Jack's Great Race 2014

Jack Hausmann has run the Great Race at least seven times and is going this year again with his granddaughter, Zoe. She is his navigator, as she was last year when they raced from St. Paul to Mobile!  This year, the 2014 event will start in the state of Maine on Saturday, June 21, and end in Florida nine days later on Sunday, June 29. 

It will mark the first time the Great Race has been to the state of Maine, and it will be the first time in 10 years that it has been in Florida. In 2004, the Great Race started in Jacksonville. Other states the Great Race will pass through in 2014 will be Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

They will be giving a running commentary here and friends and family are welcome to contribute encouragement and accolades! 

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Comment by Jack Hausmann (Jack) on June 26, 2014 at 4:40am

Tuesday was touted to be the longest driving day of the race, and it lived up to
it's reputation. We had a relatively early start, flowing through Delaware
traffic down 202 to I-95 for our speedometer check. Following our speedo check,
we turned south onto the Del Mar peninsula. A very nice road, a little warm, but
okay. We did very well through stage one; we restarted correctly and all was
good. However, the second restart was a bit of a challenge, and I second guessed
Zoë, and messed up our start. This resulted in a 45 second error. But we had a
fun day, and did our best.

Comment by Michael Thies on June 25, 2014 at 10:49am

It looks like New Bern, NC tonight! http://www.visitnewbern.com/event_details.php?2359

John Corey's article on http://www.greatrace.com/ reports that the Race went over the Chesapeake Bey Bridge/Tunnel from PA to Virginia Beach.   It is just a quick trip to get the lunch stop in Elizabeth City, NC.  I am told the Race stopped at the Waterfront Park there and the city had invited a large crowd out to say hello.  The NC Outer Banks is one of my favorite places on the East Coast.

Comment by Michael Adamson on June 25, 2014 at 3:15am

Hey Jack!

Strap a couple of Lobsters on top of the Beetle and drop em off when you come through SC!

Looks like an amazing event!

Comment by Shirley Goldsmith on June 25, 2014 at 1:54am

Sounds like you guys are having a great time with little bumps along the way - Have fun - miss you - see ya soon!

Comment by Mike Hausmann on June 25, 2014 at 1:23am
Keep on rolling...go BDJ and Zoe!
Comment by Michael Thies on June 24, 2014 at 4:22pm

Wow! Great pics!!  :-)

Comment by Jack Hausmann (Jack) on June 24, 2014 at 4:16pm

Comment by Jack Hausmann (Jack) on June 24, 2014 at 4:07pm

Another fellow Georgian

Billy Cothern and David Hewitt

1932 Ford Hiboy Roadster

Comment by Jack Hausmann (Jack) on June 24, 2014 at 3:50pm

Lunch stop in Millsboro Delaware

Comment by Jack Hausmann (Jack) on June 24, 2014 at 3:27am

On Sunday we made a quick stop at Hemmings Motor News Museum.  What a great spot for car lovers.

Bennington, VT

Comment by Jack Hausmann (Jack) on June 24, 2014 at 3:23am

We were car 99 yesterday, so we were the last car to start. It puts you in a
tough spot, because there's no one to look for if you get lost. In spite of a
bit of a rocky start, we finished in 27th place yesterday. The roads were some
of the roughest Jack has encountered in his years of Great Racing. As many as a
dozen cars encountered mechanical difficulties, and had to be brought home by a
car ambulance (Tommy's tow truck). We arrived at the almost new Valley Forge
Radisson Hotel and Casino to a huge crowd. Jack met a lady who had only owned
Volkswagens her whole life. She is just one example of the many people who love
our car and it's brethren. Later in the evening, you could look and see lights
burning in the parking lot: racers preparing their cars for the longest day of
the race. Today promises to be exhausting, and will require all the attention
and focus we can muster.

Comment by Michael Thies on June 24, 2014 at 1:40am

In 2011 a hundred year old Velie won the The Great Race. Click on the photo to read the story. :-) The link right is a video of it in the rain! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RThWw7oA3kQ

Velie was a American car make produced by the Velie Motors Corporation in Illinois from 1908 to 1928. The company was founded by and named for Willard Velie, a maternal grandson of John Deere.  :-)

Comment by Sheri Billinger on June 24, 2014 at 1:18am

Jack and Zoe, what an adventure !!!!!  Just keep those big Hausmann smiles !!!! 

