Be part of Great Race 2008

Want to be a part of history? Head to Geneva today where you can see participants recreating a portion of the Great Race of 1908 -- and become part of it.

"Now we have a new amazing thing happening," said David Oberg, executive director of the Geneva History Center. "Not only will there be vintage cars, but some hybrid and alternative fuel cars. I think this will be a historic event as well."

The first Great Race was the world's first automobile race. "And it passed right through Geneva," Oberg said. "I can't think of anything more exciting. They covered over 22,000 miles and no one has topped that. It proved the automobile was not a passing fad. It had endurance and was here to stay."

Hoping to honor that historic journey, participants of the Longest Auto Race Centennial left New York last Saturday and plan to pass through Geneva along Route 38 this morning.

Those vintage cars can be tempestuous, however, so their actual arrival time may change, said 1908 race winner George Schuster's great-grandson Jeff Mahl. The goal is to leave Aurora about 8 a.m., said one organizer, Judi Quan Rizzuto, with the plan to journey along Route 59 north to Route 38, west toward the Geneva History Center, 113 S. Third St., arriving there before 9 a.m. Or as close to 9 a.m. as temperamental classic cars will let them. One vehicle has lost its hood, another is running hot, still another is -- like so many cars today -- having fuel problems.

They'll stop at the history center for a short visit and photographs and then they'll head west ... way west. You're welcome to join them for part of the journey. Just show up.

"It is history in the making," Oberg said. It sure is.

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