Stage 9 The Finish in Greenville, SC

The team finally took a photo together with Big Red just berfore the Boys headed out for the last day of compition. The temperatures were hot and so was the action today. Today’s route sent us into South Carolina, where country back roads made up the majority of the timed course. Day 9 is always just a half day of rallying, but it’s packed full of instructions and packed full of checkpoints. Mix that with the fact that racers cannot throw out any legs, and you have a crucial day of competition. After the morning rally, we went to the BMW Car Club of America Museum in Greer, South Carolina for a great lunch. 

Then, it was time to jump back on the highway and head to the finish line on Main Street in Greenville, South Carolina. Thousands of people joined us to cheer on the racers, and welcome them to town. It was incredible to watch the racers breathe a giant sigh of relief as they rolled through that finish line gate. 

There were plenty of people and I ebven got a chance to get a photo with the Michelin Man. I saw every emotion as the drivers and navigators passed through the final finish line.  Tears and Cheers! 

The motto “to finish is to win” rings true each and every year, as we navigate more than 2,000 miles in old cars. With Big Red having major transmition problems this finish line crossing was a blessing.  The two men were exasted but excited to have finished the race and made so many new friends.

We all had ice cream just to cool off and relax for a few minutes.  We enjoyed Kelly's company for te afternnon.

The top dogs were brouhgt up to the front and they announced all the winners with great fanfare.  The moments were exciting as each class was announced.  Then finally they announced the over all winners. the first time the winners were both femail and under 21!  What a great moment for the Gentry Girls and for the sport!

Darrin proudly wearing his fininshin g metal!

Loading up and heading home

Stage 8 Beckley, WV to Mooresville, NC

It was a short drive around 175 miles to reach Mooresville and we arrived before 10 am.  We were lucky to get our rooms early.  Paul's took a little bit becasue they could not find the reservation.  We later found out one room was in one hotel and the other in another hotel.

Darrin and Sam were headed out to a day of Championship racing. Every morning is the same routine.  Sam gets the directions and Darrin gets the car ready to go.

The landscape was someting else.  We saw train trussells and tunnels and some of the countries most beautiful landscape.  On this route we reached the highes elevation of 3100 feet above sea level.

We arrived in Mooresville and headed to park the trailer and check into our hotel.  We made our way (less than a 1/2 mile) to the North Carolina Auto Racing Museam where one car is owned by Jeff Stumb. I picked the Hudson because Jeff collects them.  Of course I was wrong it was the car facing the Hudson.  3 peolpe did pick the correct car and one person won $100 in Great Race gear.

We did take in the video about the Nevada Salt Flats.  It was interesting to see how the weather and other infulunces are changing the Salt Flats.

30 minutes away is the City of Charlotte.  We travled down to see the NASCAR Hall of Fame Museum. Before entering and getting Paul's Canadian Mounty discount (Military) we did find Curt's brick.  It was nice to see it was still there even though it had moved.

The NASCAR Musem was done very well.  I enjoyed the car display that went up 2 sotries.  The platform was a denmonstration on the degeree angle of tracks.

As we were headed back to Greenville we got a call from Annie Goldman.  She was in Greenville and I sent her to see the local museum.  We cought up with her there and then headed down to see the finish line.

We all headed into a very nice reatraunt and enjoyed a very nice dinner.  We had been enjoying race food all the way so far and it really was time for a change.

After seven days of rallying, the competition always intensifies on Championship Days. The final two days of competition are always challenging and the course gave the teams a true workout today. The morning route was a scenic ride through the mountains in Virginia. Speed changes and terrain changes were plentiful on the first legs of the rally. We rolled into Galax, Virginia for lunch, and were welcomed by a nice crowd of locals. Just south of Galax, we hopped onto the Blue Ridge Parkway for part of the afternoon rally, then the racers took part in one of the most intricate mazes in Great Race history. The series of turns sent racers into multiple loops all afternoon long. It was challenging for both driver and navigator, but it was certainly fun to watch the cars maneuvering in every which way. As the course concluded, we had a relatively short transit into Mooresville, North Carolina, also known as Race City USA. The stop downtown was one of the most well attended stops we’ve ever seen–shoulder to shoulder for blocks.

As the cars came in we enjoyed the celbration of each one.  Some wer glad to have completed the day sand some like our mentors Christian and Jason were excited about 2 ACEs.

After the sunsets ecverybody returns to the hotels and begin to work on the vehicles.  This is te first night that Darrin did not woork on the Cadillac  One more day of ralley and she would go on the trailer for the trip home.

This Caddy had a head gsket go out.  It is a copper gasket and they had to rebuild the top end of the motor twice.

Stage 7 Lexington, KY to Beckley, WV

Last night while working on the car Darrins glasses got slammed in the car hood and it broke the frames. They boys had a late start. They did their normal routine.

Paul and I went to Walmart to get them fixed and buy some stuff.  We raced back to the start to give Darrin his glasses just moments before they headed out.

The toll roads are just a comom occurance in the north.  I always seemed to get in the wrong lane and it would take for ever (2 -3 minutes) to get throught them.

Paul and I decided to head out and try to go to Big River National Park. I set the GPS for the park and away we went. Little did I know it was set for the center of the park.  We left the main hiway and traveled some beautiful back country roads. They kept getting smaller and smaller until we were on a logging trail.  We were able to turn around at a farmers house and get back to the main road and to the town of Berckley.

