April 6th Club Meeting and March 30th L.I.M.E. OBI Cruies Morning!

The forecasters’ threat of morning rain for the Tax Day Poker Cruise could have hampered the event but we were rewarded with a brisk but beautiful day. The early start found cars gathering in the parking lot and a rush for breakfast in the Dix Hills diner, but everything got off on time, to get everyone to Captree for a packed house, show of cars of all types and a search for the vehicle with the historic license plate.

Some of us stood right in from of it but did not see it. Oh well! A second chance was provided when we added an unscheduled stop at the PCA autocross at Tobay beach and the “Dodge Little Red Truck” followed us and parked right behind our line, unfortunately some of us still didn’t see the vehicle. The owner of the truck, Frank Krawiecki is a member of PCA, SCCA, LIME and USMINICLUB, owns a classic Mini that he autocrosses and was happy to join in on the fun.

Members went for hot drinks at the catering truck and some even tried on Politi driving shoes.
A careful drive on Sunken Meadow Parkway, at just over the speed limit was prompted by that visibility of a few State Police with one even joining our line on the way to Captree. I think he realized that he kind of stood out amongst all the Mini’s and moved away to leave us alone. Cruise control really works well in those situations.

At the St. James General Store we practiced backing in and pulled more cards before everyone invaded the place for penny candy that now sells for current prices.

The Pt. Jefferson Village Center, with a much needed pit stop, had all our Mini’s lined up in the lot and the forth round of cards pulled. A vote was made to travel in color order (light to dark, only because the cruise leader’s car was white), since we were so good at parking facing out and needed more driving entertainment.
Some back roads thru St. James and Kings Park had everyone practicing their driving lines and minimal braking. OH yeah! In the future don’t forget to point out to your co-driver what that little handle above the passenger window is for.

Matt Meng at The Little Garage was in the middle of a photo shoot when we arrived so we added our Mini’s to his display of various BMW’s. Matt gave us a tour of his facilities and provided greatly appreciated refreshments and pit stop privileges. Lots of pictures by everyone and a final deal of the cards had us heading to The Big Kahuna.

By now everyone needed food, drinks, lounging on the couches by the fire place and a few rounds of pool while the results were finalized. Our President Paul placed well, but dropped out, so there would be no political scandals, although that seems to be a popular theme these days.

Third Place went to Ray Reinhardt.
Second Place went to Luke Jensen.
First Place went to Eric Jaffe.

The winners received a trophy plaque provided by Paul, Bottle of Full House Chardonnay from Patrick and Einszett car care products provided by Eric from First Place Classics, including many free bowling games for each winner from Farmingdale Bowling Lanes. The Kick the Bucket prize went to Paul from MINY Club of New York City-stay tuned for future up coming MINY and US MINI Club joined Rally/Tours events currently in planning stage. POKER Tour pictures are on the Forum web site for your pleasure.

We did about 100 miles, drew a lot of attention and the only thing missing from this great day were more classic Minis. See you all at the Mini~Q Autocross and Auto Show May 17th and 18th!

NEXT CLUB MEETING IS Sunday May 4th, 11AM AT HASSEL MINI SERVICE CENTER, 100 CLEVELAND AVE. FREEPORT, NY 11520.

...Article by Patrick Freedmann

Topic: April 6th Club Meeting and March 30th L.I.M.E. OBI Cruies Morning! (Read 3609 times)