By: Collin Fat, Zone 7 Representative, Sacramento Valley Region

916.955.7955, cfat1952@gmail.com

Photos courtesy of Russ Weber

 

When are We Going to Get Back to Normal?

With the state of California on the brink of entering phase 3 of the Covid-19 recovery, I have just seen a significant increase in events requiring a certificate of insurance from PCA national. On the books for June 2020 are 6 events with a tour planned for June 13th by Loma Prieta Region, Sequoia Region has a tour on June 20th and an autocross on June 13th. Golden Gate Region is hosting their first autocross of their season at the Cow Palace in Daly City. Sierra Nevada Region is hosting a tour on June 20th and Sacramento Valley Region is hosting the Zone 7 AX series event on June 27th at Thunderhill Raceway Park.

However, as many counties in the state have started to open, there have been several counties that are still unable to get to their phase 3 recovery and these include Monterey and Mono Counties. Accordingly, Werks Reunion and the Rolex Monterey Historics have just been cancelled as well as Sierra Nevada Regions annual Mammoth Lakes tour, July 24-26th, and the regions August 2nd Zone 7 concours. I think the issue all of these events had was related to the size of the event.

On the PCA club racing scene, West Dillard, PCA Club Race Chair, he recently reported that so far for this year, they have cancelled 12 events so far. The series hopes to start up again with an abbreviated race schedule of 13 more races on the calendar. The first club race will be held at Brainard Raceway on July 5th.

As restaurants have been allowed to reopen on a limited basis in many counties and cities throughout Zone 7, I expect to see a lot of new activity at the region level with these events. These events do not require insurance and I am not always aware of any new activities as we get out of our quarantines and the State of California gives businesses the green light to re-open. It is now possible to go to a barber or beauty salon and many of the casinos in the area have opened, albeit with restrictions.

Though these are small steps for getting back to normal, please keep in mind that just because the state has given permission for malls and most of our retail sector permission to open doesn’t mean that each business will be able to respond immediately. It takes time for a small or large business to interpret the new guidelines, get staff and place and undertake any structural modifications to their business to be in compliance and to protect the health and safety of their work force as well as customers. This is most apparent with club dinner events where many restaurants currently have limited groups to no more than 10 persons. Hopefully, this will change, and will allow more dinner events.

Although cases in the state of California have recently been on the rise, hospitalizations and deaths are trending lower. Hopefully, when our public school and university systems finally open and publish their guidelines, all will improve in short order.

PCA to Require All Event Attendees to Sign New Communicable Disease Waiver:

In my column from June, I mentioned a new Covid-19 release waiver form that needed to be signed by all participants of any PCA sponsored event. It has been revised and the new waiver should be available on your local region’s website. There were just a few minor changes. In cooperation with Motorsportreg, PCA has introduced Speed Waiver, which allows event participants to sign the general liability and Covid-19 release online. It will also provide storage as well as ease of verification that a member has signed the releases. The service is not free and not available for any other platforms.

Sequoia Region Hosts Autocross:

Larry Kirlin directing competitors

 

Sequoia Region organized their first autocross event of the season on June 13th at the Madera County Airport. Attended by 20 drivers and with great weather, autocross chair, Larry Kirlin and team put on a fun event. Larry reported that this will be there last event of the early season as the months of July and August are much too hot in the middle of summer and that the club will resume events in the fall. Sequoia region has also started to schedule their weekly cars and coffee events and have been very well attended, even with the new Covid-19 guidelines issued by their county. Some restaurants in the Fresno area just opened for in restaurant dining, but with restrictions preventing large group gatherings for club dinners.

Collin Fat on Grid

Golden Gate Region Secures New Autocross Site:

Golden Gate Region has found a new site to host their events after losing their beloved Alameda site at the end of last season. Golden Gate Region’s Ed Hunter and Himanshu Patel worked diligently through the early part of this year and searched for a replacement site and finally signed contracts for several dates at the Cow Palace in Daly City. Their first event of the season on June 28th, with restricted attendance for only 50 drivers, was over-subscribed in less than two minutes. The wait list has more than 50 drivers all hoping to get a chance to participate. Not likely that they are going to?

