Happy New Year:
Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year and looking forward to a New Year that will mark the end of the corona virus. With vaccines on the horizon for all of us, the future looks much brighter with a return to normalcy by this summer. Just in time for the Parade 2021 in French Lick, Indiana!
Each of your region’s board of directors should be working on a calendar of events that considers current pandemic restrictions as well as well as for events once the vaccine has been widely distributed. During the first two quarters of 2021 most regions will be scheduling autocross, tours, DE and club racing events. With new lead/follow guidelines published for driver education events, first time and novice drivers will be able to enjoy a track day. It is doubtful that club dinners, concours, tech sessions or car and coffee events will be able to be conducted at least until June. Your club’s board of directors will be looking for members to suggest and chair events so if you have a favorite restaurant or mountain road or destination, please volunteer.
Region Leadership Changes:
All regions in Zone 7 have probably completed their annual board of director elections and based up what I know, we will be welcoming 4 new club presidents to Zone 7. For Loma Prieta region, Peter Ridgway will be their new club president. For Sacramento Valley region, Eduardo Ortega Jr. was elected as their new club president and for Monterey Bay region, Natasha Zelig will be assuming the helm. Ben Davoren will be the new president of Redwood region. Thank you to John Reed, Steve Barker, Steve Taty and Chip Witt for your service!
The Zone 7 annual Presidents meeting will be held on March 13, 2021. At this event all the region presidents will have a chance to hear the latest updates from one of PCA National’s Executive Council members as well as several PCA National chairs on their upcoming events. In addition, we will review social media practices and issues as well as liability concerns by the club as it relates to the club’s insurance.
PCA National Update:
Your leadership team at PCA national has been very busy. Last year, national has had to deal with the consequences of Covid 19 on our club’s national events such as club racing where at least 16 events had to be cancelled in addition to Spring Treffen and the Parade in Palm Springs. National hopes that their planning for Treffens, Werks Reunion, Parade and a host of other events scheduled for this year can continue as planned. Your national leadership team has been diligent in being flexible in their planning and in developing policies and procedures to enable large national events such as Parade to continue, but with a twist. For instance, at Treffen Greenbriar which was held last year, the banquets continued but with a twist. The Treffen team with the assistance of the management team at the Greenbriar devised a way to provide food service for the several hundred in attendance by providing a served buffet compared to the normal plated dinner service. Table size was reduced from 8-10 persons per table to only 6 and spaced out the tables to provide for social distancing. I think we can see this approach being instituted for Parade at French Lick.
The winter national staff meeting originally scheduled for February 6th in Jacksonville Florida has been cancelled due to concerns with Covid and instead will be conducted virtually. This meeting gathers all the national committee chairs, Zone Representatives, Executive Council members and national headquarter staff to share plans for the year as well as to provide updates on their committee. Updates are generally provided by the chairs of Parade, Treffen, Werks Reunion, Club Racing, Policy, Audit, insurance and social media to name just a few.
Travels with Terry Zaccone (to the Porsche Parade):
Longtime Golden Gate Region PCA member Terry Zaccone is planning on attending his 45th or so Parade and to drive Marcel. Marcel has some 400,000 miles on its odometer and part of the reason are these long-distance journeys to Parade. He is looking for a copilot to drive out with him or to possibly join a caravan to French Lick. Send Terry an email if you have an interest, tzaccone@pacbell.net. A few years back, my son and I joined Terry and several other Sacramento and Golden Gate Region members in a fun caravan to attend Parade in Keystone, Colorado. It was quite the trip!
Events of Interest:
- Zone 7 Presidents Meeting, March 13
- PCA Spring Treffen at the Marriott Scottsdale, Arizona; May 5-9; pca.org; Registration opens February 24, at 12 noon Pacific Time and sells out very quickly (like in 50 minutes)
- Loma Prieta Region 50th (plus 1) Anniversary Gala, June 19
- Porsche Parade at French Lick, Indiana, July 11-17; org
- PCA Werks Reunion, August 13; Monterey; com
- PCA Fall Treffen at the American Club, Kohler, Wisconsin, October 13-17; pca.org
- PCA Spring Treffen at the BROADMOOR, Colorado Springs, Colorado, April 27-May 1, 2022
- Sacramento Valley Region 60th Anniversary Celebration, May 7, 2022
Note that past Treffens have sold out in as little as one hour due to their popularity. Registration for the Treffens typically opens 3-4 months prior to the event.