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| The next GC meeting will be held as usual on the first Thursday of
the month, August 7th, 2008. The August meeting will be held at Denny Aungst's new
"Car Barn" at 120 Schultz Road in Pine Grove. The time for the official
meeting starting around 7:00. E-mail us for directions. One remaining future
club meeting has been scheduled in advance. September's Meeting will be held at Chris
Ives' basement soda fountain in Hegins. He says to bring your swim suits! |
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What went on at the last meeting?:
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July's Garage Club meeting was held at Chris Ives' old house in Ashland,
PA. Participants who signed the roster
included Chas Pinkerton, Dave Lehr, Denny and Melissa Aungst, John Shultz, Matt Doyle,
Ben Arnold, Jeff Goodman, Andy Vasbinder, Jeff Zimmerman, Rindy Foulds, George Nau,
Jon Winisko, Derek Griffiths, Devin Trexler, Ed Wassell, Lloyd George, Kevin Schappell,
Skyler Milheim, and Chris Ives, the host.
The meeting had a bit of a late start with two members having mechanical issues on
the way there, but eventually everyone made it. Jeff Zimmerman had a small electrical
issue and was travelling slow in the rain with his street slicks. Dave Lehr had an
ignition switch issue but had it resolved shortly. There was even a die hard motorcycle
rider there all the way from the Tower City area on his chopper. Bet that was a wet
ride home for sure. |
| At this time we closed the official regular GC meeting and some of
us moved to Chris' other garage for a quick movie production meeting. At this meeting,
we discussed the next scenes to shoot for the movie. Next scene will be shot at Russell
Automotive and will be a mock drag race between Dave's Gasser and Bill Schoffstall's
Willys Gasser. There is a scene planning meeting at Russell Automotive on July 23rd
and the date to film is July 27th. (Note: there will really be no speed laws broken
at this, everything will be faked visual effects.) If you want to help, see you there! |
The Garage Club officially welcomes new members:
Matt Doyle has been doing a great job of getting to the people who would like to
join the club. He has signed up quite a few new members since the last update so
I will refresh the welcome. As Dave stated previously, "Thank you for joining
the Keystone Garage Club. For the little bit of money you paid to join, you get a
hell of a lot. There's a lot of clubs around but we do the cool stuff. Cool meetings
at cool places. Cool activities like our Cruise Circuits, selling parts at Carlisle
events, drag racing, Dirt racing etc. & our web site kicks ass. Go to http://www.keystonegarageclub.com/
for all the club info. Members get their own page with pictures of their car (s)
too. Send your info to Denny at w31@comcast.net. Ask me Questions, Dave at cayne66@comcast.net
or call 570-345-0433"
Welcome to new members:
- #259 Ben Orkin from Paul Chevrolet in Ashland, driving an '86
Buick Grand National, a '65 Corvette, a '69 Camaro Z28, and a '34 Chevrolet Coupe.
- #260 Dan Palmer from Halifax, driving a '65 Falcon with a 351
Cleveland.
- #261 Jeff Russell from Russell Automotive in Williamstown, driving
a '79 RS Camaro
- #262 Tony Noaker from Halifax, driving an '84 Pontiac Trans Am
- #263 Dan Donofrio from Elizabethville, with a '48 Chev Coupe and
a '48 GMC pickup project.
- #264 Terry Lenker from Wiconisco, driving a '37 Ford Truck.
- #265 Harry C. Rugh from Seven Valleys, driving a '60 Dodge Dart
Phoenix, a '90 Dodge Spirit, and an '84 Dodge Ram Charger.
- #266 Kevin L. Hoffman Jr., our new official youngest member coming
in at 10 years old, from Herndon, listing a '47 Dodge as his project.
- #267 Ronald Bensinger from Herndon, driving an '02 Pontiac Trans
Am.
- #268 Glenn & Susie Smith from Harrisburg, PA driving a '66
Chevelle SS.
