Regional & Local Chapter News

Cadillac V-Club Exclusive Sneak Peak

They’re coming - Fast.  The 2023 CT4-V Blackwing Track Editions.

Announcing the three new 2023 CT4-V Blackwing Track Editions: Watkins Glen IMSA Edition – Road Atlanta IMSA Edition – Sebring IMSA Edition

Each of these three editions will be limited to only 99 vehicles and ordering will open on August 1^st. Formal allocation to be shared in the coming weeks while pricing and order guides will go live on 7/25.

You can check out the awesome teaser video that was created here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CfROPgRg79P/?hl=en

Team please do not share this pic or any details online until 4pm EST after the media embargo has been lifted!

In conjunction with today's announcement of the new Cadillac V-Club Officers and Directors, the following Chapter Director appointments are effective immediately.

DMV Chapter (Washington D.C./Maryland/Virginia) - Christopher (Chris) Marten has been selected and approved by the Officers/Directors of the Cadillac V-Club as the new Chapter Director replacing Ryan Bates. 
The DMV chapter launched on February 14th, 2022 and quickly amassed 38 active members becoming one of the V-Club fastest growing chapters.  They are hosting their first official event, Cadillacs and Coffee, this upcoming Saturday at Fitzgerald Cadillac in Frederick, Maryland.

Chris purchased a 2012 V2 coupe in 2017. Requests from his wife, Mary, for a more “adult car” led to subsequently purchasing  his current ’17 V3. Chris likes to think that he did as told… (from a certain point of view).

Chris is a graduate of the University of Florida and has spent his professional career working in/with the petroleum industry. He’s been involved in volunteer leadership roles with the UF Alumni Association, United Way, and Make-A-Wish while living in New Orleans. He’s looking forward to expanding the DMV Chapter’s membership, bringing value to participants by planning exciting official and unofficial events over the next year.


SEAPORT Chapter (Seattle/Portland) - Robert (Rob) Milligan has been selected and approved by the Officers/Directors of the Cadillac V-Club as the new Chapter Director replacing Gene Hawks.
Rob resides in Issaquah, Washington just east of Seattle. Rob and wife Nina purchased their 2016 ATS-V 6-speed in 2021 and quickly fell in love with V's and the Cadillac brand. This was after driving the family van for a dozen years, patiently waiting for the kids to move out and begin the search for the right "fun" car. He found it, and the personalized Washington license plate he ordered is "V-FUN".

Rob has been fascinated with automobiles since youth. This began when he was a hired Porsche chauffeur at 18, then owned a string of BMW's. He was sure he'd be driving a Porsche or Corvette by now and the thought of a comfortable four-door luxury sedan that went 0-60 is 3.8 seconds never crossed his mind. He has enjoyed tracking this ATS-V, which came with mods including RENICK engine air intake and a TRIFECTA tune. While tracking, at the same time he's caring for it like a baby.

Rob will be planning and scheduling Seattle/Portland events and is looking forward to the continued expansion of the V-Club in the Pacific Northwest Region.


SOCAL Los Angeles Chapter - Richard (Rich) Cuellar and his 2 sons own and have operated a motorcycle rim manufacturing company in Southern California for the last 30 years. 

Rich currently resides in Pomona, California and drives a 2014 CTS-V Coupe.  After college Rich held the position of sales Engineer with a company that manufactures aerospace parts.  Previously he was a member of the 163rd fighter squadron, Ontario airport California for 7 years where they flew 106 delta daggers and F4C Phantoms from 1966-1973.

Rich had the opportunity to race motorcycles, cars and drag boats and he currently owns and races his CTS-V Coupe which he has owned for the past 8 years.  Even with a lot of performance improvements and chasis updates, it remain a very dependable daily driver. His passiion is to drive the canyons, compete in straight line racing events in addition to closed circuit road racing venues.

With the recent decision of the V-Club board to split the SOCAL membership into two Chapters: San Diego and Los Angeles, Rich is excited about the opportunity to plan and schedule events that will look forward to attending. 

Watch the Cadillac V-Club official event calendar for an upcoming activity to be published soon for each of these chapters.  Congratulations to each of these V-Club members in their new leadership role!

