[javadog]

As someone stated a while back, this is a pretty polarized issue and I don't think anybody is going to be convinced that they need to change their opinion on the subject. But, since is the internet, the thread must go on...

It's possible that there are individual members or regions that are as bad as some of you describe. That's just part of life. I can probably assume, with some certainty, that I wouldn't personally like every single person I might meet in this country. It goes without saying that the same would be true of every member of the PCA. So, you might deduce from that, that there would be regions that I might enjoy more than others. Some may have a more social focus, some may prefer to drive the cars. It's up to the members what they want to do. In fact, this may change over time. In my region, over the last 5 years, quite a few guys have started club racing. Autocrossing comes and goes, mainly dependent upon whether or not we can find a site that is willing to let us do our thing. We've been through 3 in recent years and one year we had no suitable site, so there were no autocrosses. The social chairman for a given year has a lot to do with the type of events that are run. My wife filled that role a couple years ago and we did some things we hadn't done before, and a lot more of them.

All this is to say that the club has always been about the people, and not so much about the cars. Long term members will probably recognize this.

As for Pano, I don't think that you can say it caters to the new cars. Yes, they talk about all of the new models as they are introduced, which is sort of logical, if you think about it. They did the same thing for all of the "old cars" in their day. They also have articles about current racing activity, which for the most part is about the newer cars, because thats what's out there on the racetrack. If you look at the support, the technical forum addresses any question, so if you want to see more about the older cars, ask more questions about them. The articles in the back that used to be written by Alan Caldwell were usually about the older cars, although sometimes he would talk about new technology. A significant number of the advertisers offer parts for the older cars, there are tons of ads for older cars and parts in every issue... I don't know about you, but I have red quite a few articles about historical cars from the past, both street cars and race cars. You see older cars on the cover from time to time, usually in some artsy-fartsy shot that Leonard comes up with.

The other side of the coin is that I happen to want to know about the new cars, anyway. Up until a little over a year ago, my newest Porsche was from 1986, so you can't say I was the local Porsche dealer's best customer, but I still enjoyed reading about the new stuff. I bought my wife a new car in 2008 and I may never buy another new one, although I'd like to have one of the new turbos. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Who knows? I don't.

In short, I really don't see the bias that some of you do. I think there's more out there, if you want to look for it. Maybe I'm an optomist...

JR

Disclaimer:

There are several red-headed step children in my automotive inventory. To wit, I possess:

2 914's, one of which actually runs, or it will, when it gets out of the paint shop.
2 1972 911T's, neither of which has run in 20 years.
A 1977 911 (albeit a Carrera 3.0) which has been off the road for 6 years now, after a repaint.
A 928
A Boxster S (wife's car, athough I drive it more than she does. Which, is just fine with me. Yep, I like this car. A lot.)
A 944 (wrecked), which technically belongs to someone else, although I store it. Mine now, all mine....

And other, slightly more palatable old crap, which shall go unmentioned.

PLUS, I happen to like vintage French and Italian wines. And, any cheese, all cheese. Feel free to invite me to a wine and cheese event. I'll be there.