More than 10,000 gleaming street rods, muscle cars and vintage rides will cruise into the Minnesota State Fairgrounds this weekend — and then 130 of them will take off in a hurry for the legendary Hemmings Great Race to South Carolina.

The nine-day, 2,300-mile rally will take the antique, vintage and collector cars to Irmo, S.C., departing Saturday from the 51st annual Back to the ’50s Weekend. The newest cars will be from 1974 and the oldest in this year’s race is a 1913 Chevrolet truck.

Two Minnesotans will compete: Craig Amundson in a 1973 BMW 2002 and Jerome Reinan in a 1918 American LaFrance. The two men say the race is a family event, more of a rolling family reunion about making memories.

Reinan, who grew up outside of Fergus Falls, Minn., and now lives on Lake Lida near Vergas, drove a 1949 Plymouth in high school and since then has always owned at least one older car.

In college, he first heard about the rally and was determined to compete in the race one day. After law school, working on his career and raising a family, he entered his first race in 2013 driving a wood-paneled 1931 Rolls Royce Shooting Brake.

Jerome Reinan, right, and his cousin, Chris Brungardt, with their 1918 LaFrance Speedster at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in 2016. The two will drive the car in the 2025 Hemmings Motor News Great Race, a nine-day vintage car rally, that will start from MSRA’s Back to the Fifties rally at the State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights on June 21, 2025. The race, which will finish in Irmo, South Carolina on June 29, is known for its time-speed-distance format, where precise navigation and timing, not speed, are key. (Courtesy of Jerome Reinan)

His team, the Wandering Troubadours of Finland, is named partly for his mother’s Finnish heritage and partly for “a popular acronym that by itself is not family friendly.” They have competed every year since 2013 except one.

The members of the team sometimes change, as well as the cars that race, but normally it consists of Reinan, his two brothers, two cousins, a lawyer friend, his father, his uncle and his brothers-in-law, he said.

“That group of jolly, liver-challenged knuckleheads travels behind the rally in an old tandem diesel school bus that has been converted to an RV,” he said. “Since we have no real fear of winning the race, the race is more of a family gathering than an actual competition. We have also come to see our Great Race competitors as extended family as well.”

He said they most often compete with the 1918 American LaFrance.

Related Articles

Could you eat this much ice cream after walking 1,100 miles? Some Appalachian Trail hikers try

Book Review: A new biography goes long and deep on the rise and fall of rock band Talking Heads

Weeds aren’t just nuisances, they’re messengers. Here’s what they can tell you

Humble fish stew showcases the underappreciated cuisine of Spain’s Balearic islands

Trump bans ‘negative’ signage at national parks, asks visitors to snitch on unpatriotic text

“It usually is the most primitive car on the rally, even if it is not necessarily the oldest,” he said. “It has only rear brakes, which are activated by a handle instead of a foot pedal. It is a dual chain drive, and the chains are about 10 times the size of a normal bicycle chain. It has wood spoked wheels and a huge 9.5 liter, four-cylinder T-head engine.”

For perspective on that engine, the largest V-8s in today’s pickups range from 6.2 to 7.3 liters.

The LaFrance has proven to be very reliable, Reinan said, and he has put more than 30,000 miles on it, “none of them even remotely comfortable.”

For car enthusiasts, the rally is the ultimate gathering, he said.

“You get to see the best part of our beautiful country through the windshield of an old car — provided you have a windshield. You get to use your mechanical skills, your survival skills, your interpersonal skills and your skills as an ambassador for the hobby,” Reinan said.

A ‘young’ 1973 BMW

Craig Amundson, left, and his son-in-law Jeff Mischke with a 1973 BMW 2002 they will drive in the 2025 Hemmings Motor News Great Race, a nine-day vintage car rally that will start from MSRA’s Back to the Fifties rally at the State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights on June 21, 2025. The race, which will finish in Irmo, South Carolina on June 29, is known for its time-speed-distance format, where precise navigation and timing, not speed, are key. (Courtesy of Craig Amundson)

Several years ago, Amundson, of Eden Prairie, put his name on the wait list to compete in the Great Race after hearing about it from an acquaintance. In 2022, he was offered a spot, but didn’t have a car that would qualify so he began to look around.

