Another DeSoto to Compete in "The Great Race"

Man, what a ride! Beautiful '55 Fireflite and should do well by the looks of it. Mechanically these were great cars so if it performs and well as it looks, it will be fantasic.

Good luck and best wishes for a huge DeSoto success. Please let us know the outcome.

"It's delightful, it's delovely, it's DeSoto"

We received the following press release regarding "Team DeSoto". Also attached are a couple of photos of the team and the car in action.

1K Grant for The Great Race

Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s (GNTC) Team DeSoto received a $1,000 grant for The Great Race, a rally-style race with vintage vehicles that began on June 23 in Buffalo, N.Y., and ends in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on July 1.

The Great Race is an endurance race with classic cars and all participants drive vintage vehicles. Each vehicle must be model year 1972 or older. Team DeSoto is driving a 1955 DeSoto Fireflite that was restored by GNTC’s Automotive Technology program.

Four GNTC Automotive Technology students are participating in The Great Race. Two students, Adam Grogan and Nicholas Barber, are alternating as drivers and two students, Zayne Waits and John Valle, are alternating as navigators. All four students are residents of Cedartown.

The grant was presented to Team DeSoto by the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) in a special ceremony before the race began in Buffalo. The grant is a gift card that can be used by the team during the race for expenses.

Team DeSoto is competing in the X-Cup division of the Great Race, a special class that was created to encourage younger generations to take an interest in vintage vehicles. A grant was presented to each X-Cup team that is participating in The Great Race during the ceremony.

“The founder of this event said let’s get these cars out of the museum and put them back on the road where they belong,” said Jeff Plump, announcer for the ceremony. “That is what we do and to keep that going we have to get these young people involved.”

Team DeSoto has traveled to three cities in N.Y. and completed stage 3 of the race in Burlington, Vermont. There are three stops in Maine and three stops in Canada left in the race before the championship run in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

GNTC’s participation in The Great Race was made possible by Patricia and Wayne Vick, who donated the DeSoto to GNTC’s Foundation and also donated all the parts that were needed for the restoration. The Vicks also are covering all hotel expenses for GNTC students and personnel involved in the race and their company Southern Bracing Systems is the primary sponsor of Team DeSoto.

Additional sponsors of Team DeSoto include: BullSnot! Tire Mounting and Rubber Lubricant; Heritage First Bank; OTR Wheel Engineering, Inc.; and Snap-On Incorporated.

I wonder if we missed an opportunity here.

How responsive do you think our formal club membership AND our participating non-members here on the website would have been to an "off the budget" fund raising campaign to offer a sponsorship to this group and consequently get some recognition for the club by having a sponsorship decal on the car?

Might we want to be ready for the next opportunity? Would it be beneficial for the club?

Tim,

First of all, nice to have you back posting on the board!

Agree about the missed opportunity, however, the opportunity was missed by both parties. I found the original press release via a Google news alert I have set up that searches for the word "DeSoto". I'm an expert on the criminal activities and car accidents in cities and counties named DeSoto, but only occasionally reel in a story about the car. This was one such story, but alas, too late. When I contacted the PR rep from the school, he forwarded our introductory email to Team DeSoto and their faculty rep. I offered my assistance as '55 model year coordinator as well as parts from my stash if needed. They responded with something to the effect of "Man, I wish we knew about you before we started this project. We did not know there were other DeSoto people out there." Go figure.

All we can do at this point is to stay in touch and tell the story. Geoff and Dan are on the PR mailing list along with me, and the PR rep has pledged to provide us with his day-by-day story about the race. I've proposed to Fred Roman and Bill Noble that we should extend an invite to Team DeSoto to the Branson Convention, and we agree that is something we will do. Whether they have the time, interest and inclination, we will see. If they are interested, we intend to make it easy for them to accept the invite.

Not sure how to get in front of the next group that intends to enter a DeSoto in the race. Ideas?

Mark

The topic has been put on the agenda for the upcoming board meeting at the convention.

I agree that figuring out a way to be aware of these kinds of opportunities in a timely way could be a challenge.

