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View Full Version : My Sincerest Thanks to NH Mustang Club and all our members!!!



LILBLKSNAKE
04-30-2012, 08:25 PM
It's a really long list of NH Mustang Club members that helped make this ED DAY a great success and the kids at Lynn Tech School all had an amazing time.

I don't know where to start my many thanks and please don't feel offended if I forget a to mention you, just make a post that says something like- "I brought the refreshments dumbass, thank me now"


Ian- For the last 3 years, since we changed the name to Charity Challenge, Ian has done more for the event than I can even put into words. He has handled the website, the Paypal, and even made the video that many of you saw that promoted the event this year. He has run errands for me and helped me pick up supplies. Most importantly, Ian has done a good job reminding me that I'm still an idiot and has helped to keep me under control and realistic about ED DAY going global and taking over the world.

George Martin- Over 3 1/2 years Project Fallen Hero saw more quitters and armchair quarterbacks than I care to mention. George stepped up, he took over and the PFH car you saw at this years ED DAY could not have happened with out Crew Chief George Martin. For the last two weeks leading up to ED DAY, George was in his yard, under a tent, working until 9 or 10 at night in the cold and sometime rain, to make sure I would have the car for ED DAY. George also made at least a half-dozen runs to Lynn Tech to drop off random parts so the kids could get the car done. Even though he didn't think a George Martin theme song was necessary during my PFH speech, I don't know how else to thank the great George Martin!!

Bruce Bigelow- Bruce's idea to pick up Ray Calero and have a tribute parade was amazing. He has stuck by the project and done anything he can to be helpful. In the middle of losing his father, Bruce still focused on the project and ran errands for PFH all week, during what had to be a very difficult grieving period. Bruce did a fantastic job as financial manager for PFH. When parts were needed or orders were placed on line, Bruce handled it all. He did a great job outlining the PFH ceremony and reminded me of the few key points that I should make during my speech. Along with George Martin, Bruce handled the PFH parts of ED DAY so I could focus on the Charity Challenge part.


Rick LaCourse- Rick has always allowed me to use the club newsletter and club events to promote ED DAY. Not only does he enter a team every year, but also makes an additional donation to help with the cost of supplies. Thanks to my association with the club, I also get a great price on the ED DAY trophies from Harris Trophy. Rick also offered many times to grab my COBRA in RI and fix the diff cover leak, but I really wanted to take this year off from racing to mingle with the crowd. Rick also did an incredible job in getting alot of people's cars ready for ED DAY. We couldn't ask for a better President and friend!!

Bob Pitard-- Since the creation of the Charity Challenge, Bob has hosted an ED DAY section on SmokinStangs.com. He has always entered a team to race at the event and his website is one of the key marketing tools that I have had at my disposal for the past couple years.

Todd (Chachee) and Jenn and MAX- This year and in the past Todd has always supplied ED DAY with a grille but this year he went one step further and picked up a second grille from Bruce Bigelow to make sure we could feed all the Lynn Tech kids as well as the many spectators. His wife Jenn always brings an assortment of treats and their dog Max has finally won a trophy after this years campaigning!!

Jim Campbell- Jim stepped up and manned one of the grilles and made sure that the food was prepared and served. Standing at the grilles all day took a lot of his time away from the event, where Jim could have relaxed and enjoyed himself. I'm very glad to see Jim back in the NHMC mix again.

Amy Duclos/ Fast Pony Photography- You guys have seen her work and there is no denying we are blessed with her amazing talents behind the lens. I only wish the weather at ED DAY had been a few degrees warmer so we could have had her stunning models get a little more comfortable for the shoots. Stay tuned, we will be planning a Fast Pony Show and Shine event when it warms up, so all of you can give your rides the glory they deserve!!!

Dennis O'Shea- My partner in black!! Your family's generous donation of the Craignair Inn gift certificate has now become the most sought after reward at ED DAY. Thanks also for the refreshments you provided and for babysitting Jibber!!

Kevin Houle aka JIBBER- Thanks for the condiments and refreshments you provided at ED DAY and for your periodic calls to make sure I'm still kicking during all my recent health issues!! You've been a great friend, if only you would paint your car BLACK. I can't wait for another weekend at the Craignair with you and the wife, it's going to be a blast!!


