By Kathy Daley
MONTICELLO — November 16, 2010 — The first calls came in that 20 race cars were, in fact, racing past drivers headed west on Route 17.
Troopers from the Wurtsboro barracks set up one or two men to check out the situation.
The second group of 911 calls from irate drivers said 30 more cars were zooming past, going an estimated 100 miles per hour.
“Then,” recounted Sgt. Robert Hafele of the Liberty barracks, “Middletown (dispatcher) called and said ‘you’ve got a group of 75 crossing the county line.’”
Suddenly the “Quickway” on Sunday at about 11:30 a.m. was lousy with luxury cars: Porsches, Corvettes, Lamborghinis, Ferraris and BMWs — all on their speedy way at the Monticello Motor Club racetrack off Route 42.
Six vehicles wound up getting speeding tickets as seven troopers and three sheriff’s deputies did their best to keep up. “As with anything, you take the first six,” said Hafele.
But it quickly became apparent that many of the other race cars, most of which traveled in tandem, were in “blatant” violation of other road safety rules, according to Hafele.
“There were a large number of uninspected vehicles, almost all had no front license plates, some had little tread on tires and some had a lens covering their tailights,” said Hafele. Police gave about 24 summonses for those violations.
There were no accidents involving the race cars, which were stopped by police at exits 109 (Rock Hill) and 105 (Monticello), and the drivers were all polite, said Hafele.
Still, drivers in non-race cars passing by on Route 17 were honking happily and supportively at troopers for pulling over the cars “that had nearly blown off the doors of other vehicles” as they sped past, said Hafele.
The offending race car drivers were part of Turkey Run 2010, a charity event sponsored by Exotics Rally, Inc. Drivers paid $100 each to drive from Syosset, L.I. to the privately owned Monticello Motor Club, according to the Exotics Rally website.
At one point, a twitter message on the website early Sunday morning enthused that “Turkey Run has begun! 250+ tearing up I-87 in NY!”
But when Monticello Motor Club owner Ari Straus found out about the driving infractions on a public road, he asked those who were cited to leave the racetrack.
“This is clearly a small group of bad apples that spoiled the bunch,” he said, stressing that the Exotics’ drivers were not members of MMC.
“The group was coming for lunch and some parade laps on the track, and the proceeds were donated to the Make a Wish Foundation,” Straus said. “The (Exotics Rally) organizer and MMC warned participants beforehand that speeding on public roads would not be tolerated, and offenders would be asked to leave upon arrival at the track.”
Straus pointed out that such a large number of vehicles arriving in a group is not the MMC norm.
“We are first and foremost a private members club,” he said, “and this volume of cars is atypical.”
Speeding on public roads en route to a place with no speed limits “is like gorging on ice cream on your way to dinner,” Straus said, “ it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”