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Rental Car Race Features Unplanned Route, Silly Antics

Teams race rental cars from New York to Detroit, using ingenious antics to see who can keep their odometer readings the lowest.

by Staff
August 12, 2009
2 min to read


The Rental Car Rally, an auto race in which drivers use the nation’s vast fleet of rental cars to travel an unplanned route with points for costumes and any other antics accomplished on the way will take place for the second time this year, according to the New York Post.

In the race, which will take place Aug. 21 to 23, teams are judged on getting from New York City to a specified destination in the fewest miles. In the inaugural race last year, Montreal was the destination. This year, it’s Detroit. Three hundred participants making up 73 teams took part last year.

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But fun is obviously a main focus of the race. As an example, one racing team in last year’s race used a snack-food theme, with snack cakes littering the inside of the car, and was named Hot Chis. In another instance, racers jumped on top of their cars and assaulting other teams with silly string.

The race route’s checkpoints are only revealed at the start of the rally.

Perhaps one of the more ingenious tricks last year took place when a team hired a tow-truck to keep the vehicle’s odometer reading low. But tow trucks and flatbed trucks were outlawed for this year’s race.

“But if you have a vehicle that turns into a helicopter, you are allowed to use that,” Bryant said.

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