Countywide : Vintage Cars Begin Race Across U.S.

Thousands of spectators in Huntington Beach watched as more than 80 drivers of pre-World War II cars cranked up their old engines Sunday and took off on a 14-day, 4,300-mile automobile race across the country.

Cars ranging in age from a 1910 Knox to a 1933 SS-100 Jaguar were participating the 12th annual Great American Race, competing for $250,000 in cash and prizes.

The cars, which must not go faster than 50 miles per hour, must be at least 50 years old to compete.

Many of the drivers and navigators of the vehicles Sunday were decked out in vintage racing attire, complete with soft leather helmets, goggles, scarves and gloves.

The race is one of the world’s largest old-car rallies.

Stability, rather than speed, is the objective in the race, which is scored much like a golf game with the driver closest to zero points the winner.

Sponsors determine the ideal time it would take to cross secret checkpoints along the route.

Then the racers are judged as to how well they match up with those times.

The only instruments the racing teams are allowed to use are a clock, a stopwatch and speedometer.

The race started around noon at the Huntington Beach Pier and will travel over deserts, mountains and plains before eventually ending at Wilkes-Barre, Penn.

The course covers 14 states and make stops in 45 cities.