Former Warsaw resident Jerry Price is preparing for a historic journey.
Price, and teammate Richard McKone, Peoria, Ill., are entered in the Great Race, a 22,000-mile race around the world.
The race is a re-run of the original race, The Greatest Auto Race on Earth, run in 1908. The route will cross 13 countries, beginning in Times Square in New York on May 30 and ending at the Eiffel Tower in Paris Aug. 2.Price's entry, a 1967 Aston Martin DB6 Vantage, is one of 35 entered in the race. The Aston Martin, well known as a favorite of movie character secret agent James Bond, bears a 007 license plate.
Price lived in Warsaw from 1964-1972 and again, with his wife, Theresa (Goshert), from 1991-1997. He now lives in Plymouth, Wis., and owns Collective Knowledge LLC. Local company Goshert Insurance, Warsaw, is one of the sponsors helping fund the team's race effort.
Price will be the lead driver and technician, and McKone will be the team navigator. Price said the race is the opportunity of a lifetime.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime event," he said. "There are probably only about 50 people to do this in the last 100 years."
Price said he's set some goals for the race.
"I want to meet a lot of people, win the race and survive," he said. "It's a long haul, that's a lot of miles."
In 1908, racers faced different challenges than drivers do now. With very few paved roads along the race route, teams used horses to pull their cars out of foot-deep mud and through snow drifts. Automobiles were a fairly new invention 100 years ago and race teams had to use their ingenuity to make repairs along the way. Of the six teams entered in the original race, only three finished.
This year's racers will not face as many unpaved roads, but will face the same challenge of finding their way through unfamiliar territory past world landmarks, including the Great Wall of China, Russia's Red Square and the Statue of Liberty. This year's drivers also have much less time in which to complete their journey.
The original race took teams about six months to finish. This year's racers will have a 65-day deadline to arrive in Paris.
Innovation is a big part of the history of the race. In 1908, a team from Germany drove a car with a 176-gallon fuel tank. The American entry featured long boards strapped to the sides of the car to be removed and used as bridges if necessary.
This year's race features a Miles-Per-Gallon Challenge for late-model production hybrid-electric vehicles, and an Innovation Class for new-technology vehicles powered by renewable energy or achieving hyper fuel efficiency. Price's and McKone's Aston Martin, entered in the Innovation Class, has been converted to run on five fuels - gasoline, propane, methane, ethanol or alcohol. Price said the car is meant to draw attention to the need for vehicles that run on a variety of renewable fuels.
"There's no car like it," Price said. "It's making a statement like the cars did 100 years ago and that's something I'm extremely proud of."
The 1908 race was a media spectacle with regular updates on the front page of the New York Times and correspondents riding along with teams. The 2008 race is also expected to attract the attention of the public.
A PBS live Webcam will follow Price and McKone on their around-the-world trip. Race information and updates will be available at www.greatrace.com
