Blog

Greetings to all our wonderful Porsche family!

Welcome to 2026. As the world seems to want to spin out of control, our group is ramping up for a full year of fun and frivolity for our members!

December was a month of slowing down and getting ready for vacations and the holidays for most of us, and club events have been minimal. That being said, we are already looking forward to 2026. 

HPDE – We will be back to having four HPDE events this year, providing things do not change. Our DE group has done a phenomenal job with the three events we hosted in 2025, and I think we are all looking forward to adding back in a fourth event this coming year. I will tell you if you have never done it before. For various reasons, I highly encourage all of you to do it at least once this year. I did it in November, and I was overwhelmed by how much I learned. I am driving in the February event to follow up, and I have no intention of being a racer at the tender age of 72. The car control skills you learn help so much when you are navigating the crazy traffic in our daily driving. 

TOURS – Reid, who is the master tour guide, is working on new tours for this year, and if past performance is any indication of future events, they will be great. Our first one was in January, and it was the three-day drive event to Phoenix to hob knob with our fellow Porsche Wizards from the 16th through the 18th. It quickly filled up and had a waiting list. It was an incredible drive through more remote parts of Southern Arizona up to Prescott through some amazing twisty roads and some outstanding food in Prescott. Reid’s wonderful sister, Sue Olds, hosted a marvelous Wine Down event after the drive. Seriously, she is one of the sweetest people on the planet, and everyone had an incredibly fun time. Read the wrap-up further into the newsletter to see what you missed. These kinds of drives have limited space and always fill up fast, and there will be other trips coming, so stay tuned and be sure to sign up early!

DAY DRIVES – We will be adding more day drives this year. Our first one will be on January 31st to Death Valley, and I will be leading that drive. In March, we will have our now-famous Topock, AZ drive and another Gunlock, UT picnic drive. We will be adding back into the mix the Lake Mead to Overton drives with some side trips like Valley of Fire. 

CHARITY – We will continue our efforts around doing charity work as volunteers and also raising money for various charities. The silent auction at the Gala was a great success. Everyone bid generously! We raised almost $2000.00 more than last year. We will announce other efforts throughout the year. More details in this issue.

GALA – We had a great turnout for the Gala. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and there was nothing but positive feedback. The aforementioned charity part was awesome, and the best part was watching Marnie Cameron become an auctioneer and watching people fight over two baked pies from a shop in Utah. One of the pies sold for $450.00!!!!! All I am going to say is that pie better have been beyond great!

CHEF WILLIAM’S RED ROCK MOTOR CLUB – Our very own Chef William hosts a get-together on the first Monday of every month  at Red Rock Country Club. Open to all, and. A great group of people always shows up. Starts at 5:00 p.m. Always wonderful cars, food,  and beverages available for purchase in the clubhouse. Check it out. 

CARS UND KAFFEE – Every last Sunday of the month, this event always draws a great crowd of car people. We welcome everyone who wants to come, and we’ve seen Italian exotic cars, British sports cars, Japanese GTRs, and more. We also have old classic muscle cars, off-road rigs, and even classic motorcycles. Coffee is available for purchase.

7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., we meet at the Good Wolf parking lot and Imperial Street and Commerce in the Arts District.

Board Members for 2026

Gary Lea – President

Reid Smith – Immediate Past President / Yoda

Mark Coronado – Vice President – Brunches

Marnie Cameron – Secretary – Charity

Ed Hanford – Treasurer – Finance

Jed Weintraub – Director – Compliance

Open – Historian / Insurance

Val Dodd – Director – New Member

Farhaad Shiekh – Director of Social Media/Webmaster

Craig Shanklin – Southern Utah Director 

Ken Hollman – Southern Utah Director

Chanelle Bautista – Director

Richard Burns – Director

Brad Cameron – HPDE Co Chair

Brian Schmidt – HPDE Co Chair – Chief Driving Instructor

Richard Cruz – Tour and Drive Co Director

Barbara Barron – Chief Volunteer Officer

Paul Jarrett – Porsche Dealer Representative

Martha Burba – Mix and Mingle Coordinator

Lynda Colluci – Brunch Speaker Coordinator