Porsche Parade 2022 Sets Attendance Record:
The 2022 Porsche Parade was held at the Kalahari Resort in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania from June 12-18th. According to Parade chair, Ron Gordon, it was the most attended Parade ever with more than 1,100 primary attendees and some 2,700 members in total. There were at least 1,000 Porsches parked in the reserved parking lot not including the amazing special edition and historic cars on display as well. Wow, it was a great sight to be seen. I think that the Parade committee was more focused on attracting the young families with children to attend Parade and this could not be more evident than in the 110 PCA Parade Juniors in attendance. This number far exceeded any Parade Junior’s participation ever and a lot of the credit goes to PCA National Juniors chair, Jay Gratton. Having a huge water park at the resort, I am sure, was a big draw.
The weather for most of the week was amazingly mild with some rain experienced in the early AM each day. The concours on Monday was initially moved from outside to inside one of the very large ballrooms at the resort due to a forecast for rain. However, on Sunday the concours was again moved outdoors adjacent to the convention center as the weather forecast improved. It was in fact a bit warmer that expected and all competitors as well as spectators enjoyed a fantastic concours, clear skies and no rain.
The weather did not cooperate for the 2nd day of the 2 -day autocross held at Pocono Motor Speedway, a short 20-minute drive from the hotel. With torrential rain, lighting and thunder, the event was delayed about an hour. Over-all for the two-day autocross, there were some 190 cars signed up with the most stock Porsche running on Wednesday and the improved, modified and most GT cars running on Thursday. My hats off to National Autocross chair, Paul Kudra, for his support in making this year’s Parade Autocross run smoothly and on time. For the past several Parades, autocross attendance at Parade has been shrinking and it is hard to determine the reasons. I believe that issues related to the past autocrosses have perhaps impacted attendee perspective on the event and we hope that for Parade 2023 at La Quinta in Palm Springs we will see a growing trend.
At the one of major banquets, it was announced by Parade Chair Ron Gordon that Parade 2024 will be held in Birmingham, Alabama with the resort property location to be announced at a future date. The dates are June 9-16, 2024.
30 members from Zone 7 attended Parade this year. The attendees included the following members:
Nanci Bishop and Paul Smith, Randy and Lisa Shaffer, Alaric Sales, Kirk and Carolyn Doberenz, Lori Schutz and David Clardy, Gerry Brown, Jessica Toney and Peter Schneider, George and Shirley Neidel, Michael and Erika Grasso, John and Honore D’Angelo, Robert and Connie Waldrop, Craig Steele, Michael Hinton, Rik Larson, Craig and Mary Lou Kugler, Collin and Elaine Fat, and Tom and Sandi Provasi.
Zone 7 members attending the Zone Get Together prior to the Pirelli Welcome Party
I would also like to mention that two members from Zone 7 drove from California to Pennsylvania! Yikes, the most direct round trip makes that a 2,100-mile journey without detours for sightseeing. Congrats to Craig Steele and Mike Hinton from Redwood Region!
L/R; Craig Steele, Mike Hinton, and Collin Fat
There were dozens of PCA members in attendance who attended their first Parade and yet there were many who had been to more than 40 Parades over the past decades. It is amazing, that even with the impact of Covid the past several years that Parade attendance seems more popular than ever and a bucket list item for many. This was my 8th Parade and one of the most fun.
L/R; Rik Larson, Sacramento Valley Region President and Collin Fat
L/R: Carolyn and Kirk Doberenz of Diablo Region
L/R: David Witteried, Jessica Toney, and Rik Larson
Zone Autocross and Concours Series Update;
There were no Zone autocross events scheduled for June with only regional events held by Sacramento Valley at Thunderhill Raceway on June 11-12th, Golden Gate holding an event at Crows Landing on June 25th and Loma Prieta region holding the event at Crows on June 26th.
