Don't underestimate the power of $100.
Being all about the benjamins led to the formation of the Lone Wolf Cruisers Club, or, as they are probably better known in these parts, the people who flood Arnie's with their sweet rides every Tuesday night through the summer.
The Cruisers have been making the parking lot pop for more than a decade at Arnie's with their classic and antique car cruise nights. The group had humble beginnings in 1994, when enthusiasts simply wanted to snag a free C-note.
“We were at a car show in Boscawen in 1994 and there was a $100 prize for the new group with the most members,” founding member Don Drew said. “We said, 'Let's start a club.' So we started it, and we got the most members and got the hundred bucks.”
Membership has swollen to more than 40 cars on an average Tuesday night, with group president Betty Philibert noting that as many as 50 or 60 cars can appear during the busiest evenings. The group charges $1 per car on cruise nights and raises funds through raffles and other events throughout the year, donating much of the money to local charities, including the Friends Program, which has become one of the main beneficiaries.
The Cruisers have donated more than $20,000 over the years, Philibert said, to a variety of local charities.
“It's about the camaraderie, being around each other and learning from different people, getting other ideas, and supporting the community,” Wayne McIntyre, another of the group's founding members, said.
The cruise nights feature a wide variety of cars in a rainbow of colors, from old Army vehicles to vintage classics to more modern beauties. Mother Nature did her best to slow the group this spring – rain canceled each of the first six cruise nights – but the first two successful shows drew the usual crowds last month.
Members are primarily from Concord and the surrounding towns and join the club to share summer evenings with like-minded people, many of whom form lasting bonds.
“We've met some very good friends here,” Philibert said. “Everybody, we just have a good time. We're just there for each other. We're pretty tight.”
The club initially met in Boscawen at the Daily Scoop and later set up shop in Chichester at a diner owned by a club member and at the Epsom traffic circle at the Country Kitchen restaurant.
But the members have found a home at Arnie's, where they've been for more than 10 years.
The restaurant offers discounted meals to those who show their cars and allows the group to have its monthly meetings on the premises, even during the winter months when the restaurant is closed.
“Arnie's is our clubhouse, and he is gracious enough to open it up in the winter so we can have our meetings here,” Drew said of restaurant owner Tom Arnold.
Said Philibert: “He is really good to us. When it's a really hot day, he'll bring out a cooler of water for us.”
Philibert has been president of the club for three years over two different stints, even if she's nothing more than a passenger in the cherry red '57 Chevy she and her husband, Richard, bring to the cruise nights.
“I don't drive it, he does,” Philibert quipped. “I don't know how to drive a standard. He said he'd teach me, but that was 13 years ago. He says, 'You think I'm going to be a passenger in that car? You're out of your mind.' “
The club continues to welcome passengers and drivers alike, and has no plans to slow down anytime soon.
“Meeting new people, having new members,” Drew said, “you can't beat this.”
