Bowling Green, Ky. – November 3, 2016 –Bowling Green will welcome two new national automotive events in the summer of 2017, the Great Race and the Car Craft Summer Nationals.  

The 2017 Hemmings Motor News Great Race will make an overnight pit stop in Bowling Green on June 26. Inspired by the 1965 film starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood, The Great Race is the world’s premier vintage car rally and covers more than 2,100 miles in 9 days.

Beginning in Jacksonville, Fla., and ending at Traverse City, Mich., about 120 cars participate with teams from Japan, England, Germany, Canada and the United States racing in automobiles dating back as far as 1916. The Great Race event, which started in 1983, is not a speed race, but a time/speed/distance rally.

The vehicles, each with a driver and navigator, are given precise instructions each day detailing every move down to the second. Scored at secret check points along the way, cars start – and hopefully finish – one minute apart if all goes according to plan. Each stop on the Great Race is free to the public and spectators will be able to visit with the participants and to look at the cars. Fountain Square Park is designated the Bowling Green finish line.

Bowling Green will also host the 2017 Car Craft Summer Nationals, running July 21-23 at Beech Bend Raceway. Presented by Chevrolet Performance, this is the country’s premier street and muscle car showcase event, bringing more than 2,500 performance cars and 25,000 enthusiasts over a three-day event.

The Car Craft Nationals will feature autocross, dyno challenge, drag racing, elimination rounds, Car Craft Magazine staff on site, a burnout competition, kids zone, a pro builder shootout, giveaways, a performance vendor marketplace, and more.

Car Craft is a brand of TEN: The Enthusiast Network, and was first established in 1953 to help car guys build and maintain their American rear-wheel-drive cars. The Car Craft Summer Nationals is moving to Bowling Green to expand the The Enthusiast Network effort and reach more of its loyal enthusiast fan base because of the heavy Chevrolet presence in the city.

For more info on The Great Race visit www.greatrace.com. More on the Car Craft Summer Nationals can by found at www.hotrod.com/events/.

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