Several date changes were recently made to the Zone 7 Autocross series calendar due to issues with site availability with Loma Prieta and Golden Gate Regions switching their Zone events in July to August. The new dates will be on August 27th and August 28th with Golden Gate Region hosting on Saturday and Loma Prieta Region hosting the series on August 28th. Both regions are hoping to schedule their July dates to another weekend with both events being regional events only and will not count for Zone 7 points. Sacramento Valley had scheduled a July 9th event at Thunderhill, and that event is still on but instead of being a Zone event it will now be a regional event. Total Zone Ax events counting toward year end awards will be 9 events instead of 10.
 |
|
Concours July 17th – Carmel Valley (MBR) |
| Autocross
*August 27th – Cow Palace (GGR) as of May 26, 2022, * indicates new dates
|
For more information visit the Zone 7 website at zone7.pca.org
Zone 7 Concours Series Update:
Sacramento Valley Region held the first Concours of the 2022 Zone series on June 5th with 43 judged cars participating. The weather did not cooperate with rain occuring in the early morning hours. Due to some logistical magic performed by concours chair Al Price and Kim Nelson, most of the entrants were moved into the covered shop at Porsche Rocklin while a dozen or so entrants remained outside in the rain. The reprieve for these competitors was the fact that they were not judged but received points, none the less, to enable all to compete in the year end Zone competition.
The Silver State Concours D ’Elegance, was hosted by the Sierra Nevada Region on June 26th at Lampe Park in Gardnerville, located just south of Reno, Nevada. There were 17 judged cars in the competition with another 20 cars on display. Results should be posted on the Zone 7 website.
Monterey Bay Region is hosting Concours in Paradise on July 17th at Carmel Valley Regional Park just east of Monterey. Registration is currently open at: https://mby.pca.org/events/2022-concours-in-paradise/. For more information contact Dave Aliotti (831)595–4071. Online registration closes on July 13th.
PCA National Upcoming Events
Werks Reunion will be returning to the Monterey Peninsula on August 19th with registration closing August 3rd. This is a highly anticipated event happening during Monterey Car Week along with the event of the week, the Pebble Beach Concours D ’elegance. The Monterey Historic races will also be held that week with PCA planning a hospitality tent on August 18-20th in conjunction with the race. This year’s event will be held at the Monterey Pines Golf course adjacent to the Monterey Airport and behind the Monterey County Fairgrounds. Last year’s venue held at the Bayonet Country Club is not available.
Fall Treffen will be held in Bend, Oregon from September 14-18th with registration opening on June 29th. If you have not yet attended one of these national premier events it is a do not miss opportunity to attend a Treffen close to home. Registration generally fills up in less than 30 minutes and is usually limited to 200 cars. For more information go to: www.treffen.pca.org.
Hospitality Tent at the Monterey Historic Races will be held on August 18th through August 20th. The event will be held at Laguna Seca Raceway and the hospitality tent will be open to PCA members and anyone who owns a Porsche. Tickets are required for parking in the Porsche Corral but any PCA member with proof of membership or a Porsche owner with key fob may enter the hospitality tent. Unlike past years, the hospitality tent will be open from Thursday through Saturday with no races being held on Sunday this year. The hospitality tent will be located at Turn 5.
Volunteers Needed: I am looking for volunteers to help with staffing the hospitality tent and have a limited number of general admissions passes. If you are available to help out let me know which days you can help and send me an email to: cfat1952@gmail.com. I will need volunteers for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Parade 2023 will be held at the La Quinta Resort in Palm Springs from June 18-24th. The hotel is a five -star rated
property that has a famous history of being the hangout for movie stars and the Hollywood elite during the 1940’s.
West Coast Club Race Series:
2022 PCA West Coast Race Series Schedule
With Federal and State directives pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Club Racing schedule is very fluid and subject to change on a day-to-day basis. The racing schedule shown below will be frequently updated with the latest official status of each of our races.
| Dates | Event | Status | Enduro |
| Aug 27-28 | Sonoma | Opens 07/11 | |
| Sep 17-18 | High Plains Raceway | Opens 08/01 | |
| Sep 24-25 | Thunderhill | Opens 08/08 | |
| Oct 08-09 | Sonoma | Opens 08/29 |
Events of Interest:
1) PCA Werks Reunion, August 19, Monterey, werksreunion.com
2) Rolex Monterey Historic Races, August 18-20th
3) PCA Fall Treffen, September 14-18, Sunriver Resort, Bend, Oregon; treffen.pca.org
Note that past Treffens have sold out in as little as 30 minutes due to their popularity. Registration for the Treffens typically opens 3-4 months prior to the event.