Mustang News
Ford Mustang Fans Unite to Help One of Their Own
By All Ford Mustangs News Desk
Mar 4, 2008, 2008-03-04

The Internet has a strange way of bringing together people from a wide geographic area. Even if people have never met face to face, Internet friendships are often as strong as any that formed in a more traditional way. Consider the case of 37 year old Mustang enthusiast Vinny Changet.

Changet was the founder and web master of stangbangerz.com, a site especially for Ford Mustang fans. The web site became a big hit and brought fans of the Ford Mustang together. The web site visitors eventually formed strong friendships and what many described as a close knit Mustang racing family.

Over a period of seven years, Changet had been making steady progress while working on a Mustang drag racing car with the idea of racing on some of the local tracks in 2007. But it was not to be. After a snow storm last winter, Changet was shoveling snow when he went into cardiac arrest and passed away.

Changet left a wife, a young daughter, and a mountain of debt. “He was a buddy of mine. And we knew that he didn't have any life insurance and had left a great deal of debt with his wife, Holly and their daughter. He was young and in the prime of his life, there didn't seem to be a need for that at the time, I guess," said Changet friend Kelly Shotwell. "We decided to put together a car, and contacted SPEED channel to see if they'd like the idea of us racing on their show called "PINKS" in his honor."

For those who don't know, “PINKS” is a show on the SPEED Channel in which drivers race each other. The winner of the races walks away with the title, or pink slip, of both cars at the end of each show. “PINKS” is in its fifth season on the SPEED Channel.

“PINKS” directors loved the thought of showcasing Changet's group and were taken with the purpose behind it. The directors showed up at the Kansas City Raceway on a hot night last August to film the episode. The Stangbangerz pitted their cherry red 1987 Mustang against a 1975 Chevy Camaro that was owned by Mitch Brackman, a race shop owner from Nixa, MO. The directors liked what they found so much that the episode featuring the StangBangerz became the first episode of the new season.

The Stangbangerz, who were sponsored by Trick Flow Specialties, Rigid Race Gears and Dayton Performance won the Best of Seven race and walked away with both their beloved Mustang and the Chevy Camaro. Shotwell says the group has no plans to continue racing.

"Today, we've put both the cars back together, and we plan on auctioning them off in the next month or so," Shotwell said. "We plan on running an online auction on eBay where we can then give all the proceeds from the auction to Vinny's family."

“PINKS” has invited Shotwell back and he hopes to race a car to recognize the members of StangBangerz, many of whom spent more than three months to help construct the original Mustang racer.