How I Became A (Porsche) Auto Sports Enthusiast

Before joining the club in 2001, I was anything but an auto sports enthusiast. If you asked me what an autocross or rally was I probably would have stared back at you with a blank look on my face. I could drive a car with a manual transmission and truly enjoyed taking our 92 911 Turbo out for a nice drive in the country, but that was the extent of my automotive interests. So when we joined NNJR I had no idea of how our membership in the club was so totally going to change my perspective on auto sports, as well how I would be spending time on many of my weekends in the future. Our first event with the club was in 2001 and it was a social the club held at the Rhinebeck Aerodrome – great air show and great group of people. I remember meeting Sue Smith whom we would later come to learn was a PCA DE legend with her orange 914. I also remember Marlys Thovson greeting us with a big smile when we walked into our first meeting in October of that year. Not only that, but she already knew our names. At that meeting we were introduced to what the club was all about and our eyes started to open to the many activities that were available to us.

My husband Murray had always been an automotive enthusiast, but his history was go carting and drag racing so the entire NNJR experience was new to both of us. With the coming of 2002, we decided to give Rally a try first. Seemed like an easy way to get our feet wet. We did several rallies that year with the club and made a lot of friends, but we did not finish near the top in any of the rallies. I was discouraged and ready to quit. Murray talked me into running the next year despite my doubts that we would do any better. As most of you who know me, I am competitive by nature and the thought of another year like the previous one was not acceptable to me. So we ran rally and did not have a great year, but did better. This further wetted my appetite for more. So the following year I started auto crossing and persuaded Murray to join. It did not take a lot of effort do this. I also decided it was time to start showing the Porsche in the club’s concours program. This took a lot of persuasion on my part as Murray felt the car was not up to concours standard. Well what was left for me now? What activity had I not yet participated in – Driver Education of course. Well NNJR had the perfect event for me to taste high performance driving at speed. It is called “Ladies Day” and is held each June at Pocono Raceway. That did it. I love driving at speed. Now I had become totally immersed in all our club’s programs. I have to say that right from the beginning, the members of the club made me feel welcome and this certainly contributed how quickly I became an active member as opposed to sitting on the side line watching Murray participate. So you ladies out there standing on the sidelines. It is time to jump in with both feet. The start of the season will be here before you know it. Come out and join me. Be a part of the NNJR Experience!!