West Texas Region Porsche Club of America
President’s Newsletter
February 2, 2022
I’m excited to be your Porsche Club of America Regional President, and thank you for the opportunity to serve you. Due to the spike in COVID cases and the death of Charter member Larry Goldstein, we did not have an Officers or a Club meeting in the month of January in Lubbock; although Midland/Odessa did choose to meet. The Officers and I met Tuesday, February 1st. The regular Officer’s meetings will be held on the first Tuesday of the month as needed and membership meetings will be held on the 2nd Tuesday of the month, both at 6pm, locations to be determined. Officer’s meetings will be held at my office.
First item of discussion was where to have our monthly meetings, and we decided our February meeting will be held at 4ORE! Golf. We are trying to have the March meeting at the National Ranching Heritage Center at TTU.
Activities Chairman Rick Garlock wanted to discuss the status of our Autocross events. Four events will be held this year and possibly a 5th. I have signed the contract with South Plains Mall for this year’s location. A discussion was held regarding having some reward for people who sign up for the entire season or complete all events – a club T-shirt of dash plaque will be awarded. There will be a discounted price for individuals who sign up in advance for the entire season, and we will try to present an award to them as well. Additional discussion was held and it was decided to pursue trophies for the fastest Porsche and for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for each event. There will likely be several single-day drives in the surrounding area. I will ask Barry Bartee and Stan Cribbs to assist with the routes. There may possibly be an event to be held near Midland/Odessa as well.
I felt that we should have one national Porsche Club event that a group of us try to attend, and there was considerable support in the Officer’s group for attending Porsche Palooza at Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Rick Garlock will head up the plans for that event and provide details.
It was decided that due to the prior success and enthusiasm for the 4 day event into the Big Bend area, it would be repeated. It will start Thursday, December 8th and we will return by Sunday, December 11th. During the event we will have our annual Christmas celebration at a location to be determined. I am hopeful that we could get the zone representative and a large turnout from Midland/Odessa to participate. Possibly we will open this up to El Paso or National attendees depending on availability of facilities.
Other activities discussed included a gimmick rally such as a poker run, which could be held in early December to view the Christmas lights. A driving event was discussed, possibly to be held in association with El Paso or Amarillo in September or October. The El Paso Arroyo Seco raceway would be a strong consideration.
A social event such as a Texas Hold Em night will be arranged at my home sometime in the future. We anticipate additional dinners or possibly a progressive dinner evening. Another social event might be to rent a movie theater and have some car-related movie such as “LeMans”.
Car shows were discussed with the suggestion by me that we go together with another car group in order to have a large enough event to attract crowds. We need to raise funds annually for a charity. I suggested that this year’s charity selected should benefit a child at the Texas Girls and Boys Ranch, formerly Texas Boys Ranch. We would like to provide tuition to an auto mechanic training program.
One additional social event will be a French meal, Bouillabaisse (Shrimp, Lobster, Clams, Fish Soup served with a Reisling or Pinot Gris wine), at either my home or Charles and Sharon Trumble’s home.
I recommended that we possibly have a group activity going to the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta, GA or Los Angeles. An alternative for a group might be to go together to the Porsche track experience course at Birmingham, AL.
I look forward to finalizing many of these events, and welcome your input. Anyone wishing to help in the planning of these events is welcome to contact me at 806-785-0600.
Enter your message here] Thank you,
Andy Gray