The Great Race

My passion for racing runs deep, from being a spectator, to wrenching on racecars and piloting racecars. Growing up in Southern California gave me easy access to some of the greatest racing facilities in the country, and landing a job at my local speed shop allowed me to develop relationships with legendary racers in the area. Fast forward a few decades, and my position at Coker Tire and SEMA gives me the opportunity to travel and see some of the most awesome racing in the world. The Goodwood Festival of Speed and the 24 Hours of Le Mans rank very high on my list, but I also love drag racing, Indy cars, and even drifting.

Coker Tire is involved in the racing industry, through several avenues. We produce tires for vintage Indy cars and road race cars in our Firestone and Michelin product lines, as well as a full range of products for modern day drag cars and high-performance street cars in our Phoenix and M&H product lines. This racing involvement is a small portion of our overall sales, but we are glad to be a part of such a great industry. We’re also involved in another type of automotive competition, and it’s called the Great Race, and it’s known worldwide as the premier time, speed, endurance rally for vintage vehicles.

Since 2011, Coker Tire’s staff has been organizing, promoting and producing the Great Race. Now known as the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty Drivers Club, the event is about precision driving, and not all-out speed. The idea is to follow precise instructions, which are sometimes cryptic, in an effort to match a pre-determined time. The team that gets closest to the “perfect” time over the course of nine days of competition wins the event and takes home more than $50,000. The annual event changes routes every year, and consists of approximately 2,300 miles of timed rallying.

The overall Great Race purse is more than $150,000, split up among five classes, so these teams are serious about competition. Cars built in 1974 or earlier are eligible for competition and they have to be mostly original, in terms of the engine and transmission. You won’t see many LS swaps or modern overdrive transmissions. Other parts, such as brakes and tires can be updated for safety purposes. About half of the 120-car field are built before World War II, and the other half are more “modern” classic cars, including Mustangs, Corvettes and more. Keep in mind that there is also a scoring multiplication factor that incentivizes driving an older car, so you may also see some really early iron, like a 1916 Hudson.

Our most recent event took place at the end of June 2019 and it sent racers on a West Coast journey from Riverside, California to Tacoma, Washington through some of the best scenery our great country has to offer. Unfortunately, we had to postpone the 2020 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty Drivers Club, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but we’re prepared to wave the green flag on Saturday, June 19th in San Antonio, Texas. We’re kicking things off directly in front of the Alamo, and then working our way through Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and finally to Greenville, South Carolina for the big finish. Along the way, we will visit lots of great sites, including awesome museums, such as the Horton Classic Car Museum in Nocona, Texas and the Heart of Route 66 Museum in Sapulpa, Oklahoma.

Most of all, I’m looking forward to checking out the cars and race teams that have worked all year to prepare their Great Race machines. These guys and girls are very dedicated to rallying, and it’s awesome to watch them achieve greatness, while enjoying time behind the wheel of an old car. If you’re curious about the Great Race, be sure to check out www.greatrace.com to see if it’s coming to a town near you!