Richard Hill- You guys know the "Rowdy" car well and some of you may have seen it covered with some frost on ED DAY morning. "Rowdy" made a very long commute that morning and arrived quite early to supply us all with the delicious gourmet muffins that we enjoyed for breakfast!!!

chachee52
04-30-2012, 10:02 PM
ED:
It's always been an honor to help with this event. I am hoping that next year I will have a bigger/better grill. I am planning on keeping my current grill just for ED day, that way I don't have to pick up other people's grills and damage them when returning them (Sorry Bruce!!!!!!). As long as you have this event you can count on us for anything that you need.
And let Jen and me thank YOU for all the effort you put into this event to make it such a great event that everyone talks about all year long!!!!!!

Dennis O'Shea
04-30-2012, 10:31 PM
You are a special person and a dear friend it is my honor to be included in this list and you will remain my friend up until the day you buy or paint your car YELLOW you are becoming very close to Jibber and I can see this happening in the near future Stay well my frind and thank you for everything you do

ToplessPony94
04-30-2012, 10:58 PM
Ed, you didn't mention yourself, so I will. (Since when are you shy?!?)

Ed has been a major contributor to Project Fallen Hero as well as the organizer and sponsor of ED DAY. Ed knows how to beg for parts donations better than anyone, as well as lining up Lynn Tech for the body work and doing a lot of work on the car himself. He did just about all of the work prepping and painting the engine bay all by himself down at AutoPaint RI. Whenever there was a work session on the PFH car, we knew Ed would be there unless he was working, at church or at a family function. He even set his pants on fire for PFH!

ED, if you're an idiot, you're the best and nicest one I know!


such a great event that everyone talks about all year long!!!!!!

Especially ED!!

390gtconv
04-30-2012, 11:42 PM
Ed, thanks. I believe in "paying it forward" and your event was the great stage to which the charity work some do can be brought to your event, not for a pat on the back but for others to see.

To that I say "ED YOU ROCK!!!!
You have more friends than you know!!!

390gtconv
04-30-2012, 11:57 PM
Ed, I hope some day to see you race. :o

LILBLKSNAKE
05-01-2012, 08:41 AM
Ed, I hope some day to see you race. :o

Dan at Southern NH Undercar is on me big time to get the COBRA into the Outlaw class. It will happen soon enough :)

TorchredSVT
05-01-2012, 09:24 AM
glad to be a part of this event and excited that every year it grows......you have a good thing going here Ed! I can see this event lasting for a long time.

look forward to helping out with next years already!

nhmcpres
05-01-2012, 11:56 AM
I always have a great tme at ed day. And you will always have my support as well as the support of the nhmc, ed day is an awesome event!

SVT10th
05-01-2012, 04:43 PM
Ed, I was glad to help. It was a great event and everyone did a great job.

ToplessPony94
05-03-2012, 03:55 PM
It was good to attend this event as just a spectator. Although some people thought it was a good laugh, I had all I could do to attend under my conditions of a few fractured ribs, bruised kidney and spleen...(some people thought it was a big joke) However, I managed to attend in my 09 GT ( automatic, it was easier to drive).
I wish alot of success in the future of this, and hopefully going forward I may attend another.

thanks for the burger btw.... (all though Henri and my friend Kevbro were told to step aside and let other people who actually attended the event get ahead of them for the BBQ....WTF is up with that?????)

Thought I would mention a few things incase anyone wonders why I stepped away

Probably because they were starting to run out of food and they wanted to save some for the people who actually paid to race, and our guests at the PFH ceremony. Most of the soldiers (some of whom came from far away at our invitation) didn't get any food, and the guest of honor, Ray Calero, almost didn't. Also some folks were seen walking away with 3-4 hotdogs and hamburgers when others hadn't gotten a chance yet, and our honored guests were still at the ceremony and hadn't had a chance to eat yet.

KillaGT
05-03-2012, 04:27 PM
Ed you deserve the biggest thanks!!!!!! All of the time you dedicate is awesome!! Your a great guy and I am glad to associate myself with fine people like yourself

ToplessPony94
05-03-2012, 05:33 PM
Bruce, did you say that to all the other people who did not race, and just showed their cars? I think you should have a conversation with Ed, and learn the meaning of Ed Day. I have attended many more than you have and have done far more than you can imagine. I will keep this in the back of my head going forward....Bruce.

