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Nostalgic Great Race2000
brings classics to Heydays
ByJfflZeman
Staff writer
The Historic Haymarket District had
its own taste of history last Sunday as
almost 100 vintage cars, part of the
History Channel’s Great Race, made a
pit stop downtown.
The cars featured in the race are
worth more than $3 million and include a
1949 VW convertible, a 1934 Ford Indy
car and a 1930 Pierce Arrow.
The race began June 11 in Boston
and will end Saturday in Sacramento,
said Tom McRae, host of the History
Channels Great Race documentary.
Racers are competing for a $275,000
prize, he said.
Alongside the competitors vying for
the cash are eight high school teams
competing for $25,000 in scholarships,
including a team from Kearney High
School, he said.
The Great Race is not a traditional
race where die winner is the individual
who crosses the finish line first
Rather, the competitors are given a
new set of instructions each morning and
must reach a certain destination in a spe
cific amount of time, without the use of
an odometer or cell phone, McRae said
The competitor who finishes the race
with the lowest deviation from the deter
mined time is deemed the winner.
Lincoln’s Gary Kuck, CEO of
Centurion International, Inc., has
achieved that near level of perfection as
he has captured the championship for the
past two years.
Kuck’s car of choice is a 1917
Hudson Indy Racer.
Sunday’s festivities included more
than just race competitors as Gov. Mike
Johanns joined in on the action.
The governor, decked out in racing
gear, entered in a Model T Ford racer.
“Some of my friends call me speed
ball,” he joked
Jack Gannon, a University of
Nebraska-Lincoln sophomore indu&rial
technology major, said along with the
cars, what he enjoyed most about the
event was the attitude of the crowd
“People were so nice and awesome
about everything,*'he said
Gannon also expressed his enthusi
asm about foe race itself
“I’d love to do it,” be said “That is,
once I get $20,000.”