Had a wonderful breakfast this morning
of Spam and waffles. My three boys didn't go for the Spam, but liked the
waffles. They wanted to know what Spam was made of, and of course nobody
is really certain, but I told them it would put hair on their chests. It's
a sales technique that never seems to work on boys, but dads feel obligated
to try it.
Thinking about other parts of their breakfast,
I looked at the ingredients for Mrs. Butterworth's Maple Syrup. Interesting
to find that it contains no butter and no maple. Reminds me of fellow Porsche
enthusiast Jerry Seinfeld's famous quote about the breakfast cereal Grape
Nuts. "Ever read the ingredients? No grapes, no nuts!" I suppose
the strangeness of food names isn't just for breakfast anymore. For example
hamburgers contain no ham and no boogers (you hope!)
What does breakfast ingredients have to
do with the Porsche Club? Nothing really. But I did try to tie it in with
that Jerry Seinfeld reference! Well, you won't have to listen my rambling
insanity any longer. This will be my last column in the Nor'easter for
quite some time I suppose. Beginning next month this page will feature
a column from our new president, Barbara Collazzo-Noonan. I have truly
enjoyed the opportunity and the challenge of authoring a column for this
wonderful magazine, but after 4 years and 48 columns I think my creative
juices could use a refill!
I'd like to take a moment to reflect on
the wonderful things and people that this club has brought to me. We have
so many people working hard for our benefit that sometimes I feel very
humbled by it. A good example this year would be the track committee who
busted their Nomex-clad butts against every sort of opposition (especially
weather) and made us all very proud of them. Then there are the unsung
heroes who work thanklessly behind the scenes. I know Bill Brinkmann is
also writing his final column this month and wanted to recognize various
people who deserve some credit, so I'll leave this subject to him and not
steal his thunder.
It's heartwarming to hear of so many good
deeds that our members do for each other. I remember Mike Noonan giving
my son an aluminum race seat for his go-kart. And the time Greg Hill designed
and made magnetic numbers for my car. Steve Ross once gave me a scratched
wheel from a Boxster so that I would have something to mount a spare track
tire on. I recall one of my first track events many years ago when I had
a flat tire and Russ Castagna (who barely knew me at the time) came over
and helped me plug my tire. Eric Kessel once produced a mosaic poster of
my car made of tiny pictures of cars from our club. It seems people are
always there for each other, helpful and generous. This club is a wonderful
family.
Looking toward being a part of this club
in 2002 is very exciting. Let's take a quick peek at a few very exciting
events coming up! On January 12th we have a visit to Paul Russell restoration
shop in Essex. We've been going there every two years and it's truly incredible.
You don't want to miss it and have to wait two more years. The place is
filled with classic sports and racing cars such as Mercedes Gullwings,
Ferraris, Porsches, Jaguars, Bugattis, etc. Much of Ralph Lauren's personal
collection is there and we get a guided tour of the shop that is really
fascinating. We have some other exciting monthly meetings coming up including
a tour of the Bose facility in February and a huge party in March featuring
Nik and the Nice Guys. The driving season for 2002 looks to be really incredible
with an expanded Driver Ed series and the Autocross series including some
events at a new venue; South Weymouth Naval Air Station! It's a much bigger
facility than Fort Devens and will allow us to design some really interesting
courses, plus offer more dates.
We have a club with great people and great
events. I know the club's motto is "It's not the cars, it's the people",
but the cars are pretty cool too! This is not putting cars above people
though because you have to remember that the cars were designed and built
by people. These cars are more than hunks of metal, leather and glass.
They were built with passion and are used with passion. True, they are
not for everyone, but what object of passion is? I will close with the
immortal words; Porsche has built "things that weren't created to be something
to everyone... but everything to someone."
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