Baylor-Sponsored Car Competing In 20th Anniversary 'Great Race'

by Alan Hunt

A Baylor University-sponsored car will compete in The 2002 Great Race, which gets under way on Saturday, June 15, in San Antonio. More than 100 rare antique vehicles will participate in the 2,500-mile rally-race, which will end June 22 in Anaheim, Calif.
Baylor will sponsor a 1947 Ford convertible owned and driven by Doyle Rogers of Richardson during the event, which marks the 20th anniversary of the internationally acclaimed race. Rogers, who is competing in his second Great Race, will be accompanied by his son, Scott Allen Rogers, a 1997 Baylor business graduate, who will navigate.
This is the third time Baylor has been involved in the transcontinental Great Race. In 1996, the institution became the first university ever to co-sponsor a vehicle in the race. Baylor also co-sponsored Rogers in the 2000 event.
The 2002 Great Race will start at noon Saturday at Sunset Station in downtown San Antonio. Cities along the route will stage community-wide celebrations to greet the Great Racers during the eight-day event. They include Schulenburg (2:25 p.m., Saturday, Main Street); Houston (5:15 p.m., Saturday, City Hall); Hillsboro (1:15-4:30 p.m., Sunday, June 16, Courthouse Square); Fort Worth (4 p.m., Sunday, June 16, Sundance Square on Main Street), Eastland (8:30 a.m., Monday, June 17, Courthouse); Sweetwater (10:45 a.m.-lunch, Monday, June 17, Courthouse); Littlefield (4:15 p.m., Monday, June 15, Courthouse); Clovis, N.M.; Tucumcari, N.M.; Las Vegas, N.M.; Rio Ranch, N.M.; Gallup, N.M.; Winslow, Ariz.; Williams, Ariz.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Gila Bend, Ariz.; Holtville, Calif.; Chula Vista, Calif.; and Temecula, Calif. The race will end at 1 p.m., Saturday, June 22, on Anaheim's Center Street Promenade.
The Great Race street and highway routes are not announced in advance as competitors receive detailed instructions 20 minutes before the start of each leg of the race. The Great Race is a timed endurance rally-race; a contest about precision driving and navigation, not speed. Aided only by a speedometer, analog clock, pencil and paper (no maps, cell phones or odometers), the competitors must follow written course instructions at exact, predetermined speeds. The winners finish within seconds of the predetermined "perfect time." Drivers and navigators will be competing for a share of the prize purse valued at $250,000.
Great Race vehicles must be manufactured before 1951, or pre-1960 for sports cars, race cars and motorcycles. This year's race will feature more than 100 vintage cars, trucks and motorcycles, including a 1916 Twin-6 Packard Roadster; 1916 Studebaker Speedster; 1916 American LaFrance Fire Chief's car; a 1916 Hudson H Speedster; and a 1915 Dodge Speedster.
For more information on The 20th Anniversary Great Race visit The Great Race web site at: www.greatrace.com .