Months of preparations boils down to the start of the 2017 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty. But first, we always get things started a day early with the Hagerty Trophy Run! It’s a practice rally that helps our staff, racers and support crews get ready for the 2,300-mile, nine-day journey from Jacksonville, Florida to Traverse City, Michigan! Director of Competition, John Classen didn’t make it easy for them today, as the racers encountered a tricky maze that sent them traveling in opposite directions through the scenic back roads of northeastern Florida. Today’s route brought them back to the host hotel here in Jacksonville, Florida, and we ended the evening on a high note with an opening banquet to announce the Trophy Run winners, as well as a special cruise in and concert to welcome the racers to this beautiful town. We’re excited about tomorrow’s festivities and we’ll be sure to keep you updated with photo highlights and scores daily. You can see the full scores from today’s Trophy Run here: https://www.greatrace.com/results.

We’re so happy to see our Great Race family once again, and it’s always exciting to see rookies (and veterans) succeed! One such case is the Rookie team of Olivia and Genna Gentry. These girls have been on the Great Race since they were babies, and now they’re driving their grandfather’s 1963 Dodge Dart convertible. The cool thing is that these girls are serious about it, and scored very well in today’s Trophy Run. They actually tied for the winning score in the Rookie division on raw score, but got beat out by .015 second, due to the age multiplying factor of the car. These girls mean business! Another case is Erin and Brad Kaplan, piloting a 1966 Mustang. They have been with us for the past few years, competing in the Sportsman division. Today’s competition saw them take out long time veterans of the Great Race competition, including previous Grand Champions for an overall win on today’s route.

X-Cup Winners: Galax, Virgina with a score of 0m30.42s.

Rookie Winners: Neil Myerscough and Shanna Chatraw with a score of 0m08.55s.

Expert Winners: John and Scott Hudson with a score of 0m05.10s.

Grand Champion Division Winners: Curtis Graf and Wayne Bell (not pictured) with a score of 0m04.86s.

Sportsman (and overall) Winners: Erin and Brad Kaplan with a score of 0m02.94s.