Ford Mustangs of The Great Race 2022

For several years there have been between five and seven Mustangs participating in The Great Race. Almost every year one of the owners has a great idea to have all the cars come together for a photo. Unfortunately, the best time to make it happen is before the rally begins, and it never seems to come together. This year our friend and fellow Mustang driver Ahna and her 17 year old daughter Della, the only mother daughter team this year, (www.drivelikeamother.com) rallied the Mustang owners together for this great photo opportunity.

The Great Race 2022 General Meeting & Trophy Run

We started the morning with the annual general meeting. There were over 500 people in the room. The meeting includes every participant in the event from drivers and navigators, to support crews, and the competition crew (the team of people it takes to put on the event). The meeting starts by introducing the rookies to The Great Race family, and mentioning all those who have been participating for almost 40 years. They also introduced the sponsors of the event including, Hemmings Motor News, Hagerty Insurance, McCollister’s Auto Transport, and Stahls. If you didn’t see our post yesterday, we are proud to be ambassadors, and represent for McCollister’s Auto Transport.

We mentioned in the previous post there are over 130 teams this year 50 of them are rookie teams. This is also an international event, we have traveled to Canada and in years passed the race went to Mexico. The event also includes teams from Australia, Canada, England, Germany and France.

After all the acknowledgments, the meeting was adjourned. It was immediately followed by the start of Rally School. They spend an hour with the rookies, or anyone who wants to attend going over the instructions for the Trophy Run. The Trophy Run is a short half day rally around the starting city and it’s outlying areas. The results do not count toward the eight day rally we are about to embark on, however it is used as a tie breaker in the event of a tie for the actual Great Race.

The Trophy Run is a great practice for everyone, and a trophy is given to each winning team based on the class they run in.

The afternoon started off great, the weather was nice, but there were some clouds over head. We drove South from Warwick, we rallied around an area called Richmond. It was lush and green as we crossed over streams and rivers. The day went well.

We were fortunate enough to start early, we were the 4th car to start today because we are representing a title sponsor (thank you to our sponsors McCollister’s). An early starting position is always preferred. Not only do you finish earlier, but often times there are fewer opportunities to be interrupted by another rally team. Today it was advantageous because the skies opened up. By the time we finished, it was raining so hard, you could not see the end of your hood. There are many open cars,and unfortunately for them they are exposed to all the elements.

Fortunately, everyone made it back safely. We enjoyed a dinner and award ceremony for the winners of the Trophy Run. We were so pleased to see our friends and mentors JeanAnn and Gary Martin win the Expert Division. (We finished top 25 out of 132 entries.)

Thank you to our friends at Mustang Country! Allan and Brandon we appreciate the race prep on Jane. She is performing perfectly! We can’t tank you enough.

Thank you friends and family for your support. We appreciate your comments and well wishes.

We look forward to starting a new adventure, and sharing the sights and experiences as we travel across our beautiful country.