In 2015 with the endorsement of GM/Cadillac, the Texas V-Club re-launched as the national Cadillac V-Club and today membership is nearing 700 members with 12 local chapters spread among 6 national regions.   With the departure of Jay Lane in 2017 who moved over to BMW, Sean O'Rourke was appointed as his replacement.  In the last couple of years, Sean O'Rourke resigned in 2019 after selling his CTS-V and Stephen Hannah resigned this year due to business and family commitments.  Therefore the only remaining founding member and Officer/Director is Mike Franks, who has continued to serve as President voluntarily now for almost a decade.

During our recent annual board meeting, Mike Franks announced that 2022 will be his final year as a member of our Operational Leadership Team (OLT) in his role as President.  Mike committed to remain as an advisor/consultant to the Board of Directors to ensure a smooth transition and to help select new Officers/Directors to perform the roles of President and two Vice Presidents who will serve as Officers and Directors within a newly established 501 (c) (7) corporation.  The selection Committee has identified, nominated and the board has approved the following new Officers/Directors of the Cadillac V-Club.

Gene Hawks  President	John Charpentier Vice President	Ryan Bates  Vice President

Gene Hawks is the former Chapter Director of the Seattle/Portland Chapter and resides in Maple Valley, WA.  Outside the Cadillac V-Club, Gene is currently Vice President, and Head of Channels for North America at Alcatel Lucent Enterprises.  Gene and his wife Liz have been married for 26 years and have three teenage children, Johnathan, Alexis and Timothy.  He owns a 2022 CT4-V Blackwing and prior to that has owned numerous sports cars including a ATS-V Coupe, Mustang GT, Infinity G35 and a Mercedes AMG.  Gene enjoys Jiu Jitsu/MMA, participating in road racing track days, drag racing and taking long drives in the mountains with his family in his his V-Series Cadillac.  In addition to his role as President, Gene will serve as the CEO.

John Charpentier is the former Director of Marketing & Social Media and resides in Kirkland, WA.  John is retired and currently owns both a 2016 CTS-V Sedan and a 2022 CT4-V Blackwing.  In early 2019, John was appointed as the Seattle/Portland Chapter Director and was instrumental in recruiting members in the Pacific Northwest Region which resulted in the charter of the first chapter of the Cadillac V-Club located outside of Texas.  In his role as Vice President, John will oversee operations, member services and perform the duties of Secretary/Treasurer.

Ryan Bates is the former Chapter Director of the DMV Chapter, which was launched in February of this year.  Ryan has been organizing automotive related events for the past 10 years. He has organized many types of activities including nightly meet 'n greets to road rallies. About 6 years ago, Ryan teamed up with another V-Series owner/enthusiast to create the DMV V-series Owners group in the Washington DC metro area. Since the groups inception, they have organized and hosted numerous events with Cadillac V-series vehicles. Ryan owns a CT4-V Blacking which is his 3rd V-series vehicle.  In his role as Vice President, Ryan will oversee marketing, partner, sponsor and member development through our local chapters and regions.

These 3 new Officers/Directors are 100% committed to the success of the Cadillac V-Club and will strive to continue the momentum established by Mike.  Mike stated "I have thoroughly enjoyed my term as President since 2013.  I have met many life-long friends and will always continue to serve as a loyal ambassador to the Cadillac brand and certainly plan to continue as an active member of the V-Club.  Back in 2013, I originally committed to serve for no more than 1 year and here we are almost 10 years later.  It is time for me to step down, enjoy my retirement and the benefits of membership in the Cadillac V-Club.  I am confident that Gene, John and Ryan will perform their roles well as the V-Club continues to expand nationally." 

We are beyond excited to inform the V Series community that Cadillac and Michelin have two 2022 V Series Blackwing entries into this years One Lap of America!!

Each vehicle will be driven by one driver from Michelin and one from Cadillac, in stock form (minus rear seats in order to carry all our gear through the USA).  Mirza Grebovic is one of the GM Engineers that helped develop these amazing vehicles and they are going to do their best to do our teams and the vehicles justice!

The event kicks off today, Friday, April 29 with registration and Tech and the first driving events are starting Saturday.  Mirza will update the Blackwing Journal page in the members only section of CadillacVClub.com as well as on social media.

For further details on what the One Lap of America is, click on the link below, but in summary Mirza and his teammate will drive across numerous venues and hit various on-track events, skid pads, autocross and ovals all on the stock tires that can not be changed between events, including all the on road mileage, equaling to more than 3500 miles combined in 8 days! 

https://www.onelapofamerica.com/

We are pleased to announce the charter and official launch of the Atlantic Chapter of the Cadillac V-Club.  This new chapter now has 19 members and Heather Swihart has been selected as the Chapter Director.  Heather and her husband Chris both own Cadillac V's, with Heather driving a 2016 ATS-V coupe and Chris driving a 2012 CTS-V sedan.

