BRUTES
AT THE BEACH”
I’ve
only attended three of the Club’s Meets; Trevose Pennsylvania,
(Buck’s County) two years ago, one in Jonesville Michigan in
the fall of 1994 and the most recent meet in Monmouth Beach, New
Jersey for which you might be aware, I was the host.
When
I first thought about hosting one of these events, I asked myself
“How tough can it be to throw a four-day party?” After
thinking it over for a while, I thought that it was probably within
my capability and so I wrote to Don Cole (the Meet Chairman at the
time) to volunteer. Some time went by without word and I found out
that Don Cole was no longer the Meet Chairman but that Ray Jones now
had that honor, however dubious it might be. In any event, I once
again submitted my name and let it be known that I was willing to do
this thing they call hosting a meet and lo and behold, my offer was
accepted thus beginning what would prove to be a series of potential
crises, all of which would be resolved favorably and without serious
consequence.
In
the first place, I am among the world’s greatest
procrastinators. Why would anyone possibly do something today that
he could do tomorrow or the next day, or the next? Consequently, I
sat back and spent month after month “considering” what I
should plan for the group which after all, wouldn’t be arriving
for months and months. All of a sudden, it didn’t seem that
far away and I realized that I actually had to try to plan what you
would do for four days in New Jersey. Additionally, I realized, this
was not only a meet, but the 25th Anniversary Fall Meet.
Fortunately,
I am blessed with a number of friends who happen to work in places
which were natural parts of such a meet. Thus, through my friend
Donna Gironda, Director of Sales at the Hilton, I was able to arrange
for the hotel at a rate that was reserved for their best corporate
clientele. Similarly, the facilities at the Channel Club were
arranged without too much of a fuss as a result of my long-time
association with the management.
With
the lodging and banquet pretty much settled, I began to look at other
things for you to do. First, I imagined that some of you would enjoy
taking an 86’ catamaran to New York City for the day. I spoke
with the line and they agreed to give us a reduced rate for the trip.
The beaches were always available and Sandy Hook is really a pretty
fascinating place if one has time to check it out. I figured that
would take up some time and yet not put anyone any real distance from
the hotel, so into the schedule that went, complete with tour guide.
The antique center in Red Bank is quite big and knowing the
propensity of some of you to buy such things, I threw it into the
schedule as well, following a lunch at the Cove in Sea Bright.
Notwithstanding
the activities above, I still needed a main attraction. Having been
to two previous meets, I had learned that anytime this group tries to
travel from place to place, there will be at least two or three times
when traffic will be reduced to a virtual standstill, while those in
the front of the procession (usually the same group) wait for the
traffic to clear. This temporary lull is inevitably followed by the
roar of two or more four barrels opening up as some of our members
exercise their inalienable rights to blow the carbon out of their
systems, not to mention trying to settle the question of who gets
where ahead of whom. While much of this is done on interstate
highways, there are other times where less room is afforded. There
are also never-ending discussions as to who was ahead of who when the
traffic got in the way, etc. I figured that this time, we could make
it legal: no traffic lights; no traffic; no cops; no liability and
that all excuses could be avoided. As you all probably know by now,
the answer lay with spending time on Friday afternoon at Raceway Park
at Englishtown, New Jersey, which is known as the fastest quarter
mile in the U.S.
I
know a guy who worked at Raceway Park. I didn’t know him well,
but I knew him well enough to ask if they rented the track out to
groups like ours. He said that he thought they did, and advised that
if we were going to try and rent the track, we should consider doing
so on a Friday when their insurance was already in effect. He told
me to call the track and someone would take care of me. I called and
spoke with someone who told me that we could have the track for four
hours on Friday September 15th, from 1 PM to 5 PM and the
cost would be $500.00 payable that day by check. He wrote me a
letter confirming the arrangements and I wrote back to him,
confirming the contents of his letter. I sat back and figured that
now all I had to do was feed a bunch of people on Thursday, Sept.
14th and give them breakfast on the 17th and that would be
easy enough, since I do cook. O.K. – everything was done!
When Eleanor called for the meet details for distribution, I figured
that I was pretty much done.
Time
rolled by and pretty soon it was August. Gadzooks – I had
forgotten about maps and instructions, dash plaques and things like
that. I spent a frantic two weeks throwing things together, along
with help from a couple more friends, got the art work to the printer
for the plaques and put together the inserts for the meet packets.
O.K. – now everything was done WRONG!!!
The
first crisis arose when I received a call from Mark Raynor, informing
me that the hotel only had 8 rooms set aide for us on Wednesday. It
seems that there was a miscommunication between management and the
reservations desk and after a day or two, we finally straightened
that out.
