Tifton to host first overnight stop on 2017 Great Race

Published 3:00 pm Monday, May 1, 2017

TIFTON — Start your engines.

Tifton will host the first overnight stop on the 2017 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty Saturday, June 24, race organizers have announced.

The Great Race, the world’s premiere old car rally, will bring 120 of the world’s finest antique automobiles to town for the $150,000 event, with the first car rolling onto Main Street downtown starting at 4:30 p.m.

In all, the participants in the event will cover more than 2,100 miles in nine days. The start will be on Main Street in downtown Jacksonville, Fla., earlier Saturday morning.

The race will finish July 2 in Traverse City, Mich., on the banks of Grand Traverse Bay just off Lake Michigan as part of that city’s annual Cherry Festival.

Teams and cars from Japan, England, Germany, Canada and every corner of the United States will be participating in their vintage automobiles dating back as far as 1916.

“There are more than 450 people just in our entourage from all around the world taking part in this incredible adventure,” director Jeff Stumb said.

Along the route, competitors will travel parts of the original Dixie Highway in seven states – Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

The Great Race, which began 34 years ago, is not a speed race, but a time/speed/distance rally. The vehicles, each with a driver and navigator, are given precise instructions each day that detail every move down to the second. They are scored at secret check points along the way and are penalized one second for each second either early or late. As in golf, the lowest score wins.

Cars start – and hopefully finish – one minute apart if all goes according to plan. The biggest part of the challenge other than staying on time and following the instructions is getting an old car to the finish line each day, organizers say.

Each stop on the Great Race is free to the public and spectators will be able to visit with the participants and to look at the cars for several hours. It is common for kids to climb in the cars for a first-hand look. “We are really excited about these amazing cars making a stop in downtown this year. We want to win the award for ‘Best Overnight Stop’ so we need the community’s help in welcoming these teams to Tifton,” said Angela Elder, event coordinator.

Cars built in 1972 and earlier are eligible, with most entries having been manufactured before World War II. A 1916 Hudson Hillclimber, a 1916 Hudson Four Passenger Speedster, a 1916 Chevrolet Phaeton, a 1917 Peerless Racer and a chain-driven 1918 American LaFrance Speedster are the oldest cars scheduled to be in the 2017 Great Race. The 2017 winners will receive $50,000 of the $150,000 total purse.

Over the decades, the Great Race has stopped in hundreds of cities big and small, from tiny Austin, Nev., to New York City.

“When the Great Race pulls into a city it becomes an instant festival,” Stumb said. “Last year we had five overnight stops with more than 10,000 spectators on our way to having 250,000 people see the Great Race during the event.”

The event was started in 1983 by Tom McRae and it takes its name from the 1965 movie, The Great Race, which starred Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood and Peter Falk. The movie is a comedy based on the real life 1908 automobile race from New York to Paris. In 2004, Tony Curtis was the guest of the Great Race and rode in his car from the movie, the Leslie Special.

The event’s main sponsors are Hemmings Motor News, Hagerty, Coker Tire and Reliable Carriers.

In addition to the cars being on display in Downtown Tifton, the event committee is hosting the annual Rock the Block summer series. There will be artisan vendors, a local classic car cruise in, kids activities, downtown merchants open late and entertainment featuring Revival: An Allman Brothers Experience. All of this is free to attend and enjoy. The fun will last until 10 p.m.

For more information, including how to get involved, go to www.greatrace.com or contact Jeff Stumb at jeff@greatrace.com or by calling him at 423-648-8542 or locally contact Angela Elder at spearmangency@friendlycity.net of 229-386-0216.