Heather and Chris were married in 2013 and have three "children", two French bulldogs, Dexter and Finn, and one boxer mix, Harper.  Heather's 2016 ATS-V runs 9's in the 1/4 mile on stock turbos!  She holds the record for fastest female in the 1/4 mile with an ATS- V. Chris has a manual CTS-V that is "full bolt" on modified and runs strong. Who’s faster? No one will ever know. Heather and Chris are both car enthusiasts and enjoy car shows, cruises, and all types of competitive events.

Heather will be planning and hosting her first official Cadillac V-Club event in the near future and is looking forward to building a local chapter that continues to grow and help members take their ownership experience to a higher level.

Congratulations to OKC Chapter Director Felicia Smith!  https://ryno.co/racer/4drrckt

CadillacVClub.com/LiveStream

The DMV Chapter of the Cadillac V-Club is officially chartered and launched today with 22 active members. 

Ryan Bates has been selected to serve in the role of Chapter Director. Ryan has been organizing automotive related events for the past 10 years. He has organized many types of activities including nightly meet 'n greets to road rallies. About 6 years ago, Ryan teamed up with another V-Series owner/enthusiast to create the DMV V-series Owners group in the Washington DC metro area. Since the groups inception, they have organized and hosted numerous events with Cadillac V-series vehicles. Ryan currently has a CT4-V Blacking on order which would be his 3rd V-series vehicle. He expressed that he is excited about becoming a member of the official Cadillac V-Club and will be soon planning events to be posted on our official event calendar.  He is confident the membership will continue to grow in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area.

This year 9 local Cadillac V-Club local chapters hosted holiday banquets for their members with the Las Vegas Chapter hosting the final banquet of the year this past week-end.

At each local chapter banquet, one lucky member had the opportunity to win a two person multi-day ticket package to attend a Cadillac V-Corral/Suite event at IMSA Weathertech Championship races in 2022.  These ticket packages are valued at $500 each.  V-Club Chapters located in the Pacific Northwest and Pacific Southwest gave away a door prize trip to the Laguna Seca IMSA event scheduled for April 29 - May 1, 2022 and Chapters located in the South Central and Atlantic Northeast will gave away a door prize trip to the Rolex 24 Hour IMSA event in Daytona scheduled for January 27-30, 2022.  The winners of these ticket packages valued at $500 each were:

Seattle/Portland Chapter - Diana Spisak, Renton, WA
Norcal Chapter - Frank Revuelta, Redwood City, CA
Socal Chapter - Jake Jordan, Corona, CA
Las Vegas Chapter - Stacy Martin, Las Vegas, NV
OKC Chapter - Jason Austin, Yukon, OK
DFW Chapter - Ray Beougher, Double Oak, TX
Houston Chapter - Earl Parmer, Houston, TX
Austin/San Antonio Chapter - Martin Jackson, San Antonio, TX
Detroit Chapter - Jeremy Stanke, Commerce Township, MI

Today via a drawing held on Random.org, the Cadillac V-Club continued our holiday celebration by selecting the two "grand prize" winners.

Grand Prize #1 Winner: Ben Remak, Seattle/Portland Chapter - Washington

Ben was selected via a random draw on Random.org from among the local chapter members who RSVP'd to attend a holiday banquet and attended the banquet.

Grand Prize #2 Winner: John Sketoe, South Central Region - Arkansas

John was selected via a random drawing on Random.org from among all regional V-Club members and those local chapter members who were unable to attend a local chapter holiday banquet this year.

Both of these grand prize winners will receive a full tuition paid trip to the two-day Cadillac V-Performance Academy located at Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club in Pahrump, NV. 

These two grand prizes combined with the local chapter Cadillac V-Corral ticket package door prizes provided an opportunity for every Cadillac V-Club member to win a prize during our annual holiday celebration. The total value of all prizes being awarded exceeds $11,500. 

Recipients of prize certificates are responsible for associated travel arrangements and expenses. Prize certificates are not transferable to any non-member of the Cadillac V-Club and must be used during the calendar year 2022. Should the events be cancelled for any unforseen reason, a best effort will be made to provide tickets to an alternate venue at a future date.

Congratulations to each of these prize winners!