by Mike Roorda
It is a cool Friday afternoon in early October when I meet up with Maryann Newland at Badgerow Park in Greece. There’s a gazebo there named for the car club she is a member of, the Street Machines of Rochester, and I’m here with two small kids in tow to talk to her about the club’s history.
The gazebo, which appears to be well-built and maintained, is a staging ground for a display of Street Machines of Rochester club t-shirts. However, the space is otherwise unused today. The early autumn weather is cooperating, and the final warm gusts of summer blowing through the park are barely enough to make shorts seem smart but will tide us over until fall truly sets in and the leaves start to change. After I pull up in the family-friendly Honda CR-V I’m driving, Maryann greets me, and my two girls decide to peel off for the playground, happy to have free reign of equipment that they’ve never seen at a park they’ve never been to.
The Street Machines of Rochester have been a car club since 1974. Originally founded as The Street Freaks of Rochester, the club went family friendly in ‘78 with the name change from “Freaks” to “Machines” and celebrated their 50th anniversary this summer. The gazebo was named after the club in 2017, and it’s here that Maryann and I make our introductions.
I quickly learned that Maryann Newland has been around since nearly the beginning. She was the club’s first female member back in 1979 when she joined the club with her ‘69 Camaro Rally Sport. “I didn’t have to convince them,” she explained, “they were very willing and welcomed me.” And the car? “I’ve had it for 48 years,” a wry smile cracks her face, “I drag-raced it myself! The guys used to flip me for lane choice.”
In addition to her long-standing tenure in the Street Machines of Rochester, owning an engine with some muscle and the smell of burnt rubber have very much been a family affair for Maryann. It’s clear that she wouldn’t have it any other way. “My husband went on to race, and after that, my son did, and then two of my grandsons.” Pride is pouring from her smile, and her eyes crinkle at the memories.
The lineup of t-shirts she’s brought and displayed serves as a sort of visual club timeline. Each shirt bears a caricature or cartoon rendering of the previous year’s car show winner. So the shirts and their images very much, as a collection, mark the years and memories quite effectivel
“This shirt right here,” she gestures to one t-shirt in a line array on the wooden picnic tables of the club’s namesake gazebo, “this was the Dick Windhauser shirt to honor him for our 35th anniversary in 2009.”
Richard Windhauser was one of the original founding members, and the others were Paul Acito, Jerry Nusz, Frank Hutchinson, and Dave Alertia. After meeting while attending Greece Olympia High School and sharing a mutual love of cars, the young motorheads decided to form an official club, and The Street Freaks of Rochester was born. Over the years, not only did the name change, but as life evolved for some of the founders, one by one, they mostly left or began to pursue other interests. Not so for Dick Windhauser though, The Street Machines of Rochester would become a lifelong love letter to all things vehicular, and he remained a proud founding member until his eventual passing at 71 years old in 2022.
For both Dick Windhauser and the Street Machines, standing the test of time boiled down to one thing and one thing only – a simple love of vehicles. That was really it. You didn’t even have to own one to claim membership in the Street Machines; you just had to love cars and be willing to treat other members like family.
Maryann’s personal example of the club’s familial love and the effect that it had on her life is both touching and, at the same time, familiar. She was pregnant with her son when she joined the Street Machines of Rochester in 1979. “We were building a room on the house [for the baby],” she explained, “and some of those guys would come over every single night, and I would buy them pizza or whatever, and they would paint the room or put boards up,” she pauses to remember, “and we were new to the club back then, but they were very helpful.”
For the other residents of Greece, the Street Machines of Rochester are most notable for the yearly car shows the club has hosted at Badgerow Park almost since its inception. During the earliest years, the car shows were loosely organized excuses for its members to show off their rides in the Olympia High School parking lot during off hours. Over the years, the small car show’s popularity grew along with the club’s membership, as did the number of vehicles on display.
In 1982, the Street Machines’ now annual car show outgrew their humble staging grounds, and by 1984, they had settled on their new home of Badgerow Park, where the show has continued for the past 40 years and where a gazebo now is adorned with the Street Machines of Rochester name.
Maryann tells me that Dick Windhauser had a long history of being a people pleaser. That attitude has endured and is reflected in the clubs’ approach to recruitment. At one time boasting a peak membership of 150 people, Maryann credits the Street Machines of Rochester’s welcoming attitude as one of the enduring reasons for the club’s longevity. That, and the fact that although members don’t need to own a car to join, they do accept all types of vehicles. Maryann’s son joined with a car many would have considered a simple “grocery getter,” certainly not a ride more commonly associated with car shows.
Remembering her son’s first appearance at the Street Machines 25th annual car show, Maryann smiles lightly and says, “Of course, it was mostly muscle cars back then, and then my son bought a 2000 Ford Focus.” Chuckling, she adds, “We added a compact car prize that year, and he took first place!”
While the club has keenly felt Dick’s absence for the last two years, the annual car show has gone on and continued to grow in his shadow. This year’s 50th anniversary show featured nearly 600 show cars, and thousands of spectators attended to see the vehicles and enjoy the show.
These days, the show is an official production complete with sponsors. The 50th anniversary’s big sponsor was Dairy Queen. “They gave us 500 coupons for free cones to give out,” Maryann explains, to help bring people in. They also donated $500 to trophies to help pay for the costs of the Street Machines Awards and get their name on the plaques awarded to winners as well. Gold was the color to mark the occasion of the 50th, and another year of the Street Machines of Rochester’s presence in the town of Greece can be put on the books as a success.
As for the next 50 years? Dick would want the club “focused on cars and enthusiasts who have respect for each other and their cars,” says Maryann. The Street Machines of Rochester should stay “family-oriented but welcoming to all, with the only requirement being an interest in cars,” she concludes.
