Team Fredette's 1933 Ford pickup touring eastern Tennessee at a furious pace. Photos courtesy of The Great Race.
Jeff Fredette and his son Eric graced the cover of Hemmings Motor News in October of 2014, when the team missed a win in the 2014 Hemmings Motor News Great Race Presented by Hagerty Insurance by less than 30 seconds at The Villages in Florida. Earlier this month they chalked up a victory in the 11th annual Coker Tire Challenge, which completed its three-day rallying event on Sunday, September 18, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Jeff and Eric Fredette receiving their awards from Corky Coker.
Team Fredette has competed in (and won) many rallies in the past, including the 2014 All-Stars for Autism Rally in Springfield, Missouri. The team is a consistent top finisher in the Great Race, and pilot Jeff Fredette is also a member of the AMA Hall of Fame as a motorcyclist and 33-time International Six Days Enduro and ISDT medalist.
The finish line a Coker Tire Headquarters in Chattanooga.
Their winning time in this year's Coker Tire Challenge? Only 15.49 seconds off perfect, defeating the team of Richard Fredette and Jim Caudle by a mere 2.15 seconds. Even the third-place team of Jody Knowles and Beth Knowles-Gentry were only another .18 seconds behind at 17.82 seconds.
Rookies Olivia Gentry and sister Genna Gentry preparing for the 2017 Great Race with their 1964 Dodge Dart convertible.
In fact, with 15 of the 44 entered teams scoring less than 1 minute from perfection, spectators can see how competitive and skilled these drivers and navigators are. It is also a testament to the quality of the purpose-built classic vehicles they use for rally racing, including Jeff and Eric's 1933 Ford pickup. As with other rallies, including the Great Race, the age of the vehicle factors into the results, however, the top three finishers were within three years of each other, so it was not as big a factor as it has been in the past.
Team Knowles/Gentry 1932 Ford Cabriolet.
Team Hemmings did not fare so well, as the engine on our 1932 Ford speedster, piloted by publisher Jim Menneto and navigator Mari Parizo, pulled up lame shortly before the start of the race's first stage. We have not diagnosed the problem yet, but we will let our readers know what caused the engine noise, and how we fixed it. We will have the car ready for the 2017 rally race season.
Full results are listed on the Great Race website along with many additional photos of the competitors navigating the Blue Ridge Mountains and scenic byways of Tennessee other nearby states.
from Hemmings Daily – News for the collector car enthusiast http://ift.tt/2cGwTfm
No comments:
Post a Comment