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AJ in the Great Race

George Cole

By George Cole
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avantey 2,500+ Points

avantey

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I had the privilege of being part the Sharp's crew many years ago.  We went from NC to LA that year and even being crew was an amazing experience!  Thanks for this thread, brought back some great crazy memories and once you participate at any level you are forever a part of a very close tight knit group.

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alsancle 25,000+ Points

alsancle

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1 hour ago, edinmass said:

I think I see tape over the factory speedometer……….must be a secret race strategy? 🤔


odometers are against the rules. So everybody’s factory speedometer is taped over. You will need to tape the one on your Pierce Arrow over when we use that car.

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alsancle 25,000+ Points

alsancle

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We left lunch out of order, which is a little bit against the rules. so our score was not ready when we reached the finish line. Hopefully I can get it tonight. I’d like to see it while I still remember the route. We made no significant mistakes, so I would expect each of the legs to be somewhere close to the way they’re supposed to be.

 

The only thing is we did some different slow speed maneuvers which we have never done, and I might not have the right calibration for that. 

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alsancle 25,000+ Points

alsancle

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21 minutes ago, Dan Cluley said:

Congratulations on the 2nd Ace!

 

It has definitely been fun to follow along.  At some point would it be possible to see the route instructions from day 5 (Perrysburg to Plainfield) 

Dan, when I get back I’ll get them from the car. We turned it over to the transporter earlier tonight.

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alsancle 25,000+ Points

alsancle

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Today was by far our best score. We ended up 14th for the day.   One thing that was in our favor was that it was a completely flat course.  Besides having learned a lot during the week, we really struggled with the hills earlier in the week. The Packard just wasn’t up to maintaining speed on some of the grades. In my computations for lost time were way off.

FDC2887F-5726-4C9C-B0AB-625902862C13.png

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alsancle 25,000+ Points

alsancle

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This article is pretty funny. I didn’t know about the part where Tom‘s dad traded a bayonet for the car back in 1971. I honestly don’t remember talking to the reporter, I love the line about me being “the brains of the operation“ . It  does sound like something I might’ve said. 
 

https://warwickonline.com/stories/great-race-gets-a-classic-rocky-point-sendoff,174749?

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Oldsmobile 83 500+ Points

Oldsmobile 83

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3 hours ago, alsancle said:

We won the leg for rookies. This is our mentor who is pretty happy about it.

677115FC-792B-4A6E-BF50-E7E8E75CA5EB.jpeg

Congratulations AJ and Tom on your great progress during the race.  Very cool that you were able to win the leg for rookies today.  GREAT JOB!!

 

Tim

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TAKerry 25,000+ Points

TAKerry

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AJ, congrats to you and Tom for the finish. Quite an achievement. Now that you can relax a bit can you share some of the details? What kind of mechanical problems you may have had, what problems did you see other drivers having, etc. Did you see cars broken down on the road? 

It says there is a wait list for 2023, how was the registration process to get into the 2022 version, has Tom been on a waiting list and for how long?

etc.

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alsancle 25,000+ Points

alsancle

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34 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

AJ, congrats to you and Tom for the finish. Quite an achievement. Now that you can relax a bit can you share some of the details? What kind of mechanical problems you may have had, what problems did you see other drivers having, etc. Did you see cars broken down on the road? 

It says there is a wait list for 2023, how was the registration process to get into the 2022 version, has Tom been on a waiting list and for how long?

etc.

I’ll do a full rundown on my thoughts after I get home.   Spoiler alert, I think we were having fun by the end. I told Ed this morning that he should put it on his bucket list to run with his Pierce Arrow.

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SC38dls 25,000+ Points

SC38dls

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1 hour ago, alsancle said:

I’ll do a full rundown on my thoughts after I get home.   Spoiler alert, I think we were having fun by the end. I told Ed this morning that he should put it on his bucket list to run with his Pierce Arrow.

Now Ed has no excuse if you road along as his experienced navigator assuming Tom doesn’t put up an argument of course!  If he does I’ll be happy to go with him as long as he doesn’t mind getting lost over and over. 
dave s 

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Steve_Mack_CT 25,000+ Points

Steve_Mack_CT

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24 minutes ago, alsancle said:

Bone stock Steve!

