Toshi Akasaka, the Japanese vintage car enthusiast who entered the 2014 Great Race for the first time and then brought eight teams from his home country to the 2015 race after telling his friends how much fun it was, visited Great Race headquarters in Chattanooga last week. Great Race director Jeff Stumb, who was a guest of the Japanese teams in Tokyo back in January to help them prepare for the event, took Toshi to the top of Lookout Mountain to the Civil War landmark and National Park overlooking Chattanooga.
Its a pretty impressive view of Chattanooga from Point Park, Stumb said. Toshi took me to Nagano, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics, to swim with the Snow Monkies while I was in Japan, so I wanted to return the favor and show him around the Chattanooga area. Toshi spends about half his time in Tokyo and half in Miami, and he is bringing five teams from Japan for the 2016 Great Race from San Rafael, California, to Moline, Illinois, in June.
Glad to see you return for the 3rd time. You have an infectious smile and a personality to go with it. I hope your fellow countrymen will add the same enthusiasm you have shown. See you in San Rafael!