The
second crisis arose on Monday two days before the Meet when I went up
to the boat to work out the last-minute arrangements for the trip to
New York. I found the commuters milling around because one of the
two boats had blown an engine and had to be sent to Boston for
repairs. It would be gone for the remainder of the week, including
the day we were supposed to go to New York. When they operate with
one boat, commuters have first boarding privileges and the tourist
only get on board if there is room. I had visions of several of you
being left in New York with no way to get back to the Shore. I
finally got a hold of the guy who runs the boat and after some
discussion and explanation, he agreed to guarantee that our group
would get on the boat in both directions.
Wednesday
came and George Riehl arrived with the signs and all of the
paraphernalia for the hospitality suite. I went over to meet him at
the hotel and found crisis number three – not a single parking
space was available in the hotel parking lot. I had been assured
that we would have the hotel, pretty much to ourselves for the
weekend and that we would have our own parking area, but it turned
out that there was some sort of military communications and weapons
convention in for Wednesday and Thursday. It worked out pretty well,
however, as the full parking lot forced us to the second floor of the
parking garage which proved to be an outstanding venue. It not only
provided security for the cars but allowed us to park them all
together, away from the rest of the world.
Thursday
morning, I returned from delivering the New York day trippers to the
boat and was planning to take the group to Sandy Hook. I found four
cars under repair with maladies including a water pump, brakes, a
leaking transmission, etc. Crisis number four (albeit a lesser one)
– nobody showed up for the tour of Sandy Hook! Jim and Millie
Flesher drove around out there by themselves and had a pretty good
time but could not hook up with anyone else. I don’t think the
guide who was waiting for us took it personally, but I might have
trouble getting him if there is a next time. At least, he and Allan
Moon had a discussion about fish and fishing. To make matters worse,
nobody showed up at the Cove for the lunch that had been planned. By
Thursday afternoon, I was convinced that everything was falling
apart, but by then I was too busy cooking to worry about it.
Thursday
night was the turning point as everyone gathered at my place for
drinks and dinner. It turned out in fact, that some people had done
Sandy Hook, although not as a group and that several had been to the
antique stores in Red Bank, so I didn’t feel so bad. Moreover,
it appeared that almost everyone liked my cooking and that they had a
really good time during the evening. The meet was finally getting
off the ground and I was actually beginning to relax and enjoy
myself. Big Mistake!
Friday
morning found me in my continuing state of euphoria. I had called my
contact at Raceway Park, three days earlier and he told me that,
while he would be away on Friday, he would leave someone else in
charge of our event. I called to find out who that person might be
and found crisis number five (A BIG ONE); I told the woman on the
phone, who I was and identified the Club, to which she responded
“Yes?” I told her that we would be there at 1 PM and she
said “Tomorrow, for the Monster Truck Show?” I told her
that we were supposed to have the track from 1 PM to 5 PM on Friday
and her response was “That’s impossible. We are setting
up for our Monster Truck Show and you can’t possibly use the
track today.” The effect of this response was compounded when
I asked to speak with the person in charge of track rentals and was
informed that she was that person and knew nothing about our use of
the track.
I
felt like I had swallowed a shot put. I told her that I had
confirmation of the date and event in writing and she said she would
have someone else call me. This was at 10:45 AM and we were to leave
for the track at noon. Twenty minutes later, I received a call from
the Manager of the track who acknowledged the exchange of
correspondence but repeated that they were trying to get ready for
their truck show and that the track was a mess. It turned out that
the guy that I had dealt with earlier in the year had absolutely no
authority to rent us the track and worse yet, he had told no one at
Raceway Park, that he had done so. The Manager told me that he would
have to speak to the owner, who was due in 10 minutes, to see what
could be done. He also told me not to panic. I told him that at
this point his advice concerning the panic question was too late. It
was also at this point that I told him that our meet was being
covered by High Performance Mopar Magazine, a fact that I didn’t
think improved his day. Fifteen minutes later, I received a call
from one Vinnie Napp, the owner of the track and it appears the uncle
of the Manager. After making sure that we were talking about “C”
Body road cars, (“The old Chryslers with the big fins?”)
he repeated the problems with the situation, but said “A deal
is a deal. We told you to show up at 1:00 – you show up at
1:00 and we will accommodate you.”
As
those of you who were there know, they did a lot more than just
accommodate us at Raceway Park. After a drive through the horse
country of Colt’s Neck and Freehold, we arrived at the drag
strip not really knowing what to expect. They couldn’t have
treated us better than they did. We were all taken out to the
starting line and given a fifteen-minute instruction on how the drag
strip worked, how to stage and pre-stage the cars, where to go and
where to stop accelerating. Jimmy Napp, the Manager who gave us the
instruction, put everyone at ease and explained that anyone who can
pull away from a traffic light can run at the drag strip. As he put
it: “The difference is that there is no traffic, no police and
you just go until you reach the green markers.”
