WTR members. A GREAT time was had by all and, most importantly, the visiting members got to see how another Region goes about putting on its event and how members in other parts of the Zone share in the same wild appreciation for all things Porsche.
But it wasn’t all fun and games. The Zone meeting took place all day long on that Saturday. Topics included: board membership and responsibility, PCA rules and procedures, approved and non-approved use of the Porsche brand, banquet planning and budgeting, charity fundraising, driving tour planning and practices, newsletter facts and practices. While I facilitated the meeting, this year I encouraged several of our Zone 9 dignitaries to present their own programs and lead the discussions and it worked out well. We have some incredibly talented and capable people handling our Regions in Zone 9.
We also had a couple of special visitors: PCA National Secretary Caren Cooper and Porsche Cars North America representative Steve Krysil. Caren did a great presentation on what’s new in PCA and also was able to fill the gaps with information on various topics that I may not deal with as often. Steve gave a great presentation on what’s going on in the world of Porsche cars and danced the fine line between keeping our interest and being careful not to reveal any secrets that Porsche may be slating for a media splash in the near and distant future. He fielded a variety of questions and had some great video presentations to keep everyone excited and as a good reminder for why we all do what we do in PCA. While it’s true that “it’s not just the cars, but the people…” sometimes it just has to be about the cars too!
So that’s it for this month from your Zone Rep. I got home from that trip for just a few days to unpack, get some work done and then to repack for a trip to Las Vegas for the PCA Executive Council Winter meeting, where I will be meeting up with all of my fellow Zone Reps, the EC, and all the various PCA chairs to be brought up to speed on all things at the National level. In my next installment, I’ll let you know how that goes….
–
Zone Rep Report February 2011
In the world of PCA, early winter is akin to early morning. It’s still a bit dark, and cold, and the muscles take awhile to get warmed up and functioning. But daylight — and Spring — are inevitable. Soon we’ll be getting moving again. Hot shower, get coffeed up, dress for weather, and get back out there. Sure it’s not summer, but so what. Porsches don’t have any stamp on them that says “commence using in June.” The cars we like are renowned for their hardiness and versatility. Vic Elford won the Monte Carlo Rally in one of those early 911s notorious for its tail-happy personality , and he LIKED it!
For many of us, early morning and early months are also time for reflection. I’m currently reading friend and mentor Dick Dorworth’s book The Perfect Turn, a collection of his writings about his life-long love affair with mountains and skiing. He was a ski-racer in the late 50s and early 60s and, along with friend and cohort C.B. Vaughn, became half of the first American duo to share the world speed skiing record at 105mph. Slow by today’s standards, but when you consider the equipment of 1963, almost inconceivable. Adding to his reputation, Dorworth is unique for his ability to articulate and share his experiences through a writing style that balances the pathos of Steinbeck with the immediacy of Kerouac, as economic as Hemingway, but often infused with a tinge of Tom Robbins. You may think I’m bragging on my friend, but 40 years of reviews agree.
With each chapter I’m reminded of my childhood heroes, mutual friends, significant places in my life and shared experiences, as you would expect. Perhaps the most compelling chapter of his book, however, is on the Joy of Skiing. If you’re not a skier, I won’t bore you with descriptions and incitements to venture into a world that many of you think the stuff of misery (snow and cold), but I would have you consider what he has to say about the activity of “play.” Dorworth makes explicit the distinction between skiing and the ski business and I think it’s one that Porsche lovers might find useful. He notes that the ski business is about making money, advancing technology, tracking demographics, proper placement in marketing segments and many other things that concern those in capitalizing the activity and regulating its practice in competition and instruction.
But you would sorely miss the point if you confused the business with the activity of skiing itself, a form of pure play. Play ignores common-ness and emerges in the pure feeling of ego-less performance, occasionally in solitude, often in the company of great friends. Sometimes in the challenge of great danger and adventure, but more often in familiar surroundings that allow for relaxation, simple enjoyment and camaraderie. Skiing, he says, is an activity of joy. People do it because it makes them happy. In the end, that is its one and only justification.
I claim the same from driving and owning a Porsche. As in the world of skiing, there are those who may never know the difference between the business (building value and status, meeting the demand of the bottom line, developing, marketing, and purchasing merchandise) and simply using and experiencing the car in pursuit of extending performance.
We know the world of Porsche as Dorworth understands the world of skiing. Not for social and economic power, not for status, but as an escape from drudgery and an encounter with joy. Whether you’re a track-junkie, a concours-nut, enjoy the occasional driving tour, or just like the sound of it, you feel something special when you start a Porsche engine, engage gears, and release the brake. Driving a Porsche is not so much about getting someplace, but about enjoying the experience, about finding joy, and experiencing happiness, and building a cadre of friends whose lives share in a similar quest. We understand and enjoy the development of technology, but enjoy the old ones as much as the new ones. Porsche Club people love the cars not because our ego’s fulfillment depends on a certain symbol of wealth and success, but because the visceral feeling of precision, direction, and performance awake something primal, original, and warm. No, not the cliche of animal aggression as “outside” journalists blather on about. Something else. Something that everyone searches for and few achieve: ineffable, primordial joy.
I thank my friend for such a beautifully written reminder and I look forward to sharing that experience with you at an event in the coming year.
–
Zone Rep Report January 2011
Well, we’ve made it through another great year of PCA events all across the Zone. I recently visited Holiday Parties in Alpine Mountain Region, Rocky Mountain Region, and my home Roadrunner Region (Next year I’ll do the “Southern Swing”). The thing I like most about the PCA Holiday season is that I get to put faces with some of the names I see on e-mail lists.
During the year when I’m making my ZR rounds, I’m visiting lots of events, but I never get to meet all the people of a Region. We know that PCAers are such a diverse group that if I visit an autocross, I may not see a whole group of people who only do tours or socials or even track days. If I go to a track day, I’ll see the trackies, etc. But PCA Regional events are like snapshots. They provide a colorful, albeit small glimpse of what goes on inside a Region. The Holiday parties are a little different. They usually have a smattering of each of a Region’s various communities. Although I am a self-confessed track and autocross junkie, I’ve had a lot of fun visiting different kinds of events these past two years and getting to know so many people that I wouldn’t have before. There’s always something new…
Speaking of new…There are some new things going on at the Zone level too. I know that many of you rarely even think about what being in a PCA Zone means and that’s natural, since our Zone is so large, you see the Zone Rep rarely and, except for the Alpine Mountain and Rocky Mountain Regions, the Regions rarely interact with one another. It’s the geographic distances of our Zone which almost necessitates this kind of thing.
For as long as just about everyone can remember the Zone 9 Presidents meeting has been held in the (ceremonial, if not exact) geometric center of the Zone, Albuquerque (also center of the Roadrunner Region). But that’s changing from this year on. At the 2010 version of this meeting, it was decided by the Region Presidents to start spreading the meeting around. So, in a drawing from a hat, the West Texas Region was chosen, based in Midland, Texas. At this year’s meeting, the Presidents will determine next year’s location and so on, till the meeting has circulated to all the Regions of the Zone. All the Regions will have an opportunity to host the Zone 9 meeting and socials at some point. We’re hoping that this new system with start to bring more awareness to each of the Regions on the scale and diversity of our part of the world.
The folks from the West Texas Region have been busy since last year working out some of the details for the host hotel, the meeting place and a special event that everyone with an interest in automotive technology will enjoy. The participants will be making a visit to the Jim Hall Chaparral Wing of the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, just outside of Midland.
For those of you who haven’t kept up on the history of sports car-racing, let me bring you up to speed a bit. While Porsche was largely known as an evolutionary developer of technology, from the early 1960s to the early 1970s and beyond Jim Hall was known for his radical and revolutionary leaps in race-car technology. He can be credited with the first use of composite chassis material, the use of wings for braking and downforce, the use of “chin-spoilers” to keep air from the underside of a car, the use of venting on fenders to relieve air-pressure build-up from wheel movement and brake venting, the use of ground-effects, and the use of automatic transmissions in race-cars. With very few exceptions, it’s impossible to look at a modern race-car and not trace its aero and chassis technology back to Jim Hall’s white and yellow cars. They raced all over the world and won in sports car and Indy-car categories and never failed to impress and entertain. For those of us who lived through that period, we expected a radical idea from Hall each year and got it. Can you imagine something like that today. We’ll be seeing all those cars at the February meeting and may even get a chance to meet Jim himself.
Back to Zone 9 business, last year we also started the Zone 9 Challenge Trophy. The requirements for participation are easy (or not!). You only need be a member of one of the Zone 9 Regions and to travel to other Region events within the Zone. There is no restriction on what kind of event. It could be a track-day, club-race, rally, social, autocross, tech-session, tour, concours…ANY Region sanctioned event. Whoever visits the most Zone 9 Regions during the year will receive the trophy at their Region’s Holiday Party. The inaugural winner of the Zone 9 Trophy is Roadrunner Region’s Kirk Maurer, who attended events in four Zone 9 Regions. That’s pretty good given the size of our Zone.
But…I know that some of you might try harder this coming year and make it to 5, 6, or even all 7 of the Zone 9 Regions for an event. I can imagine a future in which we have to devise a tie-breaking system because there will be multiple qualifiers who have been to all of our Regions. That thought is fun from the competitive aspect, but even more satisfying to me will be the thought that more and more people will be looking to discover all the great events , the wonderful people, and diversity of Porsche and automotive interests that Zone 9 embodies.
Now THAT’s radical!
–
Zone Rep Report December 2010
You would think nearing the end of the year would signal a slow-down in Zone 9 activity, but in fact it’s exactly the opposite for me. Though I had a brief respite after the Roadrunner Region’s first annual Charity Autocross in mid-November, the next weeks were busy with a flurry of activity (and some snow flurries too)! I attended the Porsche of Albuquerque unveiling of Porsche’s newest offering, the Panamera, which is a car I can’t wait to drive! Then it was off to Colorado for a busy trip visiting the Alpine Mountain and Rocky Mountain regions.
Although I’m a confessed track-junkie and avid autocrosser, I have to say that one of my new favorite things about travelling Zone 9 is attending other kinds of activities on offer by our various regions, including social events. In early December, Sandra and I took the opportunity to attend the AMR Christmas party at the Antlers hotel in Colorado Springs. It was a nice affair with a great buffet and even a jazz quartet for dancing. Tres chic! I was asked to swear in the 2010 officers and did so by having them place their hands over a 911 Service Manual as they repeated their oath of being loyal to all things PCA and Porsche. It was a fun time. It was great to see everyone in their finery and jewelry and out of the normal shorts and/or driving uniform attire.
We had a break for a couple of days, so we headed up to Boulder for some more great car activity, though I hope you’ll forgive me because I strayed from the Porsche marque for a bit. One of my former ski racing sponsors sold his company for a profit a few years ago and got into vintage racing. So I had to see his cars. He now counts among his collection of 60s era race-cars two F2 Brabhams driven by Jody Scheckter, Dennis Hulme, and Jack himself. He also has a few sports cars, including a 1968 Alfa T-33 sports-prototype, a Mclaren M1A, and Lola T-70 once owned by John Mecom and entered for Parnelli Jones. All of them are restored to perfection. Very nice.
But that wasn’t all I did in Boulder. That same night was the annual appreciation dinner at Boulder’s Shelby-American Museum, one of the finest small automotive museums in the United States. Entire dedicated to all things Shelby, it has a great collection of Cobras, GT-350s, and Ford GT-40s, including one of the ultra-rare Mk IVs. They also have a great collection of photographs and memorabilia and a great store of books, models and t-shirts! One of my first memories of liking car racing was when my dad bought me one of the official Team Shelby t-shirts when I was 8 years old at Watkins Glen. Of course I grew out of it and it disappeared within a few short years. But guess what?! They had that same t-shirt in my adult size and I have it again!
2010 Parade Chairs Walt and Kathy Fricke were kind enough to host us in their beautiful home during our Boulder stay. It was great to catch up and also to make acquaintance in a non-PCA setting too.
Monday night we attended the RMR board meeting near Denver International Airport and listened in on all the pressing issues of Zone 9’s largest region. For those of you in the smaller Regions, you can take solace in the fact that though the stakes may be a little different, the issues the large regions face are the exact same ones the smaller ones do. I hadn’t seen any of the RMR folks since Parade in Keystone this year, so it was great to see them again and to meet some new ones too.