Here is an update received today via the college's PR network. Also attached are some new photos of the car and team. As a '55 owner, I love the following statement from today's update, but I'm sure any other year's owner would say the same about their DeSoto!

“The way the DeSoto holds up from day to day and comes back home the same way that it left is incredible,” said Barber. “It’s an amazing car.”

Press Release
Contact: John Kenyon
Phone: 706-295-6930
Date: June 30, 2018

GNTC’s Team DeSoto Enters
Championship Run of The Great Race

On Saturday, June 30, Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s (GNTC) Team DeSoto entered the Championship Run of The Great Race, a rally-style race with vintage vehicles that began in Buffalo, N.Y., and ends in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Great Race is an endurance race with classic cars and all participants drive vintage vehicles. Each vehicle must be model year 1972 or older. Team DeSoto is driving a 1955 DeSoto Fireflite that was restored by GNTC’s Automotive Technology program.
Four GNTC Automotive Technology students are participating in The Great Race. Two students, Adam Grogan and Nicholas Barber, are alternating as drivers and two students, Zayne Waits and John Valle, are alternating as navigators. All four students are residents of Cedartown.
“It has been life changing and really different from anything I’ve ever experienced before,” said Waits.
Teams are given instructions and a prescribed time each day to get to the next check point. They are not allowed to use GPS, cellphones, or computers. The race is not a speed race and the routes between checkpoints are scenic back roads. The object for Great Race teams is to get to the next checkpoint as close as possible to their prescribed time. Penalties are given for the amount of time a team is over or under their prescribed time when they arrive at the checkpoint.
“The learning curve has been tremendous and it is a very, very complicated style of racing,” said Grogan. “In the beginning we didn’t know what we needed to know and didn’t even know the questions to ask to get the information we needed.”
Team DeSoto is competing in the X-Cup division of the Great Race, a special class that was created to encourage younger generations to take an interest in vintage vehicles.

“The way the DeSoto holds up from day to day and comes back home the same way that it left is incredible,” said Barber. “It’s an amazing car.”

The Championship Run, the final two stages of The Great Race, is taking place in Nova Scotia. The stages that Team DeSoto has completed so far include:

• Official Start, June 23, Buffalo N.Y. to Fairport, N.Y.
• Stage 2, June 24, Troy N.Y.
• Stage 3, June 25, Burlington, Vermont
• Stage 4, June 26, Gardiner, Maine
• Stage 5, June 27, Bangor, Maine
• Stage 6, June 28, Bar Harbor, Maine
• Stage 7, June 29, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

“We get to travel to all these different places, taking scenic back roads, and drive around across America and see these amazing places that we’ve never seen before,” said Valle. “It’s just beautiful out there.”

The end of the race will take place during the Canada Day celebrations in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

“These guys are really going to benefit from this experience in a lot of different ways,” said Rodney Parris, director of GNTC’s Automotive Technology program and leader of Team DeSoto. “They are going to carry this experience for the rest of their lives and are also building some skills like teamwork and the skills of trying to keep this car running throughout this race.”

GNTC’s participation in The Great Race was made possible by Patricia and Wayne Vick, who donated the DeSoto to GNTC’s Foundation and also donated all the parts that were needed for the restoration. The Vicks are also covering all hotel expenses for GNTC students and personnel involved in the race and their company Southern Bracing Systems is the primary sponsor of Team DeSoto.

Additional sponsors of Team DeSoto include: BullSnot! Tire Mounting and Rubber Lubricant; Heritage First Bank; OTR Wheel Engineering, Inc.; and Snap-On Incorporated.

Georgia Northwestern Technical College provides quality workforce education to the citizens of Northwest Georgia. Students have the opportunity to earn an associate degree, diploma, or a certificate in business, health, industrial, or public service career paths. This past year, 16,402 people benefited from GNTC’s credit and noncredit programs. With an annual credit enrollment of 7,750 students, GNTC is the largest college in Northwest Georgia. GNTC has an additional enrollment of 8,652 people through adult education, continuing education, business and industry training, and Georgia Quick Start. For more information about GNTC, visit us at
http://www.GNTC.edu . GNTC is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia and an Equal Opportunity Institution.

