Great Race 2026

100th Anniversary of Route 66

Saturday, June 13 – Sunday, June 28, 2026

The Great Race has become a part of our lives. For the last 12 years, Brad and I set out every June to drive the back roads of our beautiful country.

We are ready to drive again, this year along the historic Route 66.

At the end of each race when Jane arrives home, she immediately goes into the shop. She has her fluids and brakes changed, and anything that is not right repaired. So, our planning really starts the day she returns for the following year.

This past winter we took a quick trip to visit our friends Jean Ann and Gary. We met up in St. Louis. We were there in February and visited some of the fun sites of Route 66. We stopped at road side hotels and road side attractions that we won’t be able to stop and explore while on the rally.

This year like most we practiced driving Jane months before the race. We also competed in a 3 day rally in late April.

The rally took place in Spring- field, MO. There were 75 other cars in the rally for the 100th Anniversary of start of the “Mother Road”. There were all kinds of celebrations in Springfield along with many other car/Route 66 enthusiasts.

Aside from being the “Birthplace” of Route 66, Springfield, MO is also the birthplace of Bass Pro Shops. If you know Brad and me, you know we love fishing.

We spent a couple of evenings in the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, it does not disappoint!!! We could probably spend 3 more days there. They covered cars and fishing! Johnny Morris the founder of Bass Pro Shops created a outdoorsman’s wonderland.

Aside from giving you a quick overview of our recent excursions, we really wanted to give our family and friends this year’s race information.

We start June 13th in Springfield, Illinois. We are looking forward to seeing our friends Lisa and Jake at the start and hope if you are in the area, we hope you will come out too.

The race continues Southwest through Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and we finish in Pasadena, California on Sunday, June 28th at 1pm. The finish is at Pasadena City Hall.

We should be one of the early cars. Being home town people, they bring us in early.

Below is the map with each city we are stopping and spending the night. Lunch stops are tough for us to visit, but we love seeing friends at the overnight stops. Please let us know if you are planning on being at one of the stops. We can’t wait to see you on the road!!!

We are looking forward to share our stories, and our experiences as we drive across “The Mother Road”.

Thank you to everyone who makes this possible for us!!!