Team Bloomfield Cruisers to Participate in The Great Race

Four members of the Bloomfield Cruisers are set to participate in one of the nation’s most prestigious vintage automobile road rallies, the 2022 Hemmings Motor News Great Race. The participants include Carlos Pomares as driver and Steven Martino as navigator, along with Dan Bitecola and Michael Sceurman as support team members. 

Pomares will drive his 1972 Chevrolet Corvette with Martino serving as navigator. Bitecola and Sceurman will drive nearby in the team's support truck lending support on the 2,300 mile endurance challenge. 

The Great Race is a time, speed, endurance rally, open to cars built before 1974. Tom McRae and Norm Miller organized the first Great Race, back in 1983. They worked hard to promote the event, and turned it into one of the greatest automotive events of all time. The goal isn't to get to the finish line first, but to precisely finish each checkpoint in a pre-determined amount of time. Each vehicle has a driver and a navigator, and the team uses a calibrated speedometer to make sure they stay on schedule, according to the day's route. They are scored at secret check points along the way and are penalized one second for each second either early or late. As in golf, the lowest score wins. Cars built in 1974 and earlier are eligible, with most entries having been manufactured before World War II.

This year's race, presented by Hagerty Drivers Club, will start in Warwick, Rhode Island, on Saturday, June 18, and finish in Fargo, North Dakota, on Sunday, June 26. The 9-day, 2,300-mile adventure will bring 150 of the world’s finest antique automobiles to 19 cities in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. More than $150,000 will be awarded to top finishers in multiple divisions.