The
Jaguar Club of Southern New
England is normally a rather
quiet JCNA group, holding
an annual JCNA Concour's and
keeping a relatively low profile.
Under the influence of JCNA
Slalom Chair Gary Hagopian
and his minions from the Jaguar
Association of New England,
JCSNE has taken on a new and
more competitive image.
Joe Cusano has been JCSNE's
slalom chairman for the past
two years. His actions have
rekindled the club's competitive
spirit and everyone involved
has had a rush of adrenaline.
Thanks to the influence of
JANE, it only took a small
amount of arm twisting to
get JCSNE people onto the
JCNA slalom course. The fact
that both Joe and brother
Dean Cusano love to run slaloms
certainly has something to
do with it. They have proven
first that a well stock, well
maintained Jaguar is very
capable of being competitive.
The Cusanos say that Jaguars
are resilient vehicles that
are capable of taking hard
driving and keep coming back
for more! Second, they have
proven themselves as drivers.
Joe earned the 1999 Championship
in class f with a 1990 xj12
sedan. A 1990 XJ12 is a rarity
in the United States. Joe
Cusano takes full advantage
of the cars power running
the JCNA slalom course.
Dean is fastest in the nation
on the JCNA slalom in his
stock class G 1986 XJS coupe.
Joe is a veteran of 35 years
in the automobile industry
and winner of several races
in Jaguars. Dean has received
awards in both Sports Car
Club of America and JCNA competition.
Both of them find slalom competition
to be safe and very rewarding
and they recommend it highly
to all club members. JCNA
members who haven't tried
it don't know what they are
missing!! Joe and co-chair
Richard Podoloff have even
bigger plans for promoting
slaloms in the year 2000.
Both JCSNE and JANE have demonstrated
that great events can be organized
with club participation. A
big plus has also been the
participation of Stephens
Jaguar Automall and sales
director Larry Hartzell. Along
time friend of JCSNE, Hartzell
has worked to get the club
a place to run their events
and has also occasionally
provided new Jaguars for members
to compete in! |
