Hi all;

I want to thank everyone that attended the new member/year end party. We had a perfect day for it. Sunday would have been a challenge with 70 mpg gusts. Our new members Eric, Stephanie, Cannon and Scottlyn were a welcome addition to our family.

It was with great pleasure that I was able to meet our scholarship recipient, Jack Edwards last Tuesday for a photo op and officially present him with the $1000 scholarship. He seems like a great guy and very grateful for the money. He had previously received the funds from the Foundation so this was just a formality and to present the check to the Foundation. MSUB and City College are also very grateful of our continued contributions to their scholarship program.

We are winding down the year. Today I put my car away for the long winter months as I am sure many of you have also done the same, but this does not mean we will stop our activities for the year. We will continue to meet for breakfast on the second Saturday of the month. Also, we are in the early stages of planning a Christmas party scheduled for December 19th so stay tuned.

I would welcome any ideas for activities for next year. I would like to start planning the calendar for 2016 soon so please let me know if there is a place you would like our group to visit or a function we should hold and or attend. We had a pretty active year with a good variety. I would like to see out inactive members join an event of their choosing. You may be interested in becoming more active.

We are planning on moving our breakfast meeting on November 14th to one of our newer members restaurant. It is called the Local Bar and Grill located at 1430 Country Manor Blvd, behind the Red Door on Grand Avenue. They have a brunch on Saturday and Sunday. I thought this would show some great support to our newest member Brad Banks. So meet me there at 9 am on November 14th.

I want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Stephanie

The “Summer of PCA” is winding down, what a summer!

I hope you were able to take your Porsche and enjoy all your Club had to offer you this summer. Did you manage to join some of your fellow PCA’ers in your neighboring regions? From my travels I’ve learned that PCA’ers are the same in all regions; friendly, welcoming and sharing the Porsche passion.

There where so many regional events in our Zone, I can’t list them all, there was something for everyone. Tours: 1 day and multiday, car shows, concours, auto-X, DE’s, Driver Skills classes, Rallies, a Funkana, Charity funds raisers, meetings and other things I’ve forgotten. Throughout our Zone 6 we had at least one PCA event every weekend, whew. If you couldn’t find that event you wanted, go ahead and put it on and share it with your Club!

At the Zone and National level we had the Zone 6 Grand Tour (5,200 miles, 15 days), Whistler Weekend in B.C. Canada, 60th Porsche Parade in French Lick, Indiana, Escape to Rushmore in South Dakota and Rennsport V in Monterey, California. How many of these did you manage to attend? Judging from every event I attended this year out of our zone, you made a lot. There were always Zone 6’ers to be found. Good job Zone 6!

Thank you to the volunteers! All of this great fun is made possible by the effort of PCA volunteers; from the National President Caren Cooper, down to you. Without them we wouldn’t have the viable and active club we have today. When you volunteer, your club experience is enhanced, you feel more connected and involved. And I’ve noticed your club satisfaction increases with your understanding of what it takes to run and manage your Club.

Here’s my Zone Rep challenge to you:

First: Attend a regional event in another region. You’ll have a great time.

Second: Volunteer to help a fellow volunteer with the planning and execution of an event. They’ll gladly share the how’s and whys of putting on an event. It’s that time of the year for new club officers to come forward. This would be a great way to give back to your Club as a volunteer.

Are you up for the challenge? I know you are. When I see you next time let me know how it’s going.

I’ll see you in the zone!

tim

Absaroka Region – We Rock! Our welcome BBQ and drive for the Zone 6 Grand Tour was a big hit. They all said it was the most relaxing evening they had so far. We were thanked multiple times so I say we did well. First off a Huge thanks goes out to Herb Stoick for volunteering his home by the river. That was a perfect setting and a beautiful evening. Also, thank you to everyone that brought food and shared their friendship. Susan’s cookies were a big hit with the logos on them. The lead drivers on Sunday did a great job showing off our beautiful state. Lunch was superb at the Irma in Cody.
The All Euro Car Show is also behind us. It was a good show. It definitely could have been a little warmer and I would have liked to have had more cars, but it was a great day. Everyone enjoyed themselves. We are able to give our $1000 scholarship to a City College student as well as a $250 donation to Bench School for Back Pack for Kids. Thanks to all that participated and those that helped out. It will be bigger and better next year.

Our September trip will be to the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman on the 19th. We will leave from the Holiday station on Gable Road. We will meet at 8 AM and leave at 8:30 AM. Admission is $14.50 for adults and $9.50 for kids. If you have never seen the museum or the planetarium this is worth the trip. Hey Bozeman members, please join us.

The Montana Bale Trail will be September 13th. This is a fun trip and is really interesting to see how creative people can be with a bale of hay. This will be an un-organized drive. It starts at Hobson and finishes 22 miles later in Windham. You can even vote on your favorites. This is a fund raiser for the local communities.www.montanabaletrail.com.

Our New Member/Year End Party will be on October 10th this year. Bill Windham is busy traveling with his new job so we will keep the party local this year. I have a big back yard and steaks left over from the Grand Tour BBQ so I have volunteered to host it this year. It will be the same format. Please bring a side dish and beverage of your choice. The festivities begin at 2:00 PM at 729 Aronson Avenue in the Billings Heights. Please RSVP so I know how many steaks to thaw out. Ideas for games or entertainment are welcome since we won’t have any great drives near buy. We can always buzz down the new Skyway Drive. It is pretty open with no traffic. Anyway, it will be fun. New members don’t be shy and old members come to meet the new members.

