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As I write this post, a fantastic event is taking place to raise funds for a fellow R Gruppe member in California. The benefit is in aid of long-serving Gruppe member Roger Grago, who is currently recovering from brain surgery.

At the time he was diagnosed, Roger was in the middle of switching from one job to another, and one health insurer to another, so when he suddenly needed emergency surgery to take a tennis ball-sized tumour out of his head, he was uninsured. Though the surgeon donated his services, there were still hospital bills and follow up treatments to pay for, running into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Roger’s R Gruppe and Der Kleiner Panzer networks swung into action, quickly organising hospital visits to keep Roger’s positivity up, and a series of fundraisers to try to cover some of the medical costs. This was not the first time the boys had been called to arms. Years ago in the 1970s, after Roger crashed his VW Ghia, his club mates completely rebuilt a similar car, so the thought of having something new to drive in would likewise drive Roger to recovery.

This time out, the response has been on a bigger scale. Thorsten Klein, Porsche designer put a quick t-shirt print together, and the finished garments were sold at a fund raiser held at AutoKennel, in Costa Mesa. Along with other donated auction items sold on the day, the event raised $11,000. While a benefit dinner was being organised in the Mid West, another get-together was organised for Roger. This time it was a track day at the Streets of Willow racetrack in southern California.

Though the list of attendees grew on a daily basis, the list of non-attendees who donated the price of the day to the recovery fund was even more impressive. All manner of cars are set to run at the event, including the usual California crowd of early 911s, with my Grupper buddy Mike Gagen giving paid passenger rides in his recently-featured RSR creation. Many more people will be doing the same.

The Willow drivers will also see another special Porsche in their mirrors, courtesy of Gruppe buddy, Porsche author and parts specialist, Wayne Dempsey of Pelican Parts, who is running his Porsche 962C: an original Kremer car from 1987. All in all, this is an impressive response for a real grass roots Porsche guy. I’m looking forward to seeing the pictures, and Roger’s face!

As I always say, the longer you spend in classic Porsche circles, the more you come to realise that this hobby of ours has very little to do with cars: it’s all about the people.

At the minute I can’t find a direct link to the Paypal donate fund set up for Roger, other than a link behind the front page of the R Gruppe forum. I’m working on getting the details and will  post a new message later with it included.