Day 5 decision day
At the end of Day 4's competition we drove back to the hotel to do some maintenance on the car. The clutch has been getting progressively worse since the competition started. I also noticed that when driving on the 70 mph interstate highways as I was traveling at 50 mph which is just about the maximum speed for car with the flashers on both cars and trucks were getting right on my tail and not slowing down or moving over. I decided to check the flashers after we changed the oil and it turned out that they were not functioning. We attempted to fix the flasher issue but was unsuccessful as we needed a new switch and we didn't one one available. In the best interest of safety and the health of the car we decided to withdraw from the race. This was a difficult decision but the correct decision.
I really enjoyed participating in the race. It was so much fun driving the car down all these country roads in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Kentucky. It was amazing scenery and I saw many large farms and corn fields. It was awesome to see how much attention the car drew at all the lunch and dinner stops. Most people that we met had not heard of or seen a Playboy car before and asked many questions about Lou Horwitz, the company, the car and my connection to it.
I can't possibly thank Chuck, Dennis and Todd enough for making this adventure come true. Chuck worked tirelessly to get the car ready for the race. He had to engineer a disc brake system and rebuild every system in the car. Chuck also had to put up with my endless questions and attempts at helping him ( I'm sure I slowed him down tremendously by trying to be helpfull!!) He is a brilliant mechanic, engineer and friend. Dennis a master mechanic was there every step of the way and we couldn't have done this without all his time and effort. Dennis was also an excellent navigator who had to put up with me in the car all day!! If it wasn't for his quick thinking and ingenuity in making a new throttle spring out of zip ties we would have been stuck on the side of the road for hours. The Great Race was Todd's idea and we couldn't have done this without him. It was very dissapointing that we had to withdraw before he had a chance to participate in the race.
The Great Race was a great experience for me. Although we didn't make it to South Carolina we drove the car well over 800 miles in 5 days and I enjoyed every minute of it.
My only regret was that I was naive to the realities of how the Great Race was run. I assumed that we were driving the car over country roads at a maximum speed of 50 mph. We did do that , but we also had what was called transits that got you from one segment of the race to another. Unfortunately the majority of these transits occurred on 70 mph highways and they could last for between 30-80 miles a day. My car is 77 years old and is very comfortable driving at 50 mph. Unfortunately my car is not able to travel safely at speeds higher than that which makes it unsafe to travel on 70 mph highways. With my flasher's not working I didn't feel safe continuing our participation in the race.
Day 4 update
Day 4 was a challenging but succesful day.
Day 4 of the Great Race was a very difficult but interesting day. We were able to complete the course for the day but ran into many challenges. We were running smoothly approaching Ramsey Illinois when the throttle spring broke and I had no control of the throttle. Dennis jerry rigged a throttle spring out of zip ties that allowed us to travel at a slow speed into Ramsey on the course. Ramsey Illinois is a very small town and as we approached a stop sign we came across a NAPA parts store. We were able to get a new spring and continue on although around 20 minutes late for that segment. Later on on the interstate we came across a huge rainstorm for around 10 minutes where luckily my vaccum wipers worked to perfection. After 10 minutes of torrential rain we only had 2 drops of water leak through the convertible hard top making this car more watertight than when it left the plant. Playboy was still working on making the convertible tops leakproff and thuDays redesinged the convertible top on the production model playboy before the went bankrupt. After a wrong turn and emergency delay with a major traffic jam at an intersection we successfully completed the course and drove into Owensboro Kentucky.
It is awesome to see that every lunch and end of day stop the people looking at and asking about the car and it's history.
Great race day 3
Day 3 travels to Springfield Illinois
Dennis and I left Moline Illinoise for the start of day 3 of the great race. We traveled to Pontiac Illinois for a lunch stop and then finished in Springfield Illinois. Another great day for us as the car ran great even with outside temperatures in the 90's. We have had huge crowds around the car inquiring about the car and the company. We leave Tuesday morning for Owensboro Kentucky.
GREAT RACE DAY 2
DAY 2
Day 2 turned out to be a great day!! the car ran great all day and we successfully completed the race. We started in Rochester Minnesota and drove to Waterloo Iowa where I had the great pleasure of Meeting Bob Cunningham at our lunch stop. Bob has written a book on the Playboy car. We then proceeded to our final destination in Moline Illinois where Chuck met us as we lined up the cars for display. We also met up with Duane and PDaul Gorrell who own a Playboy car.
WE MADE TO ST PAUL MINNESOTA FOR THE RACE
CHUCK AND DENNIS MADE IT TO ST. PAUL MINNESOTA WITH THE CAR
Chuck and Dennis made it to St. Paul on Wednesday with the car. I arrived on Thursday and then we got all registered . Chuch and Dennis took the car for it’s tech inspection where we received the acceptance to participate in the race. Friday was rally school and then a practice run which we declined to participate it to various reasons. The race starts on Saturday at the Minnesota State fairgrounds and traveling to Rochester Minnesoat