Race across North America relies on skills, not speed
For most married men, the idea of spending 15 days trapped
inside a car traveling across America doesn’t sound like the
perfect formula for wedded bliss, but Ty Holmquist isn’t like most
men.Plus his two-week vacation could net him some substantial
money, say around $100,000.
Race across North America relies on skills, not speed
For most married men, the idea of spending 15 days trapped inside a car traveling across America doesn’t sound like the perfect formula for wedded bliss, but Ty Holmquist isn’t like most men.Plus his two-week vacation could net him some substantial money, say around $100,000.
Now, lest you get to thinking that Holmquist and his wife, Pam, are involved in anything illegal, they are competing in a 4,000 mile road race that is laid out over the highways and back roads of America. Not sure this works – it seems too forced to me. Maybe just do a straight intro of the road race.
For the past 25 years, enthusiasts have been participating in modern incarnation of the event by rally-racing street legal vintage cars 170 to 480-plus miles each day on back roads, over all kinds of terrain and in every kind of weather imaginable. The goal of the race is one other than speed. Best described as a timed endurance rally-race, the smallest error or mechanical malfunction can end a team’s chances of winning.
For this, the 25th anniversary race, competitors will travel from Concord, N. C. to Anaheim.
Holmquist started participating in the event almost by accident.
“I started in 1983,” Holmquist said. “During my first year I was the [Sports Car Club of America] Rookie of the Year. I’d participated in a lot of time speed distance rallies. I was living down south at the time. Someone called the SCCA headquarters looking for anyone who knew about time speed distance rallying. This was three months before the first race began. This couple, a guy and his wife wanted me to set up a course for them. So I helped them out. The Sunday before they were supposed to leave for the race the husband called and said his wife was distraught and asked me if I’d go with them.”
In this type of racing, the name of the game is whomever makes the least mistakes will win, Holmquist said. That first year he and his team ended up coming in second place, that was behind a team with three professionals on it. They won $50,000 for their second-place attempt.
The first race went from Knotts Berry Farm in Orange County, to the Indy 500 racetrack, in Indianapolis, Ind.
Since his participation in that first event Holmquist has participated in several other races. Between 1990 and 1995 he participated extensively with his wife. Then in 1996 he began participating as a hired gun. He loaned his skills as a navigator to anyone who was willing to pay his portion of the fees.
This will be the first time in several years that Holmquist has entered his own car. It is an expensive endeavor to participate in the Great American Race. Holmquist estimated that he’ll likely spend $12,000-$15,000 on the event this year.
For most racers, to win is to finish the race, something that not every vehicle can always do. Holmquist remembered one year where he nearly didn’t.
“There was one year when the transmission went out on my 1932 Ford dirt track racer,” Holmquist said. “We had to work all night to find and replace the part. We barely made it to the start the next day, but I was so tired I really didn’t do that well. But everyone is really nice to one another. They don’t want to beat you because your car wouldn’t make it.”
This year the Holmquists will be competing in a 1935 Ford Phaeton and he is looking forward to racing with his wife.
“Pam is rock steady,” Holmquist said. “Nothing fazes her. We won the first time we went out together.”
Spending that much time on the road together might seem tedious, but the Holmquists are a balanced team. Holmquist did describe the experience overall as something of a two-week-long circus. They draw crowds everywhere they go, some as large or larger than 100,000 people.
Some of Holmquist’s favorite memories from previous races include laps around some of the classic racetracks in the United States and one course that went down to Mexico City.
The Holmquists do have their differences. When it comes to staying awake during long portions of the drive he swears by Davis sunflower seeds and attests to the fact that he once drove forty-eight hours straight on Davis sunflower seeds; whereas Pam prefers Tootsie Pops.
