Suburban pair looks to match 1908 feat

It's been a terrible winter for motorists with punishing storms, plunging temperatures and enough ice to choke a snowman.

So what better time to drive nonstop across the country?

For auto aficionados Wayne Gerdes and Ken Gordon, motoring from New York City to San Francisco isn't about logic, it's about celebrating history and promoting environmentally friendly driving.

The two suburbanites are part of a six-person team that will pilot two Honda Civic Hybrids nearly 4,000 miles in homage to the 1908 Greatest Automobile Race.

The 2008 adventure starts today at noon, Chicago time, from Times Square in New York, exactly 100 years after the original.

The 1908 race featured competitors from France, Germany, the U.S. and Italy all vying to be the first to take the horseless carriage from the East Coast across the frozen Bering Strait to Paris.

Things didn't quite turn out as planned then and expedition leader Gerdes knows he still must expect the unexpected. But he also knows conditions will be better than a century ago.

"It was an ordeal for them," the Wadsworth resident said. "For us, it's only a challenge."

The tough circumstances in 1908 included open cars, poor roads and snow so deep the competitors had to dig their way through.

"They used compasses and drove down rivers. For us, it's about getting good fuel economy," Gerdes said.

And as the man who coined the phrase "hypermiler," Gerdes knows a thing or two about fuel economy, after reaching heights such as 164 mpg in a Honda Insight, a two-seater hybrid, in 2006.

His techniques include avoiding excessive braking, idling and high speeds.

On this trip, Gerdes is confident of maintaining above 60 mpg fuel economy but he admits the weather holds some surprises.

"I just learned we're going to run through a nice storm over the Ohio Valley," he said.

When the two teams start their engines today it will be in vintage style with capes and goggles similar to those the first auto racers wore.

There will be bathroom breaks but sleeping will take place in the cars and meals will be the fast food du jour.

"It won't be pretty," Gerdes said, undaunted, Monday from New York City.

The entourage expects to reach Chicago Wednesday afternoon and San Francisco Saturday morning.

Fellow hypermiler Gordon can't wait.

"I read about the great race when I was a kid," the Elk Grove Village resident said. "To take part in this re-enactment … I feel like I'm on top of the world."