PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
April, 2013

Hello Everyone!

March was a busy month for club activities.  At our monthly meeting on March 6th, everyone got to know COCOA OC member, Sandy Galbraith (our resident PGA Pro and certified Shelby car nut).  Sandy has been chasing little white balls and Shelby’s most of his life.  Thanks Sandy for a great presentation and the great golf stories!!

Then, also early in March, as you all know, our club Secretary, Mark Alch, had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital.  He has recovered and was able to attend the “New Member Cruise and Bar-B-Que”.  Mark, it was great to see you back in action.  It is surely and indication of how precious life is and how quickly things can change.

Speaking of our “New Member Cruise and Bar-B-Que, we had over 33 cars and about 75 total people in attendance!!   After our rendezvous in the morning, we took off to Joe Diloreto’s Garage in Long Beach.  What a gem it proved to be.  Joe has some really significant cars including a Daytona Coupe built by McClusky, a GT350, Cobra and a Ford GT.  Those cars sat alongside a McLaren, Alfa, Ferrari and Jaguar, just to name a few.  Everyone then cruised to the Bar-B-Que at Frank Lewis and Paul Westberg's clubhouse in Huntington Beach.  Amazingly, all of the succulent Lobster Tube Steaks and Abalone-inspired hamburgers were consumed!!! (at least that is what our venerable Cruise Chairmen, RJ and Deane reported).  Additionally, it was Lance Stander’s birthday and so we sang Happy Birthday and the chocolate cake was wolfed down by all.  Thank you RJ and Deane for all the hard work and another great cruise.

As this month’s newsletter goes to press, our annual “COCOA OC Driving School” will have been completed.  The weather is supposed to be great and Tom Diaz, our Competition Director and Chief Driving Instructor, indicates that the class is virtually full.  We will have a full report at our May meeting.

Don’t forget that on April 26-28th, Paul Westberg is putting together the final touches on what promises to be another great event, our 20th. Annual Tom Butke COCOA OC Wine Tour.  Paul has promised some new twists and wineries to visit on this special anniversary tour.  Be sure to check out the flyer in this month’s newsletter and call or email Paul soon to sign up soon, since the tour does have a maximum capacity.

Then, later on Sunday, June 9, 2013, (Wow, I got the date right this time) we will have our “Concours De Nice” car show at the Park Mall at South Coast Plaza.  As I mentioned before, we are fortunate to have Meguiar’s as our presenting Sponsor and, we are very pleased that John Morton will be our Grand Marshall.  John, who I’m sure most of you know, is one of the most recognizable Cobra and Shelby employees and racers from the 60’s and who is still very active in racing in many vintage and endurance racing events across the country. Hank Jesch, our Concours Chairman along with the able Paul Westberg, our Special Tour Coordinator will be putting together the Saturday Night Reception Party and the Concours day’s events!

Also, I wanted to let everyone know that our club web site is now undergoing a complete revamping through a web design company that we have retained.  Brian McMillan, our Webmaster, will be working closely with them over the next few months to get everything set up.  We hope to have it completed by mid June!!  We will keep you all posted on our progress.  Also, in this month’s newsletter, we have included some pictures from our Anniversary Meeting, Peninsula Cruise and New Member Cruise.   Once we have our new web site up and running, with a Members Only section, so that we can display all of our club photos.

See you on April 3rd. at the Rib Trader!!

Bob Stockwell

President's Message