Watch for the membership list to be updated from time to time.
Feel free to send me any info you would like to include on a page with pictures of
your cars at Garage_Club@comcast.net . Thanks and welcome!
Russell Automotive hold Grand opening featuring GC members:
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Russell Automitive's Open House - June 21st, 2008.
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New Garage Club member Jeff Russell @ Russell Automotive had their
Grand Opening on June 21st, 2008. He asked the members to be the featured cars for
his open house and the members didn't dissapoint. Jeff has quite a nice shop and
provided everyone with cold drinks and Hot Dogs. We all got to meet Jeff's family
and check the place out. They are very nice people and we wish his business the best
of luck.
As Garage Club tradition dictates (at least It must) the pavement in front of his
building needed a fresh coat of rubber. Who better to do it than GC members. See
the pics to the left.
Jeff's shop is located right on Route 209 between Tower City and Lykens. (Closer
to Lykens however) Need some work done, stop in and give him a try!
Russell Automotive
6036 State Route 209
Williamstown, PA 17098 |
717-453-7747 shop 8-6
717-315-0696 cell 24-7
jeffrussell74@aol.com
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A note from Jeff Russell states:
"We just wanted you to know that you guys are more than welcome to meet at my
shop, in Williamstown (Russell's Automotive) anytime or all the time just let me
know.
Thanks again to all who showed last Saturday at our grand opening. It was a good
time and we enjoyed it.
The showing made my parents proud! They came all the way from lower Deleware to be
at the grand opening and they were not disapointed. Thanks again to all who participated.
Thanks from Jeff Russell & Crew"
See the rest of the pics by clicking
here. |
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"Stoplight Drags"first participant turnout unexpected
but still a great time:
| After months of planning, ideas, and trial runs, the first official
"Stoplight Drags" wasn't what was expected. Every time we tested the setup,
there were nothing but good opinions. Still, the turnout was very low. We would like
to make excuses, but whether the fuel prices, the fact that Maple Grove AND Englishtown
had big events, or the Carlisle event hurt us, the turnout was still low. I see Bob
has changed the format to attract more competitors, hopefully that works to his advantage. |
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Bob did everything he said he would at this event. We showed up with
quite a few members to help out around the facility and almost everyone were in GC
T-shirts. Bob gave us some pretty cool jobs and we enjoyed the evening a lot. Bob
set up Melissa Aungst and Karen Doyle to write up the "pink slips" for
the main event and register everyone in the correct class. Some needed steering to
the correct class, but some of the guys helped out when there was a question. One
of the biggest questions they fielded was the fact that some racers were worried
about losing their car during the race for "pinks". (Could this have been
a factor for the low show?) I would think spectator level would have been up if that
were the misunderstanding though. Bob also put Amy Reichert
at the gate to help pass the release to entering participants. |
| John Shultz and Dave Lehr were stationed in the doghouse on the return
road to hand out the wins. No time slips or details were given as these were to be
kept quiet for this event. Matt Doyle took up his usual station under the pop-up
with a GC banner, table and the T-shirts. He did sign up some new members there,
you can meet them above in the new members section, but it was more fun sitting and
chatting with the people who came to visit us. Between races, Bob Zubrickie had his
camera out to get most of the stills from this event. (Thanks Bob) While I was working
more for video for our Youtube website. |
After a quick driver's meeting to show operation of the stop light,
Bob made all trailered cars perform two parade laps. (From now on, it will include
ALL participants.) It was a very cool portion of the event to see all the rides in
a train. Grudge matches started immediately after.
This is when we really saw that the secret timeslips would make little difference
when there are so few cars. By the time eliminations were ready to start, everyone
pretty much who could beat them or be beat by them. The biggest mystery was who would
be picked for the "Wild Card" class, and who were the "King Streeters"? |
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| Four GC members were in the King Street classout of the eight total.
