Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!
by Dave Pratt
Velocissima Editor
Well, the days are lengthening, the sun feels a little warmer, and the snow actually melts a little between storms—all sure signs that spring is right around the corner. And in that spirit, your AONE Board of Directors met on February 12 to get the 2001 season off to a rolling start. In attendance were President Tom Lesko, Directors Frank Maldari, Jim Miga, Brian Shorey, Steve Silverstein, and Treasurer Dave Pratt.
The main agenda item this time of year, of course, is our schedule of events. You can count on a full slate of activities, building on last year’s schedule and hopefully tossing in some new twists, such as perhaps a rally or two—stay tuned! We’ll be kicking things off with one of our popular Tech Session / Swap Meets at Glynn Motorsports on April 21.
Also discussed was the fact that we’re due to hold an Election of Officers—it’s been almost two years since the last one. We’ll get the process started in the next issue of Velocissima with a Call For Nominations, so you might want to start thinking about that. We also discussed at length the issue of the online vs. printed versions of Velocissima. Our thanks go out to the many of you who responded to our Newsletter Survey! Here’s what you said:| 34 | Give me mine online! I prefer getting all my AONE info off the web at www.velocissima.com. |
| 9 | Online is fine, but I’d also like to receive quarterly newsletters with small monthly updates in the mail. |
| 14 | Send me Velocissima monthly via email in Adobe Acrobat format (2.5MB file). 12 In color (4MB file) |
| 4 | I’m not connected to the Internet—I’d like you to keep sending me 12 issues a year. |
| 0 | I’m not connected to the Internet, but quarterly newsletters with small monthly updates would be fine. |
Speaking of which, a few of your fellow Alfisti (including yours truly) are contemplating a road trip to Nashville for the Convention this year! Care to join in? The March issue of Alfa Owner should have some details. If you have an interest in participating—perhaps even forming a caravan for the journey—let me know at 781-320-8208 or dave@dvpratt.com.
We’re also looking into adding another item to the Club Store, namely golf- or polo-type shirts. These would be high-quality short-sleeved 100% cotton collared shirts with our logo proudly embroidered on the left chest and a checkered-flag motif on the sleeves and collar. Set a few lira (well, quite a few lira) aside for these gems when they become available!
And finally, many members may not be aware that even a relatively small enthusiast organization such as ours requires a legal counsel to keep things on the up-and-up—things like making sure that our corporate status is maintained and advising on liability issues for the events that we hold.
Dave Paliotti has been AONE’s Legal Counsel for many years, completely on a volunteer basis. Well, the poor guy doesn’t even own an Alfa any more! Meanwhile, Kevin Murphy, an active member and the guy responsible for those great autumn tours we’ve had the past couple of years, has volunteered to take over the legal duties.
We offer our heart-felt thanks to Dave for the many years of service
he’s provided for our club, and welcome Kevin to the post of AONE Legal Counsel,
trusting that we can stay out of trouble and he won’t have too much to do in
that capacity in the years ahead. 