Ross Karlin has contributed his time, talent, and energy to the BMW Car Club of America at the chapter and national levels for decades, so it was only fitting that he was recently selected to receive the BMW CCA Friend Of The Club award—the highest honor that can be bestowed on a member by the BMW CCA .
For decades, Karlin worked to make driving events like high-performance driving schools and BMW CCA club races happen in the New Jersey Chapter and throughout the northeast. But his efforts did not stop at just having successful events; year after year, he incorporated charity fundraising with those events, especially for the benefit of deserving and special-needs kids.
Karlin was also instrumental in the club’s Instructor Training School (ITS) program. Along with early developers Tony Funicello, Richmond Shreve, Blake Smith, Bjorn Zetterlund, and Patty Perkins, he spent hundreds of hours each year developing and improving the program curriculum. Among many other things, he produced in-car instructional videos that were embedded in the classroom materials, and he was the driving force behind two Curriculum Development Charrette weekends that turned input from many sources into successful outcomes. The club enjoys some of the best and most highly regarded in-car driving-school instructors anywhere, thanks to Ross Karlin.
Karlin epitomizes the passion and volunteerism upon which the BMW CCA relies to provide a superior experience to its members at the chapter and national levels. So congratulations, Ross, on being named a Friend Of The Club!—Scott Blazey
[Photo courtesy of Ken Buschner.]
