hemmings
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May 19, 2021
The most highly anticipated Great Race of all time is ready to wave the green flag! We'll be heading out to San Antonio, Texas to support the premier time, speed, endurance rally for vintage vehicles, as it blasts off and heads through eight states on its way to the finish line in Greenville, South Carolina. The route passes through scenic areas and the racers will have access to several great car collections along the way. After taking a year off due to the pandemic, we're SO READY to hit the road with 120 vehicles, all built in 1974 or earlier. With more than $150,000 up for grabs, these guys and girls are serious about competition. Watch our page for daily updates, and as always, keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram pages for even more content. To see if the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty Drivers Club is coming to a town near you, go to www.greatrace.com.
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September 19, 2017(Photos by Daniel Strohl, Hemmings Motor News) Without question, the greatest cars in the world rely on Coker Tire products for authenticity and the winner of the Hemmings Concours d'Elegance continues to prove it. This year's Best in Show is Bill Alley's 1914 Locomobile Berline, a spectacular example of an automotive rarity, as it is believed to be the only surviving car of this model. The massive touring car commands attention everywhere it goes, and it rolls on a set of our Goodrich Silvertown high pressure whitewall tires. Even though the car has been completed for quite some time, Bill keeps it looking fresh and clean, and it was enough to take home top honors from the Hemmings Concours d'Elegance event this past weekend. While the beautifully restored Locomobile stole the show with its stature and authenticity, there were many other classic cars on the show
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May 25, 2017Chattanooga, Tennessee is a hot spot for all sorts of events, and we feel like we've encouraged a bunch of car folks to visit the city with our annual Chattanooga Cruise In event. This year, the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty is paying a visit to the Scenic City, and the racers are stopping right here in the Southside! This isn't the first time that the Great Race has visited Chattanooga, but we're going to pull out all the stops to make it the best evening stop on the event! The streets around Coker Tire and Honest Charley Speed Shop will be closed, and we're hoping to PACK the streets with hot rods, muscle cars, restored classics and more to welcome the 120 Great Race teams as they enter the Chattanooga evening stop. It all happens Sunday, June 25th from 4 to 8pm Eastern time, and the first Great Race cars should begin arriving at 5:30pm. We plan to have an open house, just like our regular cruise in events, so
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June 28, 2015It's been a long run, and we're getting close to the end of the 2015 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty. Today was another hot one, but we saw a 20-degree drop when we rolled into our overnight hosted city of San Bernardino, California. An awesome crowd of spectators came out to view the Great Race, and we enjoyed a challenging route throughout the day. A lunch stop in Twentynine Palms, California was packed out, and we enjoyed a few pieces of fried chicken before we hit the road toward San Bernardino. We passed by a crazy Wind Farm with hundreds of windmills visible from our route. It was another big day, and we're in Championship mode, so tomorrow is obviously a day that cannot have any mistakes. Take a look at the day's highlights and stay tuned to find out the winner tomorrow, as we finish on the Santa Monica Pier at 2pm.
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June 30, 2014What a crazy week! It's always a lot of fun, and a lot of work to compete in the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty. We consider 2014 a huge success, as both Coker teams crossed the finish line in one piece, here in The Villages, Florida, during one of the greatest finishes we've ever seen. We had a blast this year, and we're expecting to have a lot of fun next year, too. The Great Race is the adventure of a lifetime that you can do every year! Congrats to Barry and Irene Jason for claiming the third consecutive Great Race Grand Championship...this time in a Post WWII car (first time it's ever been done). Click HERE for the overall results from the 2014 Great Race.
