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JIM AUSTIN
THE COOPERSTOWN CRIER
More than 60 vintage cars competing in the Hemmings Motor News Great Race 2011 will stop in Cooperstown for lunch next Thursday, June 16.
Billed as the world’s premier time, speed, endurance rally on its website, the Great Race begins on June 11 in Chattanooga, Tenn., at the home of race co-sponsor Coker Tires and ends more than 1,000 miles later on June 17 in Bennington, Vt., at the home of co-sponsor Hemmings Motor News.
The Cooperstown lunch stop presents a rare opportunity to view vintage cars, meet the drivers and navigators and learn more about their cars and The Great Race. The oldest car in this year’s race is 100 years old; cars made after 1969 cannot compete.
Otsego County Tourism Director Deb Taylor has been working with race promoters and making arrangements for their stop in the village. Taylor said Main Street will be closed from the stop light to Fair Street. The cars will enter an arrival gate just before the flag pole, where a ceremony will take place at 11:40 a.m. The cars start arrivingat noon, and will park diagonally from the arrival gate down Main Street in front of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
She said the tourism office will be providing box lunches for the teams on the lawn of the municipal building.
Following lunch, the cars will start leaving Cooperstown across the Main Street bridge at 1 p.m. in one-minute intervals, with the last car departing at 2:30 p.m. for their next overnight stop in Saratoga Springs, she said.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Taylor said.
Each car has a driver and navigator who follow precise course instructions that indicate every turn, speed change, stop and start theymust make each day, according to the website. There are usually 220 to 250 instructions each day. Along the course there are checkpoints where each team’s exact time of arrival is recorded and used to determine their score.
Teams try to arrive at the checkpoints at the correct time, not the fastest. Scores are based on each team’s ability to follow the designated course and instructions properly.
The use of computers, cell phone and GPS devices is not allowed.
