Porsche Parade

Article and photos by Christy Spangler, social chair

The 66th Porsche Parade was held in the Poconos, Pennsylvania with the beginning on Sunday, June 12th. Parade ’22 was a record-breaking event with over 1,100 families, 3,000+ people and featuring over 1,000 Porsche automobiles of various vintage. It is an exceptional event for anyone to attend but this was my first time at Porsche Parade. It was both overwhelming (a bit), and incredibly enjoyable. If you have never been to Parade, you have no idea what fun you are missing! Simply, ya gotta go!

My adventure began on Saturday with a drive up to Sanford, FL to catch the Amtrak Auto Train. The route is a 17-hour overnight trip that tracks from Sanford, FL (near Orlando) to Lorton, VA (30 minutes south of Washington, DC). It is a great way to travel along with your car. On Sunday, once offloaded in Lorton, it was just over a 4-hour drive to check in at the Kalahari Resort in Pocono Manor, PA where the Parade was taking place. I took my 1985 944 “Shadow” to the event. Throughout the week there are many activities. Attendees may choose from competitive events, including the Concours d ‘Elegance, Autocross (held at the Pocono Raceway), a Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) Rally, Gimmick Rally, the Technical & Historical Quiz, the golf tournament, a 5K run/walk, an art show, and radiocontrolled car competition. Beyond competing, we were offered a tour of The Yuengling Brewery, Nurnberger Bierhaus, Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, Fabspeed Motosports, and Mountain View Vineyard. There were more than enough competitive events and scenic tours to choose from, overwhelming and difficult to select the best of the best.

There was also Sim Racing, Tech Tactics, resort activities such as beer tasting, an ice cream social, a wood-fire pizza making class and even an art class! The artist providing the education was the nationally famous PCA Porsche artist, Kelly Telfer. Kelly provided tips and artistic skills to those interested and there were quite a few folks who went home with personal, quality frame and hang art pieces. The PCA Juniors were kept busy with several activities including PCA Juniors Judging for concours participants. And we ate, heartily! Five unique banquets held nightly offered up great food and libations to allow participants to relax, chat over dinner, and celebrate all things Porsche – you know, that legendary camaraderie, The People! Let us not forget the location, which offered exceptional sightseeing, great hiking, and beautiful waterfalls.

The Pocono Mountains have been a vacation and idyllic travel destination for years, and with very good reason. Sunday evening started with a Zone get-

National Awards presented to Dottie, Carolynn, and Steve

together where you could meet with PCA members from your respective Zone. Zone 12, which encompasses 11 PCA Regions in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Puerto Rico had a great turnout. Quite a few of members from central and south Florida traveled via Auto Train, people in sleeper suites and regular coach seats, with their respective Porsches in a fullyenclosed and secure train car.

The welcome cocktail hour was thrilling. Porsche North America unveiled the 2023 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet America. This new Cabrio was inspired by the 356 America Roadster. It will be available starting soon, but only in America, only with rear-wheel drive, and only with a seven-speed manual. The GTS Cabrio America will be a very exclusive vehicle. The evening concluded with the Pirelli Welcome Party which included entertainment by an African drum group, aligning with the Kalahari African Resort theme. A fun night, and still only the first night. The Concours d ‘Elegance took place on Monday. Participants began arriving as early as Friday, June,10th, to claim a spot and prepare their Porsche for the competition and judging. It was interesting walking around watching the preparations taking place: the care, the detail, and the patience to compete at the national level in the Concours is incredible. The first 50 participants were able to place their vehicles inside, in the convention center, for prep work and ultimate judging. Late-comers were relegated to a designated area in the parking lot. A total of 163 vehicles were entered in four major categories (Prepared Street, Prepared Touring, Preservation, and Restoration) and then broken down into various sub classifications. Our very own Gold Coast Region members, Randy and Michelle Moss, with their 1997 911 Cabriolet, won fourth place and were presented with the prestigious Stuttgart Level of Achievement Award for their efforts and their exceptional Porsche. Randy and Michelle hail from the Chesapeake Region, and they have recently become GCR PCA members. Read more about their 911 on page 17..

GCR was also represented in the judging ranks. Mr. Fred Kohly and Mr. Steve Kidd were both judges for the Parade Concours de ‘Elegance. It was a pleasure and a bit mind-numbing to observe the judges. It is truly challenging to comprehend all the vehicle details and the depth of knowledge one must possess to properly examine and grade each vehicle in the specific class.

Christy and Carolynn take advantage of the Griot”s Garage car wash

A portion of the concours featured a Historic display and was themed Rally & Off-road Competition. Another section within concours was the Rennbow Rainbow. This grouping section featured rare paint-to-sample colors in addition to other rare or unusual colors and liveries.

A significant announcement was made during the concours. The President of Princess Cruises, John Padgett, unveiled a Taycan in Princess Cruises livery. This Princess Taycan will be given away at the end of the year. For the time being this Taycan is housed at the corporate offices of Princess Cruises in the Miami metro area. I briefly spoke with the Princess Event Manager about a possible GCR activity with the Taycan in attendance. Throughout the week attendees had a chance to speak with vendors and sponsors in the main exhibition hall. The PCA store was open with different merchandise options nearly each day. This was akin to shopping at a new store every day for Porsche-related wares and regalia. This presented frequent opportunities to meet and visit with PCA members from across North America.

