From the President August 2013

Greetings to All and Happy August!  We are in the sweet spot of ‘Porsche Season,’ with warm weather and several Porsche-related happenings.  Of course our biggest annual event, the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix happened over the July 20-21 weekend and was a monster success.  So cool to see the cars, the people, the racing etc.

Want to mention that this year was the 10th year the Ken and Louise Jeremiah ran the PVGP for the club.  It was an elegant affair under their tutilage for the past decade, but all good things must come to an end!  They will be passing the baton to Ed Rice [our local 928 Shark officiando…] for PVGP 2014.  Ken and Louise have given so much to the club that we had to create another award for their excellence in running the PVGP…  So on Sunday we gave them the ‘Toast of the Town’ award for making the PVGP such a terrific event…  The ‘trophy’ was a 1970’s era Allegheny Region PCA mug that I’d found on eBay!  I know that Louise might have to surrender it to Ken to sample some fine ales, but we simply cannot express how much you two have done to make the PVGP so outstanding!

But I get ahead of myself…  The weekend started on Friday afternoon at the Double Wide Bar & Grill in the South Side where John Diwick, from the Chicago Region PCA, brought 25 cars and 40+ people for a welcome party.  Want to thank Steve Zumoff, the owner, for his hospitality and for securing us off-street parking for all the P-cars.  It was a grand affair with people discussing who beat whom along the way and how they looked forward to the event.  Later that evening, the Jeremiahs hosted a soire for volunteers and our annual grouping of Canadian folk.  Another great kick-off to the weekend.

The PVGP weekend was a wonderful 2-days of racing and meeting new and old friends.  Randy Evans, our resident Porsche racer was out and turning fine laps.  Our door prizes were fantastic!  Thanks to Greater Pitt Collision Works, Goosebumps, thePattersonGroup, the ARPCA Goodie Store, the PCA Coastal Empire Region, Artifacts, Black Out Tinting and all who contributed.  Thanks to the Goodie Store for fantastic ARPCA Swag!  Thanks to Michael Tambellini for the best catered lunch at the event…  Thanks to the volunteers who stuffed envelopes, worked registration, guided parking, worked at the Goodie Store.  Thanks to Rob Hoffman for his MC duties.  As you can see, there are MANY people who make this event work… 

The best way to show what a success the weekend was is to print a note I received from the Chicago group.  It was sent to John Diwick, who organized the event, from Carl Armand – both great people:

Dear Beth & John, 

Carol & I thank you for a fantastic trip and weekend.   We are trying to decide which part was best. 

Was it the caravan to Pittsburgh?  Yes. Carol certainly had fun with her paddles. (inside joke)

How about the “Double Wide Bar & Grill”.  Yes. The Allegheny Region hospitality?  Absolutely. 

How about the greeting by the PCA-Allegheny folks at the track, great parking, wonderful food, door prizes (even though there were no doors ).  George Patterson, Louise & Ken Jeremiah, Scott Ishler and all the rest were fantastic making us feel at home.  I’m thinking that the story telling sessions were right up there at the top of the list.  The race has to be high on the list.  Seeing that many classic cars actually racing was a real treat.  That was a very well run event.  Carol and Karen even took a ride in a race car around the track.  Carol is still talking about that.  She thinks drift-racing is a hoot and might try it at Road America (well maybe not)

Dinner, OMG dinner.  I promised myself that I would not eat too much.  I broke the promise.

You and Beth outdid yourselves with hospitality.  Thank you so much for your generosity.

Everyone will have to pick what was best.  We can’t decide.

We truly appreciate all you did from start to finish to create this fantastic experience for all of us.

Best regards,
Carl & Carol

So now we’re in August.  Our business meeting will happen at Bill and Sandy Zeilinski’s home [check arpca.com for directions].  Please come out!  We want to see YOU.  We have our ‘local’ Driver’s Education event on the 10th – 11th at PittRace with a fantastic picnic dinner planned for Saturday evening after the track activities are done.  This is the best way to get an idea about what a Driver’s Education is all about.  Come out and see the people running their Porsches around the track.  Get a ride with an instructor.  Better yet, sign up to drive!  Or just come out for the dinner on Saturday night.  It’s our home track and it’s fun to run the track and be in your own bed at night!

We have our next Wine & Shine at the Thistlewaite Vinyard on the 17th and our Golf Outing the following day at the Greensburg Country Club.  The 24th hosts our next Auto-Cross event at the Greensburg / Jeanette Airport to be followed immediately by Sushi & Speed at Robokyo in Greensburg.  Now THAT is a busy month!  Hope to see you there at some event.  If you have never ventured out to an event make AUGUST the month that you do!  It’s an adventure you will enjoy.  You can sign up for all events at www.motorsportreg.com.

NEW GERMAN WORD
“Adventure” translates as “Abenteuer”