Happy Holidays:
By the time you read this article we are likely to be into the busy holiday season as well as continuing the battle against the coronavirus. Who would have thought back in March when the pandemic first hit us that it would still be around during the holidays. I know that it has resulted in the cancellation of many of your club activities such wine tastings, monthly dinner events, tech sessions, and the concours events that we all have come to expect. Hopefully your region board of directors will look at 2021 and do their very best to plan for these events moving forward. With Covid cases seeing an alarming rise in California and many counties moving back to a more restrictive reopening tier, many of the businesses like gyms and restaurants may likely be shutting down again until the vaccine is widely available next spring. Most county and state health officials don’t believe this is going to happen until early 2021 and we won’t get back to normal until the summer. First and foremost, PCA wants activities that keep our members safe.
Club holiday parties have been mostly cancelled because of the pandemic and that is so sad as most members of PCA look forward to this fun event each year. Hopefully, we can continue this tradition in 2021.
Most regions will have a new board of directors moving into 2021 and several regions will have new club presidents taking the helm of their regions. As with most clubs, our success depends on members to volunteer and step up for service either as a board member or to chair an event. I extend my congratulations to all the new board members who have been elected! Your club could not continue to deliver the fun and exciting events all our members have come to expect without your leadership.
2021 Event Planning should have been completed or is in the process at many clubs with all kinds of exciting events being worked on. If you would like to get involved to organize a dinner at your favorite restaurant or a wine tasting at your favorite winery, now is the time to step up and volunteer. After all, you can’t expect your local board of directors to do all of the heavy lifting. Remember, it is much easier to cancel an event than to scramble to fill holes in your club’s monthly activities calendar. Nationally, many regions have successfully hosted tours, track events, autocrosses, and even a virtual rally. In addition, many clubs have managed socially distanced toy and food drives with great results even during this new spike in the pandemic.
As your new board starts to prepare for their leadership roles for 2021, several things will be happening in the background to ensure the board has a smooth transition of leadership. This starts with either the outgoing or current club president completing the required annual region report form and sending it into PCA national. This very important document lets PCA national know who the new board of directors are, but also identifies new chairs. It also provides a place to confirm banking information necessary for the quarterly member subsidies. Lastly, your outgoing board members and chairs should be meeting with their successors to hand off all the important documents and provide guidelines for their replacements so that the new board and its chairs can start off 2021 on the right foot.
Zone Autocross Series Winners:
The Zone Autocross series held 6 Zone events in 2020 and awarded 20 class awards, 5 PAX awards and will be honoring the Zone 7 AX Enthusiast and Rookie of the year. Currently, there is no awards banquet date set, and we are looking forward to the possibility of a Covid safe awards ceremony or another type of event early in 2021. The year end results are currently posted on the Zone 7 website: www. https://zone7.pca.org/. The AX Rookie and Enthusiast of the Year will be announced shortly.
Though the Zone Concours series was cancelled due to Covid, co-chairs Roy Schauben and Simone Kopitzki are starting to work with region concours chairs on a 2021 event schedule that will hopefully include our ever popular concours school. More information to come.
In addition, the volunteer staff of Zone 7, Howard Thomas, treasurer, Grady Carter, AX Chair, and Larry Sharp, safety and rules chair have all agreed to serve through 2021. Thank you all for stepping up!
PCA National Elections and National Chair Appointees:
PCA National elections were held last month and the new Executive Council is expected to be formally announced in December. Serving a 2nd term will be Tom Gorsuch as national president, Cindy Jacisin as national executive vice president (newly created position), and Craig Kugler as national treasurer. New to the executive council is Todd Benz who will stepping in as the club’s new secretary. Aaron Ambrosino who has served on the national executive council since 2014 and is our current national secretary will serve as vice president.
I have been reappointed to serve a second 2 year term by PCA national president Tom Gorsuch and look forward to working with all the members of Zone 7 in the coming years. My wish for 2021 is that we all stay healthy, get our vaccines and promptly get going again with all the events that we have come to expect from our membership in PCA.
PCA National Awards:
All region members have a chance to submit nominees for several national awards including Region of the Year, Enthusiast of the Year, Family of the Year and Public Service Award. It is a unique opportunity to nominate someone in your region who has gone above and beyond. Please take the time to consider someone in your region who may be deserving.
The Awards include:
THE FERRY PORSCHE TROPHY: PCA REGION OF THE YEAR
THE GLENN LAZAR – HARRY BLANCHARD MEMORIAL TROPHY: PCA ENTHUSIAST OF THE YEAR
PORSCHE (PCA) FAMILY OF THE YEAR AWARD
THE PCA PUBLIC SERVICE AWARDS
We know that the Regions within PCA all excel in their own way, and this should be recognized.
The submission process is easy. Just create a brief write up (in MS Word) and submit nomination to national via email to Awards@pca.org.
Region of the Year Award:
Up to 3000-word document, plus 2 Newsletters, and 5 photographs
Enthusiast of the Year, Family of the Year, and Public Service Awards:
Up to 1500-word document, plus up to 5 newsletter articles and/or photographs
If you would like to submit a member of your region to be recognized, please review the guidelines for the awards at this link:
https://emailer3.pca.org:443/UploadFiles/2020PCANATIONALAWARDSNOMINATIONGUIDELINESedited9272011.docx
Events of Interest:
- PCA Spring Treffen at the Marriott Scottsdale, Arizona; May 5-9, 2021; pca.org; Registration opens January 20, 2021 at 12 noon PT
- Loma Prieta Region 50th (plus 1) Anniversary Gala, June 19, 2021
- Porsche Parade at French Lick, Indiana, July 11-17, 2021; org
- PCA Werks Reunion, August 13, 2021, Monterey; com
- PCA Fall Treffen at the American Club, Kohler, Wisconsin, October 13-17, 2021; 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 growing popularity.