Top Ten Tailgating Cars

Jon Warner’s family has owned season tickets to the New York Jets since 1960, a year before Jon was born. His first memory of tailgating was eating giant hero sandwiches with his father at Shea Stadium, but these days you’ll find Jon, his three brothers, their four sons, a couple of daughters, and a handful of buddies carrying on the family tradition in the Meadowlands. The tailgating, however, has gotten a lot more extravagant than simple submarines.

The group that calls itself the Quogue Football League (QFL), a name taken from its fantasy football team, cooks up a party on charcoal Weber grilles at least three hours before the game starts. The potluck consists of homemade hot sausages, a pot of killer chili, filet mignon, turkey burgers, hamburgers, hot dogs, fancy red wines, and an eclectic variety of beer. There’s also the QFL’s famous drink, The Joe Namath, made of apple cider and Crown Royal.

While they nosh, these diehard Jet fans set up a satellite dish on the back of the car so they can watch the game on a 20-inch TV. The day we came to interview them, the parents of Jay Fiedler – Chad Pennington’s backup quarterback – stopped by. That was also the unfortunate day that Fiedler stepped in for Pennington and suffered a shoulder injury. The Jets took a 26-20 overtime loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Bummer. Yeah. But, no matter, these guys always have a party.

“We eat and drink, complain about our wives, talk about sports while listening to music and the pre-game show,” explains Warner, Vice President of Studio One, an apparel manufacturer in Manhattan.

“This is my therapy,” he says, “I get away from things for a while. I leave the house at 9:45 a.m. and don’t come back until 4:30 p.m. I look forward to these Sundays all year. I look forward to them just as much as the game.”

We asked this seasoned group for their 10 favorite vehicles of choice when it comes to tailgating.