Slipstream - January 2003

Road Ramblings
by Keith Olcha, Maverick Region President
Well 2003 is here (well not really, since you
have to publish Slipstream in December for a
January delivery). I hope the holidays were good
in all ways for each of you. I thought about
naming this column “I’m KO, you’re OK…”,
then I thought of “You’re OK, I’m an idiot…”
so I settled on “Road Ramblings…” It’s a
shameless rip-off of Road & Track Magazine’s
“Miscellaneous Ramblings…” Seriously, I am
very grateful to the Maverick committee for nominating me, and the
region for voting me to be President this year. My greatest fear is that
I won’t come close to contributing the time and effort Wendy and
James Shoffit put into the position these past two years. Wendy was
...We’re also going to try to rotate the
board meetings around the Metroplex...
also our Slipstream editor, a position now filled by Matt Platts. They
did a great job and I must tell you a secret- the pay stinks! Please take
note of the new and returning chair positions for the various areas
of our club. These tireless contributors help make all these events
happen and are far more important in total than anything the
executive team could accomplish by itself. Thanks in advance to
each of you for a great year ahead - your expertise is appreciated.
For those of you who don’t know my background with the club,
I’ve been a PCA member for twelve years, a Porsche owner for
fourteen and over those years a member of three regions- Metro
New York, Chicago, and Maverick (5 years this June). I’ve been lucky
to be a part of large regions with vast reserves of volunteers and
varying interests. When people talk about what, if anything, they
miss about a place they’ve lived - and the subject of food comes up,
they might say they miss the pizza, for example. Relative to PCA,
I’d say my small wish list only includes just a few more regularly
scheduled Concours and Rally events- not quality, just quantity. In
all these areas - Tours, Socials, Autocross, Time Trials, Drivers
Education, and Club Race- Maverick’s programs are as good or
better than any I’ve been a part of. Can we add more Concours or
Rallies- we’ll see? Our calendar is fairly full as it is.
I’m hoping Mimi Spreen, our new Secretary this year, has taken
delivery of her Boxster by now, as is required by the new region
bylaws. Noby Takahashi, our new Vice President, Bob Knight, our
returning Treasurer, and I all drive Boxster S’s. We’ve cut Mimi
(a former Maverick Vice President) some slack and told her she can
get either a Boxster S, or a standard Boxster to fulfill the requirement
for office. On a serious note though, have you noticed that twothirds
of the new members listed here each month are registering
Boxsters as their Porsche? No surprise. My Boxster is the first
Porsche I’ve owned with air conditioning you can actually use, and a
radio that you can play FM stations instead of just AM talk radio.
2003 will be quite a year. In addition to the year’s regularly
scheduled events including such major undertakings as our
Memorial Day Club Race weekend, we’ll be finishing most of the
preparation for our hosting of PCA Parade 2004, taking place in
early July of that year. The Maverick Region last hosted the Porsche
Parade in 1987. This will be a very ambitious undertaking with a
Drivers Education and Club Race scheduled in concert with the
traditional Parade activities. Downtown Fort Worth, and the Texas
Motor Speedway will be the nuclei for the 2004 Porsche Parade.
You’ll see and read more about Parade 2004 as momentum gathers
this year, and we report the results. We’ll need your help as volunteers
and you’ll read more about that too. Consider attending the 2003
Parade in Tampa this year in June. There will even be a Drivers
Education event at the famous Sebring International Raceway.
Speaking a little closer to home, schedule wise - there are a few
January events I’d like to point out that are happening this month:
First, we’ve got our first Happy Hour social on Thursday Jan 16th.
We’ve got our New Member party on January 18th, at Texas Motor
Speedway and our rally school with a short rally at TMS on Jan 25th.
I’ve been to both of these in past years, and they are great. Do you
get the feeling I love TMS? If every Porsche is a racecar, then how can
you dislike a racetrack? Seriously, the venue (believe it or not) is cost
effective and worthwhile for these two events. We finish up January
with three lunches on Jan 21st and Jan 28th. Also don’t forget to file
your application for the Driver’s Education at Motor Sport Ranch
happening in February by the January 9th postmark date. This first
race track event of the year fills up quickly.
Once again, welcome to another year of the Maverick Region
PCA, and besides this monthly publication, be sure to follow
the region’s happenings on our MRPCA chat board on Yahoo
groups (www.yahoogroups.com; MRPCA) and our web page
www.pca.org/mav. We’re also going to try to rotate the board
meetings this year around the Metroplex (east, middle, and west) to
make it possible for more people to attend. Till next month then. It’s
not the cars, it’s the people, and remember; drive those garage
queens, so then you can wash them!
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