The Associated Press | Posted: Friday, July 3, 2009 12:00 am
A Michigan couple's dream of seeing their Model T car finish a coast-to-coast race came to a screeching halt in Wyoming this week.
Gail and Dan Crane of DeWitt, Mich., were taking part in the Ocean to Ocean Endurance Race when their historic automobile was totaled after being hit by a truck on Interstate 80 near Rawlins.
"I'm brokenhearted. We're disappointed about not being able to finish the race," Gail Crane told the Lansing (Mich.) State Journal. "We were looking forward to it."
Gail Crane, 59, said she and friend Jann Normington, 57, of Lyons, Mich., were traveling on I-80 Monday when a truck rear-ended the 1992 Ford Model T. She and Normington were taken to a hospital and released a few hours later.
They suffered only minor injuries.
Dan Crane had been trailing them in the couple's trailer, but was not near them when the accident occurred.
Rawlins police Lt. Daria Hooper said the truck was traveling about 50 mph and the Model T about 35 mph. She said there's no minimum speed on interstates in Wyoming.
The truck driver, identified as Donald Hebert of Minnesota, was issued a citation alleging careless driving with injury.
The Ocean to Ocean is a re-enactment of the 1909 race that put auto pioneer Henry Ford and his car on the map. The roughly monthlong race began June 14 in New York City and ends in Seattle.
This year's event is scheduled to end July 12.
Participants can usually avoid expressways, as Model Ts can't travel at modern highway speeds. But Gail Crane said I-80 was the only road to take them through that part of the country.
The Cranes said they haven't decided whether to take up offers from fellow participants to give them a ride so they can complete the race.
"We'll see. We're still kind of up in the air about it," Gail Crane said.