| Craigs Motorsports, Sherrill, NY Car Show 9/23/06 Contributed by Show Car member Richard Parry |
September 23rd was the first
Annual Customer Appreciation
day at Craig's Motorsports in
Sherrill, NY. It was raining cats
and dogs at 6:00 but it was still
going to be a show. It cleared off
around 11:00 but was still a damp
and dark day with sprinkles on
and off.
But it was a great turn out cars
and former drivers of the days
gone by. Guys like Frankie
Mathalia, Bernie Miller,Chipper
Lanz and Ron Pryerier were on
hand to tell some war stories of
days at Utica Rome on the black
top. Even Craig threw in a few of
his days as a kid being there with
his dad "Wild" Bill Henry in the
#28; always a sharp looking green
coupe and well maintained.
Out in the parking lot it looked
like the who's who of local racing;
there were both of Bernie Millers
cars, the coupe and the pinto.
Alan Weavers beautiful restored
#77 Pinto of Chip Lanz. Jon
Button with his sprinter. Ray
Hedger with the Dick Clark #16
VW Rabbitt. John and Barb Clark
with the 3x Joe Norton owned
coupe. A super truck out of Rome,
NY. The road ready 711 Dave
Kneisal 'Ol Bones' even pulled in.
And fresh from the Rome Museum
was the 61 Richie Evens Pinto.
And the Jack Johnson #37 Falcon
owned by Sharon Parry.
The best part of the day was the
Limo rides Provided courtesy of
Racing Limos of CNY. A new
venture operated by Mark Scanton
of Whitesboro, NY this is not just a
ride, it's an experience.
It was a great day with a ton of give
aways; hats, t-shirts, soda, coffee,
pizza and even a dee-jay. Thanks
Craig. As for next year mark this
one on you calander as it will
happen again and should be even
bigger.
Richard Parry
Annual Customer Appreciation
day at Craig's Motorsports in
Sherrill, NY. It was raining cats
and dogs at 6:00 but it was still
going to be a show. It cleared off
around 11:00 but was still a damp
and dark day with sprinkles on
and off.
But it was a great turn out cars
and former drivers of the days
gone by. Guys like Frankie
Mathalia, Bernie Miller,Chipper
Lanz and Ron Pryerier were on
hand to tell some war stories of
days at Utica Rome on the black
top. Even Craig threw in a few of
his days as a kid being there with
his dad "Wild" Bill Henry in the
#28; always a sharp looking green
coupe and well maintained.
Out in the parking lot it looked
like the who's who of local racing;
there were both of Bernie Millers
cars, the coupe and the pinto.
Alan Weavers beautiful restored
#77 Pinto of Chip Lanz. Jon
Button with his sprinter. Ray
Hedger with the Dick Clark #16
VW Rabbitt. John and Barb Clark
with the 3x Joe Norton owned
coupe. A super truck out of Rome,
NY. The road ready 711 Dave
Kneisal 'Ol Bones' even pulled in.
And fresh from the Rome Museum
was the 61 Richie Evens Pinto.
And the Jack Johnson #37 Falcon
owned by Sharon Parry.
The best part of the day was the
Limo rides Provided courtesy of
Racing Limos of CNY. A new
venture operated by Mark Scanton
of Whitesboro, NY this is not just a
ride, it's an experience.
It was a great day with a ton of give
aways; hats, t-shirts, soda, coffee,
pizza and even a dee-jay. Thanks
Craig. As for next year mark this
one on you calander as it will
happen again and should be even
bigger.
Richard Parry
One thing we like about
doing these car shows, (as
well as the racing events), is
that you get to meet a lot of
'Birds of the Feather' so to
speak. Interested parties who
may know of just what you're
looking for and where to find
it. A break in the club's
activities presents the
opportunities to check out
these leads and more often
than not they are fruitful
from many standpoints. This
past Saturday we traveled to
Cicero Center, just a stones
throw from the dragstrip; to
meet up with long time racer
and hot rod builder Ron Van
Allen. Ron offered a pair of
1934 Ford frames at a
reasonable price and they
were just what we wanted.
We also learned much about
his hot rod building and just
what is available today to the
prospective builder, it's
amazing stuff, just about
anything you desire is
available at a price of course.
He then gave us the tour of
his place and Ron has a living
room that all car kooks would
die for. I'd like to have a
flathead coffe table in my
living room but that idea was
vetoed along time ago....Ron
has gone a step further and
put his Kurtis Kraft V8 60
midget in his, along with a
rare Model Phaeton. Now
that's a living room. He also
showed us around his Pinto
dragster, his beautiful 1934
Ford 3-window hot rod, and
his current project, another
3-Window. Nice Stuff. Lastly,
he shared some pictures with
us which will be showing up
on the site as soon as I can gt
them scanned, one of which
was of particular interest to
me. It was taken at Cicero
dragway of the 'Purple People
Eater' in teh early 1960's but
also includes Fred Beeling's
'Pipe Organ' dragster in the
background. This car housed
an Ardun Overhead
conversion on the flathead
block which now takes up
space in Nikki's basement.
'That thing popped and farted
all the way down the track'
was how Ron remembered it,
no wonder, the cam lobes
were worn flat. Yet another
future project..It was a lot of
fun talking with Ron, check
out the pics.
doing these car shows, (as
well as the racing events), is
that you get to meet a lot of
'Birds of the Feather' so to
speak. Interested parties who
may know of just what you're
looking for and where to find
it. A break in the club's
activities presents the
opportunities to check out
these leads and more often
than not they are fruitful
from many standpoints. This
past Saturday we traveled to
Cicero Center, just a stones
throw from the dragstrip; to
meet up with long time racer
and hot rod builder Ron Van
Allen. Ron offered a pair of
1934 Ford frames at a
reasonable price and they
were just what we wanted.
We also learned much about
his hot rod building and just
what is available today to the
prospective builder, it's
amazing stuff, just about
anything you desire is
available at a price of course.
He then gave us the tour of
his place and Ron has a living
room that all car kooks would
die for. I'd like to have a
flathead coffe table in my
living room but that idea was
vetoed along time ago....Ron
has gone a step further and
put his Kurtis Kraft V8 60
midget in his, along with a
rare Model Phaeton. Now
that's a living room. He also
showed us around his Pinto
dragster, his beautiful 1934
Ford 3-window hot rod, and
his current project, another
3-Window. Nice Stuff. Lastly,
he shared some pictures with
us which will be showing up
on the site as soon as I can gt
them scanned, one of which
was of particular interest to
me. It was taken at Cicero
dragway of the 'Purple People
Eater' in teh early 1960's but
also includes Fred Beeling's
'Pipe Organ' dragster in the
background. This car housed
an Ardun Overhead
conversion on the flathead
block which now takes up
space in Nikki's basement.
'That thing popped and farted
all the way down the track'
was how Ron remembered it,
no wonder, the cam lobes
were worn flat. Yet another
future project..It was a lot of
fun talking with Ron, check
out the pics.
Road Trip...
~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!~
TO CLUB MEMBERS RICHARD PARRY AND RICHARD
ACKERMAN, OCTOBER 7TH. BOTH TURNING 39 (AGAIN!!)
TO CLUB MEMBERS RICHARD PARRY AND RICHARD
ACKERMAN, OCTOBER 7TH. BOTH TURNING 39 (AGAIN!!)