Category: From The Presidents Desk

From the President’s Desk,

As I write my last President’s Desk message to you, it is mind-boggling to reminisce of the past 3 years as your President. Through it all, I enjoyed every minute of it. Some have inquired why I have invested a large amount of time in dedication to a car club. My answer is that many people, including me, find satisfaction in helping people less fortunate through donations and time, which is invaluable and a very worthy cause. I’m sure many of us provide support to those in need. But at the same time, everyone, no matter their station in life, needs to experience a sense of community and comradery which is a vital part of the human condition. The Porsche club gives us that chance to develop new friendships and experience rewarding activities together. It is all worth it!

I’m excited about the future of our club as we are approaching [...]

From the President’s Desk,

Our active schedule for our club offers many opportunities for all of our members. As you know, we have had events almost every week in the last two months. It is encouraging to see all the new faces as members decide to take advantage of getting together for driving and social activities.

Our Annual Member Picnic Honoring our new members was incredible. We had what must have been a record 89 attendees at the picnic. It was a hot day, but it didn’t affect the comradery and the excellent BBQ. A shout-out to all of our leadership team that made it all happen. When our crew arrived that morning, every table was completely covered with bird poop. Luckily, we brought buckets of soapy water and stiff brushes to get it all cleaned up.

Our third and last High Performance Drivers Education track weekend of the year took place at the end [...]

From the President’s Desk,

September was an incredibly event-packed month! Brian Schmidt, our Chief Driving Instructor, held a very informative Tech Session on Car Control at our monthly Brunch. From what I have heard, practically everyone learned something new at this excellent presentation.

The Gunlock, Utah Drive and Picnic took place on a hot morning when we met at Lake Mead. When we arrived at the picnic gazebo at Gunlock State Park, a nice breeze was coming off the lake and it was quite enjoyable.  A group of our friends from Southern Utah joined us for some good comradery. A shoutout to Gary Lea, who came up with the plan and organized the drive. He said we will do it again!

September 21st marked the annual Las Vegas AutoFest, held on the fairways of scenic Red Rock Golf Course. Although this festival includes all marques, Porsche cars dominated with 86 awesome Porsches on display! See [...]

From the President’s Desk,

As we say goodbye to Summer and look forward to a cooler Fall, check out our upcoming events in this issue. I consider our monthly Brunch as an event, thanks to all of the interesting guest speakers we enlist. Brian Schmidt will be sharing information at our September Brunch about tracking your Porsche and what is involved in the preparation.  Our HPDE will take place September 28-29 at Spring Mountain Motorsports Raceway.

We are having a Day Drive on September 14th that will include a picnic. The destination is Gunlock State Park in southern Utah. It should be a fun day!

AUTOFEST is the largest car show in Las Vegas and will take place September 21st. Plan to sign up and display your car in the Porsche corral on the scenic 18th fairway of Red Rock Country Club. Last year we had over 90 Porsches!

October 5th is the date set [...]

From the President’s Desk,

Now that we are on the downhill side of summer, we can look forward to planned club activities for the Fall. In addition, I have had a few organizers of local car shows reach out with possible activities for our members. Although they are not LVR activities, you may be interested in displaying your Porsche.  We have included them in the Desert Drives.

Our monthly brunches and Mix & Mingles have been very successful during the hot summer. We are in the process of engaging guest speakers for Fall brunches and planning locations for our Mix & Mingle get-togethers. You can always access our activities calendar for events and signup.

AutoFest, the “Grand Daddy of all Car Shows” for Las Vegas, will take place September 21st. What could be better than displaying your car on the 18th fairway of Red Rock Country Club along with hundreds of other fantastic automobiles. Last [...]

From the President’s Desk,

We are certainly in the dog days of summer. Even the dogs don’t want to leave the house! Dana and I had a nice Colorado trip in our travel trailer. While Las Vegas was setting record high temps, we were enjoying a cooler time visiting Mesa Verde NP, the Great Sand Dunes NP area and Black Canyon NP, all above 6000 feet. In July we are planning to head to California and assist the Santa Barbara Region PCA celebrate their 60th Anniversary.

As many Porsche Club regions in the northern states have a less active winter season, we tend to offer less activities this time of year. We had our planning session for Fall activities and many dates have been added to the calendar. We will populate it as we firm up plans.

In addition to our regular monthly brunches and Mix & Mingle get-togethers you can look forward to AutoFest, [...]

From the President’s Desk,

Well, it has been an incredible 50th Anniversary year so far! It began in January with our Winter Gala where we pulled out all the stops. Our guest speaker was none other than the Face of PCA, Executive Director Vu Nguyen. Then on our actual club’s 50th Birthday, we held the largest LVR member event in history, with over 250 members registered for our EXTRAVAGANZA. I have never seen such a display of Porsches, not to mention the live music, magical acts and Las Vegas showgirls. What a memorable celebration for the club! A shout out to our LVR Board, Committee, and volunteers. And a heartfelt thank you to Gary Ackerman, Paul Jarrett, and all of the members of the Gaudin Porsche team that helped make it happen. You are the best!

LVR members are welcome to participate in our planning session for possible future events and activities. Bring your ideas [...]

From the President’s Desk,

Due to deadlines, I am writing to you two days after our big 50th Extravaganza blowout. Our Board and volunteers put in months of planning for this once in a lifetime event and I am so proud of the outcome.

We had over 250 members sign up for the Extravaganza and we also hit our limit of 100 for the Mt. Charleston Drive. We had perfect weather for the morning and the display of Porsches was something to behold. I want to not only thank our dedicated volunteers, but to personally thank Gary Ackerman, Paul Jarrett and their professional crew at Gaudin Porsche for offering the venue and assisting with the event. We are lucky to have what has become an increasingly rare family-owned dealership that truly cares about us local Porsche enthusiasts and considers us as part of the family!

We are planning a three-day, two-night tour to Southern Utah, [...]

Well, my President’s Desk also doubles as my rehab safe space while I recover from hip replacement surgery. Unfortunately, I took a tumble and cracked my hip. Fortunately, I had a fantastic young surgeon who called me the day I went to the hospital and said he had my X-rays and had the replacement sized and ready to “install” the next morning. And he did! A few days out of surgery and I am walking and feeling no pain (even without the Oxycodone)! Now I can’t wait to see if I still fit into the Boxster GTS and the Carrera S. 

The BIG DAY is only two weeks away. Las Vegas Regions’s 5Oth ANNIVERSARY EXTRAVAGANZA! Our Birthday is April 20th with the party kicking off at Gaudin Porsche at 10:00am. We have planned quite a bash with coffee, pastries and entertainment along with an unbelievable collection of Porsches on display. Make sure that if you [...]

From the President’s Desk

Our Board has been quite busy planning for Las Vegas Region’s 50th Anniversary. It will be quite a celebration that will take place on April 20th, the same day of the inception of our charter, in 1974. Make sure that you sign up soon as we are having to limit attendance. Gaudin Porsche has generously provided their venue for the morning. Check out the article and registration in this issue of Desert Drives. SIGN UP SOON! Also, check out the 50th Anniversary Gear website. Great prices on quality merchandise.

Topock is an Arizonan town that most have never heard of, or let alone, visited. Topock 66 BBQ and Grill was a very interesting destination for our day drive in February. The historic mountain Route 66 Highway through Oatman brought smiles to Porschephile’s faces. It [...]