--- title: "The Great Race Vintage Road Rally Kicks Off Today" description: "The 2022 Great Race kicks off today, as vintage cars compete in a controlled-speed rally from Rhode Island to North Dakota." date: "2022-06-18" modified: "2022-06-18" authors: - name: "Nico DeMattia" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/nico-demattia" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/culture/the-great-race-vintage-road-rally-kicks-off-today" categories: - "News" --- # The Great Race Vintage Road Rally Kicks Off Today ![]() Don your tweed cap and jacket this morning because the 2022 [Great Race]() vintage road rally kicks off today. Over 150 participants will drive vintage cars, no later than 1974, from Warwick, Rhode Island to Fargo, North Dakota, a roughly 2,000 mile, nine-day journey without any GPS or smartphone assistance. Instead, participants will be given a specific set of turn-by-turn instructions each day and a will need to navigate them on their own, while also managing their exact time. Like many [vintage rallies](), The Great Race is controlled-speed endurance rally that prioritizes precision over speed. It's not about who gets to each destination quickest, it's about who can get to each of the four-to-seven daily checkpoints at the correct time. Every second off the correct time results in a penalty point, which makes planning and timing far more important than speed. Each team is made up of a driver and a navigator, plus any additional support crew. However, any additional crew must be in a separate vehicle and must not follow along on the same route. Instead, support crews are given different routes, which take them from directly to the next hotel, while the main two team members are given a more scenic route. ![]() *Classic Cars. 1957 Buick* At the end of the journey, the team with the best time score wins the $50,000 prize money. However, a team's score isn't just based on their times, as vehicle age is also factored in. There's a percentage reduction based on the team vehicle's age: the older the vehicle, the greater the percentage reduction, the better the final score. So when choosing a car, the team needs to weigh not only its performance, reliability, and comfort over up to ten hours a day for nine days, but also is age. Obviously, the older the car, the more difficult the journey, but that difficulty is rewarded by the percentage reduction at the end of they rally. Which is why most teams prefer 1930s and '40s vehicles, as they're old enough to get a hefty percentage reduction but new enough to be usable and reliable over the nine days. Of the top ten finishers for last year's Great Race, only one car was older than 1941, a 1965 [Corvette](). For vintage car owners and enthusiasts, The Great Race is a really fun way to actually interact with not only your own vintage car but other vintage car enthusiasts. Plus, how often do you get to dress in 1940s clothes and talk like Humphrey Bogart, while driving a car with a top speed of 50 mph and navigating the American countryside using only your wits and your wristwatch? ## Author Nico is a writer and reviewer from New Jersey who probably thinks he’s a lot funnier than he actually is. His love of cars began when he was just a kid playing Gran Turismo 3, grinding out enough race wins with a Mazda Miata to save up for an in-game RUF 911. That passion for small, lightweight sports cars drove his desire to learn more about the industry, get his hands on as many cars as he could, and bring those experiences to life on the page. He cut his teeth writing about BMWs, Volkswagens, and Audis, mostly, and has owned far too many of each. He’s on his fourth 3 Series sedan, but all of his old, cheap German cars have forced him to learn more about car maintenance than his mechanical capability can handle. Too many late nights have been spent scrambling to get a car running by morning so he could get to work. For some reason, he never seems to learn that old Bimmers probably aren’t the best daily drivers. But he loves more than just old German cars. He’ll gladly drive and discuss anything with four (or even three) wheels. Cars aren’t his only passions, though. Nico is also a big nerd and loves movies, video games, comic books, and cares far too much about the New York Giants. So don’t be surprised if you see football references or dumb, obscure movie quotes in any of his car reviews. ### Author social links [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()