Dave Hauman and Craig Colledge of Bloomington, and David Fitch of Normal are traveling cross country in Hauman’s red vintage 1970 Jaguar XKE as part of the 2,200 mile Great Race. (Photo courtesy Kool Cats Krewe Facebook page)

Along with over 130 other vintage car teams, three Bloomington/Normal men on June 13 embarked on an adventure of a lifetime.

Driving a red vintage 1970 Jaguar XKE, the Kool Cats Krewe comprised of Dave Hauman and Craig Colledge of Bloomington, and David Fitch of Normal set out from San Leandro, California as part of the 2,200 mile Great Race where the winner will be based on much more than being the first car across the finish line.

Begun in 1983, the Great Race is a test of precision navigation in which antique, vintage, and collector cars compete in a speed controlled endurance road rally.

Race organizers contend that the Great Race is a test of human mental agility and endurance as well as classic car endurance.

However, the race also is a chance for car enthusiasts to spend a couple of weeks with other car enthusiasts, driving through beautiful scenery on the back roads of America, with a great excuse to drive a vintage car across the country.

This year’s race traversed across the country making seven scheduled stops in Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Iowa and conclude in Moline, Illinois, the hometown of the Kool Cats Krewe’s primary driver, Hauman.  (For more information on the race, go www.greatrace.com)

Hauman’s 95-year-old dad who still lives in East Moline will meet the Krewe in Moline at the conclusion of the race.

Jeff Stumb Director of the Great Race said, “We are expecting the 2016 Great Race along the Lincoln Highway to be one of the coolest in our 33 year history.”

“We are looking forward to crossing the Mississippi River on June 26 and crowning a new champion.”

The trio, who first met as members of the Illinois Flat Land British Car Club, will be dividing up their duties with Hauman who owns the vehicle and will be the primary driver.  Colledge will be the primary navigator, while Fitch will both navigate and drive.

Each day teams receive the day’s route, which typically consists of four separate legs about 30 minutes before start time, Hauman said

The route instructions include numerous — up to 250 — very specific course instructions that indicate every turn, speed change, stop and start a vehicle must make throughout the day.

“These instructions include very precise guidelines to increase or decrease speeds at exact landmarks on the route.  Since, calculators are prohibited, all calculations must be done by hand,” Hauman added.

The Kool Cats Krewe pulling into a stop at the National Auto Museum in Reno, Nev. along the 2,200 mile Great Race route. (Photo courtesy Kool Cats Krewe Facebook page)

The navigation crew must make calculations so that the car is driven at the precise speed and arrives at the correct time.

Arriving too early or too late will result in a penalization, Hauman said.   “There are unannounced checkpoints to prevent drivers from taking short cuts,” he said.

There also is a list of other prohibited items including GPS equipment, cell phones, and odometers, Hauman added.

“Odometers must be taken out of the car or covered up and each team is allowed only one stopwatch,” he said.

The race organizers recommend a speedometer that can be calibrated down to one tenth of a mile per hour to ensure accuracy in speed throughout the race, Hauman said.

Throughout the day, there are scheduled transits that are untimed portions of the day’s drive, he said.

In addition, there are scheduled stops that include public displays of the cars to give spectators in the towns a chance to view the cars.

First witnessing as a spectator when the race made a scheduled stop in Bloomington in 2000, Hauman later traveled to Peoria to see the vehicles at a scheduled lunch stop in 2013.

Earlier this year, Hauman saw an ad for the Great Race in the back of an automobile magazine and decided this was the year.

The trio began training and participated in a five-day road rally race in Springfield, Mo., earlier this year.

The Grand Champion of the 2016 event will win $50,000; however Hauman contends he and his teammates are in the race for the adventure stating it was a Walter Mitty moment that made him decide that this year would be the year to enter the race.

“We anticipate at the end of the race to be both mentally and physically exhausted. We will be going through the desert and there isn’t any air conditioning in that car,” he said.

To follow their journey visit https://www.facebook.com/koolcatskrewe/

— McLean County crew motors off on the race of a lifetime —