As Treasurer I had many opportunities to
meet the people in our club that were organizing our events. At some point
they would all have to come to me to either give me money or get money
from me. Now that I have accepted the position of Activities VP I am learning
first hand how much time and effort is being given by so many people to
make all of our events successful. Spare time is so hard to come by these
days and to give so much of it for others is rare. I would love to thank
each and every one of you but Dave won’t let me write the whole NOR’ EASTER.
Our first big event of the year is the
Spring Ramble. After successfully running this event for many years Russ
Merriam has decided to retire. This was the first event that my wife and
I attended and it was a great introduction to the club. We have enjoyed
Russ’s directions for the last five years and we look forward to seeing
what Bruce Hauben and Murray Mathews have in store for us this year. Planning
for this event started prior to last year’s Ramble. Choosing the site is
the least of the worries for our organizers. Making sure the roads lead
us to our hotel is the big challenge. When the directions say dip in the
road they mean it.
Spring this year will also include the
start of our track events. There are more people than I can name who are
involved in working with the track managers to schedule track time. As
the popularity of NHIS grows it is getting more difficult to get the most
desirable dates. This year our committee has had to scramble to find other
venues to add to what would have been a very short and cold season for
many people. Now we are looking forward to driving at Rausch Creek, Mt.
Tremblant, and Mosport as well as NHIS because of the dedication of the
track committee members. Not only are the dates at the track important,
also finding places for tech inspections and obtaining sponsors for our
events are also a major part of planning these events. It takes many people
to accomplish all of the tasks it takes to organize the events. Then we
must not forget the people who help, during the day of the event, make
things run as smooth as possible.
Our most competitive events are the Autocrosses.
For the last two years we have learned from our mistakes and now have co-chairs
for these events. They are not only responsible for obtaining dates with
Ft. Devens and securing Porta-Potties but they also need to secure volunteers
to help with creating a course, setting it up, registration and timing.
With out all of these people we would not be able to sit back and just
enjoy the competition.
Summer means Concours. Steve Centorino
has been the chair for this event for the last two years. After having
a year’s experience he called Royal Ford to get our event written up in
The Boston Globe. Last year we had the best turn out that we have had in
many years. Steve hopes to schedule the event at the Pierce House in Lincoln
again this year as well. Planning this event is not an easy task either.
Along with finding a site you must hire caterers, and secure judges for
the day. So Steve is not the only one who has dedicated their time
to this event.
Bob Cohen has taken over the Fall Tour
for the past two years. Each year he has brought us to more interesting
locations. There must have been a lot of work to arrange to have our Porsches’
hauled by ferry to Martha’s Vineyard last October. I heard from many members,
who attended this event, how careful the Steamship Authority workers were
with their cars. We are all looking forward to this years fall tour.
We must all remember that the people organizing
the events are volunteers. They are dedicating much of their free time
so we all can enjoy these events. If you have enjoyed any of these events
and you know any of the people involved in organizing please thank them.
Better yet if you have enjoyed any events the club organizes, volunteer
to help make the events better
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