he 2012 Hemmings Motor News Great Race will start in Michigan, visit all of the Great Lakes, spend four days in Canada and return to Michigan, race promoter Corky Coker has announced.

And all of this will take place from one weekend to the next in late June of next year.

The endurance road rally for antique and classic cars will begin in Traverse City, Mich., on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay – an arm of Lake Michigan – on June 23. The following weekend it will roll back into the Detroit area after traveling approximately 2,000 miles through two countries and the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.

The race will travel completely around three of the Great Lakes and pass within sight of the other two. Once the race leaves Traverse City, it will travel north across the border into Canada at Sault Ste. Marie, where locks join lakes Superior and Huron. From there it will travel east along the north shore of Lake Huron, south toward Lake Ontario, then east again toward the St. Lawrence River before entering the United States at Thousand Islands.

The route turns west along lakes Ontario and Erie in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio the last few days before returning to Michigan.

Planned stops along the way include the Pierce-Arrow Museum in Buffalo, N.Y.; the National Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio; and the Automotive Heritage Museum (the last Hudson dealer) in Ypsilanti, Mich.

All participants in the Great Race, including support crews, will need a passport to be able to enter Canada and then back again into the United States.

Entry fee for the Great Lakes Great Race will be $4,000 for private entries and $5,000 for corporate entries. A $500 discount is available to any team – private or corporate – which pays a $2,000 deposit by Sept. 18, 2011, and the balance by Dec. 31, 2011.

We currently plan that all lunches and dinners will again be included for racers, as well as breakfast many mornings. All support crews will be included at each hosted dinner.

As an added convenience to races teams this year, we are working on providing secure parking for trailers in Michigan (in Detroit and Traverse City) for support crews who don’t want to bring them along on the event. With the start and finish only 250 miles apart, this is a viable option for the first time.

The Great Race is a controlled-speed/time/endurance road rally open to all 1969 and older model year automobiles. A handicap system gives a competitive advantage to older cars, and there is a separate class – with a separate prize fund – for rookie teams.

Covington Travel, which has experience with rolling events like the Great Race, has been hired as the new travel agency for the race. Covington was the travel agent for the Motorcycle Cannonball rally from North Carolina to California in 2010.

For additional information on the 2012 Hemmings Motor News Great Race contact Jeff Stumb at [email protected] or 1-800-989-RACE (7223).