March in Pittsburgh is a busy month. It is a month devoted to readying a stored Porsche for its return to the road, and a month filled with anticipation of the autocrosses, rallies, and the Porsche Parade coming during the summer months. This was especially true in March of 1961. On March 25, 1961, 31 Porsche owners and P.C.A. members gathered at McSorley's Restaurant in the North Hills for a very special Porsche related reason.

The gathering was organized by a relatively recent Pittsburgh resident... Shepperson Prescott Adkins. A South African native, Shep had become interested in automobiles at an early age, having seen the Type C 16 Cylinder Auto Union car race at the South African Grand Prix in Cape Town in 1936. He came to the U.S. in the mid-fifties and after settling in the Boston area, formed the Northeast Region of PCA. A move to Akron, Ohio, in 1959, and sure enough, an Akron Region of PCA was born.

The intent of the meeting at McSorley's had a by then familiar ring, "Let's start a PCA region!". The result - Allegheny Region was chartered on April 29, 1961. It certainly was time for there to be a PCA region in the Pittsburgh area. Pittsburgh was the geographic center of PCA membership. As a result, the quarterly National Board of Directors Meetings for PCA were held there.

The first elected officers of Allegheny Region were as follows:

• President: Shep Adkins
• Vice President: Dick Hogner
• Secretary: John Elder
• Treasurer: Walter Cooley

The first officially staged Allegheny Region event was a picnic at North Park on May 7. One of the highlights of the 1961 event schedule was a photo rally won by the Lepperts, new members from Johnstown.

During the early sixties, the membership produced a large turnout at the Connellsville Air Field races and at the famed Cumberland SCCA races.

The mid-sixties produced current long time members Ted & Margaret Dixon, Bob & Ella Jean Day, and Dic Sundra. Dic has carried the ARPCA banner into competition in SCCA with a Speedster in the '60s and a D production 911 in the '70s.

Allegheny Region members had long been Parade attendees, and in 1964 the region won the Parade President's Trophy, which is awarded each year to the region with the largest contingent of cars at the Parade considering the size of the region and the distance to the Parade.

Going into the late sixties, PCA National Executive Council Meetings were still held in Pittsburgh, which gave National Executive Secretary, Jane Nestlerode, an opportunity, having grown up in the Pittsburgh area, to visit with her family. Since 1970, these meetings have been held in various locations around the country to facilitate the attendance of zone representatives and in response to the growth of PCA into a truly national organization.

The seventies saw the club flourish in both social and competitive events. Jeff Brinker and Roger Schneider were seventh at the 1974 Parade Rally. Wade and Jane Anna Miller continued this tradition in the 80's by taking a fourth and a second in Parade rallies. Allegheny Region was one of the original 5 regions that in 1976 started the now well known and extremely competitive IRAC autocross series. (At the 1986 Parade, IRAC competitors won 17 autocross trophies. As each was awarded, the large banquet room was filled with thunderous applause and cheers of "IRAC, IRAC" from the many attendees from IRAC regions). ARPCA's own Bob Nikel was the originator of that series. The first event was held at The Nemacolin Inn.

Traditional events started in the sixties and continued through the seventies included the Zone 2 Swap Meet at Donegal's Big Red Fun Barn, the Dixon's summer evening dinner in June, and the winter wine and cheese tasting at the home of Jon and Peg Mason. Christmas parties were always a treat too, and ARPCA had their own version of Santa Claus... Michael Barbush.