Changing of the Guard
Changing of the Guard is probably my most favorite event of the year. It is a time to look back at the success of the club, thank those who have been a part of it, and cast a vision for the future. That sentiment is represented in the President’s Helmet of Authority. Presidents have signed and worn the helmet since 1966.
This year’s Changing of the Guard event was again held at Aristocrat Motors. They graciously made their service waiting room area available for our social hour, and their service bay area available for our main festivities. I’m glad they are building a new Porsche center, because we maxed-out the current event space with 70+ KCRPCA members.
I opened the festivities with a reading from our website.
“We are here to tell you it’s okay. It’s okay to sit in your Porsche and smile. It’s okay to look for the long twisty roads from childhood. It’s okay to want to get out and drive your Porsche. We get it. In fact, we celebrate it. We celebrate Porsche ownership by creating unique driving and social experiences for our club members. Whether it is a dinner drive or track event, a gimmick run or an autocross, we celebrate driving our Porsches. Come join nearly 750 other Porsche owners who like to get out and drive. We are the Kansas City Region Porsche Club of America.”
I believe that statement really casts a vision as to why we are here, and why we as board members volunteer our time for the good of the club. We do it because we enjoy our friends, the activities, and we love to get out and drive our cars.
After dinner, it was time for the program. We began with a rundown of all the activities for 2017. There were 26 events on our calendar last year. They ranged from DE events to autocrosses and fun runs to dinners out. Taking a step back and looking at it, we had a very full calendar for 2017. There was something for everyone. The people who made it all possible were the hard working KCRPCA Board.
As is tradition, the sitting president gives a token of his appreciation to the chairs and board members. This year’s award was a very nice KCRPCA bottle of wine.
We always take time to thank our feature sponsor Aristocrat Motors, and let them speak to the crowd. Robert Hellweg introduced the team from Aristocrat and then announced he had a surprise gift. Robert had picked out 2 members from KCRPCA who, over the course of the year, have shown a great spirit of giving. They were there when cones needed to be picked up at autocross. They volunteered to be sweeper on the fun runs. They filled in, giving of their time, to make other club member’s time more enjoyable.
Robert called Agelon “T” Jones and David Stadtmueller up and presented them both with a ticket to the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta! Applause and cheers were given to two very deserving club members. Thank you, Robert; the gifts were very kind.
Then it was Bob Wayman’s turn. Bob has the privilege of presenting the Ron Kitchen award. Ron was a KCRPCA club member who held numerous positions within the club, but his passion was racing. He succumbed to a medical illness, but stayed in high spirits till the end, never letting his enthusiasm for racing waiver. The Ron Kitchen award goes to the club member who shows the most spirit and dedication to KCRPCA’s track program, in memory of Ron. Every year there is one stand out member. This year it was Ric Smith. Ric not only helped with track events, but he also recently went out and became a certified instructor. His services were used at both the spring and fall DE events. Way to go, Ric; we are proud of you.
The club also welcomed three new board members: Dennis Butler, Mike Rehak and Mike Lemoine. We wish them all the best in their service to KCRPCA in the coming year.
– Stan