As we position ourselves for the finale of the 2019 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty, we experienced another excellent day of rallying. Interestingly, the timed portion of today’s course began in Longview, Washington, our lunch host for the day. John Classen designed a course that would send the racers on a series of scenic roads, following the Columbia River. The route included a covered bridge, which is always fun for pictures. Then, we eventually crossed back into Oregon, making a pit stop in the beautiful city of Astoria, Oregon. A quick snack, a restroom break and a bit of fellowship was a perfect way to break up the morning route. The weather was absolutely beautiful in Astoria and the people were very kind. From there, we made our way back to Longview, which hosted one of the largest lunch stops in recent Great Race history. The town welcomed us with open arms, and put on a car show of their own to coincide with our rolling display of vintage iron.
Our afternoon route sent us on a challenging course with the beautiful Mount Saint Helens in view. While the curve and hills were a little less dramatic than previous days, it still offered quite the challenge. We ended the day at the LeMay Collections at Marymount, an absolutely stunning display on the property of an old Catholic boys school in Spanaway, Washington. Harold LeMay spent his life collecting cars, trucks and many other items, and purchased the property many years ago. The sheer quantity of items in the collection could’ve kept us occupied for days, but we made a quick trip through the various buildings and enjoyed a delicious meal while we waited on scores to be tabulated and finalized. Once again, it was Howard and Doug Sharp winning the day, with a mind-boggling score of 2.64 seconds. Can the father and son team win their third Grand Champion title or will Jody Knowles and Beth Gentry come back from a 9 second deficit to take the $50,000 prize? We’ll find out tomorrow!
Great job today Mark and Dane #139, wonderful to see you guys “on song”, good class placing for the day:)
Hope you are having a blast.
Best luck today from your Phoenix friends
david and Peter.
“MotorMouth” has so enjoyed every picture, posting, and comment, be it here on this site or on Facebook. I’ve missed being involved this year and will work hard to be healthy enough to rejoin you all next year! I’ve really enjoyed listening to Jason White on the video clips that have been close to the finish line.
Best wishes to all as you celebrate the finish of what has to be one of the most picturesque competitions ever! Cheers to you all!
It would be great to see you back again Brian “Motormouth”.
A BIG THANK YOU to Jeff, Angelia the Great Race Coker team and incredible, behind the scenes, volunteers who man/woman the controls and setup/take-down people who make everything work so well. I am sure it is a lot more complicated and harder work than we ever see!!
People who work tirelessly, endlessly, rain or shine.
And to the amazing photographers who get superlative shots of the cars, rest stops and magnificent dramatic desert and mountain scenery
Good cheer to all of you.
It was not possible for us to be there this year, but we hope to be part f this amazing adventure again next year.
David and Peter
Team Phoenix.
Here is a shout out from a LeMay Family Collection volunteer at Marymount. What a pleasure to interact and work with the folks running this event, and then to work with parking and arranging the competitors as they arrived on our campus. It was an unexpected pleasure when drivers we expected to be tired and non committal, instead thanked us for getting them situated. Later conversations reinforced that perception, that in the majority, the vehicle enthusiast community is some of the best company you can be in. We had a wonderful time.
Any photo’s of # 33 ,1932 burgundy hi boy that won? Going to build one like it.
Thanks, Frank