One
of my fears in planning this part of the meet was that three or four
of us would get out on the track while everyone else watched and got
bored. This was compounded when it turned out that neither George
Riehl nor Don Cole had their cars with them. Boy was I wrong!!!
Whether it was the explanation by the track manager or whether it
just got in everyone’s blood, virtually every car made at least
one run. The one or two who didn’t run failed to do so because
of mechanical problems the cars, which would have been made worse by
racing. On the other end of the spectrum, however, was John Hertog,
who brought his ’62 sport on a flatbed because he knew it was
going to break while running at the track. As he said while loading
the car onto the flatbed after throwing a rod: “At least, now I
know where it is broken.” After the last run of the day, the
starter came around and shook hands with everybody, thanked us for
being there and asked us all to come back again. I don’t know
if all of the management shared in his enthusiasm, but I really think
that they enjoyed watching the cars run.
Some
pretty good times were turned in, the fastest of which was Don Verity
in his somewhat modified 300F. Despite this accomplishment and all
the work that went into achieving it, we failed to give Don the
recognition that he deserved at the banquet, an oversight for which I
sincerely and truly apologize. Notwithstanding that failure, another
racer was recognized, albeit from the distaff side of the group.
Marlou Wiltse, who turned in a 16:06 second time slip, with a top
speed of 86.21 MPH in her “D” was awarded the MOPAR MOMMA
T-shirt in recognition of her accomplishment. As she said to me in
the parking lot after the top run: “I haven’t had this
much fun in years. I just kicked my husband’s butt!” Of
all the attendees at this event, I truly believe that Marlou had the
best time. It is rumored that she is trying to talk Jack into
regular attendance at the drag strip a couple of miles from their
place. We may have created a monster. More stories “from the
strip” will appear elsewhere.
After
Friday afternoon, I truly did relax. I figured that even if the rest
of the weekend sort of fell apart, the meet would probably have been
a success. It turned out that the usual rental fee for the track is
$2,000.00, so I had even got a better deal than I thought. For my
part, that deal got even better, when at the business meeting the
membership voted to reimburse me for the $500.00, that I had paid for
the day.
Saturday
proved to be sort of breezy and then cloudy, but not unpleasant. The
setting at the Marina was nice and there was plenty of room for the
cars and a good restaurant and bar on the premises. All and all, it
went pretty well. The banquet on Saturday night was at the Channel
Club, the same place where the afternoon show had taken place.
Despite some initial problems with the soda gun at the bar, everyone
who wanted a drink got one or more. The dinner was actually better
than the average banquet food, including the dessert (which had been
specially prepared for us the previous April) and the companionship
was outstanding. I don’t know about the rest of them, but I
was seated with Ken and Linda Langdon, Randy Hines and Karen, Bob
Merritt and Brian Wolfe and we had a damned good time. The parking
lot bunch lasted long into the night, both at my place and then back
at the hotel.
Sunday
morning, I was brewing coffee, arranging danish pastries, cutting
bagels and putting out juice, butter and cream cheese in the middle
of what appeared to be a major monsoon. Around 9:15 AM, in strolled
Jim and Millie (from Maryland) Flesher and the morning party was
under way. I enjoyed feeding the group, which numbered 40 – 50
eventually. Somewhere around noon, the rain let up and the crowd
thinned out, as people headed home. The coffee drinking turned into
beer drinking and around 1:30 the keg ran out. I offered to get
another keg, but clearer heads prevailed. All we needed was to put a
bunch of drunks out onto the road. Instead, we drank what various
people had available. Those in possession of various beers included
the Cunninghams, Moons, Joneses and I found a few cans left in my
fridge. In any event there was enough to keep us going without
causing a potential problem. The rain stopped and we all sat around
on my side porch, along with George and Chic and Nancy Kramer and
rehashed the meet. One by one the late group got on the road.
Fittingly enough, the last one to leave was George, who capped my
weekend by telling me I had “Done good.” Which was enough
for me.
