The 2024 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Coker Tire will start in Owensboro, Ky., on Saturday, June 22, race organizers have announced. The Great Race, the world’s premiere old car rally, will bring 120 of the world’s finest antique automobiles to town for the $160,000 event. The start will be on Veterans Boulevard along the river with the cars lining up at 8 a.m. and the first car leaving at 10:30 a.m. The finish will be in Gardiner, Maine, on June 30.
“What an unbelievable honor to be the starting point for the most famous car race across America,” said Dave Kirk from Visit Owensboro. “This large-scale event will deliver a huge economic impact for our community not just in terms of the days leading up to the race and the start, but you can’t put a price on the international marketing this provides our community,”
The 9-day, 2,300-mile adventure will travel to 19 cities in Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine.
“We are excited to start the 2024 Great Race in Owensboro,” Great Race Director Jeff Stumb said. “The overnight stop there in 2021 was one of the best we have ever seen. We wanted to make sure we got back as soon as possible, and what better way to do that than to make Owensboro the start of the Great Race.”
Teams and cars from Japan, England, Australia, Canada, and every corner of the United States, will converge in Kentucky in mid-June with vintage automobiles dating back as far as 1916. “There are more than 500 people just in our entourage from all around the world,” Stumb said.
The Great Race, which began 41 years ago, is not a speed race, but a time/speed/distance 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 check points along the way and are penalized one second for each second either early or late. As in golf, the lowest score wins.
Cars start – and hopefully finish – one minute apart if all goes according to plan. The biggest part of the challenge other than staying on time and following the instructions is getting an old car to the finish line each day, organizers say.
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 for several hours. It is common for kids to climb in the cars for a first-hand look.
Cars built in 1974 and earlier are eligible, with most entries having been manufactured before World War II. In the 2022 Great Race a 1932 Ford Dirt Track Racer won the event from Warwick, R.I., to Fargo, N.D. The 2024 winners will again receive $50,000 of the $150,000 total purse.
A 1916 Hudson Pikes Peak Hillclimber, a 1916 Chevrolet and a 1918 American LaFrance are the oldest cars scheduled to be in the 2024 Great Race.
Over the decades, the Great Race has stopped in hundreds of cities big and small, from tiny Austin, Nev., to New York City.
“When the Great Race pulls into a city it becomes an instant festival,” Stumb said. “Last year we had several overnight stops with more than 10,000 spectators on our way to having 250,000 people see the Great Race during the event.”
The event was started in 1983 by Tom McRae and it takes its name from the 1965 movie, The Great Race, which starred Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood and Peter Falk. The movie is a comedy based on the real life 1908 automobile race from New York to Paris. In 2004, Tony Curtis was the guest of the Great Race and rode in his car from the movie, the Leslie Special.
The Great Race gained a huge following from late night showings on ESPN when the network was just starting out in the early 1980s. The first entrant, Curtis Graf of Irving, Texas, is still a participant today.
The event’s main sponsors are Hemmings Motor News, Coker Tire, McCollister’s Auto Transport, Rogo Fasteners and Hagerty Driver’s Club.
For more information, go to www.greatrace.com or contact Jeff Stumb at [email protected] or by calling him at 423-648-8542.
When can you give us the entire route?
Thanks
I would like to st the actual route of the race.
Where does the race come through Virginia? Thanks.
I would like to st the actual route of the race. What towns in WV are you going through?
Would love to know the stopover places in New England
Would love to know the stopover places in New England
They are very unlikely to leak the exact route of the race to the public because it would give some drivers an unfair advantage. However, they might be giving law enforcement a heads up.
Does The Great Race ever go through Nebraska ????
Would love to see this. We’re is the stop I’m massachusett in 2024
I live in sturbridge mass, what route will the cars be coming on when going through Massachusetts,and will they be stopping in mass or just driving thru. Thanks Charlie
What is your final destination in Maine what hotel are you staying at we would love to book near you
Where is the stop in Massachusetts?
Please keep me updated.
Love it. Please let us know the route. I’ll be retiring in a year or two and want to learn all I can and possibly take my 56 Chev -4 Door. Thank you Very much.
You must be going through New Hampshire as well. You just can’t get to Maine without NH. Can’t wait to see this!
