President's Message

Hello again fellow Porschefilles,

Another month gone by already!! It wont be long and we’ll all be back in our houses hibernating with our cars tucked away for the winter. I hope that means that you’ve all been out enjoying driving your cars. I also hope you’ve had the opportunity to join your fellow PCAers in participating in some of our wonderful local events. It seems as though the racing season isn’t as hectic this year as in years past and that’s given me the opportunity to attend a lot of the events that the region has hosted.

I can say from first hand experience that the tech sessions the John Patterson as been hosting have all been very well attended and for good reason. The last one a couple of weeks ago was held at At Speed’s brand new facility and what a beautiful place they have. Its not quite finished yet but after being given the grand tour by part owner (and fellow club racer) Paul Amico I can assure you that he and partner/pro racer Bob Miller have some great ideas for their new place. I'm sure that if you missed being there this time you’ll have more chances in the future as we’ve been invited back again by our gracious hosts.

The autocross season has been in full swing for awhile now and again Lee Dearborn and the guys have been doing a wonderful job. It seems that every time I go the crowd of participants seems to grow and the crowd of on lookers is doing the same. The last event, on Fathers Day, was full of people having fun driving their cars and also people watching. It always good to see that one of the regions ongoing events is prospering. The autocross series was started years ago and through the hard work of people like Dennis Howard, Derrick Schwarz, Joe Zuramski and many many others in the past we have gotten to the point now that Lee and his guys have it down to a science. On most occasions the event run like clock work and everyone gets lots of seat time out on the course. Its refreshing to see everyone pitch in to help man the course and help out when ever possible. You can really tell that for some attendees it’s a true passion. Do yourself a favor and check it out some time you might just get hooked yourself.

As I mentioned the race season has been kind of slow but a bunch of Chesapeake members did get the opportunity to attend the club race at Watkins Glen N.Y. Those in attendance included Manny Alban, Mark Lee, Derek Schwarz, part time Chesapeake member Pete Tremper and myself. All in all it was another great weekend at the Glen. We did have to dodge some rain drops and in the end Mother Nature prevailed and Sunday was basically a washout but since the race format had been changed this year to include 2 sprint races and an enduro we still had plenty of time on the track. That is for most of us. Unfortunately for Derek his sessions were either shortened by the black flag or the black clouds that kept dumping rain on his group. I have to say though for a guy who has never driven the Glen and for as little track time as he was allotted he still faired very well. This race marked a kind of milestone for me in that It was the first time I ran in the same group as Manny, Pete and Mark. At one point out of 60+ cars on the grid Manny, Pete and myself were positioned nose to tail. This was the setting for what should have been a great showdown but unfortunately for Pete, Manny and I noticed smoke coming from the back of his new racecar during the warm-up lap and Pete had to retire prior to the green flag. It still turned out to be a good race and once again everyone came home in one piece. Pete’s problem turned out to be tire rub and after changing back to his practice rims he was able to run the rest of the weekend.

Next stop Putnam Park Indiana in July. From what I hear there will be a large east coast invasion since it sounds like 5 or 6 racers from this area will be going. Should make for good commentary.
I’ll be going home from work today and have to start packing for Parade. My wife Kim, our son Travis and I will be joining the Alban’s, the Gutjahr’s , the Nguyen’s, the Cochran’s, the Gilbreath’s (Florida residences but Chesapeake members), the Vietz’s and the Cerra’s  along with hundreds of other people in San Diego for this years Porsche Parade. The Cerra’s are new members to PCA and from what I hear this will be there first ever national event. Nothing like starting out BIG. I’ll give a report of the festivities in my next message. Until then I hope plenty of you have plans to attend the famous Chesapeake Region Crab Feast next month and if you don’t then you should. I'm sure it will once again sellout since this is one of our more popular events.

Until next time don’t forget…Volunteer when ever possible because without volunteers we don’t exsist!!!       
 
Thanks, Tim