We had hoped to make it a good portion of the way home after the RMR meeting, but we were swallowed up by the huge storm and bitter cold that engulfed all of Colorado’s front range that weekend. Luckily AMR out-going board members Chris and Kathleen Lennon of Colorado Springs welcomed us into their warm home for a day of rest and relaxation before we got back on the cold and windy road for the long trip home.
Although we missed the Roadrunner Region Christmas Party due to some family commitments, we did make it to Butterfield Plaza for Bernie Butterfield’s umpteenth Toys for Kids Show and Shine and to meet all the 2010 Roadrunner Region officers as they make their first public appearances.
Then it’s break-time as we head into the holidays and the colder weather. The Roadrunner Region will have its first autocross in late January, just about the RMR and AMR have their Eiskana on Georgetown. The Carrera Region traditionally does a Superbowl autocross too. Before we know it, it’ll be time for the Zone 9 meeting in Albuquerque in February and then I’ll be off to the PCA National Meeting in San Jose, California. And we start all over again on a very busy PCA year!
–
Zone Rep Report November 2010
You would think nearing the end of the year would signal a slow-down in Zone 9 activity, but in fact it’s exactly the opposite for me. Though I had a brief respite after the Roadrunner Region’s first annual Charity Autocross in mid-November, the next weeks were busy with a flurry of activity (and some snow flurries too)! I attended the Porsche of Albuquerque unveiling of Porsche’s newest offering, the Panamera, which is a car I can’t wait to drive! Then it was off to Colorado for a busy trip visiting the Alpine Mountain and Rocky Mountain regions.
Although I’m a confessed track-junkie and avid autocrosser, I have to say that one of my new favorite things about travelling Zone 9 is attending other kinds of activities on offer by our various regions, including social events. In early December, Sandra and I took the opportunity to attend the AMR Christmas party at the Antlers hotel in Colorado Springs. It was a nice affair with a great buffet and even a jazz quartet for dancing. Tres chic! I was asked to swear in the 2010 officers and did so by having them place their hands over a 911 Service Manual as they repeated their oath of being loyal to all things PCA and Porsche. It was a fun time. It was great to see everyone in their finery and jewelry and out of the normal shorts and/or driving uniform attire.
We had a break for a couple of days, so we headed up to Boulder for some more great car activity, though I hope you’ll forgive me because I strayed from the Porsche marque for a bit. One of my former ski racing sponsors sold his company for a profit a few years ago and got into vintage racing. So I had to see his cars. He now counts among his collection of 60s era race-cars two F2 Brabhams driven by Jody Scheckter, Dennis Hulme, and Jack himself. He also has a few sports cars, including a 1968 Alfa T-33 sports-prototype, a Mclaren M1A, and Lola T-70 once owned by John Mecom and entered for Parnelli Jones. All of them are restored to perfection. Very nice.
But that wasn’t all I did in Boulder. That same night was the annual appreciation dinner at Boulder’s Shelby-American Museum, one of the finest small automotive museums in the United States. Entire dedicated to all things Shelby, it has a great collection of Cobras, GT-350s, and Ford GT-40s, including one of the ultra-rare Mk IVs. They also have a great collection of photographs and memorabilia and a great store of books, models and t-shirts! One of my first memories of liking car racing was when my dad bought me one of the official Team Shelby t-shirts when I was 8 years old at Watkins Glen. Of course I grew out of it and it disappeared within a few short years. But guess what?! They had that same t-shirt in my adult size and I have it again!
2010 Parade Chairs Walt and Kathy Fricke were kind enough to host us in their beautiful home during our Boulder stay. It was great to catch up and also to make acquaintance in a non-PCA setting too.
Monday night we attended the RMR board meeting near Denver International Airport and listened in on all the pressing issues of Zone 9’s largest region. For those of you in the smaller Regions, you can take solace in the fact that though the stakes may be a little different, the issues the large regions face are the exact same ones the smaller ones do. I hadn’t seen any of the RMR folks since Parade in Keystone this year, so it was great to see them again and to meet some new ones too.
We had hoped to make it a good portion of the way home after the RMR meeting, but we were swallowed up by the huge storm and bitter cold that engulfed all of Colorado’s front range that weekend. Luckily AMR out-going board members Chris and Kathleen Lennon of Colorado Springs welcomed us into their warm home for a day of rest and relaxation before we got back on the cold and windy road for the long trip home.
Although we missed the Roadrunner Region Christmas Party due to some family commitments, we did make it to Butterfield Plaza for Bernie Butterfield’s umpteenth Toys for Kids Show and Shine and to meet all the 2010 Roadrunner Region officers as they make their first public appearances.
Then it’s break-time as we head into the holidays and the colder weather. The Roadrunner Region will have its first autocross in late January, just about the RMR and AMR have their Eiskana on Georgetown. The Carrera Region traditionally does a Superbowl autocross too. Before we know it, it’ll be time for the Zone 9 meeting in Albuquerque in February and then I’ll be off to the PCA National Meeting in San Jose, California. And we start all over again on a very busy PCA year!
–
Zone Rep Report October 2010
You would think nearing the end of the year would signal a slow-down in Zone 9 activity, but in fact it’s exactly the opposite for me. Though I had a brief respite after the Roadrunner Region’s first annual Charity Autocross in mid-November, the next weeks were busy with a flurry of activity (and some snow flurries too)! I attended the Porsche of Albuquerque unveiling of Porsche’s newest offering, the Panamera, which is a car I can’t wait to drive! Then it was off to Colorado for a busy trip visiting the Alpine Mountain and Rocky Mountain regions.
Although I’m a confessed track-junkie and avid autocrosser, I have to say that one of my new favorite things about travelling Zone 9 is attending other kinds of activities on offer by our various regions, including social events. In early December, Sandra and I took the opportunity to attend the AMR Christmas party at the Antlers hotel in Colorado Springs. It was a nice affair with a great buffet and even a jazz quartet for dancing. Tres chic! I was asked to swear in the 2010 officers and did so by having them place their hands over a 911 Service Manual as they repeated their oath of being loyal to all things PCA and Porsche. It was a fun time. It was great to see everyone in their finery and jewelry and out of the normal shorts and/or driving uniform attire.
We had a break for a couple of days, so we headed up to Boulder for some more great car activity, though I hope you’ll forgive me because I strayed from the Porsche marque for a bit. One of my former ski racing sponsors sold his company for a profit a few years ago and got into vintage racing. So I had to see his cars. He now counts among his collection of 60s era race-cars two F2 Brabhams driven by Jody Scheckter, Dennis Hulme, and Jack himself. He also has a few sports cars, including a 1968 Alfa T-33 sports-prototype, a Mclaren M1A, and Lola T-70 once owned by John Mecom and entered for Parnelli Jones. All of them are restored to perfection. Very nice.
But that wasn’t all I did in Boulder. That same night was the annual appreciation dinner at Boulder’s Shelby-American Museum, one of the finest small automotive museums in the United States. Entire dedicated to all things Shelby, it has a great collection of Cobras, GT-350s, and Ford GT-40s, including one of the ultra-rare Mk IVs. They also have a great collection of photographs and memorabilia and a great store of books, models and t-shirts! One of my first memories of liking car racing was when my dad bought me one of the official Team Shelby t-shirts when I was 8 years old at Watkins Glen. Of course I grew out of it and it disappeared within a few short years. But guess what?! They had that same t-shirt in my adult size and I have it again!
2010 Parade Chairs Walt and Kathy Fricke were kind enough to host us in their beautiful home during our Boulder stay. It was great to catch up and also to make acquaintance in a non-PCA setting too.
Monday night we attended the RMR board meeting near Denver International Airport and listened in on all the pressing issues of Zone 9’s largest region. For those of you in the smaller Regions, you can take solace in the fact that though the stakes may be a little different, the issues the large regions face are the exact same ones the smaller ones do. I hadn’t seen any of the RMR folks since Parade in Keystone this year, so it was great to see them again and to meet some new ones too.
We had hoped to make it a good portion of the way home after the RMR meeting, but we were swallowed up by the huge storm and bitter cold that engulfed all of Colorado’s front range that weekend. Luckily AMR out-going board members Chris and Kathleen Lennon of Colorado Springs welcomed us into their warm home for a day of rest and relaxation before we got back on the cold and windy road for the long trip home.
Although we missed the Roadrunner Region Christmas Party due to some family commitments, we did make it to Butterfield Plaza for Bernie Butterfield’s umpteenth Toys for Kids Show and Shine and to meet all the 2010 Roadrunner Region officers as they make their first public appearances.
Then it’s break-time as we head into the holidays and the colder weather. The Roadrunner Region will have its first autocross in late January, just about the RMR and AMR have their Eiskana on Georgetown. The Carrera Region traditionally does a Superbowl autocross too. Before we know it, it’ll be time for the Zone 9 meeting in Albuquerque in February and then I’ll be off to the PCA National Meeting in San Jose, California. And we start all over again on a very busy PCA year!
–
Zone Rep Report September 2010
You would think nearing the end of the year would signal a slow-down in Zone 9 activity, but in fact it’s exactly the opposite for me. Though I had a brief respite after the Roadrunner Region’s first annual Charity Autocross in mid-November, the next weeks were busy with a flurry of activity (and some snow flurries too)! I attended the Porsche of Albuquerque unveiling of Porsche’s newest offering, the Panamera, which is a car I can’t wait to drive! Then it was off to Colorado for a busy trip visiting the Alpine Mountain and Rocky Mountain regions.
Although I’m a confessed track-junkie and avid autocrosser, I have to say that one of my new favorite things about travelling Zone 9 is attending other kinds of activities on offer by our various regions, including social events. In early December, Sandra and I took the opportunity to attend the AMR Christmas party at the Antlers hotel in Colorado Springs. It was a nice affair with a great buffet and even a jazz quartet for dancing. Tres chic! I was asked to swear in the 2010 officers and did so by having them place their hands over a 911 Service Manual as they repeated their oath of being loyal to all things PCA and Porsche. It was a fun time. It was great to see everyone in their finery and jewelry and out of the normal shorts and/or driving uniform attire.
We had a break for a couple of days, so we headed up to Boulder for some more great car activity, though I hope you’ll forgive me because I strayed from the Porsche marque for a bit. One of my former ski racing sponsors sold his company for a profit a few years ago and got into vintage racing. So I had to see his cars. He now counts among his collection of 60s era race-cars two F2 Brabhams driven by Jody Scheckter, Dennis Hulme, and Jack himself. He also has a few sports cars, including a 1968 Alfa T-33 sports-prototype, a Mclaren M1A, and Lola T-70 once owned by John Mecom and entered for Parnelli Jones. All of them are restored to perfection. Very nice.
But that wasn’t all I did in Boulder. That same night was the annual appreciation dinner at Boulder’s Shelby-American Museum, one of the finest small automotive museums in the United States. Entire dedicated to all things Shelby, it has a great collection of Cobras, GT-350s, and Ford GT-40s, including one of the ultra-rare Mk IVs. They also have a great collection of photographs and memorabilia and a great store of books, models and t-shirts! One of my first memories of liking car racing was when my dad bought me one of the official Team Shelby t-shirts when I was 8 years old at Watkins Glen. Of course I grew out of it and it disappeared within a few short years. But guess what?! They had that same t-shirt in my adult size and I have it again!
2010 Parade Chairs Walt and Kathy Fricke were kind enough to host us in their beautiful home during our Boulder stay. It was great to catch up and also to make acquaintance in a non-PCA setting too.
Monday night we attended the RMR board meeting near Denver International Airport and listened in on all the pressing issues of Zone 9’s largest region. For those of you in the smaller Regions, you can take solace in the fact that though the stakes may be a little different, the issues the large regions face are the exact same ones the smaller ones do. I hadn’t seen any of the RMR folks since Parade in Keystone this year, so it was great to see them again and to meet some new ones too.
We had hoped to make it a good portion of the way home after the RMR meeting, but we were swallowed up by the huge storm and bitter cold that engulfed all of Colorado’s front range that weekend. Luckily AMR out-going board members Chris and Kathleen Lennon of Colorado Springs welcomed us into their warm home for a day of rest and relaxation before we got back on the cold and windy road for the long trip home.