Bob Zubrickie driving his Viper, Terry Brouse in the "Wild Thing" Z28,
Capt Ed Brady in his Camaro, and Jon Winisko in a lime green Dodge Dart. While they
made the "cruise circuit" to qualify for the "King Street" class,
Bob held some other events in between for filler. Probably the most popular activity
for the crowd was when Bob invited EVERYONE who wasn't racing to make a pass in their
street cars to see what it was like to race on the stop light. |
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Beaver Bob also sent all the kids to the starting line for the "Nike"
race, a foot race to the 60' mark. Probably the coolest move of the night happened
when the winner of the Kid's race was invited for a lap around the track in Bob Zubrickie's
Viper. You should have seen his face... How many kids did that over summer vacation?
What else did Beaver Bob have up his sleeve to entertain the masses? He brought out
the ever popular "Hot Dog" race. The point of this event was to stage two
cars, shut them off and have the driver AND passenger stand on the starting line.
Each racer was handed a soda and a hot dog. When the stop light turned green, you
had to down the soda, eat the hot dog, run up to the 60' line and through the garbage
in a can, then run back, hop in the car, and race the 1/8th mile. |
| Bob volunteered several GC members to take on any challengers. We
wound up with six carloads to participate which turned it to a free for all instead
of a team event. Flashback Bill did his usual "trash talking" to keep the
crowd wound up. The first round had Denny and Melissa beating out Bill Schoffstall
and Amy Reichert. The Dave Lehr and Craig Morgan had the edge over Matt and Karen
Doyle. Special mention has to be made of Matt's dedication. His dog fell out of the
bun right on the track, yet he scooped it up and finished the dog AND the race! The
next two competitors were in a couple imports. What great sports! I wish I had gotten
their names. Anyway, there was a disqualification of one of the cars when their garbage
fell out of the waste can onto the track. Next round went to Denny and Melissa ove
Dave and Craig with the byrun going to the remaining import. The finals were close
with the two guys in the import downing the dogs and FULL cups of soda first, but
Denny made up time by spraying his Olds in the final round to beat them down the
track. What a great event. Watch for the video to be added. |
The event wound down with eliminations in each class. Garage Club
members won two of the classes. Real street or naturally asperated cars was won by
GC member Butch Markel in his '69 Road Runner. The wild card class was won by Matt
Murphy, the GC member with the idea for a street race that began it all. Matt Murphy
put his blue and black '72 Camaro into the winner's slot.
While we had four members in the King street class as mentioned earlier, we couldn't
put a GC member in the winners spot for the main event. The big evening winner was
a very cool Dodge Dart with an alcohol injected engine. He not only won the prize,
his car will be on the dash plaque for the second Stop Light Drags on July 19th. |
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With that, the evening was brought to a close. What was the buzz after
the first official event was put in the record books? Everyone loved the stop light.
It was hard to read and it didn't give advantage to anyone. It was as close to a
real street race we would ever get legally! Thanks to Matt for making the move to
get the ball rolling and Beaver Bob for putting together a great street racing program.
Let's see a bigger turnout next month!
To see the rest of the pics,
just click here. |
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Thanks to Bob Zubrickie for most of the still photos!
Circuit Saturday "Small Block" route is still the
big event:
Pics from the Small Block Circuit Saturday ---> 6-28-2008
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As usual, the "Small Block" Circuit is always the Garage
Club's large cruise event. This month's "Small Block" route was no exception.
A bit down on turnout from last week, we still had over 35 cars cruise through the
stops including several new members joining the club. What a great job our Tower
City members do promoting this event!
This month's hard luck award goes to Chas Pinkerton in his Astre. He had a failed
electric water pump that caused him to overheat and empty the engine coolant just
before Berrysburg on the way to the last stop. The car is already back together,
but he said he took over 3 1/2 hours to make it home! I also heard his son Justin
really doesn't want to do that again.
