Huntington bureau to host lunch stop for Great Race
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Jun. 23—HUNTINGTON — The 2021 Hemmings Motor News Great Race will make a stop at the Huntington Area Convention and Visitors Bureau on Friday.
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 into Heritage Station starting at 11:30 a.m. An arrival ceremony with color guard and National Anthem will be at 11:25 a.m.
Spectators may visit with the participants and look at the cars for several hours, Tyson Compton, president of the visitors bureau, said. "It is common for kids to climb in the cars for a first-hand look," he said.
The Great Race, which began 38 years ago, takes participants from San Antonio to Greenville, South Carolina, over nine days. It is a time-speed-distance rally in which vehicles have a driver and a navigator who 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," Compton said.
Teams and cars from Japan, England, Germany, Canada and all over the United States will participate with their vintage automobiles dating back as far as 1916. Cars built in 1974 and earlier are eligible, with most entries having been manufactured before World War II.
"There are more than 500 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 through 10 states — Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
