Staying the Course in Car 34

Focus on the Family
Tuesday, 11 June 2002

Focus on the Family enters the 20th anniversary of the Great Race in Car 34, a vintage Cadillac convertible.

The 20th Anniversary Great Race will run from Sunset Station in San Antonio, Texas, to the Center Street Promenade in Anaheim, Calif., June 15 through June 22. Over the past two decades the race has racked up over 5 million miles with no accidents, visited more than 700 cities, and awarded more than $3.5 million in prize money as it has raced back and forth across the continent. This year the race will navigate through scenic towns like Schulenburg, Texas, Prescott, Ariz., and Temecula, Calif., and metropolitan areas such as Houston, Albuquerque, Phoenix and Los Angeles.

At each stop along the route, The Great Race becomes a star-studded rolling street festival of automotive history, where the cars are the stars. The Focus on the Family 1941 Cadillac convertible will be one of many vintage automobiles on this year's Great Race featuring vintage cars, trucks and motorcycles. As he did last year, Pastor Wayne Hoag from Truckee, CA, will navigate the Focus team of drivers. Their goal is to meet as many constituents along the route and introduce others to Focus on the Family. Great Racers come from all over the country and are as diverse as the vehicles they sport. The drivers of the Focus on the Family car are Focus constituents who will switch the maneuvering task daily.

Echoing the speed-controlled road rallies popular before 1940, The Great Race is a timed endurance rally-race; a contest about precision driving and navigation, not speed. A wristwatch, analog clock, speedometer, pencil and paper (no maps, cell phones or odometers) are the only instruments racers may use to chart their miles and follow course instructions at exact, predetermined speeds. Staying competitively on course requires mechanical moxie, quick calculations, and a keen eye for highway markers. Winners finish within seconds of the predetermined "perfect time."

Focus on the Family will be one of nearly 100 participants in The Great Race 2002, the largest vintage car rally-race in the world. Rally-racing vintage cars 170 to 480 miles each day on sporty back roads, over all kinds of terrain and in every kind of weather imaginable, The Great Race is a race with a goal other than speed. The competitor's objective is to match a perfect time. This concept of matching a goal instead of ending up at the front of the pack matches much of what Focus on the Family strives to do for the traditional values of the family in their daily ministry.

The Great Race 2002 is a free, family-friendly event taking Focus out of corporate offices into the community it serves. "We want you to know," said Dr. James Dobson, founder and president of Focus on the Family, "that we stand ready to assist you and your loved ones in tackling the challenges facing families in today's troubled culture." Focus has over 80 different forms of outreach materials including radio programs, books, videotapes, and conferences designed to strengthen the home and promote traditional values. For more information on Focus on the Family, call (800) A-FAMILY. For additional information on The Great Race 2002 and its family-friendly events, visit www.greatrace.com.

Additional Facts about Focus on the Family's Involvement in the Great Race

- Focus on the Family is honored as a friend of the Great Race and has been granted the right to compete as a VIP in this family-oriented event, and hopes to raise awareness and support for its many ministries by participating. Focus' 1941 Cadillac Sixty-two Convertible will be one of the first cars coming to the gate in each city. In return, Focus will be distributing a rally-race collector's card to all those who might want to collect them at each citywide event.

- Focus on the Family is thrilled about being in your community and interacting with individuals and families. Focus stands ready to assist people who are tackling the challenges facing families in today's troubled culture. Our organization has over 80 different forms of outreach designed to help families in need. The public is invited to attend the citywide event and see the 1941 Cadillac, visit with the race team, meet Focus staff members and receive resources that can help in difficult family situations.

- This is the 8th consecutive year Focus on the Family has participated in the Great Race. The race gives Focus, based in Colorado, an opportunity to meet people where they live and describe the ministries God has entrusted to us. Team members have been invited to talk about Focus on local radio shows and in interviews with local newspapers. The most important aspect of our involvement in the race is the opportunity to share hope.

- The 1941 Cadillac was donated 4 years ago by three friends of the ministry. This year, to save Focus on the Family from expensive upkeep, storage and insurance costs, a donor purchased the vehicle from Focus with the promise that Focus was free to use of the vehicle in the Great Race. The vehicle is stored in his private antique car museum located in Rio Rancho, N.M.

Additional Facts about the Great Race

- Twenty years ago in a feat most thought impossible, founder and CEO of The Great Race, Tom McRae, took a rollicking fantasy off the silver screen and brought it to life as America's premier road odyssey, capturing the hearts and imaginations of the entire country. However, after twenty years and countless trips across America, McRae is retiring. This year, McRae, founder and CEO of the Great Race announced that the History Channel would not sponsor The Great Race 2002. This sponsorship expired 2001 and with current economic conditions coupled with the war on terrorism, major sponsorship was virtually impossible to find. However, several investors are giving the race the green flag, and McRae says that the 20th anniversary race begins June 15. The first race in 1983 started at Knott's Berry Farm in the Los Angeles area, and found its way to Indianapolis. This year's purse is the richest ever offered, at $250,000.

- Here is how the competition works: Great Race Director of Competition John Classen logs more than 20,000 miles on three trips across the USA, searching for the most challenging back roads to incorporate into the competition. Most of the roads traveled by racers are back roads, so Interstates are used only to enter and leave cities. Each speed change, stop, start and turn is specifically detailed in driving instructions. Exact speeds and "perfect" drive times are allotted for each maneuver. The competitors' objective is to match the perfect times established by John. To make it very interesting, no electronic devices of any type, including calculators and cell phones, are allowed in the cars, and odometers are removed or sealed.

- Each day's process: Twenty minutes before each team starts the race, the team picks up daily driving instructions. The instructions are very specific, detailing every stop, turn and speed change made to the finish that night. These directions are accurate to within one hundredth of a second. A perfect score for each day is zero; low score wins. During the day, these sometimes cantankerous antique cars and their driver's progress is clocked at secret check points using video cameras with electronic timers.

- This year's race will feature more than 100 vintage vehicles 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, with a combined value of nearly $3 million.

- Drivers of the cars are CEOs, plumbers, doctors, firemen, retirees, married couples, army buddies, best friends, fathers and daughters, uncles and nephews, and brothers who share a common bond in their love of old cars, new adventures, back roads, beautiful scenery and small towns.

For more information, or to contact Focus on the Family, see their website at: www.family.org