I was not pointing any fingers at any individual, and certainly not at you. You have my sincere apology if you feel I was responding directly to you as an individual - it was intended as a general response to anyone who may have been wondering what was going on. As for having a conversation with Ed; BEFORE Ed Day I did have many conversations with Ed. Ed himself was concerned about the food situation and Ed himself said that he wanted to make sure that those who had paid money to race in the Charity Challenge, the Lynn Tech students who worked on PFH, the soldiers and Ray Calero should have priority on the food. I was intimately involved with Ed in the planning of this Ed Day with Ed and any assumption of anything else is just that - an assumption. Again, not trying to start a war with anyone - certainly not with you, just stating the facts. Ed is on this forum and is welcome to chime in. FWIW, I didn't ask anyone to get out of line, though I did try to take Ray Calero to the front of the line (which he humbly refused) after the ceremony was over. I could not have done so in any case, as I was at the ceremony, not back at the food tent.

KillaGT
05-03-2012, 06:21 PM
for the record people who showed their cars also paid to do so

ToplessPony94
05-03-2012, 06:32 PM
for the record people who showed their cars also paid to do so

OK, Killa, I can see I should have been more specific about a few things in my response. First, let me thank you immensely for your participation in the honor parade for Ray Calero. And your car is surely a sight to see! Nice job.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that those showed their cars paid the NED spectator fee to get in.

Those who raced in the Charity Challenge paid the (higher) racer entry fee to NED to get in and also paid an additional fee to Ed to race in the Charity Challenge, which went toward the prize money. I believe that total of these amounted to at least 5 times the spectator fee. I was referring to the fee paid to Ed in my response. Sorry if there was any confusion. :o

390gtconv
05-03-2012, 06:33 PM
Learn from the past. Since there was many folks at track not involved with club or ED day could very well have also been in line. That said I'd suggest that next year (since we co-exist with other non participants) we issue a meal ticket with registrations, spelling out 1 burger or dog on ticket. After initial crowd goes thru open up to all and 2nds. Seen it done other places.

Also a BIG HELP to Ed is IF more folks did the "pre reg", that way he has better idea of head count. Boy what a concept. I had talk with Ed on this. Most folks are their own worst enemy because they wait 'til they get to track. Well guess what, food already bought. That to me is the bigger issue!!! People need to commit earlier.
Easy solution I think.

KillaGT
05-03-2012, 06:42 PM
thank you lol I thought the money I paid at the gate went to the charity? I at least hope so because I gave $20 for the show & told the girl I want to donate additional and I gave her additional. This was my 1st ed day so I hope I understood correctly? Refardless i really enjoyed the event & meeting new people. What I did notice was guys walking away with 2&3 burgers plus hot dogs in 1 shot, I did think that was tasteless as well. It probally also did help it was announced there was food on the track pa after the ceremony

MY-S281
05-03-2012, 06:44 PM
Learn from the past. Since there was many folks at track not involved with club or ED day could very well have also been in line. That said I'd suggest that next year (since we co-exist with other non participants) we issue a meal ticket with registrations, spelling out 1 burger or dog on ticket. After initial crowd goes thru open up to all and 2nds. Seen it done other places.

Also a BIG HELP to Ed is IF more folks did the "pre reg", that way he has better idea of head count. Boy what a concept. I had talk with Ed on this. Most folks are their own worst enemy because they wait 'til they get to track. Well guess what, food already bought. That to me is the bigger issue!!! People need to commit earlier.
Easy solution I think.

I was just going to chime in with the same exact sentiment.! I figured exactly what happened would happen as you said as soon as I heard the announcement for free food.... I had a feelign the stands would empty and I figured you would ultimately end up with more than just the Ed day participants ,in the meal line, regardless of whether they were there to show their car or race their car !! I think we eneded up with the Test & Tune corwd and their fmailys as well from the looks of it..

I personally didn't go over to the food , nor did I have my GF or daughter head over when I saw what was going on.. I just grabbed some chicken fingers from the tracks concession stand and then later when my buddie that came up, he brought up Lobstaaah meat and we made sandwiches so it all worked out for me, sorry it didn't work out for some. I am sure that wasn't the intent...

I actually didn't attend the event for the food anyways, I went for the cause and that's all that mattered to me !!
I am very glad I got my 2012 NH ED DAY PLATE !!! I think it was the last one by the time I saw it.

