July 2024 Tempus Fugit

With Jeff Clark, President and Turbo, illustration, Roger Warrick

We have crossed the midpoint of July. How did this happen?

So far we've had an incredible season: our New Member party in May, monthly Gemeinschaft, HPDE, Rallies Tours, and Porsche Parade in Birmingham. We have something OVR Porsche-related nearly every weekend. If you are interested in hosting an event: Cars and Coffee, Gemeinschaf, etc please don't hesitate to reach out.

The Business of Thank You.

First I want to offer a massive and heartfelt thank you to the Board: Chuck Lindsey, Gerardo Nucete, and Steve Ringel these guys give an incredible amount of time to the club, always looking forward and wondering what can be improved. I know this because I talk with each of them typically 3-4 times a week about planning, meetings, progress, future events, and the people outside of our immediate circle that contribute and add so much. Daily I get an email or a text from a member with ideas or critiques and I take them all seriously. We may not execute the ideas but we catalog them for future reference and dates. What I am seeing as the quality of the events goes up is the seriousness of the folks offering up their business and homes. So thank you to our Board and our generous members.

Gemeinschaft

These social events came under a new name this year and they have taken on a life of their own under the tutelage of JC and Betsy Stadnik. You guys have created something amazing. Thanks to Betsy for setting up, organizing, and orchestrating the first OVR PCA Ladies' night at DeShas, a big success, and big thanks are due.

JC is an emergency room doctor. I don't know how he finds the time but he has arranged all these events and made some wonderful contacts for the club. In every case, days after the event, the sponsors reach out and either ask us back or want to know when we can do another. Thank you JC and Betsy.

Big thanks to Paul Sonoda. Paul took on managing the OVR website. He’s the reason it looks great and runs as smoothly as it does. Paul is an exceptionally talented man and quite honestly we'd be lost without him. I don't understand the mechanics of what it takes to make our website work. All I know is I send him content several times a week with the note:: “Add this to the website, put this on the calendar” he makes it happen. Thank you, Paul.

Personal

Probably a wee bit out of the zone of many of our members but I attended the Warren County fair at the Lebanon fairgrounds the other night. I highly recommend it as you get a glimpse of life far outside the manicured suburbia most of us occupy. I am a big fan of rural life although I know little about it. My grandmother's home in upstate NY backed up to nearly 1000 acres of corn and soybeans and a dairy farm across the street. I loved the smell and I loved hearing the animals. I suppose the fair transported me back to childhood? Want to see enthusiastic kids with their exotic chickens, goats, and beautifully shorn sheep? Beautiful horses and cows as big as a pickup truck? I found it a great way to spend the afternoon with my wife. Highly recommend it for a date. Maybe again next year.

Athens Tour. Incredibly grateful

Again, and as reliable as clockwork: Steve and Gwynne Krekler and Phil and Annette Dougherty put together another fantastic weekend of camaraderie and driving. The Athens tour is without any doubt one of the highlights of the summer. Big thank you to the 4 of you for taking time out of your lives to handle the logistics, the waivers, the mapping, the hotels, the restaurant, all of it.

“It's not just the cars, it's the people”

Last year I did the tour and it was flawless until it wasn't. My clutch slave cylinder imploded so my clutch would engage but I had to hook the pedal with my foot to bring it back to the top. Not a huge deal but unnerving.

I've had issues with my 911 as many of us do. Mine seems to be afflicted at the worst times imaginable. This year after hours of driving in 92-degree heat we approached the bridge out of Ohio that leads us to DaVincis in Williamstown West Va. As we crawled to the top of the bridge my car started sputtering and convulsing then shut off. No matter how many times I cranked it, nothing. Jay-shan Jackson and Yaunce Alexander seemingly dropped out of the sky. One had a battery pack in hand the other was in the battery area of my 911 pulling off the covers and checking connections. Nothing.

Look, like many of us I was raised by parents that were born during the Great Depression. You learned self-reliance. If you have a problem, you solve it, you don't rely on anyone and you certainly don't ask for help unless your leg has been gnawed off. My first reaction was to attempt to push my 3400 lb car over the top of the hill and it'll roll down the other side. Again, in seconds there were ½ dozen people INCLUDING a random guy going the other way who jumped out of his truck to help push her. She rolls to the bottom of the hill, sits for a minute, and starts up happy as a clam-like nothing happened.

So when Porsche Club of America says “ It's not just the cars it's the people” Believe it. Random pickup truck guy that I didn't have a chance to thank in person? Thank you.

Jay-shan and Yaunce? Special heartfelt thank you to you guys: I don't know what I did to deserve guys like you in my circle but I am very grateful for you both.

Now if somebody can tell me what the heck is going on with my car I’d be happy to hear it. I love my 911 but sometimes she feels like a girlfriend that can't quit cheating on you. You give her everything she wants, you start to trust her again, then WHAM!

Your ideas: president@ovrpca.org

If you're reading this then you are on the website. That's a good thing. Please spend some time here, look around. We've dedicated a lot of time and energy to make it readable, accessible, and as easy to navigate as possible.

Please check in at PCA.org and make sure your contact info is correct. Your address, your cars, email etc etc. I get requests to go in and change these things but I cannot do that on your behalf.

The calendar is updated a couple of times a week so please refer to it or better download the calendar to your phone.

Any questions or concerns don't hesitate to reach out.