Seventeen Gold Coast Region members attended, participated and volunteered in the overwhelming number of events. On one early morning, three Gold Coasters joined several NY Metropolitan Region folks for an early morning drive on the Pocono twisties! It was a nice little hour run, quite early in the day, before the scheduled activities began. When my 944 began smoking, I “found” Second Gear Performance on the Pocono Region website. Second Gear owner, Meinir (Ineil) Razak invited me in to look under the hood. After an overnight stay, he had my 944 ready to go for the Autocross that day. Ineil patched up a small oil leak where the oil was burning off, causing the smoking. Fortunately, it was a minor and inexpensive repair. Ineil and the Second Gear team were well prepared for an influx of cars during the Parade week. With this great support, Parade felt like a huge family reunion where no one was a stranger. Cue Sister Sledge, “We are Family”!

The final day of Parade 2022 began on Saturday morning with the 5K Run/ Walk. Our esteemed member, Steve Kidd, participated in the run, Men’s 70+ class and took a Second in a time of 33:21:00. That is a 6 minute 40 second per kilometer pace. If you prefer, it is equal to running a complete mile every 10 minutes, 44 seconds. Steve was flyin’!

Finally, it was time to line up for the Parade of Porsches. The Parade route took participants roughly 22 miles via their Porsches to the famous Pocono Raceway. Completing a smooth lap around the track we followed nose-to-tail back to the resort. It was great driving within this group of Porsches of all years and models. We were escorted by the police for the entire trip. Intersections were blocked, traffic lights were traversed legally, and the entire entourage was led by the Pocono Raceway Pace Car. It wasn’t a hot lap, but a true fun lap of Pocono!

Upon our return, a substantial number of Porsches participated in the recreation of the 70th year Porsche Clubs Worldwide

anniversary logo in the Kalahari parking lot. It was a tremendous feat. The PCA Executive Director, Vu Nguyen, had previously laid out (in chalk) graphics to assist in lining up our Porsches for the photo opportunity. Two GCR members vehicles were part of the “logo of cars and peeps”, Ms. Carolyn Ditrichs with her Porsche Boxster, and me with the 944 Shadow, were able to line up with everyone for this enjoyable happening and unique car recreation. Once every car was properly staged in their specific spot, an overhead image was captured of the entire scene the with a high-flying drone (of course flown with full regard to PCA regulations). It became the signature photo for the 66th Parade. The Exhibitor Hall

With a few final events scheduled, we moved inside for the Volunteer Party and lunch. It presented everyone the opportunity to recognize and sincerely thank the 700+ volunteers who organized, managed, and worked the event over the course of the week. The 2022 Porsche Parade concluded Saturday night with the Reliable Carriers Victory Banquet, yet another scrumptious dinner. It was a long and highly enjoyable week of all things Porsche that flew by quickly.

The 66th Porsche Parade featured product reveals, a grand celebration of 70 years of Porsche Clubs Worldwide, seemingly unlimited scheduled and unscheduled activities, and the chance to meet and converse with like-minded Porsche enthusiasts from around North America. Everywhere you looked, you could observe and examine amazing Porsches in all shapes, sizes, years, and colors. It is an annual Porsche family reunion! Members reconnected with their Porsche car pals, not seen since a previous parade or longer. Everyone is helpful and openly willing to share a quick story, a laugh, or simple insight into the ongoings of the Porsche marque. Allow me a special shout out to Second Gear Performance for taking care of my Shadow so quickly despite their already busy schedule. To the rescue! Next year, the Porsche Parade will be in Palm Springs, CA June 18-25, 2023, as a west coast visit will be in the offing. A great small side story is that the prize for the longest distance drive to Pocono Parade was awarded to Mike Holtzclaw in his Guards Red 911. He DROVE a total of 4447 miles, from Alaska! For driving this distance on Michelin tires, he won the award of new tires from Michelin. That must be a record, one which most likely will not be broken.

The 2024 Parade will be substantially closer to home. Start planning now as Porsche Parade ’24 will be held in Birmingham, Alabama. The scheduled dates are June 9-15, 2024. I certainly plan to attend another Porsche Parade. While Palm Springs may be a Parade too far (there is no auto train to the west coast), Birmingham is almost our back yard, and only a 10–12-hour drive, depending on your route. We hope that we can bring a large Gold Coast contingent to Birmingham in a couple years. Simply,

ya gotta go!

Allow a few Parade Stats: · 1,110 primary registrants · Over 1,000 Porsches on site · Over 3,000 Participants · 94 Juniors attended · 731 volunteers that worked an estimated 13,436 hours Parade of Porsches · 338 registered · 285 left Kalahari (lot cleared within 13 minutes) Longest Distance Driven · 4,447 miles from Alaska, Mike Holtzclaw in 911 Special Recognition for our GCR winners: · Concours d ‘Elegance 4th Place and Stuttgart Level of Achievement: Randy & Michelle Moss in their 1997 911 · Michelin Autocross First Place (respective class): Dottie Kidd, Carolynn Ditrichs, Ernie Revuelta, & Steve Kidd · 5k Second Place (Ladies, 6069): Carolynn Ditrichs · 5K Second Place (Men’s, 70+): Steve Kidd Tech Quiz First Place, Ladies 911 (996, 997, 991, 992): Dottie Kidd Tech Quiz First Place, Men’s 911 (996, 997, 991, 992): Steve Kidd Tech Quiz Overall 3rd Place, Ladies: Dottie Kidd