Parade Autocross

Article by Steve Kidd, GCR Autocross chair Photos by Christy Spangler

Going to a Porsche Parade and competing in Autocross (AX) is the equivalent of participating in the Superbowl for a participating Porsche owner.

Autocross is the pinnacle driving event during Porsche Parade week. It is the only competitive driving option that is offered at Parade. Other driving options are guided tours and very casual sightseeing opportunities while seated behind the wheel of your Porsche. Autocross competition at Porsche Parade is serious business and offers a winning driver incredible bragging rights for such an accomplishment.

With Parade in the Poconos, autocross participants were given an exceptional experience. This year the AX was held at Pocono Raceway, not far from the host hotel, the Kalahari Resort. Pocono Raceway a short twenty-minute drive, eleven miles, from the host hotel. This raceway has a large oval NASCAR track as well as a twisty road course where the AX was held. The Porsche Parade Autocross event spans two full days. This year, as with most parades, the many stock classes, and some production classes (mostly the older and lower horsepower cars) ran on Wednesday. The remaining classes, which consisted mostly of the newer and higher horsepower/modified Porsches ran on Thursday. This year’s course was one of the best in recent memory. It was very safe and had lots of runoff room if needed, so you could go fast… but not too fast…and it was easy to navigate. As proof, there were very few off-courses.

Most of the team GCR; Steve & Dottie Kidd, Christy Spangler, Lee Walton, and Carolynn Ditrichs ran on Wednesday. Ernie Revuelta with his newer wellprepared Cayman S, ran on Thursday. So how did we do, you may ask? For the answer and times, go to the Parade website and view the results. We will tell you there were four 1st place awards for GCR members. The trophies are exquisite.

The Parade website also has an extensive photo gallery, so you can see hundreds of AX action shots and the awards ceremony. Within the AX photo gallery there are many familiar faces.

One of the Parade dinners is the Autocross Awards Banquet, usually held on Friday night. Trophies are formally presented in a spectacular fashion, accompanied by an impressive array of AX photographs. It is thrilling to receive the respective class award and have an action photo presented on the big screen at the same time.

Our hats are off to PCA parade AX committee chair Danny Saxton, PCA National AX Chair Paul Kudra, and the local PCA regions (Poconos, Metro, and others) that handled timing and scoring. These folks and Regions developed a challenging course design based on models that worked well locally. The entire committee did a fantastic job. There were countless volunteers involved with the two-day autocross event. Specifically, he Parade Team AX were all easily recognizable. They wore Gulf Blue polos with the embroidered PCA National AX logo.

Lee Walton on course in her Boxster

This year presented some new challenges. Parade 2022 commenced with a completely new AX class structure. Many former classes were combined, resulting in a significant reduction in the total number of classes. GCR will be adopting the new National class structure for the 2023 AX season. There are quite a few items which makes a parade autocross different from a regional event. It’s so much fun if you want to be part of a world-class event and are up for a challenge. In some years, members of the Porsche family do demonstration runs which is a great bonus at Parade.

Location: Each year, the location of the Parade moves to a different part of the country. In most cases, the AX site is at an airport, racetrack, or other large and open areas that provide a fabulous venue to set up a great course. Next year Parade moves to Palm Springs, California, with the AX site at another local racetrack. In 2024, the Parade will be in Birmingham, Alabama. Rumors are the AX might be held somewhere at Barber Motorsport Park.

Organization: As with most things done at the National level, good organization is key to a successful event. Coordinating a team of folks that work well together is paramount. Great planning is started years in advance, and contingencies are in place. Key people know their roles and work thru any challenges. This is exactly what they had.

Level of completion: The Parade AX can bring out the best of the best from each region. PCA tried to eliminate single-car classes, and some groups had a wide variety of performance potentials. Whatever class folks were in, you could tell they were out to win. To keep things fair, there is an impound area that cars must go to after they finish all their runs. Competitors must open their hood and trunk, and fellow competitors can inspect for improvements not allowed in a particular class. If any competitor thinks a fellow competitor has a specific non-authorized modification, they can file a written protest (with a $100 cash fee) with the Protest Committee. If the protest is upheld, the filer gets their $100 back, and in most cases, the competitor with infractions is disqualified.

Structure: Similar to local events, everyone that runs must do a work shift. Anyone that skips out on a work shift is disqualified. Driver meeting, course walking, staging, and grid are similar to local events, but each driver only gets four timed runs. Everything is just bigger in scope and complexity. This year everyone could see their run times via an LED display, a timing slip provided not only at the finish but also on a manually updated chalkboard and electronically via a phone app.

Awards: As mentioned before, the AX awards banquet and trophy presentation were top-shelf. The photo gallery presented was well done, but if you didn’t attend, visit the Parade website, and see the action.

On a final note, registration for our next AX on September 10th in Sebring is open now. Remember to register on https://clubregistration.net/.