Although we missed the Roadrunner Region Christmas Party due to some family commitments, we did make it to Butterfield Plaza for Bernie Butterfield’s umpteenth Toys for Kids Show and Shine and to meet all the 2010 Roadrunner Region officers as they make their first public appearances.
Then it’s break-time as we head into the holidays and the colder weather. The Roadrunner Region will have its first autocross in late January, just about the RMR and AMR have their Eiskana on Georgetown. The Carrera Region traditionally does a Superbowl autocross too. Before we know it, it’ll be time for the Zone 9 meeting in Albuquerque in February and then I’ll be off to the PCA National Meeting in San Jose, California. And we start all over again on a very busy PCA year!
–
Zone Rep Report August 2010
You would think nearing the end of the year would signal a slow-down in Zone 9 activity, but in fact it’s exactly the opposite for me. Though I had a brief respite after the Roadrunner Region’s first annual Charity Autocross in mid-November, the next weeks were busy with a flurry of activity (and some snow flurries too)! I attended the Porsche of Albuquerque unveiling of Porsche’s newest offering, the Panamera, which is a car I can’t wait to drive! Then it was off to Colorado for a busy trip visiting the Alpine Mountain and Rocky Mountain regions.
Although I’m a confessed track-junkie and avid autocrosser, I have to say that one of my new favorite things about travelling Zone 9 is attending other kinds of activities on offer by our various regions, including social events. In early December, Sandra and I took the opportunity to attend the AMR Christmas party at the Antlers hotel in Colorado Springs. It was a nice affair with a great buffet and even a jazz quartet for dancing. Tres chic! I was asked to swear in the 2010 officers and did so by having them place their hands over a 911 Service Manual as they repeated their oath of being loyal to all things PCA and Porsche. It was a fun time. It was great to see everyone in their finery and jewelry and out of the normal shorts and/or driving uniform attire.
We had a break for a couple of days, so we headed up to Boulder for some more great car activity, though I hope you’ll forgive me because I strayed from the Porsche marque for a bit. One of my former ski racing sponsors sold his company for a profit a few years ago and got into vintage racing. So I had to see his cars. He now counts among his collection of 60s era race-cars two F2 Brabhams driven by Jody Scheckter, Dennis Hulme, and Jack himself. He also has a few sports cars, including a 1968 Alfa T-33 sports-prototype, a Mclaren M1A, and Lola T-70 once owned by John Mecom and entered for Parnelli Jones. All of them are restored to perfection. Very nice.
But that wasn’t all I did in Boulder. That same night was the annual appreciation dinner at Boulder’s Shelby-American Museum, one of the finest small automotive museums in the United States. Entire dedicated to all things Shelby, it has a great collection of Cobras, GT-350s, and Ford GT-40s, including one of the ultra-rare Mk IVs. They also have a great collection of photographs and memorabilia and a great store of books, models and t-shirts! One of my first memories of liking car racing was when my dad bought me one of the official Team Shelby t-shirts when I was 8 years old at Watkins Glen. Of course I grew out of it and it disappeared within a few short years. But guess what?! They had that same t-shirt in my adult size and I have it again!
2010 Parade Chairs Walt and Kathy Fricke were kind enough to host us in their beautiful home during our Boulder stay. It was great to catch up and also to make acquaintance in a non-PCA setting too.
Monday night we attended the RMR board meeting near Denver International Airport and listened in on all the pressing issues of Zone 9’s largest region. For those of you in the smaller Regions, you can take solace in the fact that though the stakes may be a little different, the issues the large regions face are the exact same ones the smaller ones do. I hadn’t seen any of the RMR folks since Parade in Keystone this year, so it was great to see them again and to meet some new ones too.
We had hoped to make it a good portion of the way home after the RMR meeting, but we were swallowed up by the huge storm and bitter cold that engulfed all of Colorado’s front range that weekend. Luckily AMR out-going board members Chris and Kathleen Lennon of Colorado Springs welcomed us into their warm home for a day of rest and relaxation before we got back on the cold and windy road for the long trip home.
Although we missed the Roadrunner Region Christmas Party due to some family commitments, we did make it to Butterfield Plaza for Bernie Butterfield’s umpteenth Toys for Kids Show and Shine and to meet all the 2010 Roadrunner Region officers as they make their first public appearances.
Then it’s break-time as we head into the holidays and the colder weather. The Roadrunner Region will have its first autocross in late January, just about the RMR and AMR have their Eiskana on Georgetown. The Carrera Region traditionally does a Superbowl autocross too. Before we know it, it’ll be time for the Zone 9 meeting in Albuquerque in February and then I’ll be off to the PCA National Meeting in San Jose, California. And we start all over again on a very busy PCA year!
–
Zone Rep Report July 2010
Summer is in full force, with all of the Regions of Zone 9 into the schedules of tours, autocrosses, socials DE’s, and Concours. Recently I attended my home Region’s Fiesta del Porsche, a 35 year Zone 9 Tradition, now held in Albuqueruqe, NM and hosted by the Roadrunner Region, but with attendees from many different Regions, this year as from as far away as Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and even California. This year’s edition was also attended by special Guests Past President Prescott Kelly and his wife Pam, from the Connecticut Valley Region.
For those of you who’ve never attended a Fiesta, it was originally started back in the late 1970s and was originally hosted by AMR and RMR. It made its move to Santa Fe and the Roadrunner Region in the early 80s and has been in New Mexico ever since. Since it inception, there have only been three hiatuses. Two of them were when Parade was held in nearby Colorado and one was when PCA Escape was held in Albuquerque in 2008.
Fiesta truly is a multi-Region, multi-day, multi-event weekend with driving tours, a gimmick rally (traditionally a TSD one too), an autocross, a concours, and several social events. This year’s edition also included a DE at Sandia Motor Speedway where drivers got so much seat time very few of them completed the entire day! Though there hadn’t been a Fiesta since 2007, this year’s edition came back with a fury, with everyone agreeing that it was one of the best and ensuring it a revived strength in the Roadrunner’s and Zone 9’s future lore.
Speaking of multi-day events, many of us are making final preparations for our trips to St. Charles, Illinois for this year’s Porsche Parade. Of course those of us from this part of the world know that St. Charles will be hard-pressed to come up with anything of the sort we experienced at last year’s AMR/RMR Parade at Keystone, but a Porsche Parade is about …Porsches (after-all!), so how bad can it be? Actually, looking at the brochures and websites, it looks like some great events are planned and some of the venues look like a lot of fun. Those of us from this part of the world will be missing the backdrop of the Rockies, but then we’re very spoiled, aren’t we.
Once we get back, our summer seasons will be in full swing and we’ll even be planning our fall events. That means it already time to start thinking about elections (or at least recruiting members to run for board seats and the highest offices). Being a part of a PCA region is great fun, but we all know that it takes commitment on the part of quite a few people to make things happen. I always like to encourage people to get involved. At the same time, remember that it is a commitment and does take time. Budget your time accordingly, but please do get involved. If there’s one cliche that is NEVER over-used in the world of PCA it’s this one: It’s not just about the cars, it’s the people!
–
Zone Rep Report June 2010
Depending on your view of what Porsche is and should be, this could be one of the most exciting times to be a Porsche enthusiast…or one of the worst. The technology improvements that Porsche has been introducing to its road and racing cars in the past few years are staggering, perhaps even more revolutionary that its development rate in the 1960s and early 1970s. Gains in handling, power, usability, fuel efficiency, and even ecological concerns have meant that Porsche is almost unrecognizable from its incarnations of just twenty years ago.
I know for many of you that’s been a point of contention. Many Porsche enthusiasts are worried about how their favorite marque will be developing now that it’s part of the VW group of brands. But many people expressed dismay when Porsche went to water-cooled engines with the 911…but also before that with the 924, 944, 968, and 928 line of front-engined cars. And that’s not even mentioning the Cayenne and Panamera SUV and Sedans. But pushing technology and perception has always been a point of contention with Porsche fans. I’ve heard many “purists” say that Porsche should never have any car other than the air-cooled 911.
Others say that things went wrong after the 356. But perceptions change with every generation and every group of enthusiasts. It wasn’t that long ago that people were complaining about the Boxster as being a “watered down” 911. But look how popular the Boxster and Cayman lines have become. The one reviled 914 has taken on whole new aura in the 2000s, with many restored versions showing up at concours events and many 914s still doing very well at autocrosses.
There was a time when all-wheel drive was both revered of as futuristic (on the 959 and 953 supercar and rally car) and reviled as “un-pure” and over-civilized on the 964. But all-wheel drive is common and approciated on C4 and Turbo-models. The Cayenne, once reviled as the beginning of the end for Porsche is one of its best selling models and, especially during these difficult economic times, has helped keep Porsche afloat with its most steady sales. The acceptance of the Cayenne hit home for me at Parade this past year in Keystone. When I pulled up to the line at the autocross in San Diego I was the very first and only one of three to be on the wrong end of some woeful stares. But at Keystone, I was only one of 12 Cayennes of various levels of power and handling. There were even discussions of having multiple classes for Cayennes going into future Parade Rules.
Now comes the hybrid version of the Panamera and Cayenne and KERS competition GT3 and concept super-car 918. One can already hear the groans about impurity. But in my view, they’re all Porsches and are efforts by the world’s best car company to push the limits of technology in new areas in ways that no other car-company has. When the first hybrid Toyotas and Hondas and the first KERS F1 cars arrived on the scene, I regarded them in the same way that we now look at early Daimler and Ford cars compared to today’s models: the first in a long line of development that will see great leaps in efficiency and development. Who would have thought in 1890 that the automobile would become the powerful and sophisticated vehicle it has become. But it didn’t happen at once and it didn’t happen without someone attempting to push the envelope in the arenas of luxury, sophistication, and in competition. In all of these areas, Porsche has been a leader since its first car drove down the road from Gmund.
For Porsche to back away from any new technological concept would be a cop-out from its mission and reputation. More so, to not take on the challenge of leading in any kind of technological advancement would be a loss of its original intent and spirit. I, for one, am looking forward to the day when Porsche develops hybrid and KERS technology to the same level that it has with automatic transmissions (another topic of scorn in the not-so-distant past). The Tiptronic was recognized as a great leap forward in automatics and the PDK is now looking to supplant manuals for those who consider performance more important than “traditional” aesthetics of shifting. When the GT3 R Hybrid (a KERS-assisted system) races at Nurburgring this spring, the world will be watching to see what kind of unfair advantage Porsche has found with the system.
The 918 is threatened to go into production soon because of the high amount of interest it has generated. It won’t be that long before other super-car manufacturers take up the challenge and start offering their own versions of high-performance hybrids and KERS-assisted vehicles both on the road and for the track, each with their own performance tweaks and the race will be on for the next generations of performance and efficiency gains.
The VW “takeover” is for some a tragedy, but remember that the current chair of the VW group, Ferdinand Piech is the same person who masterminded the 908 and the 917 cars which took Porsche from winning class victories to overall ones. If there’s anyone who is interested in keeping Porsche in the forefront of road- and racing-car design it is him. I believe that Porsche has a long and prosperous future ahead of it and I’m very glad to be a member of the club of its biggest fan-base as it races into the future with new types of technology and performance gains.
Yet, like all of us, I still love its heritage and tradition. I think the two go hand in hand.
–
Zone Rep Report May 2010
I’m into my favorite part of the year now, the part where I come out and visit the Regions of Zone 9. Towards the end of March I made the trip from New Mexico up to Colorado Springs for the Alpine Mountain Region’s 35th Anniversary brunch. On hand were over 80 members and 11 presidents, going all the way back to the first and founding member: Fred Veitch. Although I’ve previously met many of the members of AMR at Fiesta del Porsche and/or Parade, this time I got to see them more in their element and I really enjoyed listening to their many stories of past “legendary” trips and track days.
I’ve always been impressed with how cohesive a group the AMR people are and also with their accomplishments relative to their size. It was a great morning and I really feel as if I came away knowing much more about them and their place in the history of Zone 9.
The very next Saturday I was over in Amarillo, Texas for the Llano Estacado Region’s monthly breakfast meeting. For those of you know don’t know, Llano Estacado is the smallest PCA Region in the country and inhabits a part of the world where the pick-up truck and American muscle-cars are more at home. But that hasn’t dampened their spirit.