Also landing a few dates at the Cow Palace is Loma Prieta Region which will be hosting two dual events at the Cow Palace with Golden Gate Region on August 29-30 and October 24-25.

Zone Autocross and Concours Series Schedule;

The schedule for autocross and the concours series has been one of constant cancellations and changes due to the coronavirus. The schedule was recently update with both Loma Prieta and Golden Gate Regions having signed contracts for dates at the Cow Palace which brings the zone autocross series to a total of 7 events. On the concours series, Monterey Bay Region has rescheduled their Zone Concours series event to October 25th in the hopes that the wonderful community park they have had their event the past few years will loosen their large group gatherings to allow for this wonderful event to happen. The first concours event of the year for the series is likely to be on August 23rd at Carlsen Porsche in Redwood City and hosted by Golden Gate Region. Zone 7 Autocross chairs, Roy Schauben and Simone Kopitzky are hopeful it will happen. Hopefully, all the regions will be able to deliver events on the dates as of this column. I am hoping that counties and cities will continue to open for business and allow many of our club events that are on the calendar.

Events of Interest:

  • PCA Fall Treffen registration opens July 15. See item below….event is September 16-19
  • Zone 7 Concours, July 19, Carmel Valley Community Park, by Monterey Bay Region has been rescheduled to October 25th
  • Mammoth Tour by Sierra Nevada Region; July 24-26;CANCELLED
  • Zone 7 Concours, August 2, Reno, by Sierra Nevada Region; CANCELLED
  • Werks Reunion in Monterey; August 14, CANCELLED
  • Porscheplatz at Monterey Historic Races, August 15-16, Laguna Seca; CANCELLED
  • West Coast Series Races, August 22-23, Sonoma Raceway, by Golden Gate Region
  • Zone 7 Concours, August 23, Porsche Redwood City, by Golden Gate Region
  • Loma Prieta Region 50th Anniversary Gala; August 29; rescheduled to March 2021
  • Zone 7 AX, August 29, Cow Palace, Daly City, by Golden Gate Region
  • Zone 7 AX, August 30, Cow Palace, Daly city, by Loma Prieta Region
  • Zone 7 Concours, September 13, Sacramento, by Sacramento Valley Region
  • PCA Fall Treffen at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia; September 16-19; pca.org. Registration will open July 15 at noon (Pacific Time)
  • Zone 7 Concours, September 20, Ledson Winery – Kenwood, by Redwood Region
  • West Coast Series Races, September 19-20, High Plains Raceway, by Rocky Mountain Region
  • West Coast Series Races, September 26-27, Thunderhill, by Golden Gate Region
  • West Coast Series Races, October 10-11, Sonoma Raceway, by Golden Gate Region
  • Zone 7 AX, October 10-11, Thunderhill, by Sacramento Valley and Redwood Regions
  • Zone 7 Concours, October 11, Porsche of Fremont, by Loma Prieta Region
  • Zone 7 AX, October 24, Cow Palace, Daly City, by Golden Gate Region
  • Zone 7 AX, October 25, Cow Palace, Daly City, by Loma Prieta Region
  • Zone 7 Concours, October 25; Carmel Valley, by Monterey Bay Region
  • PCA Spring Treffen at the Marriott Scottsdale, Arizona; May 5-9, 2021; pca.org
  • Porsche Parade at French Lick, Indiana, July 11-17, 2021
  • PCA Fall Treffen at the American Club, Kohler, Wisconsin, October 13-17, 2021
  • PCA Spring Treffen at the BROADMOOR, Colorado Springs, Colorado, April 27-May 1, 2022

 

Note that past Treffens have sold out in as little as one hour due to their growing popularity.

On July 15, 2020   /   POST_itz