Towing together for new record

In a move designed to establish an unbreakable record, the group representing the towing industry of New York gathered hundreds of trucks recently, parading from Shea Stadium in Queens to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn - to raise money for children’s hospitals.
According to Norman Teitler, executive director of the Metropolitan New York Towing Association, “Our members are emergency responders ‘24/7’ at accident scenes all around New York - we’re doing this to raise awareness, and to raise money for a good cause.”
Somewhere in New York on the morning of Saturday, September 20, somebody may have gotten upset because they had to wait for a tow - if it was you, take comfort in the notion that thanks to the “Tow Truck Parade,” the association presented a $3,000 check to support the Shriner’s 21 hospitals nationwide, especially their pediatric burn units.
The contribution came from cash donations by drivers’ families and friends, and corporate sponsors, including HB Chevrolet of Forest Hills.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the current record for such an event was set on August 20, 2004 at Wenatchee, Washington, when a total of 83 tow trucks paraded through the streets.
“Metropolitan’s goal was not only to break the existing record, but to establish a record so large, it will not be broken again,” Teitler said.
Starting at about 8 a.m., tow-trucks of every description - 50 ton rotators, medium-duty trucks, flat-beds and wreckers - gathered in the shadow of the soon-to-be-demolished Shea Stadium to be registered and given ID, and to make last-minute contributions.
Councilmembers John Liu and Leroy Comrie joined by Teitler, drivers and family members cut the ribbon at 9 a.m. and the convoy, which stretched for over a mile, wound its way to the former naval air station which is now part of Gateway National Park.
The 5,000 foot runway is a fitting location for what may prove to be a history-making event. In 1933, legendary aviator Wiley Post piloted the “Winnie Mae” from that very field on the first solo flight around the world - in seven days and 19 hours.
On this day, after a mere three hours the trucks - a sure-to-be-a-record 292 of them - formed the words “New York” on the runway.
It will be a while before the record is confirmed, Teitler said.
“We had to get verification letters from the Councilmembers and the police, and show pictures of all the vehicles,” he explained. “Otherwise we would have to pay the expenses of an official ‘adjudicator’ from the Guinness people, which would have been thousands of dollars.”