Team DeSoto poses for a picture in Bar Harbor, Maine. All four members of the GNTC student team are residents of Cedartown. Team DeSoto is (from left to right) Zayne Waits, John Valle, Nicholas Barber, and Adam Grogan.

Well....I've had no updates from the college PR rep and the race is now over. I checked the race results and see an ominous score for the second to the last Stage 8, where Team DeSoto scored a "DNF", which in race terminology means Did Not Finish. I knew that comment about the DeSoto coming back home day after day was bad karma. There is no score for the last stage, Stage 9, suggesting whatever torpedoed the DeSoto during Stage 8 was unrecoverable. Sad to hear...

Mark

Mark - Time to do some detective work. Inquiring minds want to know !

Ron

OK, I did my own detective work. The GNTC team did complete the race, according to their facebook page. Here's the post:

GNTC’s Team DeSoto completed The Great Race on Sunday, July 1, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The team competed in the X-Cup division of the race. We didn’t win the X-Cup, but we did cross the finish line in a 1955 DeSoto Fireflite, restored by GNTC’s Automotive Technology program, that was able to travel 2400 miles from Buffalo N.Y. to Halifax. The team experienced a once-in-a-lifetime, unforgettable journey competing in The Great Race and GNTC is very proud of each member of Team DeSoto.

Ron...thanks for the update!

Mark

Here is a new - July 6 - and likely the final official update on Team DeSoto:

GNTC’s Team DeSoto Crosses
the Finish Line of The Great Race

On Sunday, July 1, Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s (GNTC) Team DeSoto crossed the finish line of The Great Race, a rally-style race with vintage vehicles that began in Buffalo, N.Y., and ended in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada over the course of nine days.
The Great Race was an endurance race with classic cars and all participants drove vintage vehicles. Each vehicle had to be model year 1972 or older for the 2018 race. GNTC’s Team DeSoto drove a 1955 DeSoto Fireflite that was restored by the Automotive Technology program.
Four GNTC Automotive Technology students participated in The Great Race. Two students, Adam Grogan and Nicholas Barber, alternated as drivers and two students, Zayne Waits and John Valle, alternated as navigators. All four students are residents of Cedartown.
The Great Race began 36 years ago and was created to get vintage automobiles out of the museums or private collections and on the streets, according to Great Race organizers. The Great Race is named after the 1965 movie that starred Tony Curtis.
The race is not a speed race and the routes between checkpoints are scenic back roads.
“It is nothing short of life changing the overall experience, the people we have met, and the things that we have learned,” said Barber. “When we transitioned from the United States into Canada the landscape was beautiful and the back roads that they take us on were absolutely breathtaking.”
Teams are given instructions and a prescribed time each day to get to the next check point. They are not allowed to use GPS, cellphones, or computers. The object for Great Race teams is to get to the next checkpoint as close as possible to their prescribed time. Penalties are given for the amount of time a team is over or under their prescribed time when they arrive at the checkpoint.
“The race is all about time management, just to get from point A to point B, within the given time frame,” said Valle. “It’s a really, really big experience and it is very exciting.”
Team DeSoto competed in the X-Cup division of The Great Race, a special class that was created to encourage younger generations to take an interest in vintage vehicles.

“The classic car world has been a big part of my childhood,” said Grogan “Going through all this just makes me appreciate it so much more.”
The team was in very good standing to win the X-Cup towards the end of the race, but a rotor button broke on the engine during the final stage of the race. Barber and Waits were able to tape the button back together with duct tape so the car could drive across the finish line, but by that point they missed too many of the checkpoints to win the division.

The stages of The Great Race included:

• Official Start, June 23, Buffalo N.Y. to Fairport, N.Y.
• Stage 2, June 24, Troy N.Y.
• Stage 3, June 25, Burlington, Vermont
• Stage 4, June 26, Gardiner, Maine
• Stage 5, June 27, Bangor, Maine
• Stage 6, June 28, Bar Harbor, Maine
• Stage 7, June 29, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
• Stage 8, June 30, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Stage 9, July 1, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Each stop of The Great Race was open to the public and the cars would park together after crossing the finish. Thousands of spectators were present at the end of each stage.

