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| Charlie Stroud stands by the 1937 Packard at a Great Race rest stop |
I spent nearly two years restoring the car, which I had acquired in 1962 while in the Navy. In June of 1998, Bob and I set out from Tacoma, Washington, on a grueling 4,545-mile trip to Haverhill, Massachusetts, in a 66-year-old car. We made it in one piece and actually won a few dollars from the $250,000 prize pool. The story of that experience is told in my Great Race Website. When we returned from the Great Race, my wife Margo and I decided to throw a celebration party.
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| Winston - 1932 Plymouth Model PB |
We had decided to serve a buffet-style dinner to best accommodate the crowd we expected. As our guests lined up for the buffet line, the videotape would be running in our great room where folks could enjoy it. One who enjoyed it a lot and watched it more than once through was Charlie Stroud.
After dinner, Brenda was helping Margo in the kitchen. Charlie came up to me and said, "I watched your video and heard your Great Race stories. This looks like the most fun you can have with your clothes on." I had to agree. He then went on, "I've got a son who lives in Ohio that I'd like to get a lot closer to. This looks like the kind of thing we could both enjoy." Within a week, Charlie informed me that he had challenged his son Bill. "I told him all about the event and he seemed interested. I told him that if he'd buy a car, I'd pay the entry fee."
Within just a few weeks, Charlie called. "I heard from Bill today. He said that there was a 1937 Packard in the driveway and that I had better get my wallet out. Thus began the saga of the Stroud boys participating in the Great Race.
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| Charlie (second from Left) and Brenda Stroud, are shown with Charlie’s navigator, son Bill Stroud of Ohio (on right), and support team member, Wayne Gerin (far left). |
The Stroud's car was traversing a very rural area in southern Arkansas enroute to the next overnight city of Dallas, Texas. Both Bill and Charlie were Texas A&M graduates and very proud of that fact, so they had notified the Dallas Aggie alumni organization to encourage their membership to come out and greet "Team TAMU" as they arrived that evening. Many alumni were planning to greet the Strouds at the day's finish line. (Each day the Great Race ends with a giant finish line setup of an inflatable gate, VIPs, an announcer greeting every car and informing them of their daily score, and often a military band. It's a big deal with thousands of spectators.)
As Bill and Charlie were cruising along in rural Arkansas, suddenly the 1937 Packard died. The Strouds were somewhere in the middle of the pack that day, so lots of cars passed them, one every minute, as they tried to troubleshoot the car by the side of the road. At the end of the procession of competing cars would be the dreaded "sweep truck," a large roll-on tow truck that follows the Great Race every day and brings broken-down participant cars to the finish line for the day. Charlie and Bill were not going to be brought in on the sweep truck! What might their Aggie buddies think? So they came up with a typical Stroud plan.
They pushed the disabled car into some nearby bushes where the sweep truck would not spot it. After they saw that the truck had safely passed, one of them hitchhiked to a pay phone to contact a tow truck. They then got towed to a repair shop where the car was quickly brought back to life. As I recall, it was a clogged fuel line, easily repaired. They were soon on their way, albeit several hours late by the Great Race clock.
Meanwhile, the staff of the Great Race was frantically trying to determine their whereabouts. Several participants had seen them working on the car by the side of the road, but then, they simply vanished. The sweep truck crew swore they hadn't seen anything. Had they gotten lost? Lots of Team TAMU fans had waited patiently by the finish line, but had eventually given up on their team and gone home. Finally, as the Great Race staff was dismantling the last of the P.A. system and guardrails, the chagrined Team TAMU crossed the finish line. The story became part of Great Race lore.
The car ran just fine throughout the rest of the rally, all the way to Anaheim, but both Bill and Charlie felt they could be a little more competitive with the more responsive acceleration of a rebuilt engine.
