Lamar to Host Portion of Hemming Great Race, 2023

They’re Coming Back! A Plaque for a Show of Appreciation by a Past Race Team

Lots of vehicles pass through Lamar every day, but residents are going to look twice at the type and number of vehicles that stop in town for a lunch break on Saturday, July 1^st.  Lamar is one leg of a 2,300-mile Hemming’s Great Race spanning the miles between St. Augustine, Florida on June 24^th and ending on Tejon Street in Colorado Springs on Sunday, July 2^nd.

Local preparations are underway with various organizations preparing to assist the stopover, including the Colorado Welcome Center and next-door neighbor, Lamar Chamber of Commerce.  The website notes that the first cars will start arriving at about 11:45 Saturday, take a lunch break and resume their journey along Highway 50 into Pueblo for an overnight stay at the Union Depot area and then hit the road for the final leg of the journey into Colorado Springs by1pm for the Tejon Street finish line.  Prior to that, competitors will have lunch in Great Bend, KS the day before, stopping overnight in Garden City at Stevens Park before journeying into Lamar.  Preparations are underway to accommodate the participants with a meal at the Welcome Center/Chamber site.

Several hundred cars are participating and all must be pre-1974 vintage.  This isn’t a race for speed, more like a road rally where accuracy for miles, distance, endurance and timing are judged.  Too fast to arrive at a monitoring spot, or too slow, and points are deducted from each car’s total score.  There’s no GPS to guide you along your route.  Each driver and navigator rely on a map, a general guide on your times and a stopwatch.  Lamar hosted drivers in a similar Great Race in 2006 with one thankful participant donating a memorial to their brief stay in town.

There are five divisions of vehicles with $150,000 in prize money, including $50,000 for the grand prize.  Additional details will be made available by March 18^th according to former Lamar Mayor, Roger Stagner.
By Russ Baldwin