Good point!
What towns in Connecticut will the 2024 race be going through
It’s awesome I just seen some cars in Goshen Indiana on 33
We Cannot Wait !!!!! Hoping to Catch The Race In New York !!!! So Excited To Hear The Route !!! Saw The Race In Fahnestock, New York in 2022!!!
Where was the race in Fahnstalk? On Route 301?
Wish I had known…
QUESTION
When purchasing the $6000 package
are hotels for 5 days included
Or must we reserve ourselves?
Please respond so we can start
looking
Team Honeymooners 2024
are overnight accommodations include with entry fees? reservations?
you have to pay for the rooms yourself
I am so excited that the 2024 Great Race looks like it is going close to the Connecticut shore line I live close to the mouth of the Connecticut River hoping that there will be a stop over somewhere close please keep me updated when possible this is a Great Event
I am in CT and would like the planned route and stops, if any.
like many others would like to know the route.
We watched and enjoyed the start and 1st stopover of your 2022 race.
Can’t wait.
Thank you
Jim
From the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
I live in Attleboro,MA and would love to welcome the racers at the state line. Let me know when to show up.
I see a number of spectator inquiries regarding advisement of the exact route. Will this, or just the overnight break areas, be announced ? We’re in SW Ohio, and if I did the math correctly, there won’t be a stopping point near us, but it appears we’ll be close to the course route. We would grab a couple lawn chairs and a cooler and just watch the vehicles in action.
Thanks,
Vic Snively
I am located in the Springfield, Ohio area and would be interested in the precise route through Ohio so that our antique car club can observe. The timing would also be of interest.
Please let me know your route for the 2024 Great Race !
It appears from the promo map, that it goes close to, or, through Northeastern Pennsylvania, and I would be very interested in just how close it may come to Scranton, PA !
Thank you
What is the route through Pa.?
Love to know when and where in Connecticut it is going and stopping.
how do I enter the race. I have a beautiful 1962 SS Impala. 4 spd 327 completely restored and ready to show. It would be the reveal for this car. Only a hand full of people have seen it since it was restored. Contact me please.
James
Why are the stops for the 2024 Great Race such a secret? I would like to make vacation plans to be somewhere where I can see the cars, but I cannot do this if I do not know where the stops will be. If you do not know yet, please post that information as well.
what is the route in the state of MD
Please send me the route through Indiana for the Great Race 2024. Thank you. James McAfee [email protected]
What is the route thru Pennsylvania?
have a 1973 JENSEN-HEALY can i enter?? terms and what does the admission fee cover? mike 414 477 8800 also have a 1969 427 vette.
Like others, I need to plan seeing this around some other events at the same time period. When will you know the routes and stops near Lancaster Ohio? I live about 35 miles away but don’t want to miss this whenever the cars are in (or near) Lancaster. Could you please update your web site with an ETA on when details like this will become available? Thank you!
Please let me know if your race will pass through Northeastern Pennsylvania.
That would include Scranton and Wilkes Barre and surrounding areas.
Thank you.
Do you require any kind of help for the Race 2024. I am retired and have the ability and time to assist if needed.
would like to plan my vacation just cking to see what the route numbers are from wva to pa thanks can t wait to see the cars
I’m trying to plan my summer and would like to attend/participate.
When will the actual course be set and announced?
Would like to follow the race is this possible I am 78 and old car enthusiasts. I have a 1934 Buick model 67.
Sorry but will not be watching it anymore. When you show two gays kissing it grosses me out.
I would like to be in Louden on the 30th ,June I have a place on Maine but try NOT to go there on holiday weekends. TO CROWDED. Can to tell me the Rt they will take for incoming racers. Bob
Lookig for detailed route for 2024 race, especially from Gettysburg to Lewisburg. Thank you!
My question concerns determining the year of the car. What about reproductions? What about an old car with modifications? How much of the car has to be original to get the original year? What are the rules?
Just saw two cars traveling north on I95 in CT making their way to today’s overnight stop in Providence; they ahould arrive at the hotel before dark
Exciting news about the 2024 Great Race route! I can’t wait to see the new locations and what challenges await the participants this year. It’s always thrilling to follow along and see how teams tackle each segment. Bring on the adventure!