Champion Brands LLC is sponsoring a race car team from South Carolina entered in the 110th anniversary running of the 1908 Great Auto Race from New York to Paris.
In 1908 the "horseless carriage" was a novelty, certainly not suited for long distance travel. But that changed when six teams from Italy, France, Germany, and the United States competed in the 1908 Great Auto Race from New York to Paris.
The 1908 Great Auto Race was sponsored and organized by the New York Times and La Matin, a newspaper in Paris. The route included New York City; Albany, N.Y.; Chicago; San Francisco; Seattle; Valdez, Alaska; Japan, Vladivostok, Omsk, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, Russia; Berlin, Germany; and Paris. After 22,000 miles and 169 days the American Thomas Flyer and its driver George Schuster won the historic racing event, changing forever the course of the automobile. Shuster was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2010.
On the 110th Anniversary of the 1908 test, a 1929 Model A Speedster, owned by Jack Crabtree of Gosse Creek, S.C., and sponsored by Champion Racing Oil will begin an 85 day journey starting in June 2018 from Times Square heading west to San Francisco.
The vehicles will board a ship bound for Yokohama, Japan then enter the continent of Asia at the port of Vladivostok, Russia. Paralleling the Trans-Siberian Railroad the Champion’s Model A Speedster will head for Moscow, on to Berlin and finish at the Eiffel Tower in October 2018.
For more information about the event visit www.2018nytoparis.com and thegreatautorace.com/race.htm.
For more information about Champion Brands, go to http://www.championbrands.com.