Enjoy what is left of summer. Let’s hope for an Indian summer with no smoke.

Stephanie

Happy August!
Summer is well under way. I hope you have a chance to enjoy it before it slips away.
The Zone 6 Grand Tour is almost here. We have a great BBQ and drive planned for our guests. Let’s show them a great big Montana welcome!
Our next big function is the All Euro Car Show on August 22nd so shine up your cars and bring them to Veterans Park. Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. until noon; awards to be given at 2:30p.m. with the show ending at 3:00p.m. The entry fee is $10 will all net proceeds going to our City College Scholarship fund and a local charity. The more cars we have the more money we can make for the charities so tell your friends to bring their European car, old or new, we love them all. We will also have a food vendor again this year.
On September 19th we are working on a trip to Bozeman to visit the Museum of the Rockies to see some dinosaurs! I’ll have more details on that in the next couple weeks.
If you are planning on or interested in the Driver’s Education class coming up on September 19th & 20th, now is the time to plan for your tech inspection. It needs to be done 30 days prior to the Driver’s education class by a professional. We have contacted both Dana Motors and the Metric Wrench and they have offered our Members Special. Plan on one hour of shop labor and they will fill out the check list and make sure your car is set to go. I hope you have the chance to take advantage of this offer.
If you are planning on attending Escape to the Black Hills, October 1 to 3 now is the time to register. Registration opens Monday, August 3 at 5:00p.m. MDT. It closes no later than September 15. We hope to have a good group going from here.
See you soon.

Stephanie

This letter is going to be a long one because we have a lot of things to cover.

First off, congratulations to Jo Pintz-Cole for winning First Place for Newsletter Editor for Small Regions at the 60th Porsche Parade, you finally beat out Yellowstone Region. I knew you could do it. We have an awesome newsletter.

June was a busy month for us as we had two big events this month. We held the postponed Gimmick Rally on June 13th with the Yellowstone Valley Mustang Club. We had a great turnout and a lot of fun. The Mustang club appreciated us inviting them. Thanks Dan for a great trip. They held their 2nd Annual All Car Car show at the Shrine the following Saturday. It is their fundraiser for the Shrine Children’s Hospital. Jim Hasbrouck was there with his beautiful 356 and I attended.

On June 27th and 28th we had our overnight trip to Thermopolis Hot Springs, Wy. Ernie Bunn was our tour guide and did an excellent job. He is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge on the area’s history. Everyone had a great time, even in the heat.
Registration will begin mid July for Escape to the Black Hills. Watch your emails from PCA. We would love to have a group of us go from here as it is so close this year. It runs from September 30th to October 4th. This is a National event close to home.

The Zone 6 Grand Tour is really coming together. To date 17 cars have registered for the Saskatoon, SK to Billings leg and 21 cars from Billings to Cody. We hope to have several of our members join the drive to Cody. If you are planning on attending please register, free of charge, at MOTORSPORTS.REG by July 18th. I have attached the information.

Would anyone be interested in going to the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman on July 18th? If you have never seen the Museum or Planetarium they are really something to see. Please let me know and I will make the arrangements. We would leave from the Holiday on Gable Rd at 8:30 am.

If you haven’t joined us on Facebook yet, it’s a good way to stay up to date of our events and pictures of afterwards.

We have can cozies with the Absaroka logo for sale for $2.00 each. Everyone needs one of these.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July and see you at breakfast on the 11th.

Stephanie

Our June trip will be an overnighter to Thermopolis, WY via Buffalo. This will be June 27th & 28th. We have a block of rooms at the Days Inn in Thermopolis. Please mention the Porsche club when making reservations. They can be reached at 307-864-3131.

We will be leaving from the Flying J truck stop in Lockwood at 8:30 a.m.

Our first stop will be at Fort Phil Kearney for a quick tour. There is a $4.00 per head charge for the tour. We’ll then continue on to the Historic Occidental Inn in Buffalo for lunch.

After lunch we will head toward Thermopolis with a quick stop at Meadowlark Lake to take in the view. Kirby, WY boasts their new distillery, then we head on to Thermopolis.

In the morning we will drive north to Cody and home.

Please make your own room reservations but RSVP to Stephanie so she can make lunch and dinner reservations.

When: Saturday, June 27, 2015, 0830

Start: Flying J Truck Stop in Lockwood

More Details: Stephanie Haider, 406.672.4815

Come join us and members of the other local car clubs in Billings for a Rally to Red Lodge. This rally will be a fun time. No speeding, no crazy rally rules, and no counting miles or time. You’ll just need a copilot and a paper and pen.

The route will start in Billings at the Metra Parking lot and follow a leisurely route to Red Lodge on some of our nicer back roads. It’ll take about 2 – 2 1/2 hours to complete the route. Along the way you will look for the clues provided and write down the answers to the questions. You can stop as needed, and there will be a couple of required stops along the way.

Once in Red Lodge, your destination is Sam’s Tap Room & Kitchen or Red Lodge Ales. Afterwards, relax, order some lunch and beverage and drop off your results. We will have prizes for the winners.

When: Saturday, June 13, 2015, 0900 with the first car on the road at 9:30.

Start: Billings Metra Upper Parking Lot.

Finish: Sam’s Tap Room & Kitchen/Red Lodge Ales, 1445 North Broadway, Red Lodge, MT. 59068

Bring: Paper, Pen and Clipboard

More Details: Dan Cole, 208.859.4608