vintage car rally

And just like that, the 2017 Coker Tire Challenge is in the books! We traveled the back roads of Tennessee and Alabama with a little bit of Georgia thrown in the mix, and safely returned for the finish at our facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. While there were plenty of challenges, crossing the finish line made all of the blood, sweat and tears worth it! Corky Coker, Wade Kawasaki and Jeff Stumb welcomed the racers in, while John Classen gave them time sheets and the scoring team tabulated the scores. The Rookie winners, the Top 5 overall leaders and the Bill Coker Spirit of the Event award winners were announced after the drivers, navigators and support crews ate a wonderful meal catered by Shuford's Smokehouse. With racers from as far away as Oregon, Michigan, Massachusetts, Texas, and even a team from Japan, we just love the dedication within the vintage rally community. We certainly enjoyed having them here in the Scenic City, and we'd like to congratulate Jody Knowles and Beth Gentry

When September rolls around, we know that we'll be covered up with events, as events like the Street Rodder Road Tour, Somernites Power Cruise and more occur in the busy month. The Coker Tire Challenge to be the third weekend in September, and we can always count on many of our Great Race rally friends to join the fun at our little hometown regional rally. It's a much more relaxed atmosphere than the hustle and bustle of Great Race, but the competition aspect is still there, so it gives the veterans awesome practice and gives them a chance to win a few bucks too! This year, we had about 40 teams join us on the Coker Tire Challenge, even after a few dropped out due to the unfortunate hurricanes of late. Great Race regulars, like Curtis Graf, Rex Gardner, Gary and Jean Ann Martin, and of course, Brad Phillips from Hagerty were among the field of stellar teams in this year's Coker Tire Challenge. Everything from Model A's to a late model Jaguar were on today's route, which traveled from Chattanooga

After three days of rallying through some of the Southeast's finest scenery, the 2014 Coker Tire Challenge ended Sunday afternoon. A short Sunday morning route offered beautiful sites and great weather, and of course, the anticipation of which team would be taking home the hardware! It was a close finish, but thanks to a great score and a 1916 age factor, Howard and Douglas Sharp from Fairport, New York, earned the best overall score. Closely behind was the team of Jody Knowles and Beth Gentry (last year's winners). Another notable award winner was Robert Dinges from Killen, Alabama--he received the Bill Coker Spirit of the Event award! We want to thank all of the staff, racers and support crews for supporting the Coker Tire Challenge--we also want to send a huge thanks to Hemmings Motor News and Hagerty for coming down to compete in the event! Check out our favorite photos from the finish line and awards ceremony, as well as the final results below!

The Coker Tire Challenge is laid back, compared to its big brother, the Great Race, but it still offers quite a challenge, even for skilled veterans of the rallying world. Today's route sent us to Huntsville, Alabama for a lunch stop, and then back to our starting point of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The route features lots of elevation changes, mountain roads, tricky turns and great scenery along the way. Unfortunately, Friday afternoon traffic gave us some issues getting back to Coker Tire for the evening's hosted dinner in the Coker Tire Museum. At this point, Howard and Douglas Sharp are in the lead, but there are still two more days of rallying to see how things shake out! Check out today's photo highlights and stay tuned for more as the Coker Tire Challenge continues!

Wow, time flies! It's time for the Coker Tire Challenge, and we're gearing up for a great weekend of rallying in the Southeast. The weather is looking fantastic, and the course is going to be full of scenic roads and challenging instructions. Thursday is always a laid back day for folks to hang out and get their cars inspected, but the action really gets started on Friday, and lasts through Sunday afternoon. Racers come in from all over the country (Vermont, Texas, New York, Delaware, Ohio and more!), so it's a great time for everyone to catch up. Here are a few shots to get you ready for a full coverage of back roads, scenic sites and classic cars that will be posted in the next few days!

Can you believe it's time for the kids to go back to school? It's also time for the fall season, which means car shows, cruise ins and of course football. One of our favorite fall events is the Coker Tire Challenge, which is a vintage car rally, held on September 18-21. It's sort of a downsized, more relaxed version of the Great Race. It's based right here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and travels through North Alabama, North Georgia and Southeastern Tennessee, returning back to home base in Chattanooga at the end of each day's route. If you're interested in participating in the 2014 Coker Tire Challenge, please contact Event Coordinator, Jennifer Andrews at 423-648-8528 or email her at jennifera@coker.com.

