Great Race Announces Dixie Highway Route for 2017 Event

May 26, 2016

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It has been announced that the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty will travel the historic Dixie Highway for its 2017 event, held June 24 through July 2. The Dixie Highway, which is actually a network of highways, stretches from Florida to Michigan, and the 2017 Great Race is planning an awesome route to cover all of the landmarks along the way. A special treat for participants includes private tours of many car collections and museums, and it’s one of the many reasons that car enthusiasts consider the Great Race a “bucket list” event.

The Dixie Highway-themed route will feature many attractions, starting with an outstanding crowd of car loving folks in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday, June 24, 2017. This city has hosted multiple Great Race stops in the past, and it has always been extremely popular. Other attractions include numerous car collections, including an inside look at Corky Coker’s collection in Chattanooga, Tennessee. With Chattanooga being Coker Tire’s hometown, as well as the birthplace of the Dixie Highway, it makes perfect sense to host a huge overnight stop in the Scenic City. The route is expected to travel through Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan, and official city stops will be announced in the coming months.

The finish will be held in downtown Traverse City, Michigan, the site of the grand start of the 2012 Great Race, and the home of Hagerty Insurance, the event’s presenting sponsor. Tens of thousands of spectators gathered for the 2012 start, so Great Race organizers expect an equally large crowd for the finish of the 2017 event, held on Sunday, July 2, 2017.

Entries for the 2017 Great Race are now being accepted. The 120-car field fills up quickly, but there are many ways to enjoy the Great Race without actually competing. Car enthusiasts young and old enjoy the Great Race city stops, so keep an eye on www.greatrace.com to see the lunch and overnight stop announcements.

With $150,000 up for grabs, the Great Race is a very competitive event, drawing participants from all around the United States, and several other countries as well. The Great Race is not a speed race, but a time, speed, endurance rally. The vehicles, each with a driver and navigator, are given precise instructions each day that detail every move down to the second. They are scored at secret checkpoints along the way and are penalized one second for each second either early or late. As in golf, the lowest score wins.
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The Great Race is the world’s premiere old car rally, and it has traveled many miles in its 34-year existence. The Great Race is a nine-day journey that covers nearly 2,500 miles in vehicles built in 1972 and earlier. And for 2017, it will offer scenic views and historic landmarks along the Dixie Highway.

Each stop on the Great Race is free to the public and spectators will be able to visit with the participants and to look at the cars. It is common for kids to climb in the cars for a first-hand look. “When the Great Race pulls into a city it becomes an instant festival,” race director Jeff Stumb said. The Great Race may be coming to a town near you, so check out the premier time, speed, endurance rally for vintage cars if you have the chance!

To find out more about the Great Race, visit www.greatrace.com, or you can email [email protected] or call 1-800-989-7223.

17 comments about “Great Race Announces Dixie Highway Route for 2017 Event”

  • Almost every story alludes to the fact that to register for the 2017 Great Race one should go this website, but nowhere that I can find is there ANY method of registering for the 2017 Great Race. How does one go about attempting to register for the 2017 event?

  • Time marches on, so when will you change the rules to allow cars newer than 1972? I’ve got a 1974 Mercedes that I’m patiently waiting to qualify.

  • OK, the event is sold out. I’m on the wait list, but I wonder, is it possible to shadow the event? Can one buy in to the events and not compete?

  • i would also like to shadow the race in my ’30 Ford truck. when will you publish the route and city stops so that i can begin planning my trip?

  • Years ago, when it was going to Jacksonville, I simply fell in behind some of the folks and followed them in my ’72 Riviera for awhile. They didn’t seem to mind. I could have entered this year as I still have the car, but I’m not up to it physically.

  • Can we obtain an exact route map of the 2017 race so we can take our own trip at our leaaure at a later date in the year?

    • I did a video of the start of the great race when it left from Liovnia, Michigan recreation center. If interested I’ll try to find it in my collection and I can make a dvd quality copy 4 U. Maybe $15.00 plus $2 shipping. It has every single auto as it was leaving to start the race. Plus some other stuff in the area.
      I’m a photographer for the University of Michigan Marching Band.

  • We live near one of the stops in Armuchee Ga. What is the exact route they are taking in the race, would like to find a spot on the side of the road to watch. thanks

  • I want to watch the cars coming into Auburn In the police dept did not know route. The Auburn Museum and the Dekalb Visters Center did not know the route. Are they coming north onUS 27 or I 69 thank you. Dan dienelt

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