Voted the Best Stage Ever, day 8 of the 2025 Great Race was a unique and exhilarating experience. The 2025 Hemmings Great Race presented by Coker Tire just completed its 9-day odyssey from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Irmo, South Carolina. The Great Race is a time, speed, distance, endurance rally for vintage vehicles up through model year 1974. Traveling more than 2300 miles, the endurance part is quite evident with 124 cars taking the green flag in Minnesota, and only 105 seeing the checkered flag in South Carolina.
Like a three-legged stool, each team needs three components to be competitive: a good driver, an analytical navigator, and a dependable vehicle. The first seven stages (days) are the qualifying stages. Depending on their competing division, teams can discard from three to six of their worst legs. Each day had five legs, for a total of 35 qualifying legs. Every car is timed to the second and receives a penalty point for every second it is early or late. Lowest score wins, and the winning team grabs $50,000 from the total purse of $162,000.
Stages 8 and 9 constitute the Championship Run, where no legs can be discarded. Every team is stuck with its daily score. As such, they are often the most demanding stages of the event each year. This year was no different.
The Morning Run
After battling seven days of 90+ degree temperatures (and some 100+ degree heat index days), the relative coolness upon leaving Roanoke, Virginia was a welcome change. Plus, it was about to get even better. The morning route took us through tree-shaded twists, turns, hills, and valleys. Additionally, the roads were perfectly paved. No potholes, no cracks. well-defined center stripes, and wide enough for comfortable passing. In short, they were textbook definitions of perfect rally roads.
A nice lunch in Galax, Virginia, the “Old-Time Music Capital of the World” provided everyone a chance to prepare for the afternoon run.
The Afternoon Maze
Typically, rally vehicles are spaced one minute apart, and it is possible to go hours without seeing another team. Rally masters will often incorporate a section where the route loops back on itself. In these loops, another rally vehicle can suddenly appear, coming from a side road and getting in front (or behind) you. Other times, you may pass a rally vehicle going the other direction, making you think you could be going the wrong direction.
In Stage 8 of the 2025 Great Race, rally master John Classen elevated the maze concept to new heights. Not long after we entered the maze, three cars, only a few seconds apart, passed us in the opposite direction. We presumed one or more of them were lost, but then a minute later, three more cars came by. That’s when we knew this was not going to be any ordinary loop-back maze.
It seems like we saw nearly every other competing vehicle inside that maze, but common sense tells me that was not the case. Still, the number of turns, speed changes, and competitor sightings made for an exhilarating and exciting afternoon. According to Great Race staff, “…one intersection saw racers pass it four times in four directions over the course of 30 minutes. It was wild.”
Upon arrival at the day’s finish line, I yelled, “That was fun! Let’s do it again!” Rally master, Colonel John Classen, just smiled.
Words do not do it justice. Here is a video encapsulation of the 267-mile Stage 8 route from Roanoke, Virginia, to Mooresville, North Carolina. The entire video is less than two minutes long. The Galax, Virginia lunch stop is at the 0:36 timestamp, and a single-pass loop can be seen at 0:50. The large afternoon maze begins at the 1:02 timestamp. For best viewing results, click on the full screen option once the video starts playing.
2025 Great Race Stage 8
The day’s highlight video can be found here on Facebook. The video crew caught much of the action at the hairy intersection mentioned above, starting at the 1:30 mark.
About That Vote
Most of the Great Race world was busy doing other things when it came time to vote. That, combined with the total lack of communication and information about the vote, resulted in sparse turnout. The vote tabulation is complete and 2025 Great Race Stage 8 has been declared the “Best Stage Ever” with a clear 1-0 margin. Okay, okay, okay. Yes. I was the only one voting, but you must admit, it was a truly wonderful vintage rally stage.
Additional Resources
- Visit GreatRace.com to learn more about this annual, exciting event.
- Many of your questions can be answered in the Great Race FAQs.
- Hemmings, the old car bible and so much more, is the named sponsor of the Great Race.
- The Great Race is presented by Coker Tire, for all your tire needs, and wheels too!
- More rally articles.
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