In fact, it may be just the opposite. Several of their members have been to more double-digit figures of Parade participation and have made the trip to Germany to visit the Porsche factory. They are a tight knit group who show their enthusiasm with great pride. This was my second visit to see them and, being that they’re not too far away, I hope to continue visiting Amarillo regularly. (Not to mention that the hotel where I stay has a fantastic rib-joint right out the front door).
That takes care of my early spring visitations till I head down to the West Texas Region for one of their drive-outs. Last year I visited them in Lubbock for their bi-annual RUF event, which was a great time. This year we’re going for a drive-out into the Davis Mountains. I’ve heard it’s beautiful and I’ve never been to the mountainous regions of Texas, so I’ll be covering new territory. Plus, I’m looking forward to seeing another aspect of their club and getting to see old friends and meet some more new ones too.
Then it’ll be time for the Roadrunner Region’s Fiesta del Porsche on Memorial Day weekend. This year is a big come-back year for Fiesta since in 2008 and 2009 the Roadrunners gave it a sabbatical in favor of their own hosting of PCA Escape and the RMR/AMR hosting of Parade, respectively. Chairs Dennis and Joan Ledbetter have a great variety of competitive and recreational events planned and the weekend will be topped off with a talk by PCA Past-President Prescott Kelly. There will be drive-outs, an autocross, a show-and-shine concours, even a DE.
Lastly, Zone 9 is starting what I hope will be a new tradition in an effort to get more people to travel around the Zone to their sister Regions. Starting this year, the Zone 9 Challenge Cup will be awarded to the individual or couple who have travelled to the most events in a variety of Regions around the Zone. The Zone 9 Challenge Cup will be a perpetual trophy that will be held by the winner of the previous year for a year when the new winner(s) will take possession. All winners will have their name added to the trophy. I have enlisted an esteemed panel of judges made up of former Zone 9 Reps Dale Thero, Kathy Fricke, and Frank Barrett to look over entries for the Cup.
There is no constriction as to what kind of events are necessary to attend, only that members visit a variety of the Regions in Zone 9. The Challenge is designed to encourage travel throughout Zone 9 to the various regions rather than to promote any particular type of event. We’re hoping to see lots of Porsches traveling around in Zone 9 meeting and making new friends. I can’t wait to present this cup to the first winners in December!
–
Zone Rep Report April 2010
I’ve been kind of busy with PCA stuff this winter. Right after the Zone 9 meeting in February I flew out to San Jose, California for the PCA National winter meeting. Although it just sounds like it’s fun to travel around and see Porsche people, there is actually a lot of business that’s done at these meetings each year. From the perspective of a regular member, it often appears that all of PCA can be encapsulated by what goes on in one’s Region. But when you consider all the kinds of activities, programs, benefits, and publications that PCA generates things begin to grow almost exponentially as you go from the Regional to the Zone to the National staff and the kinds of policies, decisions, and responsibility involved.
From a personal perspective, it’s always great to see my fellow Zone Reps in person. It’s kind of a strange feeling because we talk on the phone monthly in a conference call and we often e-mail one another on various PCA matters, so we are well familiar with one another. But we really only see each other as a group twice a year: once at the winter meeting and once at the Parade meeting. So the meeting is both familiar and strange at the same time.
It’s also good to be able to converse in person with the various PCA committee chairs; those whose names you see on the last pages of Panorama. Believe it or not, all those people are busy updating various policy changes and event protocols, etc, etc, etc. Each one makes a report during the National board meeting. This year the RPM (Region Procedures Manual) made some significant changes and the PCR (Parade Competition Rules) did too. Parade is undergoing a major change this year as it moves from a National event hosted by a Region to a National event organized and run by the PCA Parade Committee, but with assistance from the Regions. San Diego Region member Tom Brown has taken on this monumental task and is looking forward to a successful Parade in St. Charles, Illinois this year.
Some of my favorite people to talk to at the National meetings are Leonard and Betty Jo Turner, editors of Panorama magazine, the finest car club magazine in the world. They’re some of the hardest working people in the Club, having worked in that position for 40 years or so without having missed even one issue during that time.
Website and Newsletter Chair Jill Beck in always on my list too, as I’m curious about the state of communications within PCA at all the various levels. Newsletters are in major flux right now as printing costs escalate and volunteer editors are becoming harder and harder to find. When I discussed this issue with Jill, she noted that more and more, many of the Regions will be shifting away from printed newsletters to an e-newsletter format, very similar to the E-Brake newsletter you receive from National every other week now.
If fact, for those of you with iPhones, PCA now has an app which will direct you to any Porsche-related information in any of the Regions, nation-wide as you travel. That means Regional websites, authorized Porsche dealers, independent Porsche repair shops, race-tracks, and any number of other Porsche related goods and services. Yes, things are changing THAT fast.
To use a point of historical comparison, I can remember taking a summer course on “The Soviet Union Today” during the summer of 1989 and the question came up “How long before the Soviet Union breaks up?” It was unimaginable as anything other than a discussion topic that summer. But it was only a couple of years later that the USSR was a thing of the past. That’s the point we’re at with communications technology. Even the larger, richer Regions are looking at doing away with their printed newsletters and moving to the e-model and iPhone apps. Stay tuned, literally, on this issue.
By the time you read this, I will have started making my rounds in the Zone with a visit to Alpine Mountain Region for their anniversary party and to Llano Estacado for one of their monthly breakfast meetings. The Roadrunner Region is back in business with their traditional Memorial Day celebration: Fiesta del Porsche and … Parade is not far behind.
–
Zone Rep Report March 2010
I’m just now putting everything away from our recently completed Zone 9 Meeting in Albuquerque. We held the meeting at many-year PCA member and Club Racer Bruce Phillips’ shop and the Roadrunner Region was kind enough to host a membership social at the Chama River Brewing Company, just a few blocks away.
The meeting itself was a day-long event with discussions on safety, procedure, policy, insurance and liability, PCA “urban legends,” Zone 9 unity, newsletters, and websites. It’s really too bad that we only have enough budget and time to gather only once a year. It’s great to get all the Regional officials to see how things are done in other regions. I know from my own experience that one often doesn’t realize that the other Regions are going through many of the same kinds of issues. Or, it can be a surprise that something so normal and easy in one Region might be odd or a struggle in another Region. Zone 9 has incredible diversity as well. We have one of the nation’s largest Regions (Rocky Mountain) and the smallest (Llano Estacado) in our midst. Or geographic size is incredible too, stretching from the Big Bend of the Rio Grande to the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Of course one discussion comes up every year: the one on participation. Although PCA is the largest single-marque car-club in the world, we still have a “participation gap.” By that, I mean we have many members who rarely come to any events. And we have a constantly diminishing percentage of people who are Region leaders and volunteer for work positions. Although that’s probably true of any type of volunteer organization in the 21st century, it’s a worry for PCA because we’re seeing that many of the veteran members who volunteered for decades are being replaced by younger people who might reach burnout after only a few years. This leads to constant turnover and less experienced leadership.
There are always two sides to every coin (except that one I use occasionally….) and more turnover can mean an infusion of new ideas, more use of contemporary technology, and more energy to move the club forward. But sometimes it can lead to frustration, unnecessary reinvention of the wheel, burnout and dropping out. Hence, getting the veteran and newer players of Zone 9 together is one of events I look forward to at the beginning of each calendar year. It’s great to watch the interaction of all these highly interested and motivated people, let alone to facilitate and participate in it. Hopefully this meeting leads to finding a few solutions.
One discussion that I’ve brought up for a second year is one on the development of a Zone 9 “consciousness” (for lack of a better term). Some of the other PCA Zones actually have events which bring together members from each of their Regions for autocrosses, track days, tech sessions, and socials. Of course those Zones are geographically suited to that kind of togetherness because of their locations in high population density areas. And, the Regions in those Zones are strong enough organizationally and financially that they don’t see extra events from the Zone level as being a competition for funding or participation in their own events.
For obvious reasons, to just lift the model of a coastal Zone and place it on top of our own wouldn’t work. Still, it seems that there should be a way to get members to be more conscious of the vast diversity of the Regions in the Zone and maybe even get our members to travel to other Regions to participate in an occasional event away from home in another of our great Regions, large or small.
To this end we have three initiatives going on. The first is substantive and immediate. At the Zone 9 Meeting in Albuquerque it was decided unanimously to start circulating the annual Zone Meeting amongst the Regions. Slips of paper were placed in a hat (excluding the Roadrunner Region who have hosted it from time immemorial…) and . . . the West Texas Region was drawn to host the 2011 meeting. I’ve already contacted WTR President Craig Corbett to get things rolling.
A second Zone initiative is in the planning stages. This will be a Zone Award for a person or couple who travel to at least one event in every Region of the Zone during a season. It will be presented at their Region’s end-of-year party. Guidelines for trophy competition will be going up on the Zone website soon.
A third Zone initiative is in the larva stage: Zone 9 “branding” with either a t-shirt or pin or car-badge with the Zone 9 logo on it, so that members will have more awareness of their Zone and the great diversity of Regions that it covers. I’m hoping we’ll have something to show by the summer months, maybe even in time for the Zone Challenge at Porsche Parade in St. Charles, Illinois.
Whew! It was a busy weekend, but I think a productive one.
–
Zone Rep Report February 2010
Ah, the lull before the storm….
While the end of the year is often filled with all kinds of Holiday parties and toy drives and other great PCA events, the first weeks of the New Year are usually the quietest times for our Regions, especially because many of us live in the snow-belt. But really that’s only partially true, since many of the Regions will have new people who will very quickly be coming to terms with their new positions of leadership.
To own a Porsche already puts one in a “special” category of people, many of who are already business and community leaders. But, every organization has its own culture, its own policies, and is own personnel dynamic. Hence, many of the new Regional leaders in Zone 9 will be working hard to learn how things work at the top end of their Regions and especially about the culture of PCA National.
It’s often the case that we think of National as an entirely separate entity and in some ways it is. PCA is set up to provide as much autonomy to the various Regions around the country as it possibly can. As a result, national policies may often be completely invisible to the casual club member who only participates at the local level. That’s a good thing because it allows every Region to develop its own flavor and allow for a great freedom of expression and participation. At the same time, Regions participate in a whole host of benefits that could only come with an “economy of scale” and a nationally governing set of principles.
Those benefits include our national, award-winning magazine Panorama, an organization and/or organizational assistance for Porsche Parade and PCA Escape, uniform safety policies and competition rules and, of course, insurance and legal support. The Porsche Club of America is the largest single-marque car club in the world and that translates to an excellent organization at the top levels and communication through the Zone levels to all of the 139 Regions across the United States and Canada. Your Regional and National officials work together to see that everything runs as smoothly and as safely as it possibly can, while still encouraging the highest possible fun quotient.
Part of what your Regional leadership will be doing in February is coming up to speed on some of those issues as well as sharing some of their own issues, concerns, and solutions at the annual Zone 9 President’/Newsletter Editors/Webmaster meeting in Albuquerque on February 13th. It was determined many years ago that Albuquerque is “equally inconvenient” for all the Regions in Zone 9 (except, of course, the Roadrunner Region) and “Alb” makes for a good central meeting place for those coming from Texas, Colorado, and Utah. This year Club Racer and many-year PCA member Bruce Phillips will be hosting the meeting at his business, where he has a large classroom for his employees.
Not only is this a great opportunity for the new and veteran Region presidents to get up to speed on PCA issues. It’s a great forum for sharing experiences and solutions amongst the varied Regions that make up Zone 9. It’s the one opportunity during the year for all of the Regional presidents to get together to share ideas. Similarly, the Zone meeting offers an opportunity for the newsletter editors and webmasters to pick each other’s brains and share ideas about getting the word out to our members with more flair and efficiency.
–
Zone Rep Report January 2010
You would think nearing the end of the year would signal a slow-down in Zone 9 activity, but in fact it’s exactly the opposite for me. Though I had a brief respite after the Roadrunner Region’s first annual Charity Autocross in mid-November, the next weeks were busy with a flurry of activity (and some snow flurries too)! I attended the Porsche of Albuquerque unveiling of Porsche’s newest offering, the Panamera, which is a car I can’t wait to drive! Then it was off to Colorado for a busy trip visiting the Alpine Mountain and Rocky Mountain regions.
