HORIZONS
ISSUE 02 | 2025
HORIZONS TEAM
JOE CUNNINGHAM — EDITOR
DON DOMINICK — ADVERTISING COORDINATOR
JESSIC A WYATT — PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
RICK RAMOS — CREATIVE CONSULTANT
BEANS BROWN — CONTRIBUTOR
GLORIA HUGHES — CONTRIBUTOR
DONALD STEVENS — CONTRIBUTOR
EVANGELINA ALVAREZ — CONTRIBUTOR
Authors and photographers credited within each article.
Cover photo by Don Dominick during the Pick-Yer-Tour event weekend.
THE DRIVER’S SEAT
By Crystal Zarpas, Hill Country Region President
Recognizing and Celebrating Our Volunteers
To HCR’s Volunteers: It is with immense gratitude and pride that I take this opportunity to acknowledge the remarkable contributions each of you has made to HCR. As volunteers, you are the lifeblood of this organization, driving its success and nurturing the sense of camaraderie that defines HCR.
Your dedication and passion do not go unnoticed. Whether it is organizing social events, driving community engagement, or ensuring that every member feels welcome and valued, you contribute in ways that leave lasting impacts. The countless hours you have dedicated, the energy you have invested, and the talent and creativity you have so selflessly given to HCR are truly remarkable.
Thanks to your efforts, HCR continues to thrive as a community for Porsche enthusiasts, fostering friendship, innovation, and shared accomplishments. Your commitment to upholding the values we cherish as a club is inspiring and sets a standard for everyone.
As President, I am deeply honored to work alongside individuals as extraordinary as you. Please accept my heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support, tireless efforts, and genuine love for HCR and our members. Together, let us continue to build something truly special that grows and evolves because of your contributions.
With appreciation and respect, will the real HEROES of HCR please take a bow:
Vice President Executive Council Member
KENT KETTERMAN
Treasurer Executive Council Member
ANDREW GARCIA
Secretary Executive Council Member
GORDIE ROBBINS
Past President Executive Council Member
CARL ROSSI
Executive Council Member-at-Large
KEN KALIN
Advertising/Sponsorship Coordinator
DON DOMINICK
Autocross Coordinator
ALFRED FREUDENBERGER
Autocross Team
TOM PRUETT, STEVEN TELLMAN,
GEORGE ALTENBAUGH, JONATHAN BARD
Community Service
KAYLA WILLIAMS-DINARDO
Communications Coordinator
ARSH KHAIRA
Concours Coordinator
TOM ROY
Dealer Liaison Committee Chair
DON DOMINICK
Driving Committee Chair
KEN KALIN
Tour Coordinators
MIKE BUTLER, TOM PRUETT, ALAN NUSSBAUM
Event Logistics
SHARON ZNILEK
High Performance Drivers Education (DE) Coordinator
DAVID GROSS
DE Team
TIM STREHL, PATTY KELLY, ALASTAIR DONALD
Horizons Editor
JOE CUNNINGHAM
Horizon’s Team
BEANS BROWN, GLORIA HUGHES, DON STEVENS,
RICK RAMOS, JESSICA WYATT
Horizon’s Digital Team
ALFRED FREUDENBERGER, JESSICA WYATT,
JANICE DAMAN, EDWARD DOAN
Information Technology Committee Chair
MAX SILVESTRI
Membership Committee Chair
PAULINE BROWN
Podcast Coordinator
CARL ROSSI
Public Relations
TOM EMR
Safety Committee Chair
STEVEN TELLMAN
Social Committee Chair
BILL FOSTER
Social Team
MIKE SENINGEN, MICHELLE FREUDENBERGER,
BOB HIERONYMUS, STEF SCHRADER, KIM
FOSTER, AMBER ASHY, ANDY ABRAMS
Social Media Team
ARSH KHIARA, KIM FOSTER,
ALFRED FREUDENBERGER
Tire Rack Teen Street Survival School
LENNY ZWIK
Street Survival Team
ROB PRICE and his firetruck!, LARRY ALLISON,
GARY BOSWOOD, CARL ROSSI
Tech Session Coordinator
BRUCE MASON
Waiver Archivist
ANDY ABRAMS
Webmaster & HCR’s Porsche Trivia King
EDWARD DOAN
Volunteers, let’s continue to drive forward with the same spirit that unites us, embracing challenges and celebrating successes as one. You are a cornerstone of HCR, and I look forward to seeing all that we will achieve together in the future.
See you on the road, Crystal Zarpas, President
FROM THE PADDOCK
By Joe Cunningham, Horizons Editor
Driving a Porsche is exciting. Driving your own Porsche on a Formula One circuit within your region is exhilarating. Hosted by the Hill Country Region PCA twice a year, the HPDE events offer enthusiasts the opportunity to explore the full capabilities of their vehicles in a controlled, safe environment. The latest event offered a shortened session for those with limited track experience to explore their vehicle's German engineering. See the article in the following pages to learn more.