The "No burnouts" rule was slightly ignored at the earlier stops. We'll
have to talk to some of the cruisers, especially since we had someone burnout at
the Boardwalk and get pulled over for it. Keep in mind that we had trouble last year
and the police are watching. Let's keep this route alive and well by not giving them
a reason to shut us down!
To see the rest of the pics, just click
here. |
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Circuit Saturday "Big Block" gets a fireworks display
during event:
| It didn't look like a good start for the Circuit when Shawn Runkle
and I were the only members at the Dunkin' Donuts. Thigs looked better when we got
to A&A. We picked up most of the people there. While hanging out, an A&A
employee came out and gave us a flyer promoting there cruise in on the 18th of July.
Let's get a group together for that! |
We cruise Shenandoah and picked up a couple more cars. Danny's was
the long stop this month. We all went inside and got some burgers and fries. We did
stop for ice cream at May's on the way through Ashland, but were extremely late for
the Mt Carmel stop. The decision was made to bypass that stop as we lost about 1/2
of the cruisers at that point.
We rolled into Burger King and met up with yet another member in a Mustang. We noticed
that there were fireworks starting all around Shamokin. We cruised Shamokin and got
to out usual spot. That is when the fireworks really got going. We hung out for quite
a while watching fireworks in three different areas around Shamokin. What a cool
end to this month's Big Block route!
To see the rest of the pics, just click
here. |
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Dave Lehr reflects on York US 30 Reunion:
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York US 30 Reunion - July 14th, 2008.
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York US 30 reunion review
by Dave Lehr:
"Sometimes, I find myself bored with the whole car hobby. I've been involved
in it so long, it seems nothing impresses me anymore.
That said, I was really impressed with the York US30 Reunion. Any time you can combine
history & cars, you've got my attention. I showed my original '56 Gasser during
the event at the York Fair Grounds during the 2nd weekend in July.
I was overwhelmed with the historical race cars there. Some of my favorites were
the Strickler Z-11 Impala, the Red Alert Chevelle, The Stone, Woods & Cook Willys,
and Barb Hamilton's un-restored Willys coupe. Another local favorite was there, The
Factory Super Stock 66 427 Biscayne, bought new at Millersburg Chevrolet in 66 &
still owned by the Schaffer brothers in Lykens." |
"Showing my old heep in the company of those cars & famous
drivers was intimidating but much to my surprize, everyone was so nice. No snobby
attitudes (except for Jenkins, he was grumpy). Just really nice people. Then on Sunday,
Bob packed th e house at Beaver for the Nostalgia drags. That track looks period
correct and Bob puts on one hell of a show. It felt like 1967."
Thanks Dave! I also went down to see the show Saturday night. Here's a tip for anyone
who may want to attend next year. The coolest time to get there is around 7:00 Saturday
night. They only charge you 1/2 price after then, then they started up some of the
rails and otther choice rides for the crowd. The best part was yet to come. At 9:00
they start ALL the cars and DRIVE them out to the trailers. Now that is a photo opportunity
to see the legends come to life, even if it is just to drive away to load on the
trailer.
See the rest of the pics by clicking
here. |
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Some Final Thoughts:
While you surf the net, don't forget to visit our "YouTube"
page at http://www.youtube.com/ . Remember to rate the
videos so I know what is liked and how to improve my video skills. I have many old
club member's videos I am editing and uploading. If you have a tape to put on the
site, get it to me and I will burn it to a DVD for you and get it on the site. (Don't
worry, I'll get the tapes/photos back ASAP)
As always, any suggestions for the web site are always appreciated. I am ALWAYS trying
to sit down with some members and get some stories, car history, and pictures posted
for everyone's enjoyment. Please feel free to dig out some photos and contact me.
I will be out there with a digital camera and digital camcorder, so when there is
a race, show, or cruise, let me know you will be there and I will attempt to catch
it digitally.
See you next update, Denny Aungst (GC member #83 and web site administrator) |
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