More Than a Race

Stage Three of the 2026 Great Race started out great. My teammate Carlos Pomares and I were looking forward to finishing the day in Oklahoma City, especially because we had never been to Oklahoma before.

At the close of Stage Two, we were sitting in 29th place. After competing in the Great Race in 2022 and 2024, we finally felt as though we were becoming better rally competitors. We were gaining confidence, improving our timing and having a great run in my 1931 Ford Model A Victoria.

Unfortunately, the final leg of Stage Three brought all that momentum to an abrupt halt.

After a brief transit, we were about to finish the last leg toward Stockyards City. When we started the car, thick white smoke began pouring from the exhaust. We immediately knew what it meant: a blown head gasket.

There we were, stranded on the side of the road and waiting for the Great Race sweep trailer. When it finally arrived, the crew loaded our Model A into the trailer and began the trip toward Oklahoma City.

We were only three days into the Great Race, and neither of us wanted our race to end that way. As I sat in the tow vehicle, only one thought kept running through my mind: Where am I going to find a Model A head gasket in Oklahoma City—and how can we get the car running again before the next morning?

I am a member of the Model A Ford Club of America, so I decided to reach out through Facebook. I figured there had to be a local Model A club somewhere in the Oklahoma City area. I found the Oklahoma Model A Restorers Club and sent both an email and a Facebook message explaining our situation and asking whether anyone had a head gasket available.

Within 15 minutes, my phone rang.

“Steve, I have your head gasket,” the caller said. “Where are you? I’ll bring it to you.”

The caller was Will Langford, a member of the local club. I told him that our car was being taken to the our hotel in Oklahoma City.

By the time the sweep trailer arrived and unloaded my car in the Bass Pro Shop parking lot next to our hotel, Will and a fellow club member, Joel were on their way. When they arrived, they had brought not one, but three head gaskets to choose from.

I then called Rob Roemer, a fellow Great Race competitor, who prepared my car for each of our Great Race appearances, to tell him I had the gasket and ask him to install it. And of course, when he was able to, he left Stockyards City and headed over to help. By the time he arrived, Will and Joel already had the cylinder head removed and ready for the new gasket to be installed.

Before long, the Bass Pro Shops parking lot had become an outdoor Model A repair shop. Will, his friend, Rob and three or four other Great Race competitors, including the Mustang Country X-Cup Legacy team members, were all gathered around our car, lending their tools, knowledge and time.

About two hours later, the new head gasket was installed and our 1931 Ford Model A Victoria was running like a charm.

Only afterward did I learn that Will was not simply a nearby Model A owner willing to help a stranger, he was also a national director of the Model A Ford Club of America—and, as luck would have it, he lived in Oklahoma City.

What began as one of the lowest moments of our 2026 Great Race became one of its most memorable experiences. We had been performing well and were disappointed that a mechanical failure threatened to end our race. But what happened in that parking lot reminded us that the Great Race is about much more than scores, timing and finishing position.

It is about a man responding to a stranger’s Facebook message and within 45 minutes getting to work. It is about fellow competitors helping another team get back on the road. It is about people coming together in a Bass Pro Shops parking lot and refusing to let our Great Race end without a fight.

That experience showed us the true character of the Model A community and the Great Race family. Car people understand that the vehicles may bring us together, but it is the friendships, generosity and willingness to lend a hand that make the experience truly special.

We arrived in Oklahoma City on a trailer—but thanks to Will Langford, Rob Roemer and the many others who helped us that evening, we were able to leave under our own power.

That is the spirit of the Great Race.