Good Luck with the rest of your trip.  Sure do miss you !!!

Comment by Michael Thies on June 24, 2014 at 1:07am

RIDE, REPAIR, REPEAT!

Last night overnight in historic Valley Forge and the target today is Portsmouth, VA!  Jack and Zoe, we are with you in spirit!  All I have to do today is to get to a meeting in Atlanta and back home. :-)

Comment by kate hausmann on June 23, 2014 at 11:29pm
Go dad and Zoe!! Keep up the good work and the smiles!!!
Comment by Jack Hausmann (Jack) on June 23, 2014 at 3:55am

As per usual, the beetle had problems, the locals and other racers came to the rescue. Somewhere along the route, we lost our oil cap, and oil spewed out of the filler tube. In Poughkeepsie, NY, Jack chatted with some of the locals who had come out to see the car, and got lucky. Kevin Tiberio and his family were VW fans, and he knew a guy (his father-in-law) who knew a guy (a VW mechanic). Jack was going to drive out to them, about a half an hour away, but then our second problem became crucial: our lights didn't work.  We were saved by the kindness of strangers, when the Tiberios drove to us.  Jack met the Tiberios ten minutes outside of Poughkeepsie, them in their VW bus, and got an oil cap. Back at the hotel, our lights still didn't work. As luck would have it, we were parked next to a master mechanic, Jacques le Blanc, who fixed our lights.  What would we do without the help of all of these wonderful old car enthusiasts!

Comment by Jack Hausmann (Jack) on June 22, 2014 at 3:51pm
Today was very exciting: a race against the clock. We made our way to the start hotel, and picked up our instructions. We left the hotel a little early, and pulled into the interstate. After ten minutes with no signs from the instructions, we realized something was wrong. We booked it and made it back to the proper start, and made it by the skin of our teeth- with no gas. We made it about halfway through the leg before we had to ask some locals where to get gas. We flew to the station, made a quick turn around, and got back on the road. We flew by cars, and arrived back in our spot. A few miles down the road, there was a checkpoint. We had a nice stop in Bennington,VT and met my sister. then after a quick stop at the Hemmings Museum we were back on the road. The race went pretty smoothly after that, until the last leg. We couldn't find the start point! We drove up and down the road, and finally just pulled over. We saw the car behind us go past, and the car behind them. We put the pedal to the metal, and flew back to our original position. We hoped there wasn't a checkpoint in the directions we skipped and chugged on down the road. We arrived at the finish, and found we had 26 seconds, not bad for a day of mishaps. Tomorrow, we plan to do even better.
Comment by Michael Adamson on June 22, 2014 at 10:38am

Hey Jack!

one mile a minute is 60 MPH in case the speedometer breaks again!

Good luck.  following progress from SC

Adamson

Comment by Jack Hausmann (Jack) on June 22, 2014 at 1:35am
Yesterday, to say the least, was rough. It was a glorious day, and started off well enough. All one hundred cars were staged in a beach front parking lot, ready to start the race. Hundreds of people came to cheer on the racers and admire their vehicles. The VW attracted lots of attention, as usual, and we heard many nostalgic memories and reminiscent flashbacks of the Beetles people grew up in. Lots of children came to get their pictures taken with the VW.
The racers were sent out by Motormouth, the announcer, and the people of Ogunquit every 30 seconds. We puffed our way up I-95, checking our speedometer. We arrived at the start, and after a quick speedometer adjustment, we were off. We began the race, and disaster arose: our speedometer was showing half the speed! From that point, we knew our efforts towards a good score would be futile, so we did our best, enjoyed the scenery, and had some fun. We arrived in Lowell, MA, where crowds flocked to see the cars and chat with the racers. We got back to the hotel, and with some help from other racers, fixed or speedometer. Today is a new day, and we're going to do our best.
Comment by Michael Thies on June 21, 2014 at 3:34pm

I wonder if Wayne is trying to copy Corky's mustache? :-)

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