The Great Race 2023

See the participating antique cars at Francis Field on Saturday, June 24th from 8 AM to 1 PM before they begin a 9-day rally to Colorado. The first car will start at 11 AM with others following in one-minute intervals until all have left the field.

ABOUT THE GREAT RACE
The Great Race is not a typical race, but a controlled-speed competitive endurance rally for vehicles that were built before 1975. The actual competition demands skilled driving, navigating, and the ability to keep the vehicle in top condition while traveling hundreds of miles a day for over a week. As in a more typical road rally, checkpoints along each route note the time each team passes with points deducted for being too early or too late. To make things more challenging, GPS and computers may not be used, and the odometers are taped over. The participants use their speedometers and timepieces to make it to the checkpoints on time.

The original Great Race (listed at the time as the “Great American Race”) occurred in 1983, starting in California and ending at the Indy 500. Sixty-nine pre-World War II vehicles set out from Knott’s Berry Farm and ended the rally at the Indy 500. At the time, with race fans already crowding the streets, safely moving the long-traveled and venerable vehicles from the highway to the race track was a challenge. Indy’s 32-officer National Champion Motorcycle Drill Team escorted the 62 finishers to the racetrack.