BANGOR, Maine — As the Mustangs exited the parking lot of Darling’s Ford, heading out on the annual Coastal Mustang Cruise to benefit The House in the Woods for veterans, some drivers just had to burn a little rubber.
The smiles on their faces most assuredly is why there is an almost cult following for those who love the iconic muscle car that first hit the streets in the mid-1960s and continues to be made.
“I love muscle cars and everything to do with muscle car gatherings,” Rhonda Bickmore of Kenduskeag said while sitting in a 1993 5.0 GT, which she said was an evolving “work in progress,” just before the group left on the cruise heading to Brewer, then Bucksport and then Winterport.
The cruise ended at the Winterport Dragway, where a car show, a burnout competition, a shootout competition and a barrell race were held for participants and spectators to enjoy.
“The people are great,” Bickmore said of those who attend muscle car events. “They’re fellow ‘stangers,’ and the events they have at Winterport raceway are out of this world. It’s a really great experience.”
The barrell race is similar to horse barrel racing, where the participant circles one barrel, then another, according to Tiffany Batten, wife of organizer Coty Batten.
“Same idea — just with cars,” she said while seated in the first Mustang, a 2008 Shelby GT 500.
Coty Batten started the cruise in 2010 to honor the passing of his friend, Ansel Smith Sr. of Ellsworth, a veteran. The first cruise had eight Mustangs, and it has grown every year, especially after partnering with Darling’s and Winterport Dragway.
All proceeds from the event benefit The House in the Woods, a free outdoor retreat in Maine that allows military veterans and their families to relax and heal from the physical and mental wounds of war.
Otis Soohey, general manager at Darling’s, was one of the many employees of the dealership that stood on the side of the road watching the cars depart.
“There was a very nice, nice black 2014 Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca,” he said. “There was the original 1960s all the way up to the 2015s represented.”
There was even a Mustang II, which debuted in 1973 and only lasted until 1978.
“I would call it ‘a mistake,’ but nowadays they’re collectables,” Soohey said.