 The
2002 running of The Great Race marked the 20th anniversary of this
event and on the 15th of June, John Horen and I drove our 1936 Ford
Deluxe Tudor Touring Sedan, shown below, away from the starting line
in San Antonio, Texas, beginning a “blue highway” 2,500 mile, competitive
jaunt for us, and over 120 other old cars. The destination one week
later: Anaheim, CA.
This all
started for us in June 2001 when we heard that the Great Race was stopping
overnight in Kirkwood, Missouri, just a stone throw from my house.
John and I went down to see them come in. Although the rain was coming
down, the US Navy Band was playing and thousands turned out to watch the
over 100 cars, with over a thousand miles under their tires and almost
three thousand miles to go, drive slowly by the Kirkwood train station.
Sometime during that evening John said to me, “Let’s do this next year.”
and that was the start.
Over the
next few months we scoured the Internet and visited those who deal
in older cars. Under Great Race requirements, the car had to be pre-1950,
unless it was a “sports car” then pre-1960. We looked at some wrecks
and some that looked like 99 point cars. What we wanted was one that
would hold together on a 4,000 mile trip while not being an eyesore.
And, because of it’s reputed dependability; the ability to obtain replacement
parts as well as our love of the breed, we decided what we wanted most
was a Ford V8.
Click
here for more pictures of the car.
 Finally,
in September we found a car on the Internet that looked pretty good.
It was for sale by a company in Noblesville, Indiana called Classic Cars
and More. We talked to the dealer, went out there to look and ended
up buying and contracting to have this wonderful car shipped back to St.
Louis.
The car
had been beautifully restored and the entire drive train had been rebuilt.
It was solid and drove well. It was just about 100% original, having
been restored to be a show car. Now we had to figure out what to
do. One of the first things we did was to join the Early Ford V8
Club and attend several events. We asked advice of club members as
well as others who have driven the Great Race. It became evident
that we would have to make some changes in the car.
The first
decision was to change to a 12-volt system and in conjunction install
an alternator and Mallory dual point distributor. We would have preferred
to install an electronic ignition but the Great Race rules prohibit that.
It was, of course, necessary to change from the old six-volt lights and
disconnect some things not essential for the trip. Our original working
Ford AM radio has gone silent. We have added an auxiliary fan but
stopped short of adding a second radiator as some racers have done.
Everything else is just about as it was when we purchased the car.
We did add four new bias-ply tires, since radials are not permitted and
also certain safety equipment dictated by The Great Race, which included
turn signals and seat belts.
 The
other consideration was take-along spare parts. We gathered just
about everything we think might fail including water pumps, carburetors,
fuel pumps, belts, hoses and distributors. Everything has been dialed
in and is ready to bolt on and run.
The Great
Race is primarily a road rally. In road rally terminology, each
day is considered a stage and each stage contains timed segments called
legs and segments between legs called transitions. Each day there
are generally between four and six legs of varying lengths and between
each leg and to the first, and from the last, are the transitions.
Legs are timed events with various manuevers and speed changes. Each
leg will have a check point of unknown location, to determine how close
to the scheduled time, each car passes. The winners are those who
pass the checkpoints closest to the time specified….in elapsed seconds.
All this is done by the vehicle’s driver and navigator with nothing but
the aid of a very accurate speedometer and a kitchen clock. No stopwatches
are permitted in the car. Odometers are disconnected. No calculators
and no electronic equipment, not even a cell phone.
The speedometer
is analog and activated by the signal picked up by a sensor from magnets
attached to a drive wheel. These speedometer claim accuracy within
1/4 mph when properly calibrated. The biggest shock to us was the
price of the speedometer of just under $1,000.
Practice
is the key. Because the car must make up seconds lost during
acceleration, deceleration, unplanned and planned stops, it is essential
that, if a good performance is to be achieved, each startup, stop, corner
turn and other manuevers must be done the same way with the same elapsed
time each time they are done. So prior to the competition we practiced
until we could determine, for example, that we will lose 4 seconds while
accelerating to 30 mph and know exactly how fast and for what period of
time we must drive to average the speeds expected of us. I am glad
I am the driver and not the navigator who must minute-by-minute be able
to calculate the driving speed as well as tell the driver where and when
to turn.
Jerry Pfitzinger
of Webster Groves Auto Repair did most of the preparation work on the
car. Jerry has many years of experience working with and customizing
older cars. He and his brother, Dave, traveled with us as our support
crew. Although both in their early 60’s, we consider them the kids
of our adventure since, at the time of the race, John was 71 and I was
69. This is one reason we named our team Blue Moon Racing.
I think both of us agree that this was a one time event.
To
follow the race from our prespective, click here for our daily race report.
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