San Marcos to showcase unique cars during Great Race

Staff Reports

Next month, antique, vintage, and collector cars will roll through San Marcos during Great Race, giving fans an up-close view. The teams participating in the controlled-speed endurance rally will stop downtown for lunch on Saturday, June 19 beginning at 12 p.m.

The teams will stop for one hour each between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. Arrivals and departures are staggered, giving spectators an opportunity to view a continuously rotating selection of the 120 participating vehicles. Model years range from 1916 to 1974. 

“We are thrilled Great Race chose San Marcos as the first stop on their journey from San Antonio to Greenville, South Carolina,” said San Marcos Convention & Visitor Bureau Director Rebecca Ybarra-Ramirez. “It is going to be quite a sight to see all of the antique cars around downtown as the teams get lunch.”

Since 1983, Great Race has challenged teams’ abilities to follow precise course instructions and endurance on a cross-country trip. Each team, comprised of a navigator and a driver, receives 220 to 250 instructions daily that indicate every turn, speed change, stop, and start that the team must make throughout the course. Instead of speed, teams are scored on their ability to follow the instructions and arrive at designated checkpoints right on time.

While this year’s route brings competitors through the City, San Marcos has another tie to Great Race through the late entrepreneur Dick Burdick. Burdick owned Dick’s Classic Garage in San Marcos and participated in the first 25 consecutive Great Race events. He consistently placed among the top finishers in his 1924 Bentley Racer and 1916 Hudson Speedster, winning the Grand Champion title in 1989, 1990, 1992, 2000, and 2003.

For more information about Great Race’s stop in the City, contact the San Marcos Convention & Visitor Bureau at 512.393.5930.