 

they should have a class for bone stock cars, problem being there might be four in it.

AJ my two concerns were headgasket if engine was running hot for a long period, and a funky exhaust gasket under the hood.  

 

Brake light switch went bad on my 120 as well, 10 minutes to change IF you have it...  

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SC38dls 25,000+ Points

SC38dls

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43 minutes ago, alsancle said:

Bone stock Steve!

 

they should have a class for bone stock cars, problem being there might be four in it.

In the top third of rookies is a great run!  How many of those were in a stock or prewar car?  You two did very well and it does sound like you had a great time even if it was stressful at times. If you can tell how many of the rookies were in a bone stock car it would be interesting to see where you would have placed. 
I think I can say you were in first place with every one of us that followed along. 
dave s 

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Paul Dobbin 25,000+ Points

Paul Dobbin

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1 hour ago, alsancle said:

Paul,

 

76th out of 130 overall.  16th out of 40 rookies.

   That's a great start!  Congratulations!   You are off to a good start.     Idea for next time, write your own press     

    release and hand it out as you cross the country.   If you  include the story about trading a WWII bayonett for

    the Parkard it will be re-published in every local paper,  Be sure to include a flattering picture too.

    Another thing I did was to address and stamp envelopes to me and fill thwm with race stickers abd our story.   

    On the back, I wrote in red maker  HELP!  Please send us a copy of that picture you just took of car #35.   If I     

    saw somebody take a interresting picture, I'd yell HELP and throw the envelope out the window.  When

    we got home we had photos for a great  Race Album and copies of local storeis written from our press release.

    A guy in Green River Wyoming sent a framed 16 X 20" picture of the Airflow at the Cliffs of the Green River.  How

    nice.!

    This picture of you is on the GreatRace.com web site, with othr professionally made photos.  It's had to take a

    action shot selfie.

     

220623_GR_4305.jpg

    

 

Edited by Paul Dobbin (see edit history)
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alsancle 25,000+ Points

alsancle

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I'll do some stream consciousness posts as thoughts come to me and I digest the experience.  

 

This was Tom's gig from the beginning.   The Great Race was something he always wanted to do and when the start was going to be 20 minutes from his house he really had no choice but to commit to go.   Tom can be his own support team and driver, but he needed a navigator.   So if you look at all the car guys he knows,  narrow it down to the ones he gets along with,  narrow it down to those that can take 2 weeks off from work and then apply the "half a brain" rule you ended up with me.    It sounds bad, but I felt like I was doing him a favor at the beginning.  The Great Race was never anything I was interested in.   The cars looked like jalopies from afar.   We are on the AACA forum,  I'm in to bone stock antique cars.

 

By the second day of the race I really felt like I was doing him a favor.   We were not having fun,  it was stressful and the days are super long.   We both looked at each other and said "Is this what you expected?". 

 

But,  like a lot of things in life,  things started to change the further we went.   Two big things:

 

1.  We started to figure out what we were doing.

 

2.  We started to make friends with the other teams.

 

By the time left after the race breakfast yesterday we were both wondering if we would have withdrawals from the routine and adrenaline.

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TAKerry 25,000+ Points

TAKerry

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Thats a good one AJ.  I would suspect most have the same second day thoughts!  I used to do a lot of motorcycle travelling. Kind of the same thing. After about a day and being a thousand miles from the comfort of your own bed one says, 'what the heck was I thinking'. Not only do you still have to get to your destination but you have to turn around and head home! Then the further you go the more fun, before you know it your back home planning the next outing.

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alsancle 25,000+ Points

alsancle

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I told Ed he should add this event to his bucket list.   Like I said in my last post I think both Tom and I came around at the end to digging it.    The social aspect of it is very important, we made some great friends over 10 days of driving.   But I think there are two other elements that brought us around:
 

1.   This is an objectively judged competition.     Your times are your time with nobody's opinion mixed in.   The only other competitive thing we can do with our cars is judging, which is highly subjective.

 

2.  We are pushing the cars and using them in a way they are never used anymore, even on tours.

 

 

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