November 2007 - Porsche Club of America – Northeast Region

Tail Wagging
Ron Mann
And so with these words, I close out my four
years of service on the board. For what ever
reason and despite the lack of any hallucinogenic
stimulus, I will continue to serve the club next
year as AX chair, largely, as although I somewhat
detest the activity as a sport, I worship at its altar
when it comes to believing that it is the single
best method for teaching the average person the
essentials of driving. Having started my adult life
as an educator, I simply can not rid myself of the
certainty of belief that were each and everyone
of the uninitiated amongst you to participate for
a full season, you’d invariably wind up becoming
a far better driver than you currently believe
yourself to be.
But, for the moment, I shall restrain myself on
this subject, for there will be plenty of opportunity
going forward to prove this point next year.
Rather, before I depart, I simply would prefer to
employ what few words I have left to expend to
thank a few people for having made my life a bit
easier that it otherwise might have been.
Running a club such as NER, with all its issues
big and small, is quite a bit more involved than
I had imagined when I was first asked to serve.
First and foremost, I’d like to thank the man with
whom I’m exchanging jobs, Steve Ross. Nary a day
has gone into the dumper that we have not communicated
with each other about some aspect of
club life, tried to right some wrong, anticipated
some looming problem, or split tubs of electronic
ink attempting to whip up a brainstorm on how
to make things work better. I won’t try to count
the years that Steve has fulfilled this role for myself
and others, I’ll simply state he has done so for
many eons. His tenacity and commitment to NER
is unrivaled, without him there would have been
no Porschefest this year, nor would our AXes have
run anywhere near as smoothly as they have. We
all owe him a great debt.
Where I King, or if I had any sort of cognitive
grasp as to the awards we have to available to
present for service above and beyond the call, I
would undoubtedly hand the top prize this year
to Christine Skaubitis for her undying devotion to
gate keeping. Many of you might not realize that
as Devens is an open field, we must have some-
one at the gate to check in and ensure that all our
liability waivers are signed prior to admittance. It
is an especially awkward job when the gates first
open, as typically, most people are after showing
up are focused on unloading and prepping their
cars, signing in, walking the course and having
their car teched. Therefore, manning the gate
from 6:45 to 9 AM, is simply the single most unglamorous,
thankless, yet supremely critical job in
all of NERdom. Equally, until Christine stepped up,
as you might imagine, it was a complete pain in
the tush to find anyone particularly enamored of
the notion of sitting around for several hours, getting
nothing personal accomplished, with not a
single soul around to allow for the relief of having
the slightest of conversations with. Christine, has,
in spite of some severe personal difficulties over
the past season, happily handled this dirty little
chore with both grace and efficiency. Perhaps,
though her service might seem overtly small to
some, for me, it is always the small acts that speak
to one’s deeper character, and for this I celebrate
her willingness to perform this chore
selflessly.
Over the years, I’ve poked quite a bit
of fun at Darth, er, Don Walcott. I’ve
done so, not only because he is such
an incredibly nice guy, but because I
know he refuses to read my columns.
This fortunate fact allows me to gush
a bit, for if he knew I was praising him, I suspect
he’d be a bit piqued. Don is yet another of the
rarely sung about heroes who for approximately
two decades has served the club tirelessly as both
the autocross registrar as well as Zone Registrar.
His retirement this year from both posts is a loss
for us all. Having taken up the post of registrar,
he committed himself to attending every event.
To have done so, unerringly over the past two
decades, is an achievement worthy of a Farve or
Ripkin, particularly when one recalls his compensation
level. Perhaps, the thing I’m most grateful
for though, is how gracefully he is managing the
transition of responsibilities to Jon Cowen, one
of our young rising stars, in how to cope with the
strains of the job. Were it I, I’m not so sure after so
long a stint, I wouldn’t simply melt away, incapable
of coherent speech or thought on anything
pertaining to the running of a PCA event.
And then there is Charlie and Martha Dow.
Though I’m a self confessed avoider of tours,
they, where at least for this year, all others have
page 10
N O R E A S T E R