Although I’m a confessed track-junkie and avid autocrosser, I have to say that one of my new favorite things about travelling Zone 9 is attending other kinds of activities on offer by our various regions, including social events. In early December, Sandra and I took the opportunity to attend the AMR Christmas party at the Antlers hotel in Colorado Springs. It was a nice affair with a great buffet and even a jazz quartet for dancing. Tres chic! I was asked to swear in the 2010 officers and did so by having them place their hands over a 911 Service Manual as they repeated their oath of being loyal to all things PCA and Porsche. It was a fun time. It was great to see everyone in their finery and jewelry and out of the normal shorts and/or driving uniform attire.
We had a break for a couple of days, so we headed up to Boulder for some more great car activity, though I hope you’ll forgive me because I strayed from the Porsche marque for a bit. One of my former ski racing sponsors sold his company for a profit a few years ago and got into vintage racing. So I had to see his cars. He now counts among his collection of 60s era race-cars two F2 Brabhams driven by Jody Scheckter, Dennis Hulme, and Jack himself. He also has a few sports cars, including a 1968 Alfa T-33 sports-prototype, a Mclaren M1A, and Lola T-70 once owned by John Mecom and entered for Parnelli Jones. All of them are restored to perfection. Very nice.
But that wasn’t all I did in Boulder. That same night was the annual appreciation dinner at Boulder’s Shelby-American Museum, one of the finest small automotive museums in the United States. Entire dedicated to all things Shelby, it has a great collection of Cobras, GT-350s, and Ford GT-40s, including one of the ultra-rare Mk IVs. They also have a great collection of photographs and memorabilia and a great store of books, models and t-shirts! One of my first memories of liking car racing was when my dad bought me one of the official Team Shelby t-shirts when I was 8 years old at Watkins Glen. Of course I grew out of it and it disappeared within a few short years. But guess what?! They had that same t-shirt in my adult size and I have it again!
2010 Parade Chairs Walt and Kathy Fricke were kind enough to host us in their beautiful home during our Boulder stay. It was great to catch up and also to make acquaintance in a non-PCA setting too.
Monday night we attended the RMR board meeting near Denver International Airport and listened in on all the pressing issues of Zone 9’s largest region. For those of you in the smaller Regions, you can take solace in the fact that though the stakes may be a little different, the issues the large regions face are the exact same ones the smaller ones do. I hadn’t seen any of the RMR folks since Parade in Keystone this year, so it was great to see them again and to meet some new ones too.
We had hoped to make it a good portion of the way home after the RMR meeting, but we were swallowed up by the huge storm and bitter cold that engulfed all of Colorado’s front range that weekend. Luckily AMR out-going board members Chris and Kathleen Lennon of Colorado Springs welcomed us into their warm home for a day of rest and relaxation before we got back on the cold and windy road for the long trip home.
Although we missed the Roadrunner Region Christmas Party due to some family commitments, we did make it to Butterfield Plaza for Bernie Butterfield’s umpteenth Toys for Kids Show and Shine and to meet all the 2010 Roadrunner Region officers as they make their first public appearances.
Then it’s break-time as we head into the holidays and the colder weather. The Roadrunner Region will have its first autocross in late January, just about the RMR and AMR have their Eiskana on Georgetown. The Carrera Region traditionally does a Superbowl autocross too. Before we know it, it’ll be time for the Zone 9 meeting in Albuquerque in February and then I’ll be off to the PCA National Meeting in San Jose, California. And we start all over again on a very busy PCA year!
–
Zone Rep Report December 2009
October is always one of my favorite months. It’s not just the colors of the trees, but there’s something the about post-equinox angle of the sun that makes earth tones richer and the sky just a little bluer. Unfortunately, it also means shorter days and colder mornings. In some parts of Zone 9 it means the ski areas are opening. A good thing for skiers, but a lesser-liked signal for those who don’t like winter.
For the Carrera Region it means their biggest event of the year, Oktoberfiesta. For many years it was hosted in El Paso, with the driving portion being held at the Cohen Stadium lot, a fine venue for a sea-of-cones autocross. But for the last few years Dede Rogers, Ray Palomarez, Lenny Loftin and their crew of Carreras have hosted Oktoberfiesta in Deming, New Mexico near the Arroyo Seco raceway. It’s often supported by large number of Roadrunner Region and Southern Arizona Region members coming in for a fun weekend of social and competitive activities.
They combine a day of DE driving on the track with a track-style autocross. In other words, they slow down the faster portions of the track with cones, but leave the tighter corners unimpeded. If you’ve never been to the Arroyo Seco track, it’s a 1.4 mile road-course with 14 turns. It’s main straight doubles as a quarter-mile drag-strip with slowing area. Though it doesn’t have elevation changes, many novice drivers like it because of its vast, unimpeded run-off areas. Even if you never use them, it gives the impression that you could if you had to.
Does it have the ultra-modern facilities of a Miller Motorsports Park or the sweeping corners and elevation changes of a High-Plains Raceway? No. But it doesn’t matter. The Carrera Region makes the event fun and rewarding in an intimate setting.
Friday night kicks the event off with registration/check-in at one of Deming’s wineries, Los Lunas. In case you didn’t know, southern New Mexico is an agricultural area that grows cotton, pecans, walnuts, and grapes. They have some very respectable wines and I especially like the ports that come from that region.
Saturday Morning starts early with either the DE event for track-nuts or a driving tour of the area’s cultural and geological points of interest. Since I’ve been kind of a track-nut for awhile I haven’t been on the driving-tour, but I hear there are some beautiful spots and a lot of history. Deming is just a few miles from the US border with Mexico. Apparently Pancho Villa spent some time in the area.
Sunday night is a “tons-of-prizes” dinner at the best steak restaurant in Deming, the Rancher’s Café. This year the Carreras outdid themselves with everyone coming away with something interesting. There’s even a tech quiz, which I won this year (!) thanks to them asking questions that I actually knew the answers to (which is not so typical). Oh yeah, and my luck in guessing the ones I didn’t know….
Sunday starts early again with a few practice runs. The course is too long to walk without taking up most of the day. Then the runs. As always there was a great crew of friendly and competitive drivers on hand, some great runs, lots of fun to be had and stories to be told. The Carreras give out some great trophies, too. Usually the event’s over before two and everyone can enjoy the ride home in the daylight hours. For the Roadrunners it usually includes a stop at a favorite restaurant in Truth-or-Consequences, one of my favorite town names in the USA.
As I write this, I’m preparing to attend the Roadrunner’s 1st annual Charity Benefit autocross out at Route 66 Casino. John and Phylis Davis of the RRR have done a magnificent job this year as charity co-chairs and have raised many thousands of dollars in cash and in-kind gifts for the RRR chosen charity, the Barrett Foundation of Albuquerque. Congratulations and kudos to them for the fine work they have done.
Now the days are getting shorter still and with Daylight Savings Time, nightfall comes earlier and earlier. In the Jemez Mountains where we live, there’s snow up on top and Jemez Pueblo (an Indian village just down the road from us) is getting ready for its November feast day. You often get the blended aromas of the pinon-fired woodstoves and the red and green chili stews brewing over the flames, not to mention the wood-heated hornos used for baking bread the old-fashioned way. Holiday parties around the Zone will be kicking off soon enough and we plan to make a few of them to catch up with more of our great Zone 9 members. As I finish out my first year as your Zone Rep, I have to say that it’s been a great one. I have opportunity to meet so many of you and to have so many great Porsche experiences. I’ve seen many Porsches and met so many great people at such a diverse array of venues and locations. And though we love our Porsches I can truly say that “it’s not just the cars, it’s the people.”
–
Zone Rep Report November 2009
Since I last checked in, I’ve had a very busy time. After visiting the Llano Estacado Region in the panhandle of Texas, I came home and began packing for a trip to the opposite end of the Zone, the Intermountain Region of Utah. For several years now, the IMR has been hosting a Club Racing and HPDE event at Miller Motorsport Park, located in Tooele, just west of SLC. As it is their biggest event of the year, I figured that it would be my best shot as Zone Rep to connect with lots of members from the Region. Since it’s a popular event with drivers, it also afforded me an opportunity to connect with several members of other regions around the Zone too.
As part of my trip to Northern Utah, I made a pilgrimage out to my beloved Bonneville Salt Flats for the World of Speed, a five day long event held each September. Since I did my cartop record there back in the 80s, I’ve always wanted to drive a car there, so this was my chance. I entered their entry-level event called the 130 Club. For that event they give you a standing start mile in which to record your speed at the exit of the mile, then a half mile to slow down. Of course we know that Porsches should be able to do 130, but usually it’s done with some momentum already built up, not from a standing start. So I had my concerns.
With some creative taping, trimming of the rear wing, and higher than normal inflation of my autocross tires, I set off across the salt. With a first run of 134.9 and a second at 132.7, my little car easily made it! Now…how to get it into the 150 Club next year…? I should also mention that I saw at least six other Porsches on the salt. Some were running for the 130 Club like me. Several of the hot-rodders came over to look at my car and confessed that they drive Porsches and are PCA members. I even saw GT-Racing bodywork guru Hank Godfreson working as pit-crew for one of my fellow 130 Club runners from Grand Junction, CO. There was a fire-breathing 928 that was set up for the long course (five timed miles with a two mile run-up) complete with parachute! There was even an electric 911 conversion in its early stages doing some test runs on the short course.
During the intervening week, IMR president Otto Silva and his family graciously hosted me in their beautiful home in Lindon, UT. During the week Otto introduced me to several of the IMR members and to lots of non-members who were just interested in looking at the strange looking 911 parked in the driveway. It was great to meet more of our PCA members and prospective members. But at week’s end, it was time to transfer over to MMP for the Club Race and HPDE.
Many of us have heard of Miller Motorsport Park and have even seen it on TV. It has quite a reputation for being a world class facility. But until you see it in person it’s hard to really grasp just how well it’s done. When you come in the gates it’s almost sparkling like when Dorothy first sees Oz. Hundreds of flags, a gleaming clubhouse, a pit facility that rivals any, with covered mezzanines and beautiful classrooms and box seats. The paddock is large enough and covered with beautiful smooth tarmac that it could easily host one of the best and largest autocrosses in the country. There are several restaurants to choose from and enough garages that everyone could park their track cars inside, with plenty of room left over! And that’s before getting onto the track surface.
For this event, IMR was running the longest configuration: the 4.5 mile course. They are also able to configure the course as two separate courses of over 2 miles each (where they often run two events at the same time with separate pit facilities!) or they can run the outer perimeter course which is also over 3 miles long. There are many well placed corner stations and the emergency crews have their own internal road system to get to off-course vehicles with a minimum of yellow or white flag running. The surface is smooth and wide and because it’s used often for a variety of events, well rubbered-in. To emphasize the smoothness of the surface, I had brought a set of tires that I don’t especially care for and was looking to wear out during the three days of running…but didn’t! I still have tread-wear markers showing. Darn!
The course is daunting. It’s so big and fast that it doesn’t compare with anything this lil’ ol’ country boy had been on. My first session I felt so out of it that I could have sworn I’d been passed by a couple of kids on razor scooters and a little old lady in a wheel chair. But then I was reassured by many of the regulars that they had all gone through that at some point. Thankfully, I did improve dramatically during the weekend. I think I can honestly say that I learned more about driving in 3 days than I had in the previous 3 years. That’s what a good track can do for you. When you hear people talk about seat time, it’s not just driving and driving that creates experience, it’s subjecting yourself to a wide variety of tracks and vehicles and building up a catalogue of responses to a wide variety of situations that makes a driver better. I can now say that from experience! The last couple sessions I was feeling much more competent and confident and really having a good time.
Hats off to all the amazing IMR members who made the three-day-long event go smoothly and efficiently. Though they begin with a world-class facility to work with, they have risen to the occasion to put on a great event worthy of the location. For any of you who are interested either in Club Racing or Drivers’ Ed events I strongly recommend you make the trip to Tooele next season for the IMR event. It is one of the best!
Coming up, I’ll be participating in my home region’s Chili Cook-off, then heading down to the Southern end of the Zone again for the Carrera Region’s Oktoberfiesta in Deming, New Mexico and their Arroyo Seco track facility. Though we’re getting into the late days of the year, there’s always lots of activity going on in Zone 9, practically all the way to Christmas!
