Vinnys gone.

[aangel]

Amanda

I never got to know you on a personal level, but Holly has told me a lot about you. I seen you Saturday and cannot believe how grown up you are. You are an absolutely beautiful young lady. My prayers and thoughts are with you and Holly every moment.

Love always,

aangel = Angel / Withamsville
(I've been friends with Holly for almost 20 years...)

[junior5oh]

Thank you all for being so kind. Thank you for opening this site to us. Thank you for sharing all of the wonderful thoughts about Vince. Thank you for directing continued hope and prayers to Amanda. As Amanda begins to sort thru all that is being shared, all the memories of the good times with her Daddy, I believe Amanda will come to know and understand her Daddy in a new way. Amanda has a long road ahead, and I am sure she appreciates as I do, knowing that there is such an 'extended' family out there. You don't have to read far into these threads to see that Amanda's Daddy certainly found great happiness as well as dear friendships here - in all of this, and with all of you.

For those who are interested... Amanda really wants a simple memorial mass to be held this week at St. Dominic for her Father. This is a casual service open to anyone of any faith, who wants to come. Due to the weather and other commitments we are now shooting for this Thursday (Feb 15th) at 6pm. Father Lack called today and is available at that time, however we do still need to make confirmation - I should have that by tomorrow.

Just a reminder.... Amanda is perhaps the first minor to belong to this site. Please remember that she is still a naive 14 year old - and we need to keep it that way.

Love & XOXO to Amanda, to Holly and to each of you.

[Sparky]

I just got a call from MFIELD this morning to give me the bad news. My internet has been turned off for months and I'm at work right now. Once again a great person that I have had the good fortune of meeting and getting to know (via the internet regretfully) has passed away. I'm regretful and saddened by the fact that I will never get to hang with him , like I have always wanted to. Its a rare occasion to meet someone like Vinny. I've only seen him a couple times, but he was just one of those people that made you think to yourself "man, this dude is alright". Way to sad for words right now.......

Isaac

[plated]

just feels like something missing around here

[Wolfpack 3521]

i know I'm late but i just wanted to say I'm so sorry to Vinny's family and friends for their loss. i didn't know him personally but i certainly new of him and have communicated with him through this site on occasion. RIP Vinny, i say a prayer for you, your family and friends.

Mike Koval

[ruby71oh]

It's taken me some time to respond and some time to get back into the swing of things. I can't tell you all how AMAZED I was on Saturday with the turnout of support for my family and for Holly. Many times that I came down to visit Vince or when he was up north, we rarely said those two words: love you. I know he loved me and I only hope he loved me as much. After Saturday, I just wanted to shake him and tell him how proud I was of his accomplishments. If anyone knows my brother's history...it wasn't the best one! He had struggles in his life, emotionally and monitarally, but he overcame them. Mainly due to Holly. She was the best thing around for him and still is the best thing around for us and Amanda. I learned over the weekend that one month after meeting Holly, his electric was shut off in the house. She and her family were wonderful enough to let him stay with them for a few days. If it weren't for her strength, my brother would still be on his struggled life. But I'm so happy that he had Holly to love him. And I'm so happy that he made such wonderful friends as he did with all of you. I am touched whenever I read the threads on the board with how much Vinny gave to all of you. I honestly would never think that of my brother. And when I saw the many, many people and thought the line would never stop growing, it made me realize just how likeable my brother was, because keep in mind, as his sister, he would hold me down and crack my toes...I still have the memories of the "bad" times! But thank you all for becoming a stangbanger, supporting the site, showing up at the car shows, and for being such great friends to Vince. I only hope to be half the person he was.

[SS ETR]

DONT KNOW WHAT TO SAY... ;( HELL OF A GUY! MISS YA VINNY!

[aangel]

.... as his sister, he would hold me down and crack my toes....

Tears are rolling, goose bumps are growing!

I do that to my kids! b/c my brother did it to me!

Strange thing is, the little freakies like it! he he...

[89 GT WHITE]

my prayers and condolences for vinnys family RIP Vinny

[Holly]

as his sister, he would hold me down and crack my toes...

He must of missed doing that to you, because he did it to me all the time too! He knew I hated it, but once he got ahold of my foot, I couldn't get loose. He liked to grab that muscle in my shoulder/neck area too and drop me to my knees.

He was always aggravating me and Amanda somehow (and Lena when we came up to Canton), but we all know we loved it. And I don't mean aggravating in a bad way, just being Vinny.

[Tommy D]

I can't believe that I just found out about this. I have been laying low since graduating and pretty much giving up my dream of racing NMRA, my motivation to see what has been going on with the Mustang world kinda took a hit when I heard about Doc Meyer leaving for GMPP so I haven't been hanging around the board or Cincy Speed much. I just feel sick and like a piece of s@#t for not knowing about this.

