May 2023 President’s Message

It’s wet outside as I sit down to write this. I thought we were done with the rain but I was wrong. I’m not sure I can even spell drought.

Bruno is back!! I picked him up last Friday and he looks fantastic! The term “body in white” is usually not literal, but in this case that is untrue.

I got him back just in time to attend Luft 9 Air|Water at Mare Island this last Sunday. WOW, I have never seen so many Air and Water cooled Porsches in one place. Redwood Region was well represented by Essy Fariab, Kurt Fischer, Don Nohai, Jeff Hall, Tom and Philippa Short, Sharon Neidel, David Bunch, myself, and I’m sure plenty of others I missed. The shots above were taken before any other cars were placed near me.

…and just before the Air|Water day of Luft 9 we had a fabulous event of our own starting at Redwood sponsor AutoSport Detailing and finishing at the oldest Road House in California, the Washoe House which opened in 1859. Find more about this great event in Jeff Hall’s article later in the May newsletter and info on all the other things our Region and Zone are doing.

My lovely wife Sharon and I attended Sacramento Valley Region’s Crab38 event a couple of weeks ago. Yes, the 38 does represent how many times SVR has done this one. They had to shut down Crab for the pandemic years and were able to resurrect it for 2023 with the help of many, many volunteers. This year’s Crab had tours, a rally, an autocross, a concours, and a big crab dinner. It was centered around the California Automobile Museum near Old Town Sacramento. I had the pleasure of meeting Hank Malter, Redwood’s Past President (1970 – the year after we became a PCA region), and National PCA President from 1981-84 at the banquet. Kim Nelson, SVR’s Event Liaison, took on MC duties and created an auto museum trivia contest. Sharon and I competed in the autocross and she entered her Cayman R in the concours. She won her class in AX. A great time was had by all. More info can be found here.

On another very exciting note, we can now officially announce that Redwood Region will be hosting Treffen Wine Country in the Spring of 2024! The primary hotel for this national event is the Sonoma Mission Inn on Highway 12. This will be an excellent way to re-introduce the rest of PCA to our fabulous roads, wineries, restaurants, scenery and other places of interest.

Some of you may know that Treffen started out as Escape. There have been Porsche Escapes to LA, to Albuquerque, to Flagstaff, and the first one ever done was Escape to the Wine Country hosted by none other than the Redwood Region back in 2005. Initially, Escapes were handled exclusively by the host region, but as time went on our national organization became more and more involved, eventually renaming the event Treffen. What has not changed is that Treffens are about relaxing, sightseeing, and touring. They have no competitive events like autocross, rallies, or concours. Treffens happen two times per year now, once in the Spring, and once in the Fall. Typically, they occur on different sides of the country. The one that just finished was at the Barnsley Resort near Adairsville, Georgia: and the one that will happen this Fall will be just outside of St Louis.

Learn more about Treffen Wine Country on their website.