Also within this issue is a further understanding of automotive insurance, HCR members joining nearly 900 other PCA members on an Alaskan cruise, and a couple of member experiences of different tours over the last few months. As the warmer weather continues, keep hydrated, have your sunscreen on hand, and give your car a once over for safety and peace of mind. ■
Hill Country Region
Membership Report
|
NEW MEMBERS |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
John Anderson |
Robert Dozortsev |
Austin Knight |
Timothy Rathschmidt |
ANNIVERSARIES
|
1 YEAR |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Robert Alberts |
Andrew Fish |
Kevin Mcbreen |
Alan Smith |
|
5 YEAR |
10 YEAR |
15 YEAR PLUS |
|
|
Ryan Collin |
Dan Cohen |
Larry Allison - 30 years |
Franklin Kalk - 19 years |
TOUR DRIVING
IN THE ZONE
A message from your Porsche Club of America Zone Leader
Written by Wendy Schofitt
SUMMER HAS ARRIVED! Regions all over the country are ramping up events, including driving tours. While we don’t get too cooped up in the south because of bad weather, we still find ourselves itching to take a drive. What’s better fun than to take a drive with your fellow PCA friends? Put the top down, put your driving scarf on, and hit the road! There is always something fun to see along the way or do once you arrive.
I did want to send out a word of caution on these drives. You may not be aware of it, but PCA has a great insurance company that keeps things affordable for our club. There are only two insurance companies in the country that provide policies like ours. We have great coverage because we have a strong relationship with them, and we provide excellent and safe events. This is why you sign waivers at the start of all these great tours. It protects us all from people who behave recklessly. Without insurance to provide this, we would likely not even have a club with driving events. That would be incredibly disappointing.
So, how do we all have safe tour events? One way is by managing our speed along the roads. Tours are for seeing the sights, NOT for testing to see how great your brakes are! If you feel the need to push your car to the max, we have High Performance Drivers’ Education and Autocross events for that! Take all the speed out to the track where there are corner workers out there warning you of what’s coming ahead. Tours don’t have that early warning system. No one is out there to let you know if a cow wandered onto the road, a semi has crossed the center line, or a police cruiser is poised to write speeding tickets. PCA tours aren’t max speed tests on public roads.
Another way for everyone to have a great tour is to remember that YOU are responsible for the car BEHIND you. If they’ve fallen behind, slow down and wait until they’ve caught up or are at least in sight, especially after a turn. When you slow down, the car AHEAD of you is responsible for YOU and they should see you slowing and slow down accordingly. Then, the person ahead of them slows and so on. If everyone is mindful of others, no one gets left behind and no one gets lost. Of course, we all need to try to keep up, but that’s more difficult going through traffic lights and such. Drivers will do far less silly and reckless things (excessive speeding, passing in no passing zones, running red lights, etc.) if they know the car ahead is helping make sure they’re not going to get left to fend for themselves. The lead car can’t know if cars in the middle get lost if no one is helping communicate this way. Be kind to your fellow drivers.
So, get out and enjoy the planned drives! Don’t let a cow or a cop or a missed turn ruin your day because of excessive speed or avoidable mistakes. There are some beautiful roads in our zone. Try to SEE the sights instead of blurs out the side and taillights ahead of you. Life is about the journey, not the destination. ■
Hill Country Region introduces “Beyond the Paddock”
A NEW HCR PODCAST SERIES
Recently, the Hill Country Region executive council began a project to innovate and expand the ways HCR communicates with membership. Some of the proposals are technically involved and will take people and time to implement.
A suggestion was made to establish a podcast, that would be accessible on demand by our members. The subject matter would include showcasing our incredible volunteers and conversations with our sponsors. The podcast, Beyond the Paddock” would be produced and hosted by our past president, Carl Rossi.
But, why a podcast? According to the Pew Research Center, 66% of highly educated adults under 30 and 58% of highly educated adults 30 to 49 listen to podcasts on a regular basis. Porsche Club of America falls into these demographics. Hill Country believes this is an opportunity to further engage members of the region with timely content that supplements the award winning Horizons newsletter.
Initially, Beyond the Paddock will release a new episode monthly, with the intent to ramp up to a bimonthly schedule. This podcast will be available on both Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
It is our hope that you will find Beyond the Paddock interesting and engaging and invite you to listen.
