2013 Great Race winner to collect $50,000 in prize money
If the camaraderie and competition of the Great Race aren’t enough to convince you to participate, here’s another reason to consider entering: The Coker Group, parent to Coker Tire, will hand a check for $50,000 to the overall winner of this year’s event.
Open to automobiles manufactured prior to 1970, the 10-day event pits contestants in classic, vintage and antique categories against one another in a series of precision driving rally events, all taking place on public roads at controlled speeds. That means the Great Race isn’t just for those with competition licenses and hundreds of hours of track time to their credit, and it makes the event as much for spectators as for participants.
The 2013 Great Race route traces the Mississippi River down across the Central United States, beginning with the event’s first stop in St. Paul, Minnesota on Friday, June 21. The city was chosen as the date coincides with the Minnesota Street Rod Association’s (MSRA) 40th anniversary Back to the ’50s car show
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, which runs from June 21-23 and promises to draw more than 11,000 classics and street rods, as well as close to 1,000 vendors, making it one of the largest car events in the Midwest.
Great Racers will participate in a warm-up rally on Friday, June 21, between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. and will park at the car show from 3 p.m. for car show participants to see the cars and talk to some of the race teams. Editor Matt Litwin and associate editor Jim O’Clair will be traveling with the Great Race this year as support crew and hope to tweet and report on the race’s progress. Publisher/driver Jim Menneto will also be there, as will our East Coast car show team and Mari Parizo, Hemmings team navigator. If you do attend on Friday night, make sure to stop by and say hello.
The fairgrounds will also be the starting point for the first official leg of the race on Saturday morning, and the initial stage will take contestants from St. Paul to La Crosse, Wisconsin. From there, the Great Race will make stops in cities such as Davenport, Iowa; Hannibal, Missouri; Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Germantown, Tennessee; Vicksburg, Mississippi; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Covington, Louisiana, before wrapping up on June 30 in Mobile, Alabama. There will be lunch stops along the way, too, ensuring that as many vintage car fans as possible get a chance to see this year’s participants.
In all, some 97 teams are expected to compete, in vehicles ranging from a 1915 Hudson 6-40 to a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro (or a 1969 Saab 96, for those preferring imports). Although the race starts in just two weeks, there’s still time to enter for those with qualifying vehicles and a passion for time, speed and distance events, and those not taking home the grand prize will still compete for the remainder of the event’s $150,000 total purse. For more information on the 2013 Great Race, visit GreatRace.com, and for more information on the Back to the ’50s car show, visit MSRA.com.
Kurt Ernst and Jim O’Clair contributed to this story.