Since
the meet, I have received several very nice letters, thanking me for
hosting the meet and letting me know what a good time was had. I am
very glad to know that you all had fun, as that is the very purpose
of these things. I would be remiss, however, If I closed without
including the following: I owe a very big “Thank You” to
Allan and Gloria Moon, to Don Warnaar, George and others who staffed
the hospitality suite. As pointed out to me early in this thing, it
serves as the center of activities and it is important that it
functions throughout the meet. I would also like to thank Millie
Flesher for slicing an innumerable number of green and red peppers
for the Chicken Murphy, which was eaten on Thursday night, for making
drinks and for being generally good natured and I would like to thank
those of you who made various other contributions to the success of
the meet, as well. Above all, however, I want to thank all of you
who attended, from as far away as Pueblo, Colorado and as near as
Neptune, New Jersey, for making this meet a success simply by being
there, with or without your cars. It is primarily through these
meets that we are more than a bunch of names on a mailing list. I
truly appreciate the fact, that so many of you chose to attend this
meet and I hope that you all had a good time and a safe trip home.
See you all in Chicago in the Spring and North Carolina in the Fall.
Bits
and Pieces
The
following are bits and pieces of information, rumor, memory etc.
gleaned from and/or remembered by those who were sitting around on my
side porch, on the early afternoon of September 17th, as
well as some information contributed by your host.
Bill
Allen is actually interested in buying one of last year’s IROC
cars and was disappointed in not getting a tour of their shop. I’ll
let them know, Bill and see if they have any left. Bob Cornett had
his car kayoed from Concours by a faulty electrical connection. In
preparation for this “drag meet” several members seemed
to somewhat alter their vehicles. In most cases. That effort
resulted in doing more harm than good. Specifically, Don Cole had
rear end problems (its tough to get those 4.56s down the road); your
host wound up with a combination of crankshaft, rear end, and high
stall converter, which guaranteed that the car would not break 16
seconds. John Hertog finally got the cast iron headers on his ’62,
but blew it up on the track and so on. All of these preparations
were made in an effort to beat George’s “STOCK” J
which of course was not at the meet after all.
The
Good Samaritan Award goes to Bob Merritt for his Garden State Parkway
road service, not to mention the fun of hearing him tell about it.
The “Some Nerve Award” goes to Al Mace who, owning a 300B
and a 300K, showed up at Raceway Park with a ’38 ford, powered
by a 327 Chevrolet. Nice thing to do at any Mopar Show, not to
mention a 300 Meet.
Doug
Mayer from upstate New York attended his first show with his 300B,
which he put in Concours, claiming that he should get an extra 40
points for coming from New York. We hope to see him at more meets in
the future. Bill Woodman kept getting lost wherever he went. How he
found his way to my place from Colorado, I will never understand.
Bill got the Long-distance Award, in the absence of Frank Driscoll,
our perennial winner.
The
Northeast was well represented, as it should have been, including
regulars Jerry Kocur and Don “Speed King” Verity from New
England, Don Warnaar, P.J. Ehmann, Jay Fisher, Dave Geise (with a
Road Runner), Bea and Tom Gorse (with a K), Bruce Paul, Randy Hines
and Bill Codner from New Jersey. It’s too bad that with a
state the size of New Jersey, we couldn’t get at least 90% of
the locals to turn out, but the rest of us had fun anyway. John
Bertz, Bruce Brownell, Jack and Mary Buttino, Mike Laiserin, Doug
Mayer, Bob Merritt and John Hertog made it from the great state of
New York. Another New Yorker, Ken Anello, showed up hauling what Ray
Jones described as a “metal free G convert on a trailer.”
It was truly a sight to see.
The
mid Atlantic and Southeast States of Maryland, Virginia, Delaware,
Georgia, Kentucky and Florida sent a number of members, including
Allan and Gloria Moon with Thirsty (and hungry – more about
that below) Hursty, Jim and Millie Flesher, Ray and Jo Ann Jones who
finally arrived late (better late than never at all) and ever good
guy Brian Wolfe, who managed to keep me in good spirits on the way to
the track on Friday. Lew Frazer, our own octogenarian, represented
the Commonwealth of Virginia and was a pleasure to meet. Delaware’s
Kevin Baker, absent for some time, made this one and promised to make
the next fall Meet in North Carolina, maybe with an “H”.
Bill Allen and Ted Dalack made it in from Georgia. It turns out that
Ted is originally from Ashbury Park, New Jersey, right down the
street. Jack Streamo, now of medallion fame and the aforementioned
Al Mace, joined Gil and Carol Cunningham as representatives of the
Sunshine State. While Jack flew and Al brought a Ford, at least Gil
and Carol had the “H” convertible.
