From the President March 2013

2013 President

2013 President

Greetings to All and Happy March! Still a chill in the air, but next month might just be the time to break out your P-Car from its long winter’s nap… Lots of fun items to let you know about this month. First, the Zone President’s meeting was attended by VP Scott Ishler and me on March 2. Our region continues to be the model to which others aspire. We discussed some ideas of how we can improve communication and efficiencies within the club which we will implement to make the club even more open and fun for ALL.

An important announcement for you Trackies out there is Tim Hronek has agreed to be on the Track Comittee. Tim will be working with current Track Chair / Utility Infielder, Dale Rabeneck, until Dale and family head south later this year. We are excited that Tim will be learning from the best. And if you’re so inclined, contact Tim or me if you’d like to be a part of the Track program. It’s one of the best parts of our club. In other Rabeneck News, we’re still looking for a Treasurer! If you can count and would like to participate to coordinate our finances, we’d love to have you.

Want to thank KC and the Car Store [sounds like a 70’s band…] again for a great Mid-Winter party. I am still pleased that so many showed up despite challenging weather. So after we thank KC for his hospitality and omnipresent generosity, I get the following email from him:

Hello George & gang-
I want to thank you for coming to the mid-winter party. It was fun for all. As I was driving home in the snow, I came to realize I would like to have a party when it’s warm outside. In the winter we get together and have some fun, but it’s all in doors due to weather and no one brings their car. My thoughts are A Mid-Summer party on Saturday June 8th, a car show and a little outside grilling…
Thanks
K.C.

So it looks as though we’ll be having a grilling / car show / ARPCA Fest at the Car Store in June! Thanks KC. We couldn’t have this kind of club event without your support. I think this will be the beginning of a new tradition!

An event to consider in the more immediate future is the Porsche Swap Meet in Hershey on April 20. On the evening before the Swap meet, there is another event will be running on Friday April 19 in Hershey. The AACA Museum [Antique Auto Club of America] in Hershey has invited our chapter to a special event with Karl Ludvigsen; the distinguished author of Porsche: Origin of the Species. He will be here at the AACA Museum on Friday April 19th where we can enjoy food and beverages along with Karl’s presentation. When we are there we can also enjoy the Porsche Style and Design exhibit with more than 20 Porsches on display. So, again, it might be a fun thing to take a Ferris Bueller Day Off on the 19th and hit the museum on Friday, grab dinner as a group and then hit the Swap Meet on Saturday… Who’s with me?!?!? Shoot me an email if you plan to attend: porsche955tt@comcast.net so I can let them know how many attendees will be there.

Want to thank the Auto Palace for hosting our February club meeting. If you haven’t been to this facility, it is one of the most dramatic Porsche showrooms you’ll likely see. And there are exotics beyond Porsches… Thanks as always to Aaron and Debbie for hosting us! We are so fortunate as a region that we have two Porsche dealerships who support our club. Please come and see what we do at our meetings. You might even learn the secret password…

The CANNOT MISS event of the year is the All-Member Dinner which will be held at Rico’s on April 13 [thank you Judi Seiler!]. This is one of our finest events as we introduce ourselves to our newest members. The new ‘pledge master’ will take our initiates and help them cross the bridge into full P-Car cult status… It is truly an event you’ll always remember. Remember, new members go for free and are eligible for terrific prizes that range from free admission to track events to the PVGP weekend. Hope to see as many members as possible, old and new, at this event. Also in April is our Highway Clean-Up [also April 13] and our first club event to the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville [April 27]. Check out our website arpca.com and our email blasts for more information!!!

A great way to get a conversation started [or get some new content for our newsletter!] is to let the club know about your First Porsche. I’ll get the ball rolling… My first Porsche was a silver 917 race car. It was a Matchbox and thanks to my sainted mother, I still have it… I didn’t know at 4 or 5 years old that it was a Porsche, but I did know that it was cool looking. Fast forward 21 years when TLN [that is The Lovely Nancy…] and I were living in California. We bought a used 1982 911SC Targa in Guards Red from a Navy pilot who just got a job with United and was moving to Chicago. He turned down my first offer, but made the mistake of letting me know when he was moving. That week, I gave him a call to let him know my offer was still in play. Grudgingly, he traded me keys for cash. We brought that car back to Pittsburgh and subsequently joined the Porsche Club. I sometimes see that car rolling around Pittsburgh and smile… Since then, we’ve been fortunate to have had a 1993 911 RS America, a white 1994 968 Coupe, a 2000 Boxster S in speed yellow and a dark green Cayenne Turbo. Whether you have one or many Porsches, you only have 1 first Porsche. Let’s hear about it!

So ARPCAers, the chill is almost behind us. Driving weather is near!!! Thanks for all of the positive comments about the new format of our Rundschau. STILL need to find a key advertiser for our centerfold / calendar! How about your business? It’s an effective way to reach a key demographic on a monthly basis for your product… We’ve submitted our publication to PCA national to snare an award! I bet we bring home some iron! With that, I wish you GUTE FAHRT! –George