Members –
2020 started off racking up new events and several changes within the Club. Randy Ames and John Paul have already done 2 tours this year and 3rd is most likely already in the books as well – once we can all start gathering again.
Another change for our club is adding two new board members at Large. Russ Weber and John Paul bring new ideas and backgrounds from other clubs and events that just improves on what we already have. Brent Looney and Leon Malding are now in charge of our First Saturday Coffee events which have been by far our biggest monthly event for the first quarter of the year.
In February, we had over 80 cars show up for the Cars & Coffee event and signed up three new members. It has been going so well we even tested a “Last” Saturday Coffee in Hanford in February and that event brought out over 20 cars. Antonio Panzera led this charge and we supported him with Coffee and Pastries. The debate is now on as to whether we should put on the new South Valley event monthly or quarterly. Let us know your thoughts!
National has been doing webinars each month and call-in meetings to keep our club and staff informed. PCA continues strong growth, over 4% year to year. This is impressive when most car clubs are shrinking. Sequoia Region is right in line with National on the rate of growth. Thanks to having a great Membership and Secretary in Debi Schmidt. She is always tracking the new members and keeping all of us informed on their questions and inviting them out to our dinners and tours.
National also mentioned they already have over 900 cars signed up for Parade in Palm Springs this June. We suggest you sign up today and go see this event. The trend has been over 1,200 cars that attend Parade with many events to see or do. Several of us are going for the Tours and Concourse event. Make sure you speak up and let us know you are coming or any questions you may have. (Assuming that by June we can all be attending large gatherings again.)
Larry Kirlin, our autocross Director and Club DE director, originally had April planned for AX and a control clinic which in the past has been a big turnout. But we are not doing any events in April due to the Shelter-In-Place orders. We have more AX planned for May and June with the hopes of having the BMW club come out for lesson on how to drive, but we’ll keep you posted on these dates depending on when group events are allowed again. These autocross events – when we finally get to have them again – will be a great time for you to test your car’s abilities and learn new driving skills for everyday driving.
Lastly, I want to mention our Mammoth tour. Last year we had over 88 cars attend this event. Sequoia leads the other Regions over for a 3-day event in the town of Mammoth. If you have attended in the past or if you are thinking of joining us on July 24-26th, please check in with me and we can help set you up.
Zone 7 rep Collin Fat has posted this on the National calendar and we have been blowing up with other Regions wanting to jump in on this fun event. Here is last year’s link to review the tour. https://highaltitudeporschetour.com/
To stay ahead of Tours, make sure you check our website or Facebook pages for updates.
I hope you are doing well. Tami and I certainly look forward to getting our group back together again for events, and hopefully that will be soon. In the meantime, at least you have a newsletter to read, including a special activities section that our newsletter editor created for us. Please share it with anyone looking for something fun and Porsche-related to do!
Regards,
Dave Ogden
President