Hemmings Great Race

June 28, 2024 — This was the fourth time I met the Hemmings Motor News Great Race on one of their stops. In the past, I had been present when the racers stopped for lunch in Stratton Mountain, Vermont and ended the race later the same day at Hemmings headquarters in Bennington, Vermont in 2011. Three years later, I met them in Ogunquit, Maine, at the start of that year's race. Then, in 2018, I met them at another lunch stop at the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Owls Head, Maine.

This year I caught them at the New England Racing Museum in Loudon, New Hampshire, another lunch stop. They're usually at a lunch stop about three hours, so you have ample time to admire and photograph the cars and talk to the owners. They would end this year's race two days later in Gardiner, Maine. Not the kind of race where the first one at the finish line wins, but the one who adheres most closely to the planners' time and mileage schedules. All cars are equipped with highly accurate clocks and odometers rather than relying on the cars' own gauges.

Begun in 1983, the race is carefully planned, test driven and mapped. It keeps pretty close to 2,300 miles in nine days, driving almost entirely on rural roads, no interstates or toll roads, over a different route each year. Vehicles have to be of an age that classifies them as antiques, but run the gamut of types, from customs, actual race cars, hot rods and classics. Plastered with decals from promoters, sponsors and advertising, the cars are quite a sight as they come rolling in.

I don't know whether the Racing Museum expected this, but many spectators brought their own antique cars, almost overwhelming the Museum's ability to find space for them all. I got pictures of these cars along with the Great Race participants. It was an exciting day. Check it out at this link:

https://www.linwoodstreet.com/greatrace24/