Cool cars are nothing new to oil change industry veterans Larry Read and Scotti Lee, but trekking 2,400 miles in a 1939 Buick is. During the week of June 20-28, Read and Lee along with restoration expert, Joe Perkins, competed in the 2015 Great Race. Starting in Kirkwood, Missouri, “Blue 92” (the team’s nickname) and 129 other teams motored down historic Route 66, only stopping for lunch each day before making it to their final stop.
The motto of the Great Race is “Ride, repair, repeat,” and that’s just what Read, Perkins and Lee did at the end of each race day. During the day, Read and Perkins rode in the rally car, while Lee drove along a different route with their parts truck. Lee met up with Read and Perkins every night to make sure the Buick made it across the finish line. Occasionally, Lee made appointments with different auto shops and quick lubes along the route so they could get the car up on a lift to change the fluids.
At the end of the nine day race, “Blue 92” crossed the finish line in Santa Monica, California, after passing through Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Amarillo, Texas, Santa Fe, New Mexico and Lake Havasu, Arizona to name a few. They finished 39th overall and 5th in the rookie class division, winning $1,500. The overall grand champion team, Howard Sharp and Doug Sharp from Fairport, New York, drove a 1916 Hudson Pikes Peak Hillclimber and won $40,000.
