The  Vintage Car Rally Association of Grove, Oklahoma is bringing the 2010 Hemmings Challenge Vintage Car Rally to Glasgow -Barren County on Friday, July 30. Seventy-five vintage cars, occupied by a driver and a navigator, will leave Bowling Green that morning following directions prepared for them by the Rally Master Team. This event is sponsored by the Glasgow-Barren County Tourist & Convention Commission.

Recognized as America’s most prestigious old car rally, the rally takes place Monday-Friday, July 25-30. Bowling Green is the host city. Each day the Rally will begin and end in Bowling Green after visiting one of five chosen “Host Lunch Stop Cities”. Entrants will travel approximately 225 miles per day over some of the most beautiful back roads in America through Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana.

Competing against one another for the coveted title of “Best Lunch Stop City” and the $5,000 top prize are the towns of Glasgow, Greenville and Bardstown in Kentucky, Tell City, Indiana, and Dickson, Tennessee. The “Best Lunch Stop City” is determined by votes placed by the rally teams. Cities will be scored on criteria including the city’s theme, crowd participation, venue, food quality and the overall “WOW” factor. The City of Glasgow needs you, your family, friends and co-workers to help win this award!

Come to Glasgow around 11:15am on Friday, July 30 to welcome the drivers of the beautiful cars and their navigators to town. Beginning around 11:30am, it will be exciting as the cars roll into downtown Glasgow from Highway 31E South on South Green Street, down Big Spring Bottom Hill, and turn left traveling through the historic tunnel on Water Street to the Lunch Stop at the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center. Upon their departure, the rally will head to northern Barren County. We want you to welcome them to Glasgow so we need to have lots of fanfare and noise!

The cars will be not here long. The cars roll in, one after another, and are parked by Rally staff to allow visitors and guests to view the vintage vehicles. The drivers and navigators will take a moment to refresh, enjoy lunch prepared by the Barren County Cattlemen’s Association and soon hit the road again. Racers are competing for $70,000 worth of prizes as well as bragging rights making this the richest old car rally in America.

Racers compete in one of five divisions: Championship, Sportsman, Rookie, Tour or X-Class. Championship class is for cars 1948 and older. Sportsman and X-Class is for 1969 and older vehicles. Rookie and Tour classes are for open to any street legal year model.

What follows is a description of how rally racing is done. Rally-racing street legal vintage cars 200 plus miles a day over the scenic back-road of America in every kind of weather imaginable is a race with a goal other than speed. It is best described as a time/speed/distance/ endurance race. Even the smallest navigational error or mechanical malfunction can end a team’s chances of winning. The Rally Master Team logs over 5,000 miles covering the rally course several times, checking and rechecking, measuring it to the nearest 1,000th of a mile. Each speed change, stop, start and turn is specifically detailed in the written driving instructions. Exact speeds and perfect drive times are allotted for each maneuver. The competitors’ objective is to match the perfect times as established by the Rally Master. Forty-five minutes before each team’s official start time; each team receives the daily driving instructions. The instructions are very specific, detailing each stop, turn and speed change that will guide them to the “Host City” lunch stop and to the finish that evening. Several times throughout the day, the racers’ progress is clocked at hidden checkpoints with electronic timers. Times are then relayed to the central scoring point to prepare the day’s final scores. The lowest score is the winner.

The Vintage Car Rally Association, formed in 2006, was created with two distinct purposes: 1) To provide a unique forum for antique, vintage and classic car enthusiasts to compete in timed/ controlled speed/distance rally competitions, while also testing the endurance levels of both man and machine. This is perhaps the most challenging motor sports event still available to the average “Car Guy”, regardless of level of experience; and 2) VCRA founders agreed to enter into this venture on one key condition, it would be a non-profit entity, and all proceeds would be donated to charity. The charity of choice has been the Autism Society of America and/or Autism Awareness programs in need.

According to Rex Gardner, one of VCRA’s founders, 2010 is the first year the Rally has taken place in Kentucky as well as the first time it has been held this far east of Oklahoma. For more information about the Vintage Car Rally Association, visit the website at www.vintagecarrally.com.