Well, it looks like all that bragging about yesterday's weather bit us, as we fought rain showers almost all day on today's route. We headed north, through towns such as Charleston, Athens and Englewood, before descending on the REAL backroads of Eastern TN, where the pouring rain certainly made it tough for the racers to stay focused. Our lunch destination was Cleveland, Tennessee, as a large AACA car show was being held at Westwood Baptist Church. Unfortunately, the rain was severe enough to have drastically thinned the crowd, so we didn't get to stick around for very long. After that, the rain finally started to ease up, and we rallied our way back to Chattanooga through all sorts of backroads in areas such as Georgetown and Harrison. Finally, our day ended with a Parc Ferme here at Coker Tire, and now we're ready to change into some dry shoes and give our cameras a break. Check out our favorite photos from today's wet and wild action!

Ahh, this is our favorite time of year. Crisp, cool mornings, sunny afternoons and breezy nights. We're getting a little taste of fall around here, and it's great for our Coker Tire Challenge participants. We left this morning, and the folks in open-air cars were in long sleeves. Today's route sent us West, toward Nashville, and we went through a bunch of small towns, such as Jasper and Tracy City on our way to Tullahoma for our lunch stop. The twisty roads, countless hay fields and barns made for great scenery, as the field of cars and trucks made sure to hit all of their marks and stay on time. Finally, we came back to Chattanooga for an awesome dinner right here at the Coker Tire Museum. Check out our favorite pictures from today, and wish us luck for tomorrow!

We're proud to announce that Barry and Irene Jason have WON the 2013 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty! The Jason's are a strong force in the rallying world, and they had another incredible stretch of Ace's and awesome scores in order to bring home the 'Bird trophy as well as a check for $50,000! By the way, the Jason's drive a '35 Ford coupe, which rolls on a set of our Excelsior Stahl Sport radial tires! The Great Race crowned a number of winners today in Mobile, Alabama, most of which rally on Coker Tire products. We want to say congrats to all of the winners, as well as all participants in general. The Great Race is a grueling challenge, but it's oh-so sweet when you cross that finish line! We did just that today in Mobile, Alabama, and we're already planning for next year's event! Thanks to everyone who followed along on our blogs and social media sites...y'all are awesome!

Whew, what a day! We started in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and headed West on I-10, crossing over the swamp, on our way to a packed house in Crowley, Louisiana! Great Racers Ed Habetz and Tom Regan call Crowley home and they certainly knew how to get the small town excited about the Great Race. Spectators lined the streets and gave us a very warm welcome. Then, we blasted out of town on our way to another over-the-top stop in Covington, Louisiana! It was incredible...one of the biggest stops we've seen in a LONG time! Check out our pictures from today, and check back tomorrow to find out who wins the $50,000 prize at the 2013 Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty.

As we continue to head South we have officially crossed into Louisiana and we will spend the next two days rallying throughout the state, and finally into Mobile, Alabama on Sunday for the Grand Finish! We're definitely in the Deep South, and we're seeing a lot of great scenery, so check out our favorite shots from today's route, as well as our lunch stop in Natchez, Mississippi and the evening stop in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. See y'all tomorrow!

We're back in Tennessee! Germantown to be exact! We started today's route in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and made an incredible lunch stop in Paragould, Arkansas and then to a Great Race favorite town of Germantown, Tennessee. The Great Race has stopped in Germantown on a couple of different occasions, and it has always been a must-see stop. This year was no different! Today's route was super tricky with lots of hard turns and speed changes, so it gave us plenty of opportunities to grab cool pictures and videos. Here are a few of our favorites!

What a day! We had a great day on our Great Race adventures and we're going to show you our favorite shots of the day! We left out from Hannibal, Missouri, and blasted through lots of farm land, which eventually led us to some mountain roads that was an awesome change of pace. Then, we stopped in Washington, Missouri for lunch, and received a warm welcome! Then, we hit it hard and motored south to Cape Girardeau, Missouri for one of the biggest Great Race stops in recent history. The folks at Cape G really came out for the Great Race, and we certainly appreciate their effort! Check out our pics!

Yep, we're still on the road, so it's time for some pictures from today's rallying action! Road closures due to flooding shook up today's route, but we made it through to our lunch stop in Peoria, Illinois as well as a rockin' dinner stop in Hannibal, Missouri! Check out even more pictures on the Great Race website and all of our Social Media outlets!

