The total purse for the 2012 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty is going to be $118,500, event Director Jeff Stumb has announced. The Grand Champion of the race will receive a minimum of $25,000. The total purse is an increase of 32 percent over last year, and the Grand Champion is guaranteed to pocket at least $5,000 more than last year.

The other major increases are the addition of daily prize money and an increase of one extra paid position in each division and class. “And we increased the total amount paid out in each class as well,” Stumb said.

Here is the breakdown of overall and class prize money:

The 2012 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty got a big boost Jan. 6 when an article and photograph about the event ran in the New York Times. Click the link below to read the entire story (the race will be closer to 2,300 miles, not the 1,000 reported).

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/racing-against-time-around-the-great-lakes/?emc=eta1

Here are a couple of announcements from the Great Race staff:

Car numbers will be assigned beginning Feb. 1 to those who have registered and are paid in full. Veterans, as always, will get the number they had in last year’s race. Veterans who missed last year can get their requested number as long as no one picked it up last year and wants it again in 2012. Rookies will be assigned numbers. If you want your regular car number and have not signed up for the 2012 Great Race, this is your last warning.

Hotel room registration will begin around Feb. 15 once the travel agency has completed the reservation web site. All racers who have registered by that time will be given access to the secure web site and will be able to select the type and quantity of rooms they desire. We have enough rooms on hold in all locations, so no one who is paid in full by Feb. 15 will be left out. In several cities, all participants will be staying at the same hotel, so the selection will be room preference only (two queen beds or one king; smoking or non smoking). In other cities, we will be split into two hotels near to each other. The choice in those cities will be hotel price and room preference.

We have been reminding participants even before the route was announced to get your passports. Time is running out to get your passport if you are going on the 2012 Great Race (or if you are still thinking about going). It can take 6 to 8 weeks to get your passport, so please make those arrangements if you have not already done so. If you have had a passport for a while, please check it because they are good for only 10 years before they have to be renewed, and must be valid for at least an additional six months (through Dec. 28, 2012).

Greetings:

We are extremely excited about the 2012 Great Race around the Great Lakes, and we are glad you will be participating. Attached is a link to the Event Regulations. There are not many changes from last year, and any major changes are highlighted in yellow.

If you have any questions on any of this, please let me know.

http://www.greatrace.com/2012-event-regulations.pdf

Thanks,

Jeff Stumb
Coker Tire Marketing Director
jeffs@coker.com

Great Race Director
jeff@greatrace.com

1317 Chestnut Street
Chattanooga, TN 37402
Direct: 423-648-8542
Fax: 423-752-8712

The 2011 Hemmings Motor News Great Race television show will air in two parts on Fox Sports Net in January of 2012, event director Jeff Stumb has announced.

The first part will air on New Year’s Day at 11:30 a.m., and it will be followed the next Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012, also at 11:30 a.m.

“We are pleased to have the Great Race on TV, but we are overwhelmed to have it on Jan. 1,” Stumb said. “And because New Year’s Day is on a Sunday, there will be no college football bowl games that day. The viewership for our show is expected to be in the millions.”

Fox Sports Net reaches more than 80 million homes in the United States, and the program will air at 11:30 a.m. no matter what time zone or region you live in.

“The show will feature not only the winning 1911 Velie of Howard and Doug Sharp, but also many of the top competitors during the run from Chattanooga to Bennington, Vt.,” Stumb said. “As a car lover, you will see plenty of neat Model As, a 1916 Packard, a 1957 Arnolt-Bristol, a 1966 Dodge Charger, a 1966 Corvette and a 1968 Mercedes just to name a few.  And everyone remembers what a tight, competitive event it was in 2011.”

Go to www.foxsports.com/tv/schedule and type in your zip code and you will be directed to a list of cable providers in your area. Select your cable or satellite provider and it will give you the listing of all Fox Sports programming and the channel in your area where the Great Race TV show will appear on Jan. 1 and Jan. 8.

If for some reason you are not able to see the show on those two dates, they will be available later on the internet and on DVDs available from the Great Race.

Plans are already in the works to film the 2012 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty to be filmed and shown on television within two months after the finish of the event around the Great Lakes. “We believe we will have next year’s show on the air before the end of August 2012,” Stumb said.

Sponsors of the Great Race for 2011 included Hemmings Motor News, Hagerty Collector Car Insurance, Coker Tire, Steele Rubber, Rare Parts, Tommy’s Trailers, Pat-n-Pat Auctions, Dupont, the Powerblock and Passport Transport.