–
Zone Rep Report October 2009
August and early September have been a great time in Zone 9. I have a chance to reconnect with some old friends and meet some new ones. On August 30 I had a chance to attend the 39th annual Corrales Roundup at the home of Dave and Anne Stinchcomb of the Roadrunner Region. For anyone who’s been in the PCA for some period of time, you’ve probably run into this amazing couple who have hosted one of the Zone’s longest running events. Always gracious and wildly enthusiastic about Porsches, Dave was very instrumental with getting the Roadrunner Region going and has attended many Parades, 356 Registry events, and many, many other Porsche events of all kinds.
Their home is a traditional New Mexico adobe home with large nestled amongst large cottonwood trees in the Rio Grande bosque. It’s just a perfect setting for a late summer Porsche event. Not a judged event, it’s just a nice get together where owners come and chat and look at the cars and share stories. This year the Roadrunner Region used the event as an opportunity to show off its Region of the Year trophy. Region president Steven Stacy presented Dave and Anne with a beautiful Roadrunner plate in appreciation for their many years of dedication to the PCA motto: It’s not just the cars, it’s the people.
Another great opportunity to meet with some Zone 9 members came when I visited the Llano Estacado Region over in Amarillo. The Llano Estacado Region was at one time a large and very active region. But when the Air Force base closed, many of its members followed their job assignments and the region shrank to a small, but very enthusiast core of dedicated members. It was great to visit with them at their monthly breakfast meeting and hear both the new and the old stories. You may have seen mention of current president Joe Papp and his father and past-president Joseph Papp in a recent article about Porsche Parade in Excellence magazine. They had a few problems with their 911T on the trip to Parade and found the perfect remedy once they got home: get a new 997S! Of course they still have the 911T and they look great together.
It’s fun to be in a Zone where we have one of the largest regions in the country (the Rocky Mountain Region) and the smallest (Llano Estacado). It really does confirm that regardless of the size of the Porsche community, the enthusiasm and dedication remain the same to the best marques on the planet.
One last note. I’ve found that many PCA members are up-to-date with contemporary communications technology and social networking. I’m referring now to Facebook. At first I was like many of you and thought of it as a “kids” thing, but some of my fellow zone-reps strongly suggested that I sign up. Dutifully, I took the suggestion. But then I found that many of you in Zone 9 and across the country are members and regularly sign in and make posts. So, if you are on FB please look for me as add me as a friend. I love to keep in touch with our membership anyway I can. I’m not one of the Twitterati just yet, but you never know….
–
Zone Rep Report September 2009
Parade is now in our near-past, although it’s hard to believe that it’s already come and gone. All the work done by Cathy, Walt and the whole RMR/AMR crew paid off so handsomely that I’m sure everyone in the PCA will be talking about the Parade at Keystone for a very long time. And yet, for some of the people on the organizing committee, the work is not done yet. There are always “mop-up” issues to deal with. So, while the excitement is over, the work continues and we take our hats off to everyone still working on the success of our flagship event.
Now it’s back to “normal” for everyone, or at least as normal as we ever get in the Porsche Club. I mean a summer of driving tours, autocrosses, DE’s, Club Racing and other events featuring the greatest cars and people in the whole world doesn’t really match up with what most people might call “normal.” But that’s why we do what we do, isn’t it? After all, who really wants to be normal!
For me, I’m getting to spend a little time with my home Region, the Roadrunners. After a big travel tour in the spring through some our great Regions, I’ve been doing some autocrossing on the lots and tracks around Albuquerque. August will finish up with the 38th Annual Corrales Round-up at Dave and Anne Stinchcomb’s house with all the Porsches parked under the big cottonwood trees of the Rio Grande bosque. If you’re in the area or feel like a drive, try to make it. It’s one of the longest traditions of the Roadrunner Region and just a nice way to spend a late summer afternoon with lots of friendly Porsche enthusiasts.
In the fall, I’ll be making my way up to Utah for a visit to the Intermountain Region for their Super DE and Club Race at Miller Motorsports Center on the full 4.5 mile course. I can’t wait to run my car there and to see the amazing facility. I’ve heard so much about it. It’ll also be my first time to that end of our Zone, so I’m looking forward to meeting our Intermountain members.
But I have to admit that I’m also going to participate in one of my own very guilty pleasures while I’m up there. I’m taking the 964 out to the Bonneville Salt Flats for the USFRA’s World of Speed event. I don’t plan on breaking any records on this trip. I’ve just always wanted to drive a car on the Salt. Of course many of you know that I’ve ridden on a car to set a record there way back in the 80s during my ski racing days. If you’ve never been there, Bonneville is one of the great motor-racing Meccas on a par with Monaco, Indianapolis, Daytona, and Nurburgring. It’s scale is immense and the feats undertaken there are sometime incomprehensible.
Later in the fall, I’ll be making swings through the Southern end of the Zone and then back up to the Denver/Colorado springs area. So much to do, so many places to go, and so many great people to meet. I look forward to seeing you again soon.
–
Zone Rep Report August 2009
I’m writing this just a day after arriving home from Porsche Parade 2009 at Keystone, Colorado. If you were there, you know just what a wonderful and action-packed time it was. If you weren’t, you missed the best chance to go to a Parade in our own Zone in quite awhile and a fantastic event that will be talked about for years to come with great pride and affection. Kathy and Walt Fricke and their team of volunteers did a fantastic job with a huge undertaking. I can’t say enough about the event and the people. It was just a marvelous week.
For me it began on Saturday, June 26 in Breckenridge, Colorado. I immediately started encountering Parade goers on main street. Believe it or not, there were a couple of Porsches who were just passing through and didn’t even know there was a Porsche Parade going on!
Sunday got going very early, as I joined the PCA Executive Council to take notes and pitch in my two cents here and there as local Zone Rep. There are a number of things going on in the world of PCA and I can talk about a couple of them here. One is Extended Passing for DE events and the other is a new and improved PCA.org website that will be appearing soon. Extended Passing has been tested at several events back east this spring and will be available on an event-by-event volunteer basis and only for the advanced and instructor groups. Your presidents will be receiving the info soon and getting the information out to the DE chairs and committees. The website changes will be self-evident later in the month as you check out the PCA.org site.
Monday was more meetings, starting with the Zone Reps meeting, then moving into the PCA National Board Meeting. Among the jobs for the Zone Reps is the choosing of the PCA Escape site. We heard several great presentations for the 2010 Escape, but it was the proposal of the Canada West Region for an event at Sun Peaks, British Columbia. Pencil it in on your calendars for mid-September of 2010. It looks to be a great event. Speaking of PCA Escape, the event coming up in Dayton, Ohio (Escape to the Birthplace of Aviation) is building momentum, with Zone Rep Roy Wilkinson reporting that the Ohio committee has already received over 500 inquiries for information. Clearly, Escape is picking up momentum as a National-level event.
Finally, after all the meetings were over, I could begin my Parade recreational activities. I usually try to stay away from the concours, because I’m much more into driving than cleaning. But this year I gave it a try. Though I didn’t place, I did have fun and met some great people.
I’m not really a rallyist either, so I signed up to help out. It was great fun. I was lucky enough to be paired with former PCA president Bert Propp, a fun and interesting guy who has been Captaining checkpoints for over 50 years. Also joining us as timers and runners were Andy and Terri Williams of the Alabama Region, and Joe and Nancy Warren of the Rocky Mountain Region. Also, Delores McKinnon of the Sacramento Region. We were stationed at the base of Ski Cooper near Leadville. What a great location: quiet, cool, and beautiful.
Later, at the Concours dinner, my home region was honored with the Ferry Porsche trophy for Region of the Year. That was a special moment to see all the hard work by all of our members over the years get recognized. Then, Porsche AG and Porsche Cars North America took the opportunity to surprise all the attendees with the North American premiere of the 2010 Porsche Panamera. Wow! Fantastic! They even let everyone paw over it and sit in it. I can’t wait to drive one and check it out myself.
Thursday meant one thing: Autocross. Event Chair Dale Thero and his volunteer team set a great, flowing, rhythmic course that fully utilized the Tenderfoot Lot right next door to the Convention Center. I participated in the Cayenne class. This is a class that is definitely growing and shows that the Cayenne is increasingly finding acceptance in the Porsche community; much more so than even two years ago!
Thursday afternoon I took the time to check out the RC Autocross where kids and adults alike were trying their skills in the courtyard near the Ice Cream Social. Friday rolled around with the Tech Quiz and some social activities during the day, then the Autocross awards in the evening and suddenly it was Saturday, the last day of the event with the Volunteer Workers lunch and the final Victory Banquet. And suddenly what everyone had planned and worked toward for so long came to a close. What a fantastic time it was.
The Rocky Mountain and Alpine Mountain Regions proved that they can put on a World-Class event of fantastic proportions and again I have to thank Kathy and Walt Fricke and all of you who volunteered.
As Zone Rep, I was happy to meet so many of our members. Several of you took me up on my invitation to introduce yourselves if you should see me during Parade and I appreciate that you did. It’s always rewarding to meet members of the various Regions in the Zone and to welcome lots of our visitors from the rest of the country. As has been said so many, many times about PCA: It’s not just the cars, it’s the people. I look forward to seeing all my friends again and meeting even more of you at events around our fantastic Zone 9.
–
Zone Rep Report July 2009
The summer months are heating up in all the regions and I mean that in at least two ways. Besides the obvious — since we’re now getting into the warmer days and evenings — activities of all sorts are going on around Zone 9. Members of the Roadrunner Region have enjoyed their annual summer picnic complete with various friendly contests in horse-shoes and bocce ball. The Carrera region has had a very successful DE event in Alpine, Texas during which they raised over $3000 for a local charity.
The Alpine Mountain Region, the Rocky Mountain Region and the Intermountain Region have all had very successful DE events. The West Texas Region is having one of its most active years in recent history. And little Llano Estado is still having its Region sponsored monthly breakfasts. Zone 9 is abuzz with activity. June is especially busy. As I write this, I’m getting ready to drive to Colorado Springs for the last Parade Planning meeting and the 26th Annual Exotic Sports Car Show and Concours D’Elegance in Littleton. No doubt there will be lots to do and many great people to meet.
But the real story for this year is Parade in Keystone, Colorado. Believe it or not, it’s the sixth Parade for Zone 9 in Colorado. Our Zone has an amazing history of putting on spectacular events. Registrations are remarkably strong this year, especially considering what could have been two mitigating factors: the economy and the distance Keystone is from either coast. But that doesn’t seem to matter.
The scenery is fantastic, the driving roads are great and there’s just something about an alpine glow, — especially on several hundred finely detailed Porsches of all shapes, models, and colors – that brings the people in from all over the continental United States. And that’s not mentioning the people. Of course we know that Zone 9 people are great. And we have to thank Walt and Kathy Fricke and all of their dedicated team for working so diligently for the past five years to make this all happy. But just as much, each of us should look forward to acting as ambassadors for our guests from around the country. Many of them will be coming up from sea level and will be hard hit by altitude. Be gentle with them and remind them to go easy, use lots of sunscreen, and keep hydrated. You’re going to make lots and lots of new Porsche friends.
I know that I’m looking forward to seeing many of the PCA friends from around the country that I’ve made in the past several years. And it’s going to be fun to show them around our great mountain roads and share stories from all the various events we’ve been to.
We’re all going to be very busy that week, but be sure to introduce yourself when you see me. I’m looking forward to meeting as many of you as I can. Don’t be shy. I’m easy to pick out of crowd. Just look for the giant with the bald head, goatee and shades. I know that it starts to sound like a cliché, but it really is true that PCA is not just about the cars, it’s about the people. See you there!
–
Zone Rep Report June 2009
We’re getting into the busy part of the season now with many Regional events already underway and many, many more coming up as we head into summer. I’ve been busy and on the road in the past month. Though March was a slower “catch-my-breath” time, April got very busy.
In mid-April I headed up to Denver for the Parade Committee meeting. I know that this year’s Parade will be a successful one because I was able to see the extent of the work being done. About 80 people from all over the country came to make their reports and team together to coordinate their efforts. The “only” hindering factor for the meeting was the epic-sized snowfall that hit Colorado the weekend of the meeting. It was a testament of the dedication of PCA members that about 95% of the meeting’s attendees made it in despite some very challenging weather. Anyone who was in Denver that weekend will tell you that the snow-storm was more akin to those in the Sierras than the Rockies.