Again, great Idea George!! Meal ticket with Registration !! what a concept !! :-)'

LILBLKSNAKE
05-03-2012, 11:18 PM
Obviously, this year was a learning experience. We had alot more going on than in previous years. We had 160 burgers and 200 hot dogs. I'm sure the Test and Tune crowd was responsible for consuming a good portion of it, that was my mistake in announcing it, but from what I saw, most of the people in our area were friends or family of someone involved in ED DAY in one way or another. We had 30 kids/ teachers from Lynn Tech that did a heck of a job on the PFH car, I wanted to make sure they got to eat, as they were out on the track with us for the ceremony and didn't exactly get first dibs on the food. We had 48 guys that paid over 70.00 to race between Charity Challenge and NED fees. Car show entrants were charged at the door, and most of them helped out with the event.
Next year we won't have anywhere near as much going on, so the food situation won't be an issue.
At the end of the day there was at least 40 hot dogs and buns left over, because I tried to send people home with all the left overs

Dennis O'Shea
05-04-2012, 09:09 AM
Considering all of the different aspects of this year I think people who stepped up to help out AKA the cooks the entire event didn't miss a beat and again I will say Great Job and thank you to all who helped out

LILBLKSNAKE
05-04-2012, 10:02 AM
The important thing is that we never ran out of YELLOW MUSTARD

TorchredSVT
05-04-2012, 10:08 AM
Every year is a learning expierence for the group, what most peopel don't realize is about half the field registers the day of the event and 100% of the food is donated. What that means is we have to guesstimate on how much we need AND how many people will be attending.

I would 100% agree with George, would make this event 20x times easier to prepare for if people committed ahead of time. Ed and I have gotten used to having to fly by the seat of our pants for the first half of the day.

As everyone has mentioned, this year was the BIGGEST ed day / charity challenge we have ever had and I'd like to thank everyone here who helped out. The event simply would not have happened with out your guys help!

Jibber
05-04-2012, 09:05 PM
The important thing is that we never ran out of YELLOW MUSTARD

Your right. That would've been a BIG problem.

Day was great. I can't wait till next year already.

How about a bracelet type set up to verify people are with ED day. Tix are a good idea but sometimes they get lost. Just a thought.

I guess the people who were engorging themselves with 2-3 burgers at a time probably had NO idea that there was a limited amount of food. Or, if they did then thats another type of discussion which I can't articulate here.

I got the mustard and condiments covered again for next year.

LILBLKSNAKE
05-05-2012, 12:08 AM
There is a simple solution. Next year we won't announce the food over the PA. Normally 160 burgers and 200 hot dogs would have been plenty.
ED DAY 2013!!!

Mooch is already making another state license plate!! Hoping to have ED DAY until we have all 50 states
2011- Massachsetts
2012- New Hampshire
2013- ***they will not be pre-released, must come to ED DAY***

ToplessPony94
05-05-2012, 12:09 AM
2011- Massachsetts
2012- New Hampshire
2013- ***they will not be pre-released, must come to ED DAY***

I vote for Hawaii!

MY-S281
05-05-2012, 08:50 AM
Mooch is already making another state license plate!! Hoping to have ED DAY until we have all 50 states
2011- Massachsetts
2012- New Hampshire
2013- ***they will not be pre-released, must come to ED DAY***

My Vote is Rhode Island next , , then Vermont, Connecticut, and so on.. I think we should cover the Northeastern states first !


http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/nh4you/eddayplates.jpg

ToplessPony94
05-05-2012, 12:03 PM
J/K, Barry. I just wanted Ed in beach wear at NED in April! I expect what you said is what they'll do.

LILBLKSNAKE
05-05-2012, 01:07 PM
J/K, Barry. I just wanted Ed in beach wear at NED in April!

I liked you better when you were quiet!! hehehehehehe Just kidding!! Hawaii it is, in honor of Bruce!!

Jibber
05-06-2012, 10:19 AM
I like the idea.

KARMAN
05-06-2012, 12:00 PM
There is a simple solution. Next year we won't announce the food over the PA. Normally 160 burgers and 200 hot dogs would have been plenty.
ED DAY 2013!!!

When I heard the announcement my first thought was, "They probably shouldn't be announcing that over the PA.":rolleyes: