It Happened in Crawford County: Local car club is making a difference in the community

Mary Fox
·4 min read
The Eliminators Car Club does various charitable work throughout the year and has raised nearly $32,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
The Eliminators Car Club does various charitable work throughout the year and has raised nearly $32,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Dave Neuman and Dennis Mollenkopf discussed a plan in 1963 for the “Eliminators Car Club.” The name refers to certain class winners in sanctioned drag racing such as Top Stock and Top Modified Class Eliminator. Dave Hancock said they added a few friends from the area to make plans, including John Kneiremen, Larry Stewart, Rick Kalb, Russ Raifsnyder, Dennis and Bob Mollencopf, Mike Schnabel, Ron Raybuck, Daryl Stephenson and Rick Smith. They were known for their white shirts, skinny black ties and new logo featuring a little open Model A Ford coupe. The Eliminators were also recognized by the National Register of Car Clubs.

Their club held dances on Saturday nights at the Junior Order Hall above Sullivan's Toyland. Later, a dance was held in 1964 at the Crawford County Fairgrounds with the Johnny Gibson Trio (Beachcomber tune) a '60s group popular in Toledo and Detroit. They also had road rallies similar to poker runs and car shows to continue their community projects.

The Eliminators Car Club was first formed in the early 1960s and reorganized in the late '90s.
The Eliminators Car Club was first formed in the early 1960s and reorganized in the late '90s.

In 1964 the club purchased a 1956 Pontiac two-door hardtop. Skip Krauslock — a team member in NASCAR in the '50s and owner of Krauslock Oldsmobile-Cadillac Garage — guided them through building the engine for it. John Rossington is the current owner of the building known as Ohio Auto Parts. (See his March 19, 2022 story.)

Eliminators reorganized around 1998

In the late '60s members were going to college, getting married, having families, and the group fell apart. It was reorganized about 1998-99 and Glen Steiner opened his home at that time for monthly meetings; new officers were named and the group really took off. The club initiated a 50/50 raffle with half of the proceeds to the winner, and half to the treasury. The group continued to grow to the current membership of 150 members with the oldest in his early 90s.

The Eliminators decided to perform charitable work. The yearly Graffiti Cruise was held downtown, and that group hired the Eliminators to manage the gates. Their job was to only let in classic cars and not end up with the "lake crowd" and semi-trucks passing through. The Graffiti group is now called “Cruising with the Cops” after their old crowd retired. The Eliminators use their money for charitable causes or wherever there is a hardship in the club or community. They also donated a brick on the Veteran’s Hall of Fame Memorial at the courthouse and a brick to the Great American Crossroads Park.

The Eliminators began their annual car show at McDonald's 13 years ago, and on their best year they had 170 cars. They have raised $32,000, mainly for the Ronald McDonald House in Columbus. They also ring the Salvation Army bell at Walmart and Kroger at Christmastime. During their November meeting, they hold a nonperishable food drive for the Salvation Army, collecting 9,800 pounds so far and $3,000 cash. The club also participated in ODOT’s Adopt-A-Highway program for 15 years on Ohio 98 northeast of town. The Eliminators also have signs at six locations welcoming people to Bucyrus.

Group members have taken 127 trips

The members take a lot of trips driving their classic cars. Since 2003, they’ve gone on 127 trips including classic car and automotive parts restoration, Warther’s Train Museum; the Goodyear Blimp and NASA Research Center and Ohio Highway Patrol. They’ve visited machine shops, welding school, car shows, and collector museums with a garage full of cars. Arland McMichael takes pride in selecting places with good food and ice cream, including in Amish country.

The meetings are usually held at different members' garages. It’s fun to spend an evening sharing stuff about their cars. The club hosts a family and friends get together at Glenn’s with an auction, food and ice cream. Special recognition for heading projects includes Jim Edgington with Salvation Army coordinating, Jim Brown (JB) and Tom Starner, the tour coordinators.

The Eliminators' next charitable event will be at the Bucyrus McDonald's on Sept.18, rain or shine. Members are distributing 2,500 flyers. Registration is $10 and will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. The show runs from 1 to 5 p.m. that day. There will be nice activities — a disc jockey with old tunes, 50/50 drawing and loads of door prizes. Any make or model car is welcome. If it’s a rainy day, they will get 50 cars; a nice sun shiny day brings out 150. The collectors are very shy about getting rain on their cars.

Go online for more of Mary Fox’s stories and photos on bucyrustelegraphforum.com. If you are interested in sharing a story, write Mary Fox, 931 Marion Road, Bucyrus, OH 44820 or email littlefoxfactory@columbus.rr.com.

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Bucyrus' Eliminators car club is about more than cool cars