One additional note, Rossi is also a radio guy, his show Freeform can be heard Wednesdays at 6:00 pm on 106.7 KGTN-LP and streaming at radiogeorgetown.org. The Softer Side airs Friday at 5:00 pm, on 91.3 KNCT-FM and streams on KNCT.org. ■
INTRO
TO HPDE
Written By David Gross
Photos By Billy Hawkins
Intro to High Performance Driver Education was envisioned to reduce the barrier of entry to the club’s normal High Performance Driver Education events. To understand the structure of the Intro to HPDE ("I HPDE") you first have to understand the structure of our Schnell Fest HPDE events:
At our Schnell Fest HPDE events we have four run groups:
- Novice (All Novice Drivers have Instructors for All Sessions)
- Intermediate (Both Instructed Intermediate and Solo'd Intermediate)
- Advanced 1
- Advanced 2
At our Schnell Fest HPDE events each run group has four 25-28 minute sessions per day, two in the morning, two in the afternoon, both Saturday and Sunday. (For Schnell Fest we do not do 1 day registrations...you register for the two day event.) So, over the course of the weekend, each driver gets a total of eight track sessions, each 25-28 minutes in length, roughly 200 - 224 minutes of time on track. It's a lot of track time...and it's a lot of fun. The cost for the Schnell Fest HPDE is $1,150. The Novice and Intermediate run groups each have classrooms over the course of the weekend.
Originally we envisioned the Intro to HPDE program as having a total of 20 slots. 46 registered for it. So we did increase it to 28 slots, but we had to turn away the remaining 18. The feedback from the 28 folks who did participate in the Intro to HPDE was very, very positive. The vast majority said that they really enjoyed it and plan on participating in the next Schnell Fest HPDE.
Each cohort of Intro to HPDE participants began with their own 45 minute classroom. Then they drove with an instructor in two of the Novice Run Group track sessions. They were assigned to the two Novice Sessions Saturday morning, or afternoon, Sunday morning or afternoon. So the Intro to HPDE drivers received a total of two track sessions, each 25-28 minutes in length, for a total of 50 - 58 minutes of time on track. The cost of the Intro to HPDE was $399.
I mentioned above that 46 people registered for I HPDE but we only accepted 28. We accepted the first 28 to both register and pay. Clubregistration.net records the date and time of each registrant's registration and payment. The time/date stamp of your registration and payment sets your place in the registration "queue." If you register but don't pay, you're not in the "queue." So our message to those 18 people that we couldn't accept was this: “Next time be sure to register and pay earlier!!!"
Registration always opens on clubregistration.net at noon central time on the Wednesday six weeks prior to the event. (Registration for our November 22-23 Schnell Fest opens at noon central time on October 8th). We publish the registration opening dates long in advance. We place them on the HCR event calendar. 80% of our registrations happen within the first 24 hours...again, be sure to sign up and pay early to maximize your chance of getting into the event! The next Intro to HPDE will be offered in the first half of 2026. The reason is solely on scheduling - the fall HPDE will be a combined Schnell Fest and a PCA Club Race at Circuit of the Americas. At the time of publishing, we do not have 2026 event dates yet, but a good guess for our first event in 2026 would be the late February - early March time frame. ■
FROM THE EDITOR
As one of the 28 participants in Intro to HPDE, I would like to offer my experience. I have driven on a handful of tracks at speed, however, each time was in a car that wasn’t mine. While comfortable in many driving situations, when an instructor takes the keys to your automotive baby and 30 seconds later you are moving left and right through the esses of COTA, you experience all emotions in quick succession. Joy. Amazement. Fear. Awe.
If you have been considering putting your car on track, I highly recommend speaking with someone about Intro to HPDE. It is truly a different experience driving on track with your own car.
Making a Difference
Our Volunteer Experience with the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry
Written By HCR Member Kayla Williams-DiNardo
Photos by HCR Members
The Hill Country Region Porsche Club, believes in giving back to the community in meaningful ways. Recently, we had the incredible opportunity to volunteer at the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry, and the experience was nothing short of inspiring. From the moment we arrived, a dedicated team of volunteers who work tirelessly to provide food and essential supplies to those in need welcomed us. Our team immediately jumped into action, assisting with organizing donations, stocking shelves, and assembling food packages for families facing hardship. The energy and sense of purpose in the room were contagious as everyone worked together to make a difference.
One of the most impactful aspects of this experience was the opportunity to engage directly with the individuals and families who rely on the food pantry’s services. Many shared their stories, expressing gratitude for the support they receive. It was a humbling reminder of how a small act of kindness can have a profound impact on someone’s life.
Volunteering as a team not only strengthened our bonds but also reinforced our commitment to service. We left with a renewed appreciation for the power of community and the importance of supporting organizations like St. Vincent de Paul, which provides critical resources to those in need.
HCR members pose for a group photo during the event.
HCR members pose for a group photo during the event.
This experience has inspired us to stay involved and continue finding ways to give back. Whether through ongoing volunteer efforts, food drives, or community partnerships, we are committed to making a lasting impact. We encourage everyone to find time to support St Vincent de Paul Food Pantry—whether through volunteering, donating, or spreading awareness. Together, we can make a difference, one meal at a time. ■
Continue reading this issue of Horizons by pressing Section 2 below.
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