You really get used to living without much sleep when you participate in the Great Race. Theresa and I finally bedded down about midnite Tuesday nite and were up at 5 AM to get Course Instructions at 6:45 AM. Theresa hops up and calls the WMV (National Time Service) that the Great Race uses to synchronize all clocks to same time. She then spends whatever time it takes to make sure our car rally clock then her stop watch then her official Great Race wristwatch is also synchronized. All i gotta do is shave n shower.

Poor navigators.. I feel so sorry for them! Not! They get all the credit for what us drivers deliver for them every time! You see…there is a brewing class (or maybe cockpit position) war between drivers and navigators. Those n’s say us d’s are just dumb without their instruction. I think the navigators got the cush job cause they can take a nap on transits n stuff. They obviously disagree.

Enuff of that. Here’s the day: We left Memphis and jumped across the Mississipp. (That’s the way Huck Finn used to say it…no i on the end). Our first stop was a pit stop in Wynne, Arkansas. My buddy Vernon Walker was there. He seemed really interested if the Shafer 8 was running cool or not. (Could be because she is running the absolute best radiator… Produced by Walker Radiator outa Memphis, Tennessee!). Vernon is also President of the NSRA (National Street Rod Association). In addition to a great radiator company, Vernon has some cool street roda AND he has a fully original NOS 1950’s porcelain Texaco station set up on his farm. It is absolutely to coolest thing!

Lunch was in Searcy, Arkansas which is home to my other Great Race buddy G R Pike. G R is also a Grand Champion. It came a gulley washer (that’s Corkyspeak for big rain) while we were eatin lunch. As we left Searcy, we put our rain suits on cause Bruce Gezon told Theresa it would rain all afternoon. She is so gullible! We roasted in those dang rains suits until we came to a transit to take them off. We were lucky regaring the rain. It didnt rain again after the toad strangler (that’s also corkyspeak for big rain) happened in downtown Searcy.

We had a pitstop in Paris. I didnt even know there was also a Paris, Arkansas. They grow a lot of rice there. Never knew that before.

We did get stopped during the day by a train which caused us to make up exactly a minute. It caused a stir cause it backed us into Grand Champions Burdick and Bell.

We got to the overnite stop of Fort Smith, Arkansas by a little after 6 PM which accounted for a pretty long day and a long 2 hr transit. (My navigator took a nap) We were very pleased to get a score of 9.19 seconds for the day to come in 5th overall and bump ourselves up another 6 places to 20th place overall.

Mike and Dolus got an Ace in Double Exposure. They are learnin how to do this stuff! Mike proudly strutted into the trailer showing his Ace stickers. We used to get cash for every Ace. Now Great Race gives 50 bucks to Make A Wish for every Ace given to a racer. Mike donated another 100 bucks to Make A Wish.

Cameron and Greg got a score in the teens too, so they are whittling the numbers down. Greg downs the Red Bull to stay alert. I consumed a couple cans during the day too!

Fort Smith welcomed us with open arms. Tomorrow: Oklahoma and hopefully more decent single digit scores!

From the road,

Corky Coker

Click for the Daily Great Race Scores

Click for More Great Race Pictures