“It’s like a big travelling car show,” said Grogan.

In addition to the end rally points of each stage, there also was daily pit stops and hosted lunches for drivers and navigators in Lockport, N.Y.; Batavia, N.Y.; Norwich, N.Y.; Bennington, Vermont; Mount Washington, New Hampshire; Owls Head, Maine; Seal Cove, Maine; Rothesay, NB, Canada; and Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada.

“These guys are really going to benefit from this experience in a lot of different ways,” said Rodney Parris, director of GNTC’s Automotive Technology program and leader of Team DeSoto. “They are going to carry this experience for the rest of their lives.”
A majority of the pit stops and overnight stops were chosen by organizers because they were close to an antique car museum or vintage car collection. At several stops, The Great Race was paired with other events that involved vintage automobiles.

“I grew up working on classic cars,” said Waits. “You look at new cars and compare them with old cars and figure out where they came from, the history behind it, and it is really just a great learning experience.”

The end of the race was part of the Canada Day celebrations in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Canada Day celebrations take place on July 1 to commemorate the country’s full independence.

GNTC’s participation in The Great Race was made possible by Patricia and Wayne Vick, who donated the DeSoto to GNTC’s Foundation and also donated all the parts that were needed for the restoration. The Vicks also covered all hotel expenses for GNTC students and personnel involved in the race and their company Southern Bracing Systems was the primary sponsor of Team DeSoto.

“Wayne and Patricia Vick are really great people and I just want to say we really appreciate them for supporting us through all this and it has just been a really great time,” said Waits.

Additional sponsors of Team DeSoto include: BullSnot! Tire Mounting and Rubber Lubricant; Heritage First Bank; OTR Wheel Engineering, Inc.; and Snap-On Incorporated.

Although they didn’t win the X-Cup, the team did get to have an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime journey and the team members learned a lot about classic cars and each other.

“We actually grew a little bit closer and we became a family,” said Valle.

Georgia Northwestern Technical College provides quality workforce education to the citizens of Northwest Georgia. Students have the opportunity to earn an associate degree, diploma, or a certificate in business, health, industrial, or public service career paths. This past year, 16,402 people benefited from GNTC’s credit and noncredit programs. With an annual credit enrollment of 7,750 students, GNTC is the largest college in Northwest Georgia. GNTC has an additional enrollment of 8,652 people through adult education, continuing education, business and industry training, and Georgia Quick Start. For more information about GNTC, visit us at
http://www.GNTC.edu . GNTC is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia and an Equal Opportunity Institution.

-Cutlines for attached photos-

Bar Harbor, Maine
Team DeSoto poses for a picture in Bar Harbor, Maine. From left to right is Zayne Waits, John Valle, Nick Barber, and Adam Grogan.

Gardiner, Maine
GNTC’s Team DeSoto crosses the Stage 4 finish line in Gardiner, Maine.

Burlington, Vermont
Zayne Waits (right) and Adam Grogan (left) look out the window while driving through downtown Burlington, Vermont.

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
Pete McDonald (right), president of GNTC, joined the Team DeSoto crew in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, for Stage 8 of The Great Race on Saturday, June 30. Team DeSoto is (from left to right) Rodney Parris, director of GNTC’s Automotive Technology program and leader of Team DeSoto; John Valle, navigator; Zayne Waits, navigator; Adam Grogan, driver; and Nicholas Barber, driver.

So close but bitten by a rotor button on the engine? I wonder what that is? I know there is a "button" in the distributor cap that the rotor pivots against but I can't imagine that being repaired with duct tape.

Any ideas from anyone? Just curious.

A rotor button ??? Article obviously wasn't written (or edited) by a car guy. They should have blamed something more realistic, like the flux capacitor.

I'd like to find out what the problem really was.

Ron

The college has created a promotional video about Team DeSoto's Great Race efforts. View here: https://youtu.be/x3wH9NcqSig

Near the end you'll see the "rotor button" repaired with duct tape. Looks like the inside of the rotor was not secured to the distributor shaft. That's a spare part I would carry if I was racing.

Mark