Road Trip to the 63rd Porsche Parade

Trish and I took the opportunity to attend this year’s Parade in Lake Osage, MO. Fellow CVR members also in attendance were Maria and Phil Capella, Alan and Caroline Davis, Raymonda and Arthur Crowe and San Jose resident (but still loyal CVR member) Jean-Francois Bulycz. It was nice to see fellow CVR members there and spend some time with them.

One of the pleasures of attending Parade is going to places that you would not likely otherwise attend. If you are fortunate to have the time to make a destination road trip out of it, so much the better. In our case, we made a stop along the way at the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Automobile Museum in Auburn, Indiana I highly recommend visiting this place if you have even the slightest interest in the development of the US auto industry or in American pre-war classics. The presentation of these historical gems at the museum is perfectly augmented by the setting — the exquisitely restored, art deco-style former world headquarters and former showroom of the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Company. I learned a great deal about these cars and the people behind them during my three-hour stay. I would sum it up by saying that the Duesenbergs were automotive geniuses — perhaps even on par with Ferdinand Porsche, but perhaps without the business savvy. Example — their engines and/or cars won at Indy, Le Mans and European grand prix races — something Porsche has not (yet) accomplished. Not bad for a couple of farm boys from Iowa!

At this Parade, Porsche made a big deal of the upcoming Taycan model and displayed the forerunner Mission-E prototype for the benefit of Parade goers. It’s clear that Porsche sees this type of car as the future and have placed their financial bets accordingly. Proving that the sports-car is also part of Porsche’s future, not very subtle hints were made that suggest we might soon also see a GT 4 with the additional letters “RS” added to the name plate. Now doesn’t that sound like fun?

Future Parades that have been announced are Boca Raton, FL in 2019 and Palm Springs, CA in 2020. PCA’ers must like it hot! Maybe we will see you at a future PCA Parade?

Treffen 2019

Official announcements were made at Parade for the 2019 Treffens (gatherings). If you are not familiar with PCA’s North American Treffens, they are billed by PCA as mostly social and touring events “at spectacular hotels set in locations offering unparalleled scenery and luxury.”

The 2019 Spring Treffen will be in Santa Barbara, CA on April 3-6. Perhaps of even greater interest to CVR members, the 2019 Fall Treffen will be hosted by Zone 1 (which includes CVR) at the relatively nearby Woodstock Inn in Woodstock, VT. CVR will be part of the Zone 1 team that will be supporting the 2019 Fall Treffen, so look for future pleas for volunteers to help us make this event one to remember. PCA has reserved all 130 rooms at the Woodstock Inn for the Fall Treffen on Sept 4-8, 2019 — it should be fun!

The Road to Rennsport Reunion

This month comes with much anticipation for me. It begins with the four-day Lime Rock Historic Festival #36 over the Labor Day Weekend and ends with the eagerly awaited Rennsport VI at Laguna Seca. Our friends at Lime Rock have promised a special grouping of Bugattis at Lime Rock and I’m sure that there will be no disappointments — Skip Barber and Murray Smith always deliver the goods for the Historic Festival. And while I won’t be competing at R6, I will be joining a few other CVR members for what we hope will be an epic drive in early 911’s to the event and back (hopefully). Look for a future article about this trip right here in Challenge…
In between the Historic Festival and R6, I hope to squeeze in as many CVR events as I possibly can — and I suggest you do the same! CVR is offering you Coffee Runs, Autocross, Driver’s Education days, a monthly meeting, an overnight Fall Tour, and our Fall Rally all in the month of September! Don’t put it off. Come out and enjoy your Porsche at a CVR event this month!

Report from the CVR Nominating Committee

As previously reported, a Nominating Committee consisting of Roger Funk (Chair), Bob Napoletano, and Nick Esposito was previously formed pursuant to the CVR bylaws for the purpose of determining a qualified slate of candidates for officer positions to replace those CVR officers who will be soon completing their two-year term (including yours truly).

I have received the report from the Committee (thanks, guys!) and fully support the slate they have nominated as follows:

Phil Capella — President
Allen Fossbender — Executive Vice President
Don Phelan — Treasurer
Deborah Cloud — Vice Treasurer, Club Race,
Paul Kudra — Vice President, Autocross Joe Kunecki — Secretary

In addition, I have appointed Mike Keller to the newly formed role of CVR Social Media Chair. Mike will also assume the role of Webmeister (replacing Phil Capella) as Phil assumes the overall leadership role of our club. I have full confidence in this group, along with the balance of the elected officers who are continuing in their roles, and the appointed Activity Chairs — together operating as CVR’s Board of Directors, to steer our club into a successful future. I hope you will join me at CVR’s Annual Meeting and Photofest on Oct. 27 to officially welcome in the new team and to celebrate 2018 CVR award winners!