The Rocky Mountain Region, with support from the Alpine Mountain Region, hosted a social get together the evening of the Parade Committee meeting that was well attended by local members and National Officers and Staff. It was great to get out and meet more of the members of the Northern Regions. I look forward to meeting more people throughout the summer. Porsche people, as you all know, are really great and come from a wide array of backgrounds. I’m always amazed at the kinds of topics discussed by the members. Such a diverse group of people!
The next day was a little quieter as I attended the PCA Executive Council Meeting to take notes and make the minutes report to the council of Zone Reps. Several of the EC members asked me my thoughts during the day about the process. My comment is: when you’re working at the Regional level, so much of what you hear from National is a “murmur.” It’s much better to hear it in person and to get to know the issues up front and in detail. Of course, EC discusses many issues that will eventually become PCA policy, so providing snippets is not encouraged. The EC meetings are where the wrinkles are ironed out and the details are formulated. That way, by the time you hear what is going on, things will be well thought and ready to be put in place. But I can tell you this much. A main topic of the day was the problem that you all know about with the PCA National website and the way in which it affected many of the nations Regional websites. Rest assured the situation got the attention of the EC in a big and meaningful way and many steps are being taken to keep that situation from repeating itself.
The day after the EC meeting, I took the opportunity to drive home via Keystone, our Parade site for this summer. Since many of my Region’s members are avid autocrossers, I took the opportunity to visit the site and take lots of photos of the venue. It’s not anywhere as big as some of sports stadia and tracks we’ve used in the past, but it’s of ample size and will be a fun site. Certainly no autocross venue in the US will have the kind of scenic backdrop this one does!
The drive wasn’t half-bad either. I elected to go up and over Loveland pass on the way to Keystone, which was recently snow-covered. Loveland and A-Basin ski areas were both packed with enthusiastic spring skiers with big smiles on their faces! The drive home through Breckenridge, the Arkansas and San Luis Valleys was great too, with all the fresh snow on the 14ers.
A short break ensued and I was packing up for another trip, this time down to Lubbock, Texas for the West Texas Region’s RUF event. Every few years the folks from the RUF Auto Centre in Dallas bring some cars up to Lubbock to Gene Messer’s Volkswagen for the West Texas Region to show off to their members. A whole day of activities was built around the event with a lunch, a drive-out, and a dinner. About 37 Porsche drivers and their cars showed up for the event, which is a very large turn-out for WTR. It was a really fun day and I got to see some old friends and meet lots of new ones. It was my first real exposure to Texas culture, so I learned a lot!
On the way home I took the opportunity to do couple of things that have been on my list for a long time. One was to visit the Chaparral Car Collection at the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum in Midland. Having seen some of these cars race in the Can-Am back in the late 60s and early 70s, it was sure great to see them again, now fully restored and bright and shiny. It’s impressive how modern they still look, a tribute to Jim Hall’s brilliant innovative mind and uninhibited imagination.
After the seeing the Chaparrals, I decided to go underground…literally. I went up to Carlsbad, NM and visited the Caverns. I opted for the “walk-down” trail. If you do it, make sure you’re in good shape, because it’s a long and steep walk down. Very impressive! As you’re walking you realize that whoever went down there the first time really WANTED to go down there!
Now we’re into May and I’m taking a little time off from my Zone Rep duties to get all my over 50 medical exams done and to go back east for my nieces wedding and a huge family reunion. Then I’ll be back in June in time for a whole slew of events around the Zone, culminating with Parade at Keystone. I hope to see you all there!
–
Zone Rep Report May 2009
After the flurry of activity that February was for a new Zone Rep, March was a time for getting one’s feet back on the ground. No junkets off to exotic locales or rubbing shoulders with big-wigs, just getting down to looking through rule-books, getting acquainted with forms, and getting things set up for a busy summer ahead. I could take solace that Zone 9 wasn’t already in the thick of activity in the same way that Zone 12 is in Florida. The Zone Rep from that region is responsible for PCA Car corrals at both Sebring and Daytona endurance events, not to mention that she has 15 regions that are within (relative to the Southwest) easy driving distance. She says that she often visits four different regional activities in ONE weekend! Certainly a double-edged sword: it’s a huge time commitment, but also a lot of fun. Don’t we wish that we had a Daytona and a Sebring in our Zone!!!
Nonetheless, the ground is warming in Zone 9 and the buzz of activity is in the air. As many of you know, High Plains Raceway is open for business, adding to a nice array of useable tracks for the Colorado Regions. Miller Motorsports Park in Utah will be hosting the American Le Mans Series in May. Several regions have already had autocrosses (the Roadrunner Region barely stops for the Holidays!) and the first DE’s are coming up soon for RMR, AMR, IMR, and the Carrera Region. With the advent of spring weather, several driving tours will be going out and there are more and more social events happening in the Zone.
As I write this report, I’m packing my bags to for a drive to Denver for two PCA meetings. The Parade Committee meeting will be held on April 18 at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center location. The PCA Executive Committee will be flying in for the occasion. That evening there will be a social/mixer for the locals and the national officers to meet and greet. I’m very much looking forward to that mixer, since it will be the first time that I’ll be meeting some of the members of Regions from outside of my own in my new capacity as Zone Rep. The following day, the EC will be having its spring meeting. As hosting Zone Rep, I’m responsible for taking minutes for that meeting. Then, if the weather is cooperative, I’m hoping to travel through Keystone to check out some of the venues. While it’s certainly not on the easy route home, I did live in Colorado for 30 years and I just want to see some of my old haunts again on the way home.
I’ll be home for just long enough to catch up on some work, then it’s off to the other end of the Zone for another event. The West Texas Region has been working closely with the RUF dealership in Dallas to bring some of their cars to Lubbock for a show of the cars and their capabilities. It’s a traditional event for WTR and perhaps their biggest event of the year, so I’ll be making an appearance there as a Zone dignitary and to meet more of the members of our large and geographically diverse Zone (and to see some of the great RUF cars!). Then it’s back home for awhile.
As some of you may already know, I’ve been busy this winter putting a roll-cage in my car. So I need to finish up that project and get the car drivable again. Though it’s a big step that many Porsche-owners agonize over, I decided to do it for a couple of reasons. One, I’m planning some suspension upgrades and I wanted to make sure I had a solid chassis foundation before doing so. There’s no use putting stiff suspension on a soft car.
Secondly, some of the events I’ve been doing have been what I would call “sustained high speed” events. I’ve already been using a harness bar and a neck-collar, but it occurred to me that being on the safer side is always a better option. And that brings me to a segue for this column.
Just become I’m doing it, don’t think that I’m one of those people who think that everyone should be doing what I’m doing. Just because I’m putting in a cage, I don’t expect that everyone should run out and do the same thing. However, with all the activity that the summer months will bring, I am hoping that safety will be on everyone’s mind. Whether your adding extra hardware to your car, buying a new helmet and HANS or just being more conscious about your, your family’s, and your friends’ safety during the tours and social events, it should be a topic on everyone’s mind as we get ready to embark on a summer of fun events.
So, as the safety talks for the autocrosses, DE’s, tours, and tech sessions are given, let’s all keep our ears and eyes open for one another and be sure that at the end of the year we’re all just as happy and safe as we are just before the season gets started. It’s part of what we do.
–
Zone Rep Report April 2009
Things are getting busy all over in Zone 9 and my activity has picked up as well. The very next week after the Zone 9 Meeting in Albuquerque, Sandra and I ventured to New Orleans for the PCA National Meetings and Zone Rep College. I was in meetings all day while Sandra had the opportunity to get out and see some of the city sites with a group of the “significant others.” The first day of meetings, for me, was taken up by the Zone Rep college.
The college was led by PCA VP Manny Alban with the guest list being a literal who’s who of PCA national officers and chairs. It was said many times during the day that “though you think you might have been very active in your own region, when you get to the national level it’s mind-boggling to see how much activity it takes to make PCA run efficiently and smoothly.” I can attest to the truth of that statement. I can also attest to the capabilities of the people working at the National level. It’s humbling to be in their presence, let alone to be considered a peer.
Much of Zone Rep college covered procedures, financial information, insurance and liability issues, changes to policy, what to expect as a Zone Rep, and myths and urban legends about PCA (did you know that there is no National policy about whether windows should be open or closed during DE and Autocross?)
While I was in college, Sandra was in cooking school. Angie Gibson arranged the activity (self-paid, NOT an expense item) for the family members to learn about some of the famous New Orleans cuisine. From all accounts it was fun and delicious. In the evening, the PCAers descended en masse on the famous Drago’s restaurant for some of their famous char-broiled oysters. YUM! Then it was off to Mardi Gras. The Mardi Gras Region (you know they have to enjoy themselves!) had a big evening planned for us as each year they rent a balcony above Bourbon Street to enjoy the opening night of celebrations. It was really a blast to get out and see all the crazy people having so much fun. New Orleans certainly has a flavor all its own.
The first half of the second day was taken up with the actual Zone Rep meeting. No more tutoring, this was the time to take up the real issues on the Zone Rep list of to-dos. Again, it was great to meet, see and work with such a talented and dedicated group of people, and to get to know everyone on a more personal basis. On the discussion list were items such as Parade (this year and future years), Escape, DE rules, and PCA Car Corrals (nee Porscheplatzes). After a brief lunch – during which I sat between PCA Insurance Chair Ken Laborde and PCNA representative Steve Krysil – we went on to the Board of Directors’ meeting. Once again it was humbling to hear of all the activity going on with Club Racing, Parade, PCA Car Corrals, Regionfocus, and on and on and on. While we were in meeting, Sandra took the opportunity to tour the city with Roxanne Alban and see some of the sites, including the Mardi Gras museum. After a long and productive day, it was time for a little rest and then on to more activities with the Mardi Gras Region.
For Saturday night they arranged for us to be on the bleachers of a couple of the parades. It was really amazing to see all the floats and bands. Every band had their own version of a step! And we caught so MANY beads! I had so many that I was giving them away to the nice older lady behind me who wanted them for her family reunion. To give you an idea of how many beads there were, I practically got knocked out by an entire package of beads that came from somewhere in the sky! Even giving them away, we still ended up bringing a lot home. I have to say that the time in New Orleans was incredibly productive, but also loads of fun. It was hard to believe that we packed in so much of each in only a two and a half day period.
After New Orleans I flew to upstate NY for my annual “good-son duty.” My parents are 89 and 93 and I go back each year to help relieve my brother and sisters from their regular care schedules. It was a pretty good couple of weeks with my parents doing as well as can be expected for those venerable ages. But I was also able to get in a little car-stuff when I was there. My sister lives in Saratoga Springs, NY which now has a very nice automotive museum. saratogaautomuseum.com Though their current main exhibit is centered around much older cars, their sports and racing collection features a 1935 Maserati V8RI, a 1956 Ferrari Indy-car, and a 1950 Allard J2. Sure, no Porsches, but these were real pieces of art. Besides, I would get a good dose of Porsche the next day when I drove down to Danbury, Connecticut to the Zone 1 Tech Tactics.
Zone 1 has the tech session of all tech sessions, with the list of speakers coming right out of the back page of your Panorama. Talks were given by Tech Committee Chair Peter Smith, PCNA rep Paul Gagliardi , and a host of others with the featured speaker of the day being none other than the legendary Norbert Singer. The session was held at the Farnbacher-Loles shop farnbacherloles.com which just happens to be in the same building and right next door to the Highcroft Racing shop patronhighcroftracing.com What a great day it was. With Zone 1 being the entire Northeast of the USA and Eastern Canada there were many PCA luminaries on hand, including past-president Prescott Kelly, DE Chair Pete Tremper, Executive Director Vu Nguyen, VPManny Alban, (PCA General Council) David and (Safety Guidelines Chair)Arlene Novack and so on. So it was a good day to learn about Porsches, but also to get to know many of our national staff people a little bit better.
The next day it was a long and tight flight back to New Mexico and reality. Being a Zone Rep can be a lot of fun at times, but it’s really about staying on top of the paperwork and keeping track of the Regions and serving you, the members. Parade registration got my attention early and many of the regions are starting to thaw out from the winter and get your regular activities going again. Though the economy is hurting all over, Porsche fans are a dedicated and enthusiastic bunch with a never-say-never attitude. Hence, I look forward to a busy and productive year as I start scheduling my visits to the Regions.
I look forward to meeting each of you.
