In the 39-year history of the Great Race, the event has made its way east and west and north and south through 46 of the 48 contiguous United States. In 2022, the Great Race will finally be able to add the last two states to its schedule – Rhode Island and North Dakota.
The 2022 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty Drivers Club will start in Warwick, Rhode Island, on Saturday, June 18, and finish in Fargo, North Dakota, on Sunday, June 26, race organizers have announced. The 9-day, 2,300-mile adventure will bring 120 of the world’s finest antique automobiles to 19 cities in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. More than $150,000 will be awarded to top finishers in multiple divisions.
“We are excited to start the 2022 Great Race in Warwick, a beautiful city just outside of Providence on the Narragansett Bay,” director Jeff Stumb said. “The host hotel has everything we need for meetings and activities, and the racers will enjoy some of the trips we have planned to car collections and to fabulous Newport, Rhode Island.”
“We are also excited to have finalized the finish in downtown Fargo, which is just across the Red River from Minnesota. Fargo is one of the most exciting cities in America and their downtown – which has hosted crowds of tens of thousands of people twice for College GameDay – is fantastic.”
Teams and cars from Japan, England, Australia, Canada and every corner of the United States will converge in Rhode Island in mid-June with vintage automobiles dating back as far as 1916. “There are more than 500 people just in our entourage from all around the world,” Stumb said.
Overnight and lunch cities are still in the works and will be announced later.
The Great Race, which began 39 years ago, is not a speed race, but a time/speed/distance rally. The vehicles, each with a driver and navigator, 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. The biggest part of the challenge other than staying on time and following the instructions is getting an old car to the finish line each day, organizers say. Each stop on the Great Race is free to the public and spectators will be able to visit with the participants and to look at the cars for several hours. It is common for kids to climb in the cars for a first-hand look.
Cars built in 1974 and earlier are eligible, with most entries having been manufactured before World War II. In the 2019 Great Race a 1916 Hudson won the event from Riverside, Calif., to Tacoma, Wash. The 2022 winners will again receive $50,000 of the $150,000 total purse. A 1916 Hudson Pikes Peak Hillclimber, a 1917 American LaFrance and a 1917 Peerless racer are the oldest cars scheduled to be in the 2021 Great Race from San Antonio, Texas, to Greenville, S.C., this summer.
Over the decades, the Great Race has stopped in hundreds of cities big and small, from tiny Austin, Nev., to New York City. “When the Great Race pulls into a city it becomes an instant festival,” Stumb said. “Last year we had several overnight stops with more than 10,000 spectators on our way to having 250,000 people see the Great Race during the event.”
The event was started in 1983 by Tom McRae and it takes its name from the 1965 movie, The Great Race, which starred Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood and Peter Falk. The movie is a comedy based on the real life 1908 automobile race from New York to Paris. In 2004, Tony Curtis was the guest of the Great Race and rode in his car from the movie, the Leslie Special.
The Great Race gained a huge following from late night showings on ESPN when the network was just starting out in the early 1980s. The first entrant, Curtis Graf of Irving, Texas, is still a participant today. The event’s main sponsors are Hemmings Motor News, Hagerty Drivers Club, Coker Tire and Reliable Carriers.
For more information, go to www.greatrace.com or contact Jeff Stumb at [email protected] or by calling him at 423-648-8542.
Team Altered States will be there! Can’t wait!
I’ll bring my sax if you bring your bass!
Hi Bob, this is Joanne Z in Wisconsin, when will you be in Wisconsin Dells this summer, Aunt Colette and I will try to make it as we do our Indiana run this summer. Hope to see you
I was lucky to get to the Ogonquit, Maine event back in 2014 and it was fantastic! As a native Rhode Islander now living in Florida, I’m excited to hear you’re coming to Little Rhody! Already marked my calendar and plan to be there! Please put me on a mailing list so I can plan to catch as many Rhody activities I can.
Eager to get back in the game! Glad to be booked. I guess I better start warming up the car….
So hoping the ’09 Buick Racer will participate. Looking forward to this!
What is the process of getting a vehicle registered to participate in the race?
The 2022 Great Race is already sold out, but you can get on the waiting list by going to http://www.greatrace.com/waitinglist and filling out the requested information.
Waiting list indicates 2021 sold out. Is this a misprint?
What is the process of getting a car registered for the event?
Where can I find a list of 2022 entrants
Where do I find the list of 2022 contestants in The Great Race?
How can a Club I’m affiliated with help sponsor a team coming thru the route in 2022?
is 2022 sold out
Are there any openings left
The 2022 Great Race is sold out, but you can get on the waiting list by going to http://www.greatrace.com/waitinglist and filling out the requested information. It will give you priority for the 2023 event if you do not get in the for 2022.
Looks like another great event. That said I am amazed you will run right across northern Indiana and NOT stop through Auburn? Wow.
The Bloomfield Cruisers will be there! Can’t wait.
What day will the Great Race go thur Sun Prairie, Wisconsin in 2022
My calculation shows June 23rd departure from Plainfield IL, lunch stop at Sun Prairie WI, overnight stop at Wisconsin Dells WI. See how close my guess is.
This will be my first rally. Have lots of experience with offshore powerboats and Firehawk endurance race cars in IMSA. Bill Warner (Amelia Island Concours) was one of the drivers on my Firehawk team. Also very happy to have competed and finished in the Cannonball in 1979. Have a 1966 Corvette coupe that I would like to use for this 2022 race. I live in Rhode Island and Florida, and ask that you put my name on your waiting list for the 2022 event. Thanks. Charlie McCarthy
We will be looking forward to seeing the 22 race come thru Minnesota. However, we have one comment to make about a major construction event in Duluth that is scheduled to last thru 2024. the event is labelled the ‘Twin Ports Interchange Construction Project’ and involves the I-35/US-53 interchange. If you already know about this and plan to avoid it then just disregard this comment.
I’ll try to be there for the start. I completed in 1984 and 85. Awesome adventure. Glad to see its still going
I would like to see the Great Race when they come through Ohio in June 2022 .Could you provide me the itinerary as to what day and Town they will be traveling through because I live in Michigan in need to plan ahead so I could be there when they stop and pause during the Race.
Too bad they aren’t traveling through all of North Dakota. The further West you get into the state, the prettier it gets.
Can you tell me where the cars leave from in Warwick, Rhode Island?
Thanks,
Linda
Rocky Point State Park
WHAT ROADS WILL THE GREAT RACE BE USING NEAR CRYSTAL LAKE, IL FOR THE 2022 GREAT RACE SO WE CAN SEE THEM DRIVE BY.
Can’t find rout and schedule info on line. When and where will the race be in Binghamton NY?
June 19th
Where in Warwick does event start?
Route map?
Website for above info?
Thanks
Are all the slots filled for 2022? Can I register for the 2023 race. What are its starting points and ending points and dates.
Can a car guy just follow along
Will routes used be published before the race? My home town is Mendota,Il.(U.S. 34).
My name is Celia Murrah, I am the newsletter editor of Stones River Region-AACA Car Club in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. We have members of our Junior Car Club enter the Great Race for the years 2017, 2019, and 2021. We have also had members of our Car Club, Kirk and his wife Sandy Bugg enter the race in 2021. They are planning to enter the race this year. Is there a way, I can copy the route of this year’s race for my newsletter to let our members know more about this race?
Can you disclose the roads to be taken on this years race. I live just off 86 in Waverly NY. I’d love to be on the overpass to cheer y’all on, after the Binghamton overnight stop.
Should subscribe to Hemings motor news for information
Welcome to Little Rhode.