2006 | 2005

Governance Presidents Message August 2005 Dennis Rood There were many activities in June as we kicked off the summer. The biggest one for Nancy and I was attending the 50th Anniversary Porsche Parade in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I worked a little too late on the 24th and dashed to the airport arriving just 30 minutes before our afternoon flight to JFK, finding long lines at security because of a security breach that required officials to empty all of the concourses and make people to go back through security check once again. They held the flight and we made it on the plane and to JFK by midnight and checked into our hotel. The next morning we got our rental car and drove to Hershey about 130 miles, stopping by Coney Island on our way for a little while. Upon arriving we went right to registration and got our name badges and schedules. Next we met Alan Caldwell coming back from a technical committee meeting and we had a beverage in the “Hershey Bar” in the lodge. (Just kidding. That really wasn’t the name of the bar.) Then on to the cocktail hour and welcome dinner where we met up with Jim Bell, Roger Ellingson, Linda and Bill Bein, and Paul and Shirley Risinger. The dinner was really great. Porsche AG sprung for the evening and had a rock and roll band and we heard talks from Peter Porsche, other Porsche officials and a flute solo by Peter’s son Donnell. The big moment at the end of the evening was the unveiling of a large covered lumpy object in the middle of the banquet hall that turned out to be the first PCA Club Car 50th Anniversary  Special Edition. Porsche AG is building 50 of these cars, which will be priced at $99,911. There is an entry for a lottery to choose who will be able to buy one. They are also having a sweepstakes to give one of the cars away this summer to a PCA member.  The next day, Sunday, was spent at the Hershey Hotel and grounds where the largest Concours and Porsche Car Corral in club history was displayed. Over 800 cars. There were special cars flown over from the Porsche museum, tractors, police cars, special racing cars, a 959 and every kind of Porsche you could imagine. It was very hot and humid but the setting was beautiful. That night was the concours banquet back at the lodge and wouldn’t you know it, The Spiel won 1st place once again for the fourth year in a row in the large club category. Congratulations to our Editor, Denise Missler, Assistant Editor, Nick Missler and to all of the regular Spiel staff and club contributors who made this happen. Congratulations also to our Secretary and Webmaster Barb Coplen as the PNWR web site won fifth place overall. Congratulations Barb and all the web contributors. Monday morning Nancy and I took a little time in the morning touring Amish country Pennsylvania and driving through the beautiful farm lands and rolling countryside. Monday evening we attended the Presidents reception at a very nice local country club.This event was well attended once again by the entire PCA officers and staff, members of the Porsche family and guests from all over the world. A very nice evening.  Tuesday we got up early for a run 30 miles South to Gettysburg to tour the battlefields and visit the museum, rushing back North to attend the National Board Meeting. After a presentation about the past year and future plans and sales for Porsche North America by the President, the regular business meeting began. Much discussion was had on why the computer system that started to be installed over one and one-half years ago still had no target date for completion. Our past board member, Jim Selders, is the one man resource on this project. Tuesday night was the rally banquet with the main speaker being the president of The Racers Group on how he got into racing and the many races he and his team have won. We left the next morning for New York City for a few days of sightseeing, plays and relaxation as, since we did not have our car, the rest of the week were most of the driving events. Autocross was on Wednesday and Leeds Gulick won first place in his class. Congratulations Leeds. Leeds also was very involved with the Parade and the Goodie Store, transporting all of the equipment back to Seattle in his van for next year’s Parade in Portland. It was a great privilege to attend Parade this year and to represent PNWR at the President’s reception and National Board Meeting. This was a very special event for the 50th Anniversary but I am sure that next year in Portland, Parade will be terrific once again. Plan now to attend.