We're continuing our nine-day journey down the Mighty Mississippi River with a bunch of rallying through the back roads of Wisconsin and Iowa! We made a stop in Dubuque, Iowa for lunch, then made a run by the river, passing through Bellevue, Iowa. The small town came out in droves to watch the Great Race pass through its main street, so we grabbed a few shots there as well. Then, we cut a trail through the farm land of Iowa, on our way to a final destination of Davenport, Iowa! Check out our favorite shots of the day, and be sure to keep track of our daily progress on our Facebook page and Instagram feed!

We're in St. Paul, Minnesota for the kickoff of the Hemmings Motor News Great Race presented by Hagerty. We've been super busy with getting all of our gear setup and ready for a nine day journey down the Mighty Mississippi! We're kicking off tomorrow from the Back to the '50s event at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, and we'll be motivating down the most beautiful backroads in America on our way to the final destination of Mobile, Alabama. We started the Great Race with a practice rally today (we call it the Hagerty Trophy Run) and then went to the kickoff reception later in the day. It was a blast and we're ready for a FULL day of action tomorrow, and the next nine days! Also, check out a few shots from the Back to the '50s Car Show here in St. Paul...we saw lots of Coker Tire products out there!

On Sunday morning, our Coker Tire Challenge participants left our early and got back to Chattanooga just before lunch time. They were greeted by friends and family, as they crossed the finish line and prepared for the awards ceremony and dinner. Below are the Top 3 results from the Rookie and Veteran categories. Great Race Grand Champions, Barry and Irene Jason took home the overall victory...they are on a roll! Honorable mentions are Greg and Casey Cunningham with a 5th place finish, as well as John and Beth Coker with a 10th place finish overall!

This morning was crisp and cool, and we headed out of the Coker Tire compound at 8am to get started on the day's route. We motored north, toward Cleveland, Tennessee, and started the timed portion of the route on beautiful Lake Ocoee. The county roads sent us through the small community of Reliance, and we made our way around to Etowah by mid morning. From there, our route consisted of many maneuvers as we snaked through the back roads of Tennessee. We finally made it back to Cleveland for lunch, and then found ourselves in a maze of back roads that sent us into Georgia. Overall it was yet another great day of challenging rally action, and we had a parc ferme when we returned to home base. Tomorrow is the final day of competition, so there will be plenty of action to cover. For now, enjoy our favorite shots from today's route!

A fine day of rallying saw 40 vintage cars hitting the back roads of northwest Georgia on a beautiful Friday. Cool temperatures and a bit of cloud cover made for great driving conditions, and we had a great time snaking through some of the great Georgia mountain roads on our way to Dalton for lunch and ultimately Wildwood, Georgia to have a great dinner at Corky's place. Overall it was a great day of rallying with very few mechanical issues for our racers, so we're gearing up for another good day tomorrow! Here is our photo recap....enjoy!

More good news from Jeff Stumb, Director of the Great Race on his second day of route planning: DAY 2 -- St. Ignace and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan We hated to leave Traverse City, but it helped knowing we will be back for several days in June of next year. It was good, however, to start the trip and planning the course for the first day of the race. Because the start will take place at 10 a.m. in Traverse City on June 23, the first day of rallying will be rather short. The lunch stop will be in St. Ignace, home of the wonderful St. Ignace Car Show each year. St. Ignace is the first city on the other side of the Mackinac Bridge, and it marked the first time I had ever been to the U.P. (the Upper Peninsula). Ed and his crew in St. Ignace are planning a great stop in conjunction with another of their car shows -- the Antiques on the Bay show in front of the marina. Beautiful Mackinac Island will be the backdrop in Lake Huron. Sault Ste. Marie (called the Soo by locals) is the last town in

The 2011 Coker Tire Challenge, presented by Hemmings Motor News is in the books! We had an awesome time touring the back roads of Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, but it's time to wind down and get ready for our next rally event....the 2012 Great Race! We're super excited about it, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet! The Challenge had 42 participants, driving a WIDE variety of vehicles, from open-wheel classics like a 1917 Peerless Board Track Racer to a modified Jeep hot rod. We had a great time, and welcomed the racers onto Fort Street for the finish of the Challenge. From there, it was chow time, and also time for the awards ceremony! We want to congratulate all of the winners for a job well done. Keep an eye on www.CokerTireChallenge.com for the final standings! [gallery link="file"]