Pick Your Pumpkin Rally 2026
October 25th was a beautiful autumn day; crisp, cool, and sunny with the trees in full-color array. Twenty-six cars met at The Spinning Wheel Diner on Rt. 22 in Lebanon, NJ at 9:00 a.m. to take on the challenge of driving through roughly forty miles of beautiful country roads and searching out fifty-seven fun clues. Neil Gambony and JoEllen Petronzi were the rally masters who put the route and clues together with help from Bruno Lopez and Varouj Oghali, who also ran the course to insure milage segments, timing, and clue suggestions.
All participants ended the course at Long Valley Pub & Brewery by 12:00 noon. Larry Engel , (NARVP), and his wife, Karin, along with Bruno and the rally masters, helped to tally up points while Jeff White calculated positions on his computer. The winning car was #5, Jim Clark, with 72 points in the Competition class, who won a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne. The winner in the Family class was car #13, Joaquin Noronha, who won BMW T-shirts for his group. (See tally results below).
The $25 entry fee per car for the Pick Your Pumpkin Rally is a fundraiser for NORWESCAP food bank, which supports families in need in North-West New Jersey. Thank you to Pete, owner of The Spinning Wheel Diner, for allowing us to use his parking lot as a starting point, (he along with his son and daughter own BMW’s), and Don, manager of Long Valley Pub & Brewery for reserving the entire top floor for the club to meet and have lunch. Most of all, thank you to the BMW club members who participated in the rally. We look forward to having everyone join us again next year!
JoEllen Petronzi
