02/18/2004

DAYTONA 500 PARTY AT CHANGING TIMES PUB

This past Sunday a fun time was had at Changing Times Pub in Farmingdale, as they hosted The Great American Race "The Daytona 500." Clare Rose and Budweiser took care of all the food and drink, while Steady Eddie (The weekend DJ from WBAB) kept the party hopping.

There were raffles and prizes for everyone young and old. Extreme Karting New York (Keller/Johnson Motorsports) raffled off go-kart driving lessons at Westhampton Speedway’s driving school. WBAB had concert tickets, CD's, T-Shirts and a whole van full of things to give away. Marty Himes brought some photo albums and memorabilia from his museum for people to check out.

There were also plenty of racecars on hand for the fans to enjoy outside in the parking lot of Changing Times Pub. On hand were Eddie Brunnhoelzl Jr.'s #8x modified with a dazzling new purple paint scheme. Ken Vogel Jr.'s #77 modified was on display, ready for the taking as Vogel will steer a new car for 2004 and the modified on display was for sale. Mike Andrews Jr.'s old #10x was also on hand. His new car will have some work done on it after racing down south a few weeks ago.

Tom Pickerell had his #4 IMCA Modified as well. Tom came home early from racing down south and was nice enough at the last minute to make his way to the party Sunday.

From the Figure 8 ranks, Changing Times Pub had on hand “The Dean” Bill Steen with his #23 car. One of the nice guys of racing, Bill was happy to greet fans.  In addition Bill's car looked spectacular, which is not a surprise as Bill is a multi-time Best Appearing award winner.

From the Charger ranks we had Don Ahlers Jr.'s new #3 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The car looked hot, and hopefully Ahlers will be hot on the track this year as well, as he has definitely put his fair share of time and effort into the car.

To all the patrons, staff and friends of Changing Times Pub, we’re all glad to see that someone wanted to do something for the race fans here on Long Island. We all owe Mike Barnikel our deepest thanks for bringing his dream to life. We all hope that there are more events like this one for the race fans here on the Island.

Racing is very much alive on Long Island; it hasn't died, not by a long shot. As race fans, we need to get everyone involved, from local T V stations, newspapers, and even radio. We have to let them know that Long Island racers, who work very hard all winter long on their cars and every Saturday night at the local track are important to us. Racing brings us, the race fans, the best racing they have to offer here on Long Island. These weekend warriors are the guys we all want to be. So support your team whomever that may be. Show you care and do your share, get involved everywhere, for the race fan that you are and maybe the racer that you might be.

Lastly, we were able to raise almost $900 dollars for Marty Himes and his museum. Thanks to everyone for their help. Mr. Himes was very happy with the money donated from the raffles for his museum.

Once again, thanks to all for making the show as great as it was.  See you next year.

Sources:  Marrzmotorsports PR
Posted:  February 18, 2004