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June 28, 2014There is one thing for sure at this point in the 2014 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty...we're in the south. What makes it so obvious? For one, we had BBQ for lunch and dinner (washed down with a cool sweet tea). Second, it's hot, humid and there are pop-up storms all over the place. We had a great (but abbreviated) lunch stop in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We had to leave lunch early to make up time for a bunch of traffic in Myrtle Beach. So we made it back to our restart point, and hit the afternoon route wide open. The route was packed with lots of high speed turns, as well as a 22-mile run on a two-lane road, most of which was traveled at 40 miles per hour. Our dinner stop was simply incredible. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina rolled out the red carpet for us, and treated us to a wonderful dinner on board the U.S.S. Yorktown ship. We were also allowed to check out the ship, and check out some of the cool airplanes on the flight deck. As we exited the ship, a wall of storm clouds rolled in and dumped a bunch of rain at dusk. Tomorrow, we continue south on a long trek to Jacksonville, Florida. Stay tuned!
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June 22, 2013We're in St. Paul, Minnesota for the kickoff of the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty. We've been super busy with getting all of our gear setup and ready for a nine day journey down the Mighty Mississippi! We're kicking off tomorrow from the Back to the '50s event at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, and we'll be motivating down the most beautiful backroads in America on our way to the final destination of Mobile, Alabama. We started the Great Race with a practice rally today (we call it the Hagerty Trophy Run) and then went to the kickoff reception later in the day. It was a blast and we're ready for a FULL day of action tomorrow, and the next nine days! Also, check out a few shots from the Back to the '50s Car Show here in St. Paul...we saw lots of Coker Tire products out there!
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June 14, 2011That's right, we're up here in beautiful Cumberland, Maryland, having an awesome time. We went through a long, and very difficult route today with lots of stops, turns and speed changes, so all of the racers felt the pressure. From Salem, Virginia we headed north on a bunch of wonderful back roads through lots of farm land, and a mountain here and there. Our lunch stop was in Harrisonburg, Virginia where the town gathered at the Turner Pavilion to watch the racers file in from their hard morning of rallying. We scarfed down a couple of hot dogs and hit the road again, headed to our final destination of Cumberland, Maryland. We had a surprise at the end of the days route, just as the racers went off the clock, as we passed over on America's only remaining privately-owned toll bridges. It was AMAZING to see these old cars cross over a bridge built in the same era! Dinner stop was in downtown Cumberland, which is one of the coolest downtowns we've ever seen! So much fun, and the people were great...right now, we are loading pictures and getting ready for tomorrow. Check back for updates, but for now take a look at some of our favorite pictures!
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June 13, 2011Here we are after day two of the Hemmings Motor New Great Race! Today, we started off in Asheville, North Carolina and hit the mountain roads wide open. Lots of twisty roads with tricky speed changes made today's rally a tough one for many racers, but we saw a lot of good driving out there. Our lunch stop was held in the small town of Galax, Virginia...more specifically, we had it at the Old Cranks Motorcar Museum. We had some good ole BBQ at the museum, and enjoyed the crowd of spectators. Then it was back to the twists and turns of Virginia, as we scaled a bunch of cool back roads. We did get some rain on the afternoon leg of the route on our way to the Dinner Stop at the Salem Civic Center. These guys know how to party!!! Tons of hot rods, muscle cars and just plain cool cars stopped by to help celebrate the Great Race festivities, and we had another great dinner...you know car guys like to eat! Tonight we'll be preparing for Day 3, where we'll eventually end up in Maryland, one step closer to our big finish in downtown Bennington, Vermont! Check out our favorite pictures from today, but you should also know that www.greatrace.com had a LOT more photos! See y'all tomorrow!
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April 04, 2011Have you ever wanted to hop in an old car and drive it across the United States? Now that Coker Tire has acquired the Great Race, you can do just that with a bunch of car guy buddies along the way. The Great Race has been around for quite some time, but the new configuration will have more elements to make your driving experience even more fun! The veterans are tough to beat, but its hard to become one without being a rookie firstcome try it out and youll find out why everyone enjoys it so much! Doing well in any of the Great Race events requires precision, as with any time, speed, endurance rally, and youll find a gathering of very skilled and well known teams at each rally event.