rally
-
February 24, 2015Coker Tire Company has been a huge supporter of the Great Race for many years, and continues to be a sponsor of the event each year. The Great Race promotes DRIVING old cars, and that's what we're all about. We're excited to announce that the Great Race has expanded its format to include the Great American Tour for this year's course on historic Route 66. And while the Great Race is geared toward competition, with $150,000 up for grabs, the event organizers decided to offer a more laid back option for car enthusiasts who wanted more of a tour and less of a race. The result is the Hemmings Motor News Great American Tour presented by Hagerty, an epic journey on historic Route 66 to see all the sights of The Mother Road.
-
September 25, 2014Click here to check out videos from past Coker Tire Challenge Events and also subscribe to our YouTube Channel while you're at it!
-
August 16, 2013Well, they're not exactly on speaking terms with ole Ralph, but maybe the controversial "Unsafe at Any Speed" writer inadvertently made these cars even more popular in the long run? The cult-like following of Corvair owners across the United States are as dedicated to their favorite cars (and vans) as any group out there. One such club, filled the Coker Tire Company parking lot today as the Choo Choo Corvair Club toured the Chattanooga, Tennessee headquarters.
-
September 16, 2012This morning was crisp and cool, and we headed out of the Coker Tire compound at 8am to get started on the day's route. We motored north, toward Cleveland, Tennessee, and started the timed portion of the route on beautiful Lake Ocoee. The county roads sent us through the small community of Reliance, and we made our way around to Etowah by mid morning. From there, our route consisted of many maneuvers as we snaked through the back roads of Tennessee. We finally made it back to Cleveland for lunch, and then found ourselves in a maze of back roads that sent us into Georgia. Overall it was yet another great day of challenging rally action, and we had a parc ferme when we returned to home base. Tomorrow is the final day of competition, so there will be plenty of action to cover. For now, enjoy our favorite shots from today's route!
-
September 13, 2012It's that time of year again! Every September we host an event right here in Chattanooga, called the Coker Tire Challenge. It's a time, speed, endurance rally just like the Great Race, but on a smaller scale. It's a more local event, and it's a lot of fun! There are three days of rallying, and we saw a bunch of folks roll in today for registration and technical inspection. It was great to catch up with old friends! We also had Rally School and a short reception afterward to welcome the racers to our place! Check out a few pictures of today's highlights, and look forward to more updates tomorrow! Also, check out the Coker Tire Facebook page for ongoing updates!
-
May 09, 2012This past weekend, Corky and son-in-law Greg Cunningham signed up to compete in a rally in Rogers, Arkansas. Also on the trip from Chattanooga was Great Race Director, Jeff Stumb and his wife Karen. So they packed up the whole gang and drove 13 hours to spend a few days in Arkansas. Greg and his crew at Honest Charley Garage built a '32 Ford pickup specifically for rallying, so it was the perfect vehicle for Corky and Greg. By the way, all the parts were purchased through Honest Charley Speed Shop or Coker Tire Company. Jeff and Karen piloted
-
September 18, 2011Back on the road Saturday morning, the teams headed to Dunlap to start their day's route. From the starting point, the vehicles headed straight up the mountain on a twisty two-lane road, before ending up on top of Cagle Mountain. From there the route was rather tame, but a few narrow roads made it tough for racers to keep on their strict speed and time schedule. The lunch stop was held in Sparta, Tennessee, then the racers came down off the mountain and into Pikeville, Tennessee, where they would climb once again as they headed into Dayton on Highway 30. On the home stretch, racers headed down Highway 58 before arriving at the Coker Tire headquarters in Chattanooga,
-
September 16, 2011We hit the road this morning at 8am and headed toward Alabama with intentions of going to Huntsville for lunch. Lots of beautiful farm land provided some cool pictures and video opportunities for the media crew, and the media crew also stopped in at the Third Base Grill for lunch....WAY better than McD's....just sayin. After lunch, we headed back East through lots of mountainous terrain, and over a few bodies of water along the way. It was a good ride with great weather, but the racers were still happy to crawl out of their cars when they arrived at Mountain Valley Farm...aka Corky's place. General talk about scores and such was common, but when the dinner bell rang, everyone hopped on the bus and headed up the hill.
