Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Great Race coming through Prescott

It began with a couple of "car nuts" and a crazy idea.

Now, 21 years later, it's bigger and better than ever. The "it" in this case, is The Great Race.

This year, the race will cover more than 4,000 miles, starting at Lima, Michigan and ending at Daytona Beach, Florida.

During the course of the race, which has a convoluted course, the 97 cars and 194 people (there should be two people in each car), will make a pit stop in Hope on June 28.

According to Gary Johnson, director of the visitor information center in Hope, the first car is scheduled to arrive at 2:20 p.m., with cars arriving once every minute until 4:20.

The Great Race, isn't a normal cross country race. What makes it unique, is the cars are all pre-WWII models. The vehicles involved would make an incredible museum display for auto enthusiasts.

The race began in 1983, when Curtis Graf called his friend and fellow car nut Tom McRae about something called the Great American Race. It was supposed to go from Los Angeles to Indianapolis, with drivers to share in $250,000 prize money.

McRae and Graf went to the race office to sign up. It turned out they were the first and only ones to sign up.

While Graf plunged into restoring a 1935 Twin-Six Packard, McRae got a friend of his, Norman Miller, to be his partner and buy out the original race promoter.

When they started adding up the figures, they found they'd have to risk at least $500,000 more than they had expected. Along with this, most of those they were associated with at the time didn't think such a race could happen.

Press releases concerning the race were mailed out. They received 350 phone calls the next week. Most of the callers were skeptical about the race, though, but a few entries did come in.

In the middle of trying to get the race going, McRae and Miller had the bright idea of getting actor Tony Curtis, who starred in the movie "The Great Race". The only problem was they couldn't find him.

They also tried to contact officials with the Indianapolis Speedway about doing a victory lap when the antique autos arrived. At first they were rebuked, with the Indianapolis police telling them not to call if they had problems because the city would have 400,000 race fans in town  most drinking and partying.

Persistence, hard work and luck paid off, though. Miller came up with a contact in Indianapolis, which led to the use of the speedway track for one lap. McRae's daughter's college roommate ran into Curtis in Europe.

When McRae talked to Curtis, he was thrilled with the idea of being involved in the race.

The end result was 62 entries, each entrant paying $5,000 to be involved, and history about to be made.

The drivers left from Knott's Berry Farm, with all arriving in Indy, where the city's 32-officer National Championship Motorcycle Drill Team shut down the 5 o'clock traffic for the racers and escorted them to the Indianapolis Speedway for their victory lap.

One of the more interesting things about the race is the drivers aren't given the maps showing which roads they will be taking until the day the race begins.

Hope will be what is termed a pit stop, where the drivers will get something to drink, or answer the call of nature.

Visitors can talk with the drivers and examine the cars, all at no cost.

Once the drivers leave Hope, they'll return to Highway 67, driving through Prescott and Gurdon on their way to Hot Springs, where they'll spend the night.

One thing, the race is not about who has the fastest vehicle. It's a timed race, much like the Tour de' France bicycle race.

For the most part, Johnson said, the drivers will use highways and avoid interstates as much as possible. In fact, the only time they'll get on an interstate is when they have no other choice.

The total value of the vehicles involved in the race is $3 million, he said, with the drivers competing for a share of the $300,000 prize money.

There are different categories the drivers will compete in, including: expert, pro, sportsman, world class, and rookie class. In addition, the race awards cities with the Great American City Award, with Ace awards also being presented to those who have perfect legs of the competition.

"I think this race ends in cities where there's a track so they can take victory laps," Johnson said.

In all, the race will take two weeks, starting June 20 and ending on July 5.

It's also a family oriented event, Johnson said, something the entire family can get involved in.

In Hope, he added, Second and Main will be blocked off, as will the street by the Depot Museum. This is to provide the racers with a place to park, while giving local residents room to move about as they look at the antique cars.

The drivers will come to the depot in Hope from the Elm Street railroad crossing, and turn onto Division Street for their pit stop.