There comes a time when sitting in a camp chair by your shined up old car just isn’t enough anymore. Drag racing and vintage road racing aren’t exactly the cheapest ways to spend your Saturday afternoon either. For a growing number of enthusiasts VCRA rally events are becoming the venue of choice to enjoy their cars. Less show-n-shine and more “drive the wheels off” but somewhere short of 24 hours of Le Mans, these rallies pit driver and navigator against others teams on timed A-to-B stages over the course of a few days, often for prize money. The goal, leave point A and arrive at point B exactly on time while following the cryptic instructions designed to guide you at precise speeds through a predetermined route, and it’s even harder than it sounds.
These events are becoming wildly popular among car collectors starved for the chance to drive their cars with a purpose. Normally 20-50 cars descend on a small town for a long weekend or rallying, filling the secondary roads with numbered collector cars working to take the trophy home.
In its fourth year, The Coker Tire Challenge invited teams to tackle the twisty back roads of Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. 49 teams from 23 states and Australia answered the call as early as the Monday before Thursday’s technical inspections. The cars were checked for safety and compliance to VCRA specifications and the team’s numbers applied to the sides, representing the business at hand. Drivers spent the day with tech inspections, testing and tuning their cars, calibrating critical speedometers in preparation for competition and attending the mandatory rally school. First timers and rookies soaked up the rules and techniques of VCRA rallying in the two hour class and moved into the Coker Museum for a reception afterwards. In the reception you got the first real look at the size and scope of this year’s teams and the sense that the rally was already a huge success.
Friday morning and Day One started before daylight with sleepy eyed drivers buzzing about between car haulers and Honest Charley Garage. Teams rolled out at 8:00am to calibrate their speedometers and hit their first timed stage of the day by 9:00am. Day One’s stages worked through the hills of northern Alabama and across the countryside.

It’s amazing how scenic a country road seems when all those old cars are on them. The loop that started in the historic south side of downtown Chattanooga ended the day at the beautiful Mountain Valley Farms in north Georgia. Road weary drivers turned onto a long Bradford Pear lined drive, picked up their scores, parked at a red barn and whisked away in an old convertible Yellowstone tour bus up to the house to enjoy dinner and drinks. Smiles were easy to come by as the road weary teams relived the day and watched the sun set. Sound picturesque? The aren’t enough words to do it justice.
Typically Day Two is all business as teams find their rhythm and try to make their biggest run at winning the event. Saturday morning found teams preparing for competition and wet weather. Nature was happy to oblige as teams drove into torrential rain showers almost immediately. Day Two’s stages took the teams through north Georgia on loop into the Cherokee National Forest area near the Ocoee River. The heavy rains crippled many teams especially in the rookie class as many cars were open roadsters and speedsters. Some of the more veteran teams had seen these conditions before and took advantage of rallying in inclement weather to distance themselves from the competition. At then end of the day there were tired smiles and wet socks. The teams took the night to themselves to enjoy downtown Chattanooga’s offerings.
It never gets old wandering into a street filled with cackling vintage cars preparing to storm the hills in pursuit of top honors. Day Three is usually the most laid back Coker Tire Challenge leg with teams only running stages for a few hours and returning for awards by lunch. Frontrunners have to stay focused while the teams that are out of it try for an ACE as a personal trophy. Crossing the finish line at Coker Tire Company’s headquarters, teams are greeted with a handshake from Corky Coker and congratulated on finishing the event.

It’s incredibly demanding piloting and navigating a 70 year old car through pages of instructions from dawn until dusk for days at a time. The magic is in the smiles as weary teams climb from their cars and share stories as they wander into the museum for lunch and awards. The spirit of a good competition is at its best when you don’t see hard brows arguing and bickering, but rather hugs and high fives up and down the staging lane.
This year’s event was a great success in that everyone had a blast. There were the usual mechanical failures and missed turns, fish stories about near ACEs and plenty of rain tales. At the end of the day, a few teams had the added bonus of a trophy to take home with their memories.
Top Rookie Class honors went to Mark and Lance Feighner driving their 1951 Chevy Styleline to a final score of 2 minutes 53.84 seconds edging out the 1931 Chrysler Royal Coupe of Kevin Hucker and Mike Reijonen’s 3m 35.14s second place effort.
The seasoned Veteran Class found Curtic Graf and navigator Ty Holmquist’s 1932 Ford roadster on top of the heap after the dust settled. Their amazing 27.09 seconds score squeaked by Gary and Jean Ann Martin’s 33.81s 2nd place effort and the close 36.58s third place effort of Richard Fredette and Bill Loubiere’s 1928 boat-tailed speedster. The veteran’s scores were incredible given the conditions that they endured on a tough series of stages from Rally Masters Rex Gardner & Charlie McKinney.
For the second time, a very special award was presented. The Coker family lost Bill Coker two years ago, Bill was a beloved and cherished family member, friend and model of the kind of person you hope to meet. Bill’s character embodies the virtues that proudly spawned the “Spirit of the Event” award presented to the participant who best represented themselves throughout the event. Beyond competition is character and Jean Ann Martin earned her place in Coker Tire Challenge history collecting the “Bill Coker, Spirit of the Event Award” for her kindness and passion in this years rally. Tommy Hudson’s “Good Guy award” for traveling a great distance from Ada, Oklahoma to donate his time to staffing the event was also honored.
It was hard to find someone who could say anything other than “see you next year”, but the overwhelming sentiment was laced with the idea that car shows are giving way to a group of collector car enthusiasts who want to drive their cars. The popularity grows with each event, as cars from all points in automotive history represent the hobby and sport on the road. Much like a roving car show with a little competition mixed in, vintage rallies put the owners behind the wheel and the cars into your towns and neighborhoods.