The landscape is quickly changing on the Great. The scores are settling in. There were incredible views of mountains, valleys, hills, twists and turns. It was quite the tour, as we crossed over into West Virginia after rallying in Eastern Kentucky for most of the morning. We made our way to Huntington, West Virginia for lunch, and were greeted with a great crowd and a quick lunch to get everyone re-energized for a long afternoon. The rally course for the afternoon only consisted of one leg, and it gave the teams some time to unwind, even though the roads were pretty twisty. The reason for the short rally time was to give teams some time to visit New River Gorge National Park. After our fun trip down into the gorge, we came back up to the highway and rolled into Beckley, West Virginia for our Day 7 overnight stop. Thousands of people crowded the narrow streets as the racers parked.

Big Red crossed the finish line and Same proudly displayed the ACE thay had won for the day.  This brought their total to two. Darrin would place his on on the driver sida and Sam would place his on the passenger side.

Big Red was so long that they chose to put her in the handicap area instead of block the whole street by backing her in.

Stage Six Owensboro to Lexington

The boys are 70 out today so start time is around 9 am.  They left for the host hotel and we went for parts. 

Super cool bridges in Kentucky

 We chose to head over to Lexington pretty quickly and do some sight seeing. Paul and I went to see the castle.  It is a hotel and you could only get in with reservations.  

So we went to a horse farm. 

We met with Paul's friends Ron an Charlotte.  We toured to farm and saw the work horses and the champion barn. This was the home off the retired race horses. 

I left Paul to go back to watch the cars come in.  I hung out with the WTF guys as we waited.  One car after another would arrive a drive up on the grass to park. Looked like an old fashion car show.

When Darrin and Sam arrived theybparket in the parking lot as they were told.  They had some impressive scores today They would have had a better day but they turned around and knew they did the wrong thing. That cost them a 39 second leg.

Day 6 of the Great Race kicked off in Owensboro, Kentucky and it was a day PACKED full of rally maneuvers. Today was less about covering a bunch of ground, and more about putting those teams to work! We crossed over into the Eastern Time Zone today, so that made for a short morning, before we rolled into the lunch stop in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. From there, we zipped over to Bardstown for a pit stop at My Old Kentucky Home State Park. We enjoyed a few minutes of hanging out under the shade trees before getting back into an action-packed afternoon route. Hills, hard turns and TONS of speed changes wrapped up the day’s rally, before rolling into a great evening stop at the Griffin Gate Marriott hotel in Lexington, Kentucky. The beautiful lawn offered a great parking area for the cars, and once again, we enjoyed a nice crowd. 

The venue this time was held at the hotel. They had food trucks for dinner. The mexican was very tasty. 

We called it an early night

Stage Five Cape Girardeau to Owensboro

Sleep in today! Darrin and Sam both looked refreshed and ready to go.

Paul and I are doing laundry.  We did some running around as well.  We had left a block of wood at a previous stop that would go under the trailer.  The block has an angle cut on it that acts as a jack.  The manager at Lowes gave us three pieces of wood to use for this purpose.

Then we went to do laundry. Paul had his done and I did my own.

We traveled the backroads of the midwest today.  I navigated (not the best thing for me to do) Paul drove. We only had to turn around once.  

We arrived at our destination and checked in and dropped the trailer. 

The corn shimmers in the wind

Interesting churchinteresting ascend towns

We found our way to the finish line about a half hour before the cars were scheduled to arrive.  We walked the riverfront and played with the adventure app.  They had a memorial to all wars, water fountains and the coolest kids park.

The cars began to come in and not many people were there but as the cars came so did the people. Before you knew it the place was packed. You could hardly see the cars.

We had a little less ground to cover today, so the route featured lots of turns, speed changes and maneuvers compared to previous days. But before we reached the hosted stops, we saw beautiful farm land and we actually crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois on our way to lunch. It was a surprise for our racers, as we had not publicized our small taste of Illinois in any of our marketing materials. Another special surprise consisted of a quick photo opp in front of the giant Superman statue in downtown Metropolis, Illinois. After that, we went across the Irvin S Cobb bridge, crossing the Ohio River, to enter Paducah, Kentucky for our lunch stop.

Before we got back on the clock, we crossed the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River. The scenery was wonderful this afternoon with a mixture of rolling hills and flat farmland. We rolled into Owensboro, Kentucky with high expectations after our last several nights of huge turnouts. And, when we rounded the corner on Veterans Boulevard, it was a major shock! One of the largest Great Race crowds we’ve ever seen welcomed the cars and drivers to town. Thousand of people surrounded the cars, and we all enjoyed live music, delicious food and fellowship with the awesome car-crazy community in Owensboro. 

I sat with Peter Lamountain's navigators wife and talked about the Great Race.  The boys had a good day.  The had a 1 second leg. Darrin figured out the tranny and how to make it work. 

After a little time hanging with the car we all headed to the park for dinner of pulled pork, mutton and chicken.  While eating the band started up.  I left the boys and walked to see all the cars.  Paul headed out to the part store and back to the hotel.  Darrin rewired the brake lights at the show.  

I rode back to the  hotel in Big Red.  Darrin changed spark plugs and we called it an early night.