The Great Race is an annual 9-day road rally of antique cars that travel hundreds of miles across multiple states for a total purse of $150,000. This year the Great Race will run June 22-30, 2013 from St. Paul, Minnesota to Mobile, Alabama “Down the Mighty Mississippi” for a total of 2,100 miles. The competition is made up of nine events that are timed, speed-controlled, endurance rallies – not top speed races – based on precision driving and navigational skills in classic, antique and vintage automobiles.

Each day the driver and navigator follow a set of instructions that dictate every turn, stop, start and speed change for the day. The objective is to follow the instructions precisely and arrive at each check point at the correct time because penalty points are awarded for being early or late. Without the use of computers or GPS and having odometers taped over, it’s a mentally demanding test of endurance.

For 31 consecutive years, the Great Race has drawn thousands of car hobbyist, photographers and spectators to the communities through which they travel. The itinerary includes planned lunch stops and nightly pit stops where the racing teams enjoy sharing their automotive piece of history with the local community. They are a fun-loving group who gladly share their knowledge and love for their distinctive vehicles by letting bystanders touch, photograph and sometimes even sit in their antique autos. Municipalities love when the Great Race comes to their area because it’s an extremely well organized and unique event that brings a special brand of tourism to the cities and towns along the race route, so it’s a win/win for participants, spectators and host communities.

Great Race Director, Jeff Stumb said, “When the Great Race pulls into a city it becomes an instant festival. We have seen as many as 40,000 people at stops, like in Huntington Beach, Calif., and Sioux Falls, S.D. But more impressive than that is when we roll into small towns like Fayetteville, Tenn., with a population of 5,000 and there are 7,000 people cheering for us on the downtown square.”

The Great Race will be featured on an episode of Hot Rod TV, scheduled to air on March 23 at 11am EST and March 24 at 8am EST (subject to change, check local listings).

For the last several years, Covington Meetings & Events has played a part in the well oiled machine. No, not by entering a vehicle in the race, although the Great Racers have so much fun, we could be tempted! Instead, our detail-oriented meeting planners handle all of the hotel arrangements for the Great Race organization.  

Anita Nelson, Manager of Covington Meetings & Events explains, “First, we negotiate favorable hotel rates at prescribed pit stops along the race route and reserve blocks of rooms for the racers and teams. Next we create a secure hotel reservation website that the participants use to provide their personal information, form of payment and any special requirements. We return hotel confirmations to the participants and provide rooming lists to the hotel properties so that up to 100 racing teams and their attending caravan can get a good night’s rest before they race to the next town.”

Covington expertly takes care of meeting and event details that you may have never thought of to insure a smooth experience for a wide range of organizations. If you are planning a future event, contact Covington Meetings & Events to find out how we can help your gathering run as smoothly as a mint condition Hudson.

All images courtesy of Coker Tire and the Great Race