They're here! They're here! (July 02, 2004)

Great Race cars, drivers on Main Street tonight
by Jeb Bing

They're here! More than 100 vintage automobiles that have been motoring for 14 days in the 4,200-mile Great Race across America crossed into California yesterday and headed to Pleasanton, where they will parade down Main Street starting at 6 p.m. tonight.

The racers will arrive in Pleasanton in the late afternoon after a luncheon stop and presentations in Vallejo. The cars, each with a driver and navigator, will assemble on St. Mary Street as pre-show festivities get under way at the reviewing stand in front of the Museum On Main Street. These will include the posting of the colors by the California National Guard, the "Pledge of Allegiance" led by local Boy Scouts, and the national anthem to be sung by local vocalist Carolyn Cardinalli.

At 6 p.m., the first of the cars will drive under the Pleasanton Arch and past the reviewing stand where the make and year of the car and its driver and navigator will be announced, with the other cars following at one-minute intervals. Then the cars will be parked along Main Street starting at Abbie until 9 p.m., where the public is invited to see the cars, sit in them and talk to the drivers.

"We are thrilled to be hosting the Great Race during the Fourth of July holiday weekend," said event chairwoman Joyce Shapiro. "This event is a perfect way for our citizens to celebrate our great American spirit. We are proud of our downtown and historic homes. Showcasing them to the Great Racers during this All-American event is a tremendous benefit for our city."

"This event is family friendly, free to spectators and will serve the Pleasanton community well," she added. "Our proud city's name is on more than 18,000 posters and event T-shirts that have been available in the 40-plus city stops along the way."

Many Pleasanton organizations, including the Pleasanton Weekly, have contributed to the local effort by sponsoring one of the cars, with their banners and representatives to join the drivers and navigators at tonight's event. Food booths will be open on Main Street starting at 3 p.m., with proceeds from booths operated by the Rotary Club and Lions Club dedicated to local community projects.

This 22nd annual transcontinental race started June 19 in Jacksonville, Fla., with drivers and their navigators traveling mostly on backroads and rural highways across the country. Pleasanton is the final overnight stop for the wearied motorists. Tomorrow at 7 a.m., they'll be on the road again, checking out of the Pleasanton Hilton, the host hotel, for the finish line in Monterey. There, at an awards banquet at the Portola Plaza Hotel tomorrow night, the competitors will learn who qualified for prizes, cash and bragging rights as the world's best vintage car teams. Last year, the purse totaled more than $250,000.

By the time racers reach Pleasanton they will have traveled through 10 states and made breakfast, lunch, supper and overnight stops in 50 cities, including well-known places like Columbus, Ga., Birmingham, Ala., and Colorado Springs, and a few stops in lesser known towns like WaKeeney, Kan., and Grantsville, Utah. At one brief stop in Austin, Nev., last Wednesday, the town's entire population of 75 was expected to turn out to greet the motorcade.

Great Racers compete in distances of more than 4,000 cross-country miles annually. The cars must have original running gear, and most are without air conditioning. The annual vintage rally is based on time-speed-distance and a lot of American ingenuity.

The competition is a timed endurance race where the goal is not to be the fastest, but to follow race instructions precisely and match the "perfect" time for course completion established by Great Race officials. Exact speeds and perfect drive times are allotted for each maneuver and are accurate within one-hundredth of a second. Racers may only use a wristwatch, an analog clock, speedometer, pencil and paper to chart their miles. Several times throughout each day, racers' progress is clocked at secret checkpoints by video cameras with electronic timers. A perfect score for the course, which is primarily on back roads, is zero. A winning score of a five to 10 second error for a day are typical. The lowest score wins.

The oldest car in the race is a 1912 National, sponsored by Grundy Insurance. It has the distinction of having raced in the Indianapolis 500 in 1912 and crashing.

"The twin to this car won the race, however," quickly added Jim Grundy, who owns and will be driving the car into Pleasanton. "This car rides terrible, but has unbelievable performance. It will go 100 miles an hour and can climb any hill. We know the car will hold up; we just hope your teeth will."

Other cars in this field of vintage vehicles valued at over $3 million include a 1935 Ford 3-window coupe that actually raced on the beach at Daytona, Fla., in 1935 and a 1925 Rolls Royce 20/25 coupe that has the steering wheel on the right side. Among those passing under the Arch tonight will be: Ą The team of Troy Hughes and Mark Dziwanowski in the 1957 Thunderbird has been on the receiving end of the warmest welcomes, thanks to their efforts to raise money and awareness for finding a cure for pancreatic cancer, a disease that Dziwanowski is combating. Ą The team of 11-year-old navigator Sawyer Stone and his driver-grandfather Dave Reeder in their 1935 Ford. At the last report, they were in second place in the cumulative standings. Ą John Guertin, a Pleasanton native who now lives in Monterey, is driving a 1935 Ford Phaeton with his son Alec as navigator. Ą G.R. Pike and Bobby Hadskey in their 1916 Hudson are also ahead in the cumulative scoring and could be the grand champions. Always the bride's maid but never the bride, the Hudson has finished in second place for six years in a row.

Besides now being listed as one of more than 500 cities that have been on the Great Race route over the last 22 years, Pleasanton also is eligible for a $10,000 Great Race award, which will be donated to the winning city's library. The award, which is voted on solely by the drivers and their navigators, is based on hospitality, crowd enthusiasm and venue decorations. In addition, Mervyn's department store has pledged to match and donate $10,000 to the Pleasanton Library if Pleasanton is selected as the winner in the hospitality award. The offer is being made exclusively to Pleasanton.

In addition to Joyce Shapiro as chairwoman of the Pleasanton Great Race Committee, others serving on the committee are Bernie Billen, Gina Hodges, Jan Batcheller, Janet Yarbrough, Keith McKay, Bob Reguilon, Kay Huff, David Victor, Karen Clark-Pace, Christine Salidivar, Alexis Gass, Gary Kohler, Gary Winter, Janet Burton, Pamela Ott, Julie Arnone and Denise Howe.

For more information about the Great Race and to follow the competition to the finish line in Monterey, go the organization's Web site at www.greatrace.com.

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