2000 - Before the 2000 rally, Bill and Charlie brought the Packard to Huntsville to replace it's tired straight-six engine prior to the start of the race. The plan was to then drive it to Boston. They acquired a spare engine and turned it over to a local engine rebuilding shop where unfortunately the mechanic assembling the engine put the exhaust valves in the intake valve positions and vice versa. Unfortunately, exhaust and intake valves are made of different alloys and are heat treated differently. The engine would run, but the valves would wear out very rapidly. The rebuilt engine was put in the car with its hidden flaw. By the time Charlie drove to Boston and realized the problem, it was too late. Charlie had the old engine brought from Huntsville to Boston and replaced it in the hotel parking lot and got started a day late in the competition. To complicate things further, at the last minute, Bill had other commitments that prevented him from participating, so Charlie had invited my old navigator, Bob King, to accompany him. In spite of these complications, Charlie and Bob drove very competitively and represented themselves well in the 2000 Great Race.
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| The Strouds, in their 1937 Packard Model 115-C leave the starting gate in Atlanta, June 17, 2001 |
2001 - The 2001 Great Race went from Atlanta to Pasadena and both the Strouds, father and son, were once more in the running, again in their 1937 Packard Model 115-C four-door sedan, but now with its properly-rebuilt 100-horsepower engine. "Team TAMU" was emblazoned on the car with Texas A&M logos and signage. There was no doubt the Aggies were in town. Bob King and I were part of that race and enjoyed the camaraderie we had with the Strouds. Of course they had an entourage and his beloved Brenda was their senior cheerleader. In the 2001 Great Race, the Strouds demonstrated that they were VERY competitive. They placed third or fourth in the largest division of competitors, the Sportsman Division. I think it was obvious to everyone that the Strouds were out to win.
2002 saw Team TAMU once more chasing the winner's prize. Charlie flew to Ohio several weeks before the start date so he and Bill could hone their skills and improve their accuracy. Perhaps a little explanation of how the rally works is in order:
Participants attempt to follow precise driving instructions exactly. The instructions are presented to the participating teams 10 minutes before their scheduled departure times each morning. Cars are spaced one minute apart and the sequence of start each day is determined by drawing lots the previous evening. They are evaluated at several check points during each day's run and their times are compared to the “perfect” time (as established by a very precise measurement of the course beforehand and computer simulation of a vehicle following every instruction to perfection) for that portion of the rally. A zero score is perfect. Penalty points are assigned for each second early or late. Scores are cumulative. The lowest score wins. A “factor” is applied to the raw score to come up with the adjusted score (older cars have an advantage). Overall winners are determined by the best score of the first 10 stages plus the combined scores on the last two stages.
There are four main competitive categories: Rookie Class, Sportsman Division (in which Charlie and Bill were competing), Championship Division, and X-cup. Rookies are first year competitors, Sportsman entries are experienced, Championship entries are VERY experienced and X-cup is a special category for high school teams. An Ace is a zero (or perfect score) on a leg, meaning the car completed the leg in precisely the allotted time for that leg.
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| Team TAMU's listing as it appeared in the 2002 program for the Great Race You have to love Charlie's derby and ascot |
Each day the Strouds were in the top three or four in the scoring. They had done their homework. The rally requires intense focus and consistent driving. Acceleration and deceleration must be as uniform as possible and Charlie, as the driver with Bill as navigator were on a roll. Finally, as the 120 participating teams rolled into Anaheim to the finish line, it was announced, "Team TAMU -- Charlie and Bill Stroud -- have WON the Sportsman Division of the 2002 Great Race with a score of 1:04!!! Charlie and his wife Brenda live outside of Huntsville in Brownsboro, AL, near Hampton Cove. Bill and his wife Chris live in the Akron, OH, area. They first got interested in Great Racing after seeing the video tapes taken by Margo Mead during the 1998 Race. They have competed ever since in a 1937 Model 115C Packard Touring Sedan."
For their hard work, the team proudly representing their alma mater took home a check for about $40,000. For the Strouds, that only whetted their appetites.
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| A 1924 Buick 4-cylinder chassis, similar to the one Charlie resurrected |
They towed the Buick to Michigan. After the technical inspection, the father-son team discovered some items needing attention, including replacing the lubricant in the differential. So on Friday, June 20, 2003, as Charlie was under the car, tightening a bolt, his life changed. He suffered a major brain aneurysm. As I recall, he told Bill, "I'm feeling really strange."
Charlie was rushed to a hospital in Livonia, where he would remain for weeks. He would undergo surgeries to relieve the pressure on his brain, but Charlie was in for a long recovery. The Strouds' rallying days had come to an end, but hadn't those days been enchanting? More to follow...
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