–
Zone Rep Report March 2009
I can finally say that I’ve started my Zone 9 Rep duties. On February 7 I convened my first Zone meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We had representation from all of the Regions in the Zone. The Friday night before the meeting, Roadrunner Region President Steven Stacy was generous to host those dignitaries who came in from out of the area to his house for a night of great food and conversation. Of course there were plenty of “toys” to look at too. We even fired up the Carrera GT just to get ours appetites going. There’s nothing like the sound of a 6 liter V-10 to make the mouth water.
The next day, things got going in earnest. We discussed many of the usual safety, liability, and financial issues that come up in every Zone meeting. We also looked over the schedules of each of the Regions to hear about what events would be coming up. Of course Parade is on everyone’s mind, being that it’s in our Zone and is hosted by the RMR and AMR Regions and Chaired by former Zone Rep Cathy Fricke. Keystone is going to be a wonderful locale for a Parade and everyone is eager to make the trip. The Roadrunner Region is scaling down its Fiesta del Porsche in order to encourage more people to make the trip to Colorado.
We also took some time to discuss this past year’s PCA Escape and the upcoming Escape in Ohio. The first PCA Escape was in California Wine Country in 2005. Since then there have been Escapes in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York, the historic region around Washington, D.C. and the Escape hosted by the Roadrunner Region this past year. Because Parade has been THE PCA event for so long, Escape has stood in its shadow. But it’s starting to gain prominence, especially when Parade is distant from one end of the coast or the other. Also, Escape is designed to be a non-competitive event, hence less stressful. Of course, Parade is close by for all of us in Zone 9 this year. But in future years Escape will be closer when Parade is far away, so think about supporting it wherever it may be.
At noon the group broke for a walk down to the Old Town Plaza and a great lunch where the main topic was – you guessed it – Porsches. Of course, it was less formal and everyone was curious about what would be going on the world of Porsche racing, the current articles in Excellence and Panorama. Then a nice walk back to get back to business for the afternoon.
Traditionally, the afternoon sessions of the Zone meetings are all about Newsletters. But this year we divided up the time for discussions about newsletters and websites. I went on long enough about websites in last month’s piece, so I’ll just say that it was good to get some of the Regional Webmasters together to share problems, solutions and ideals. I’m looking forward to more communication amongst our dignitaries this year so that hopefully everyone will learn a bit and we’ll raise our game accordingly.
For the newsletter segment of the discussion, the conversation took a similar course. Our Zone is comprised of very large and very, very small regions. So the needs and expectations are entirely different. RMR has over 1000 members and Llano Estacado is likely the smallest Region in the PCA with 18 members scattered out over a huge geographic area. West Texas and Carrera Regions are also small regions, so the problems associated with producing a newsletter that serves the respective Regions are quite different. Sometimes just having a newsletter is a large achievement!
In open discussion, other issues came up, such as finding a way to simplify the wording of the Parade Competition Rules so that mortals can undertand them. It was also suggested that now that we have a Zone 9 logo that we should also have pins, patches, and badges available. AMR President Chris Lennon suggested that we could use whatever proceeds to fund a Zone 9 get-together during Parade. I suggested later on that perhaps we could also have a Zone 9 Challenge trophy for a Zone member who participates in events in the most Regions (rule are being worked out). The Zone 9 Challenge Trophy could be handed out at the Zone get-together. Finally, we called it a day.
That evening, the Roadrunner Region put on its traditional Zone 9 dinner and had a great turn-out of Region members to welcome all the various dignitaries from out of state. From the noise in the room, a good time was had by all.
From my perspective, it was good to finally get things going as the Zone Rep. The meeting seemed to go well, with lots of communication, new friendships forged, ideas suggested and maybe even some problems on their way to being solved. By the time you read this piece, I will have been to New Orleans for my first PCA Executive Council meeting and will have gone through Zone Rep “college.” I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone and learning even more about the process. I’ve been asked to lead discussions on two topics: websites for the Regions and Escape.
Then, I’ll be heading back to Upstate New York on family business for 10 days. But it’s my luck Zone 1 will be hosting their annual tech session at Farnbacher/Loles in Danbury, Connecticut while I’m there. It’s only two hours from my family’s home, so I’ll drop down for the day. Norbert Singer will be the featured speaker at the night-time dinner. During the day there will be many tech-topics discussed.
So the next time you hear from me, I’ll have lots more to say about how life is going as Zone Rep.
–
Zone Rep Report February 2009
Last month I described, in general terms, what a Zone Rep does. That was fairly easy, because I was able to draw upon my conversations with previous Zone Reps and with the information that PCA National supplies. This month’s piece is much more difficult to write, mostly because my term only recently began and I haven’t done much yet. I’ve spent some time on the PCA site looking through all the various forms I’ll be using for budgets and expenses. I’ve perused some of the recent issues of RegionFocus — which I suggest everyone who is active in club leadership spend some time with. I’ve been planning the Zone 9 Meeting for February 7th in Albuquerque, and I built a website for the Zone http://zone9.pca.org
OK, I know that it sounds like a lot, but what I mean is that I haven’t actually spent much time yet attending and participating in various events around the Zone. For example, I haven’t been on one of the PCA phone-in Executive Council Meetings. I haven’t been to the National meeting which will be held in mid-February in New Orleans. I haven’t been to Zone Rep “college.” And I haven’t yet put on my first Zone meetings. So while I’ve been busy doing some house-readying, I haven’t actually begun the business part of the job. Most of that work starts in the days and weeks following this installment.
But speaking about some of the prep work, most notably the creation of the Zone 9 Website, I’ve already made a suggestion for conversation at the National level that we provide some of our Regions and Zones with some web-help, either in the way of seminars and forums or even by supplying an easy to use template to help some of the less web-savvy volunteer webmeisters have an easier time setting up a site. It doesn’t take a text-happy ‘tweeny’ to know that the web has become the dominant force in information sharing. Even us late blooming boomers rarely pick up a phone book or an encyclopedia (a what?) any more, since we can find out almost everything we want to know by googling or yahooing in about half a second. It has to follow, that one of the best tools a Region has to promote the success of its events is its website.
As I see it, the PCA National Site and the Region sites are the most important tools for the administration and the membership that the Club has currently. (Uh-oh, I can already hear all the Newsletter editors and fans crying out in protest. Not to worry, as a 4-year newsletter editor, I have something very good to say in that area too.) Cruising around the PCA web-world I’ve noticed that some of the Zones had their own sites also and I see the Zone sites as valuable in promoting unity and continuity between the Regions of a Zone and a link between the Regions and National. Some of the Zones that have high population density (such as the Los Angeles and New York areas) promote a lot of multi-region events on their Zone sites. So in those areas, the Zone sites are more important. But for the most part, it’s the pca.org site and the Region sites which are the most valuable tools to the membership.
But because PCA is a volunteer organization, we have many enthusiastic members who are diving head first into . . . an activity that is as clear as pea-soup. “Sure, I’ll be the web-master. . . uh, what is it that web-masters do? And what does all this gobbledy-gook mean?” Diving into the world of HTML, CSS, and FTP (let alone PHP, ASP, MySQL, etc.) for the first time is daunting, intimidating, frustrating, and even humiliating. Even using programs like Dreamweaver can be scary. Where does one even start? It’s plain to see that some of our Regions need some help with this work.
Of course in some regions we have web-professionals designing and building sites and that’s a wonderful thing. It’s fun to cruise around the various Zone and Regional sites to see the amazing skill, professionalism and imagination of some of the webmeisters. But in the end, getting the info out is the most important goal for a Region site. If we’re heaping an overwhelmingly daunting job on web-newbies, lots of times we end up with information roadblocks instead of super-highways.
Hence, for the Zone 9 meeting that will be held the first week of February in Albuquerque, I’ve broken with tradition. Previously, the Zone Meeting has been for the Region Presidents and Newsletter Editors to get up to speed on policy, content, and design of events and publicity. But this year I’ve invited the Region Webmasters to come also so that we might start weaving-in some of the web-gaps between the Regions of Zone 9 and start sharing some of the wealth of skills and information.
Because our Zone is spread out over such a vast territory, it’s doubtful that we’ll ever have the kinds of multi-region activities that take place in Zone 1 or Zone 8, but we can do a better job of connecting and communicating with each other via the web. As someone who was self-taught and then later spent some time in school learning web-skills, I have found that doing web-stuff is actually kind of fun. . .if you know what you’re doing.
Besides the effort to uphold the strong Zone Rep traditions set by my predecessors, among my many goals will be to bring a stronger sense of unity through the Zone by using the power of the Web. To get started, we’ll have to get our webmasters together with the presidents and newsletter editors at the Zone 9 meeting and start sharing information and skills.
Next time I’ll talk about the role of Newsletters in this process.
–
Zone Rep Report January 2009
Some of you have heard that I’ve been appointed the Zone 9 PCA rep for the next two years and have issued congratulations, usually followed by the question: so what is a Zone Rep? That’s a good question and one that I’ll be answering myself in the coming months and years. After I attend the Zone Rep College in New Orleans in February, I’ll be better able to answer that question, but for now, I’ll take the easy way out and talk about PCA structure and draw upon some answers given to me by previous Zone Reps Kathy Fricke, Howard Burr, Dale Thero, and Larry Pittsley.
As you know, the Porsche Club of America is the largest single-marque car club in the world with almost 58,000 primary members and 100,000 members including family members and significant others. To keep an organization running well– especially one that offers so many activities to its members – requires a strong infrastructure. Hence, the PCA has an executive committee that includes a President, VP, Treasurer, Secretary, and Executive Director (the guy who keeps everything running from day to day). The Executive Director and his small staff are the only paid employees. All the rest are volunteers. Take a look in the back of your Panorama Magazine sometime to see how many people it takes to make it go at the National Level, then multiply that by all the great people who keep the Regions going. It’s pretty impressive.
The next level of participation and oversight is at the Zone Rep level. Because PCA takes in all of the USA and Canada and there are 139 Regions, it would be a little much to just have the Executive Board try to keep track of everything that goes on. Hence, PCA is divided into 13 Zones, each of which is comprised of several regions. Our Zone 9 is comprised of 7 Regions: Llano Estacado, West Texas, Carrera, Roadrunner, Alpine Mountain, Rocky Mountain, and Intermountain. Our Region stretches from all the way down near Big Bend country, through New Mexico, Colorado, and into Utah and Wyoming! That’s a huge geographic area for a Zone. But there are other large geographic Zones, so we’re not alone. Take a look at the Region Directory at PCA.org sometime to get an idea of scale. One Zone Rep has the job of representing Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. I’m guessing s/he doesn’t drive the Porsche on those trips….
The Zone Rep acts as a member of the PCA Board. As Kathy Fricke noted in a piece she wrote for me a few years ago, “Zone Representatives work long hours and spend many weekends traveling the highways and byways going to and from regional and national events. Because the Zone Representative is in the best position to know their Regions, we may be called upon by National council members or committee chairmen to assist in various special situations. We also serve as regional Safety Observers if we are present at an event. What the description does not address is the fact that for many members we are the only PCA National representative they may have convenient access to. In most regional disputes the Zone Rep will act as the catalyst, the arbitrator, and at times the person in the middle between the member regions and the Executive Council.”
Zone Reps are responsible for assisting the Regions in any way they can, and try to help ensure the general welfare of each of the Regions in their Zone. We try to meet with each Region President a minimum of once a year, but usually more often. We solicit written Regional proxies for all national Board of Directors meetings, after giving explanations of known issues prior to the National Board meetings. We have monthly conference calls with the other twelve Zone Reps and this year’s new PCA President, Kurt Gibson. Many hours are spent at the computer answering email and writing Quarterly reports.
I’m really looking forward to the new challenge of being Zone 9 Rep, since its duties will put me in touch with an ever larger group of great people in our corner of the PCA world. I haven’t had much opportunity to spend time in Texas, so I’m sure I’ll be learning much, much more about that part of our country. Obviously, I’ve been neck-deep in the Roadrunner Region for the past several years and I look forward to serving our Region in a new and different role. Both Sandra and I lived in Colorado for a good part of our lives, so we’re both eager to spend more time up there visiting, touring, and meeting people. And though I haven’t spent a lot of time in Utah, some of my best memories are skiing at Alta and Snowbird and racing on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Hopefully this will answer some of your questions. Next month I’ll let you in on more as I learn and grow into the position.