I was on Cincy Street scene laughing at the ricers comments one day back in 2002 I believe. I saw a post by a guy named Blackhole and in his sig was link to something called "Stangbangerz.com" I thought whats this? I clicked it and the old site came up. I had a TFS R lower for sale and figured I'd post it. I got an email from some guy named Vinny5Oh. We arranged to meet at Cincy Speed the next day and thats when I found out who he was and started to meet alot of great people like Paul, Ian, Jeff, Kevin, Gene, Ken & Brandon and Timmy just to name a few. I am glad to say I knew him. His enthusiasm for everything Mustang was seriously contagious (sp?) I probably would not have attempted to build two cars for Real Street had it not been for guy's like Vinny. Job Spetter Sr said that after Racin Jason Betwarda died he felt empty when ever someone would call to talk about a new car or a broken speed or ET record because Jason lived for that stuff and loved to here what everyone was doing. I think Vin was alot like that and I'll miss him.

RIP Vinny

[jay]

I dont even know were to start. I Know I dont post much on the board, but after reading 15 pages I just had to share a little somthing about my expieences with our friend. I met vinny at a dyno day at cincy speed that tommy d took me to. After that day any time tommy and i saw him he talked to us like we were old friends. I just hope when my time comes a few people will remember as fondly as vinny will be remembered. I just know he is out there somewhere pulling up to the line in a coupe that says bone stock and READY TO ROCK. You will be missed. Thanks for all the goodtimes.

[MADMOD]

just feels like something missing around here

I agree with ya man

[xandman1988]

I never met vinny but I always enjoyed reading some of his posts and I'm glad he set up this site for all of us to enjoy.

RIP Vinny

My prayers will be going out to family and friends

[merccapri306]

Vinny was a great guy The world will miss him

Ride on vinny!

[Katmandu]

wow.........................................

Just logged on here after being absent for a good part of the winter and just now got this sad sad news about Vinny.

I would just like to add my 2 cents about my experience with Vinny. I've been on the Internet for a LONG time. 8? 9? 10? years maybe and spent the majority of my time on MANY different car/truck message forums having posted many 1,000s of postings.

It's very difficult most times to understand one's TRUE character after just reading their postings on a computer monitor, but Vinny was one of those VERY RARE people that came thru with PURE genuiness and CLASS!

I ALWAYS looked forward to coming here and getting inspiration from him. No matter how bad a day I've had or how bad a mood I was in, reading one of Vinny's posting somehow ALWAYS brought me back to my senses and realized what TRUE KINDNESS really means.

Vinny's CLASS is an example for the rest of us to learn from and follow in our daily lives.

I feel very sad that I never had the opportunity to meet him in person. Even that he always made me feel like a real friend.


God Bless you and you're family Vinny. You'll never be forgotten.


- Eric Schultz - Katmandu

[Predator]

I'm very sorry to hear about Vinny.... It's so strange how things turn out sometimes.... And how fragile life can be. I'm not on here that often and didnt know him personally, But would have liked to. All of us up here in Dayton are all deeply sorry to hear of your loss. I'll miss seeing him on the board. Rest peacefully Vinny!

-Scott Parker

[Menace]

This is so tragic! He will be missed. I still can't believe he is gone.

[Holly]

I was just thinking to my self vinny never texted me back this morning when i got the call .

I am finally reading through this thread, well, trying to anyway.

You were the last person to text him, when they handed me his stuff at the hospital, his cell phone vibrated, and it was the text message you had sent him.

[Holly]

they may need sell it,he also has a daughter i'm sure they will need any extra money right now,but we all can lend a hand on getting the black coupe standing tall on all fours for holly and vinny.just a suggestion? although he'd love to see the gt hit the 1/4 mile just for him..he seamed more excited about getting the coupe looking and running good

Vinny's car WILL NOT BE SOLD, not for a long time anyway. That car is part of him, he spent years building it, getting it together, and I want to keep it for as long as I possibly can. I doubt it will hit the track this year. You never know though, it could happen.

The coupe, that poor baby needs some work. I have driven it a few times this week, it has a shake, and now one of the tires keeps losing air. I'd like to get it "fixed" so I can race it this summer. That's what I bought it for back in 2003, I just handed over the keys to Vinny when his car was torn apart for the first paint job () so he would have a "stang" to drive. He loved driving that thing every day, I tried to get him to let me sell it many times, he always said "shut your mouth" (kidding, of course), but basically telling me that was not going to happen. He told me he wanted to make it a "sleeper". I know what that means now, but at the time, I had no idea.

If anybody gets any extra time, and wants to help get the coupe in running order (NO HURRY), I'd appreciate it. I'd like to have it running for the summer events so I have a mustang to drive to them. Vinny has an engine to put in it, I think it needs some work too though (Dedpedal and Jeff88coupe know more about it than I do).

I'll supply the beer and food (and buy any parts of course) if anybody wants to help getting it running a little better for me, sometime this spring or summer.

Thanks for all your offers of help.