-
September 15, 2011It's that time of year! We're in the final stages of preparation for the Coker Tire Challenge, so it's a fairly busy environment here in Corkyville. The guys over at Honest Charley Garage applied decals and helped David McAllister with technical inspection, while our Coker crew handled all of the registration stuff. We're ready to kick this thing off tomorrow morning at 8:00am and we'll be having dinner at the farm when our day of rallying is over. Let's roll! [caption id="attachment_1999" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Lined up for technical inspection and decal application."][/caption]
-
June 21, 2011We had an amazing time on the Hemmings Motor News Great Race this year, and it came down to the wire to determine the Grand Champion. All week it was a tight battle between the Knowles/Gentry team and the team of Howard and Douglas Sharp. Knowles/Gentry piloted a '32 Ford Cabriolet, which was formerly piloted by Joe Knowles, who unfortunately passed away in 2010. The Sharps piloted the oldest car in the Great Race--a 1911 Velie Racetype. Knowles/Gentry led the field for several days, but the Sharps came from behind on the final two days to take home the infamous BIRD and a check for $20,000! [caption id="attachment_1836" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Corky Coker with Great Race Grand Champions, Howard and Douglas Sharp!"][/caption]
-
June 17, 2011After a few days of cool temperatures, we were reminded that it's summer time, even in New York. We had temperatures creeping up into the 90's throughout the day, but no where near as hot as when we started in Chattanooga. More back roads with lots of cool scenery gave us plenty of opportunities to snap some pictures, and we even had a maze in today's course, which had drivers doing a big loop and ending up at the same intersection! We even saw two cars at the intersection at the same time, which is always awesome for pictures. Our lunch stop was absolutely incredible as the folks in Cooperstown, New York did a great job of supporting the Great Race. We had lots of on-lookers, and we enjoyed a hot dog before walking through the Baseball Hall of Fame. Big thanks to the HoF for giving the Great Racers free admission!!! After lunch we kept on truckin' and ended up in Saratoga Springs, New York...more specifically the Saratoga Automobile Museum. LOTS of awesome sports cars in there, as well as some very very cool vintage racecars on the second floor. If you're ever in the area, check it out! We had a wonderful turnout at the Museum, with lots of spectators greeting the racers as they rolled into town. Tomorrow is the final day of the Great Race, so we're excited to see who ends up winning this deal! Remember, there is $90,000 on the line, so these guys and gals will be on edge until the final results are revealed. We can't wait! For now, take a look at our pictures from today's route, and check out www.greatrace.com for all of the scores, as well as additional photos. See you in Bennington!
-
June 16, 2011We're winding down from another big day of the Great Race in Binghamton, New York. We snaked through the back roads of Pennsylvania for the majority of the day, and crossed into New York in the afternoon. Our route started in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and as soon as the clocks started for the racers, they had to negotiate a slow speed covered, one lane bridge, which was perfect for some cool pictures and video. It was a tricky route with lots of tough turns and maneuvers along the way. We stopped by Hazelton, PA for lunch, and were greeted by a huge crowd. We were also treated to a wonderful lunch, consisting of fried chicken and all sorts of other goodies. We even found a new favorite side dish....fried green beans! Back on the road, we saw thousands of acres of farmland, with rolling hills and more cool bridges. You really don't get a grasp of how amazingly beautiful this country is until you view these back roads! Today the roads led to Binghamton, New York were LOTS and LOTS of folks turned out to see the Great Race come through town. We had yet another awesome dinner, so it's time to loosen the belt a little. We have a super tight race for the lead right now, so take a look at www.greatrace.com for all of the up to date scores, as well as photos from today's route! Here are a few of our favorite photos from the day!
-
June 15, 2011Another day on the road, and we've landed in Hershey, Pennsylvania! We started the morning in Cumberland, Maryland with cool temperatures, and drove through a bunch of cool farmland. Narrow bridges, rolling hills and amazing barns gave us lots of opportunities to grab awesome pictures and video. Lunch was in Chambersburg, PA and they shut down the town to let all the Great Racers show off their cars and trucks. Talk about an awesome down town! We had a great lunch and hopped back in the car on our way to Hershey, PA. Dinner was held at the AACA Museum, so we made a pass through the Museum, grabbed a bite to eat and took more pictures...do you see a pattern here with the pictures? Take a look at what we captured, and go to www.greatrace.com to see a bunch more!!! See y'all tomorrow...
-
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!
-
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!
-
June 12, 2011We're sitting in our hotel in Asheville, North Carolina, checking out all of our photos and videos from Day One at the 2011 Hemmings Great Race. Our route took us from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Maggie Valley, North Carolina, which means we spent a great deal of time in the mountains. It was an awesome ride with lots of opportunities for cool pictures, so take a look at our favorites and check out www.greatrace.com for even more photos, along with scores and breaking news. It's time to get ready for today's route, so we're making this one short and sweet, but we want to thank all of the Great Race staff and volunteers for an amazing job on day one. Also a huge thanks goes out to the city of Athens, Tennessee, which hosted the lunch stop, and all the fine folks at the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley. [caption id="attachment_1598" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Let\'s get this thing started! Chestnut Street in Chattanooga was packed with cars and on lookers before the start of the race!"][/caption]
-
June 10, 2011We followed along with the gang today during the Hagerty Trophy run, which is basically a warm up rally to get the racers, check point crews (and photographers) prepared for the big event. It was a nice drive over to Jasper, then to Raccoon Mountain and back to the Coker Tire headquarters in Chattanooga. Check out some of the pictures...we're headed to the Kickoff Dinner in the Coker Tire Museum...see ya tomorrow!
-
June 10, 2011
-
June 10, 2011Alright, things are getting hectic here at the Coker Tire headquarters. We have folks all over the place, getting Great Race participants signed in and ready for competition. Honest Charley Garage is handling decal application on all 60 entrants, so those guys are staying busy. Tomorrow will be a crazy day with the warm-up rally, continued registration and rally school. Let's roll!
-
May 24, 2011Great events dont happen by accident and they certainly dont happen in the blink of an eye. It takes a lot of work to develop, organize and run an intricate event such as The Great Race, and it took a lot of work behind the scenes to get it off the ground. Tom McRae and Norman Miller did just that in 1983. The two individuals were partners in the deal, and bought out an ailing race promoter who planned to race pre-World War II automobiles across the United States for a massive purse. There were plenty of folks who doubted the feasibility of an event of this magnitude, but with help from a crew of like-minded car nuts, McRae and Miller made it work. From the inaugural event in 83 to the return of The Great Race in 2011, there have been lots of memorable moments, and with the events new ownership and new direction, there will be plenty more in the years to come.