'Great town,' but city still loses Great Race award 'Great town,' but city still loses Great Race award (July 09, 2004)

Vintage cars fill Main Street for family-focused event
by Jeb Bing

Despite enthusiastic crowds estimated at over 10,000 and praise from event organizers, the Great Race drivers voted Pleasanton out of the money after their Main Street parade and overnight stop here last Friday.

Truckee won the Great American City award for the best overnight stop and the $10,000 that the Great Race was donating to the winning city's local library. Pocahontas, Ark., won the best lunch stop and $5,000 for its library, and Alexander City, Ala., won $2,500 for being the best pit stop.

"It was a disappointment not to win the best city award, but we still had fun," said Joyce Shapiro, chairwoman of the Pleasanton Great Race Committee. "It was a splendid turnout and a true family event.

Only 82 of the nearly 100 vintage automobiles that started the 22nd annual Great Race on June 19 in Jacksonville, Fla., made it to Pleasanton, although all drivers and navigators voted in the best city competition. Navigating their cars under the Pleasanton Arch to parking places on Main Street, drivers looked weary and weather-beaten. Several said the day's drive from Truckee, which included strenuous competition, was the toughest they'd had.

"We had to go in sort of a maze, driving around corners and criss-crossing our route, changing speeds constantly, and calculating like crazy to meet the speed requirements," said Denny Paul of Carmel, who was driving a 1950 Ford convertible. "At one point, we had to hold our speed to exactly 48 miles an hour for an hour and a half. It was very tiring."

Still, many had high praise for the welcoming they received in Pleasanton, and Shapiro and her committee held out hope that Pleasanton would win.

"This is really a great town and we're proud to be here," said Corky Coker of Chattanooga, Tenn., who owns a specialty tire business that makes and supplies tires for vintage cars.

Dr. William Cooke, a retired radiologist from Paradise Valley, Ariz., agreed.

"The people of Pleasanton are really good hosts," he said. "You guys really have it all together."

Then at 9 p.m., with hundreds still milling around their cars, drivers started their engines and left Main Street for the Hilton Hotel. For Pleasanton, the Great Race was over just three hours after it started.

At 7 a.m. Saturday, the cars headed for the historic Customs House Plaza in Monterey, where the Great Race of 2004 ended.

In the end, after 14 days on the road and 4,200 miles, two teams finished with precisely the same score, a 1:54 second total error. By competition rules, the cash prize of $56,750 went to the oldest car, a 1916 Hudson, and the team of G. R. Pike and Bobby Hadskey. Co-winners for the grand championship prize were Dale and Susan McClenaghan in their 1939 Roush Racing Ford Deluxe, who won more than $20,000.

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