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From the Archives #11, January 2023

After looking through the Las Vegas Region Newsletters from the first couple of years of the Region, I was struck by the number of ads from gas stations. Yes, just regular old Phillips 66, Esso, and others, all trying for customers. The ads must have been worth something to the advertisers, because those little business-card-sized ads cost $8 per month.

Yet today, it makes me wonder why we’re not getting ads from electric charging stations. The conspiracy theorist in me has several explanations for this, but I’m sure you have your own. We’ll be glad to publish the most outlandish ideas if you send them in.

There was an interesting report at the April 1975 LVR board meeting. The Newsletter reported: ”If all of the advertisers would pay their past due bills, the newsletter would be nearly self-supporting.” Maybe I should rethink the value of the gas station ads.

The September 1975 issue of the Las Vegas Region Sandscript was dedicated to Mark Donohue. For the few of you who don’t remember Donohue, he was Roger Penske’s first real test and racing driver, and a true master at both. He won Penske’s first Indy 500 in 1972, won seven SCCA National Championships, and won the US CanAm championship in 1973 driving a Porsche 917.  It seems impossible to me that it has been 47 years since Mark died in a session on the track practicing for the Austrian Gran Prix, but the Las Vegas Region cared back in 1975.

And lastly, there were several tech tips on driving your Porsche in the Las Vegas Valley and elsewhere in Nevada that are still applicable today. First, don’t speed through a dust storm or dust cloud; the car’s paint will appreciate it. Second, watch your oil temperature while driving at Porsche speeds across the desert when the temperature is Nevada-hot. If it goes much above your car’s normal range, slow down.