The
Pennsylvania contingent ranked 3rd in attendance, with Don
and Pat Cole, Jeff and Leslie Miklas, Mark Raynor, Tony Rinaldi, Les
McCurdy, Gary Hitchens and a brief visit from Gary Hagy. Don had to
leave his “K” home after his rear started acting up, but
seemed to enjoy himself anyway. Jeff brought his stick “L”
convert and left the monster Fury home. Ohio was represented by
Terry McTaggart and Bill Spear, while the Michigan group included
George Riehl (sans Eleanor, who was at home preparing to be a
Grandmother), Mike and Linda Burke, Jim and Andrea Krausmann, Jack
and Marlou (MOPAR MOMMA) Wiltse and Arnold and Johnneen Lueth who, it
was reported left New Jersey with a car load of antiques and
lampshades. The state of Illinois was represented by Ed and Angie
Phillips, Roman Robaszewski and Andy Mikonis. Roman, who flew in,
demonstrated a great and until now perhaps unappreciated, sense of
humor in pitching for the Spring Meet in Chicago, which he and Andy
are hosting. Andy and his guest Michelle were my house guests for
the meet, although I really think this “poor student”
routine maybe wearing a bit thin. Aside from shaking the plumbing
loose in the shower, though, they were perfect guests and are welcome
back anytime.
Fun
on the strip at raceway Park: fastest time was Don Verity with 14.692
seconds at 91.56 MPH in his somewhat modified “F”, no
doubt in part because of Bob Merritt’s advise to face the horns
to the rear and to blow them when the light turned green. Slowest
time was Allan Moon at 45.47 seconds at 8.5 MPH in his ’70
Hurst, which was eating the under-hood insulation pad during the run
(if you take off your air cleaner, take off your hood pad too). Most
fun on the strip: Marlou Wiltse, who “beat her husband’s
butt!” Most varied performance on the strip: Andrea Krausmann,
who first ran the entire ¼ mile in first gear, proving that
top speed in 1st in a “C” is 55 MPH and then
put a dent in the hood from the inside by torqueing the engine at the
line. This is also the person who announced, after the first run,
that drag racing was better than sex, because not only did it take
longer (16 seconds), but there were colored lights and balloons and
signs and applause and everything!!! Strangest Looking Mopar: Al
Mace’s ’38 Ford. Perhaps, most frustrated at the strip:
(1) Don Cole, who had to leave his ram “K” home. This
frustration was somewhat abated by the fact, that I gave him my car
for a few runs. (2) Your host, who took all day to dial his car in
and couldn’t get it to run better than a 16.02. (3) All the
men who were beaten by the woman (In addition to the aforementioned
Andrea and Marlou, Bea Gorse was on the track and Linda Burke kicked
some butt herself, including mine).
I
am sure there are loads of other bits and pieces which will be
contributed by others who were there, but this is about all that I
can remember. You must keep in mind, as a comparative newcomer to
this group, I did not know everyone who was there and can only be in
so many places at once. If I omitted anyone or failed to include
something I should have, please accept my apologies. I know that Don
Verity will be supplying his version of this meet and I am sure that
he will include more details on the track events. I imagine that
others will be sending in their views as well. Hope it was enjoyed
by all!
Pete
Fitch
Concours
D’Elegance
Class
I: 3rd Place Doug Mayer 300B coupe 856 points
Class
IV: 3rd Place Ken Langdon 300K coupe 722 points
Hurst: 1st
Place Dudley Finneyfrock 300 Hurst 872 points
2nd
Place Jay Fisher 300 Hurst 756 points
People’s
Choice: Bill Woodman, 300C coupe
Long
Distance: Bill Woodman, 300C coupe, 1,900 miles from Pueblo,
Colorado
Hard
Luck: Ken Langdon, 300K, water pump, had to be towed to the meet
300s
Attending the Meet
300B:
Doug Mayer
300C:
Bruce Brownell, Bill Woodman, Jim Krausmann, Gary Hagy (cvt), Arnold
Lueth, Bill Elder
300D:
Jack Wiltse
300E:
Rod Caravella, Robert Young (cvt)
300F:
Mike Burke, Bill Codner (cvt), Don Verity, Don Warnaar
300G:
Ken Anello (cvt), P.J. Ehmann, John Jenkin (3-speed), Gabe Knapp,
Andy Mikonis, John Nowosacki, Bruce Paull
300H:
Bob Crawford, Gil Cunningham (cvt), Ed Phillips (cvt)
300K:
Pete Fitch, Tom Gorse, Jerry Kocur (cvt). Mike Laiserin (cvt), Ken
Langdon
300L:
Randy Hines, Jeff Miklas (4-speed cvt)
Hurst:
Dudley Finneyfrock, Allan Moon, Jay Fisher
’62
300: John Hertog, Gary Hitchins (3-speed) ’63 300: Mark Raynor
Thanks to Bill Elder for typing this article for the web