Team DeSoto finishes “The Great Race”
On Sunday, July 1, Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s (GNTC) 7HDP 'H6RWR FURVVHG WKH ¿QLVK OLQH RI The Great Race, a rally-style race with vintage vehicles that began in Buffalo, N.Y., and ended in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada over the course of nine days.
The Great Race was an endurance race with classic cars and all participants drove vintage vehicles. Each vehicle had to be model year 1972 or older for the 2018 race. GNTC’s Team 'H6RWR GURYH D 'H6RWR )LUHÀLWH that was restored by the Automotive Technology program.
Four GNTC Automotive Technology students participated in The Great Race. Two students, Adam Grogan and Nicholas Barber, alternated as drivers and two students, Zayne Waits and John Valle, alternated as navigators. All four students are residents of Cedartown.
The Great Race began 36 years ago and was created to get vintage automobiles out of the museums or private collections and on the streets, according to Great Race organizers. The Great Race is named after the 1965 movie that starred Tony Curtis.
The race is not a speed race and the routes between checkpoints are scenic back roads.
“It is nothing short of life changing the overall experience, the people we have met, and the things that we have learned,” said Barber. “When we transitioned from the United States into Canada the landscape was beautiful and the back roads that they take us on were absolutely breathtaking.”
Teams are given instructions and a prescribed time each day to get to the next check point. They are not allowed to use GPS, cellphones, or computers. The object for Great Race teams is to get to the next checkpoint as close as possible to their prescribed time. Penalties are given for the amount of time a team is over or under their prescribed time when they arrive at the checkpoint.
“The race is all about time management, just to get from point A to point B, within the given time frame,” said Valle. “It’s a really, really big experience and it is very exciting.”
Team DeSoto competed in the X-Cup division of The Great Race, a special class that was created to encourage younger generations to take an interest in vintage vehicles.
“The classic car world has been a big part of my childhood,” said Grogan “Going through all this just makes me appreciate it so much more.”
The team was in very good standing to win the X-Cup towards the end of the race, but a rotor button broke on the HQJLQH GXULQJ WKH ¿QDO VWDJH RI WKH UDFH Barber and Waits were able to tape the button back together with duct tape so WKH FDU FRXOG GULYH DFURVV WKH ¿QLVK OLQH but by that point they missed too many of the checkpoints to win the division. The stages of The Great Race included:
2I¿FLDO 6WDUW -XQH %XIIDOR 1 < to Fairport, N.Y.
Stage 2, June 24, Troy N.Y. Stage 3, June 25, Burlington, Vermont Stage 4, June 26, Gardiner, Maine Stage 5, June 27, Bangor, Maine Stage 6, June 28, Bar Harbor, Maine Stage 7, June 29, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
Stage 8, June 30, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
Stage 9, July 1, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Each stop of The Great Race was open to the public and the cars would park WRJHWKHU DIWHU FURVVLQJ WKH ¿QLVK 7KRXsands of spectators were present at the end of each stage.
“It’s like a big travelling car show,” said Grogan.
In addition to the end rally points of each stage, there also was daily pit stops and hosted lunches for drivers and navigators in Lockport, N.Y.; Batavia, N.Y.; Norwich, N.Y.; Bennington, Vermont; Mount Washington, New Hampshire; Owls Head, Maine; Seal Cove, Maine; Rothesay, NB, Canada; and Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada.
³7KHVH JX\V DUH UHDOO\ JRLQJ WR EHQH¿W from this experience in a lot of different ways,” said Rodney Parris, director of GNTC’s Automotive Technology program and leader of Team DeSoto. “They are going to carry this experience for the rest of their lives.”
A majority of the pit stops and overnight stops were chosen by organizers because they were close to an antique car museum or vintage car collection. At several stops, The Great Race was paired with other events that involved vintage automobiles.