Friday, April 19, 2024
Don’t worry about Father’s Day plans. Visit Gran-bury’s got it covered.
The only thing is, the big event is for Father’s Day next year.
On Sunday, June 21, 2020 Granbury will host a lunch stop for the Great Race, the world’s premiere car rally.
Over the next year, the Visit Granbury Convention and Visitors Bureau and tourism stakeholders will plan a weekend of spin-off events that will culminate in the arrival on Father’s Day of 120 colorful antique cars that will be participating in the race.
Director Tammy Dooley said that Visit Granbury will offer special hotel packages for that weekend.
The Great Race has a Granbury connection. It was started in 1983 by the late Tom McRae, former owner of Granbury Live on the square. It gained a huge following from late-night showings on ESPN during the network’s early years.
Each stop along the race route offers spectators several hours in which to view the cars. It is even common for kids to be allowed to climb into the cars for a first-hand look.
“When the Great Race pulls into a city it becomes an instant festival,” said director Jeff Stumb. “Last year we had a couple of overnight stops with more than 10,000 spectators on our way to having 250,000 people see the Great Race during the event.”
The 2020 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty will draw participants from all over the United States as well as Japan, England, Germany and Canada.
The event is not a speed race, but rather a competition involving split second timing. Competing teams will travel through 10 states – Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
More than 500 people will be in the entourage, according to Stumb.
Each vehicle has a driver and a navigator. The teams are given precise instructions each day that detail every move down to the second, according to a press release.
The teams are scored at secret check points along the way and are penalized one second for each second they are either early or late. Just like in golf, the lowest score wins.
If all goes as planned, cars will finish one minute apart.
The competition is open to cars built in 1974 and earlier. Most entries were manufactured before World War II.
A 1933 Ford pickup truck won the 2018 Great Race from Buffalo, New York to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Vehicles scheduled for this year’s competition include a 1909 Buick race car, a 1916 Hudson Pikes Peak Hillclimber, a 1917 Peerless Racer and a chain-driven 1918 American LaFrance Speedster.
Winners will receive $50,000 of the $150,000 total purse.
kcruz@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 258
