The Great Race to bring classics to downtown Owensboro

Jun. 15—With 120 antique and classic cars scheduled to pass through Owensboro on June 23 as part of The Hemmings Motor News Great Race, Judge-Executive Al Mattingly spoke with race director Jeff Stumb during the Facebook Live interview Monday about the event's overnight stop in Owensboro.

"It is an old car race across the country each year," Stumb said. "The oldest car (competing) is a 1916 Hudson ... That happens to be the car that won the last race as well."

"You are going to see a lot of amazing cars."

Since 1983, The Great Race has welcomed historic vehicles to compete in the race, which focuses on endurance and accuracy rather than high speeds and low elapsed times across a 2,300-mile road course.

While Owensboro was originally selected to serve as an overnight stopover point for the 2020 edition of the race, it was postponed until this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The race is scheduled to begin June 19 in San Antonio, Texas, winding its way through Joplin, Missouri, and Paducah before pulling into downtown Owensboro's Veterans Boulevard about 5 p.m. June 23.

While the event, which is open to pre-1974 vehicles, typically welcomes teams from the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan, this year there will be no international teams as a result of COVID-19 precautions.

"There are a number of British cars in the race, and the Japanese teams bring Japanese cars," Stumb said. "Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, we have lost all of our international teams."

While the modern incarnation of The Great Race was not established until 1983, it is based on a 1908 event known as "The Great Race" that brought competitors together to race from New York City to Paris, France.

Teams departed New York on Feb. 12, 1908, heading westward to San Francisco and then up to Alaska before taking boats to Japan and Europe.

"They ended up racing through China, Mongolia, Russia and into Europe and the only American car in the Race was a Thomas Flyer and it won the race," Stumb said.

The event was brought back into popular consciousness with the 1965 film of the same name starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk and Natalie Wood. It was the idea of Tom McRae to get these classic cars out of the garages and museums and back onto America's roads for all to enjoy in 1983.

Stumb said Owensboro is a perfect stopping point for the event, which will have an entourage of about 500 people, including drivers, navigators and volunteers.

Stumb said everyone is invited to watch the cars come into town and speak with the drivers and teams.

The Great Race is scheduled to conclude June 27 in Greenville, South Carolina.

"What you are explaining to me is kind of a carnival atmosphere, where everybody is down there milling around, having fun, learning everything they can about these old cars and about what The Great race is all about," Mattingly said.

Nathan Havenner, Messenger-Inquirer, nhavenner@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-228-2837

Nathan Havenner, Messenger-Inquirer, nhavenner@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-228-2837