“My wife, Kris, spotted the 1973 BMW 2002 sitting on the street, with a for-sale sign,” he said.

The car required some work before it was ready to race but had been a competitive vehicle.

The BMW, named Emily Re-Tyred, was initially restored by Paul Wegweiser in Pittsburgh as a 2002ti Alpina tribute car, with European esthetics. Emily has competed in multiple rallies, most associated with the Great Race, he said.

Amundson drives the car while his son-in-law, Jeff Mischke, of Hopkins, navigates.

“It has an interesting history and is a known car within the BMW 2002 world,” he said. “The only drawback is that it is young — 52 years old — and its age does not help in scoring calculations.”

Involvement in the race has been “an exceptional experience,” Amundson said. “For us, it is a family event” as his children and their partners follow along on the race as crew members.

“We try to arrange vacation times to meet at the finish line location for some family time,” he said. “Universally, the people involved in the race are friendly and supportive, even though the race is intense and competitive. Each day of the race includes community-supported lunch stops and end of day celebrations. The crowds are surprisingly large with plenty of old car stories. Almost everyone likes old cars.”

Organizers say the race is a “competitive, controlled-speed endurance road rally on public highways” and is not a test of top speeds but “rather a test of the teams’ and drivers’ ability to follow precise course instructions and … ability to endure on a cross-country trip.”

Enthusiasts gather for a vintage car preview at the MSRA Back to the Fifties Weekend Kickoff Rally at Mancini’s Char House in St. Paul on Thursday, June 19, 2025. The 51st Minnesota Street Rod Association’s “Back to the Fifties Weekend” will bring some 10,000 street rods, custom and classic cars and restored vehicles, all dating from 1964 and earlier, to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights from June 20-22, 2025. (Bennett Moger / Pioneer Press)

Saturday starting ceremony

An 11:45 a.m. Saturday ceremony will precede the noon official start time for the race, which will begin at the Fairgrounds main gate at Dan Patch and Snelling avenues.

The racers make their first stop in Rochester, Minn., for the night and then make 16 more stops in Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The race takes a different route each year and drivers compete for the $160,000 prize, split among five classes. The biggest winner takes home $50,000.

Each stop is open to the public and people can visit with the drivers and have a look at the cars.

“It is common for racers to allow kids to climb in the cars for a first-hand look,” said Houston Gibson, race coordinator for this year’s oldest vehicle, the 1913 Chevrolet truck.

The most popular vehicles in the races tend to be classic 1960s Mustangs, Gibson said.

“When the Great Race pulls into a city it becomes an instant festival,” says Jeff Stumb, director of the race. “Last year, we had several overnight stops with more than 10,000 spectators.”

Related Articles

Could you eat this much ice cream after walking 1,100 miles? Some Appalachian Trail hikers try

Book Review: A new biography goes long and deep on the rise and fall of rock band Talking Heads

Weeds aren’t just nuisances, they’re messengers. Here’s what they can tell you

Humble fish stew showcases the underappreciated cuisine of Spain’s Balearic islands

Trump bans ‘negative’ signage at national parks, asks visitors to snitch on unpatriotic text

The race will end Sunday, June 29, in Irmo, S.C., near Lake Murray.

The Minnesota Street Rod Association’s Back to the ’50s Weekend will feature more than 200 vendors inside and outside at the Fairgrounds. Wally Burchill, a board member, said the association is proud to have been selected for the second time as the location for the start of the Great Race. (The first time was in 2013.)

Admission to the Back to the ’50s Weekend is $15 for those over 15; children 15 and under are free with each paid adult. Advance discount tickets with $2 off are available at participating NAPA auto parts stores.

For more information to go to msrabacktothe50s.com and greatrace.com.

Students at the University of Minnesota will face the largest tuition hike in more than a decade despite leaner operations this fall across all of the school’s campuses and colleges.

Meanwhile, a flurry of long-awaited maintenance and construction projects will include new suicide prevention barriers along the Washington Avenue bridge in Minneapolis.

A 6.5% tuition hike for state residents enrolled in the Twin Cities campuses will arrive hand-in-hand with a 7% spending cut, or “scope reduction,” to both academic and non-academic programs across the University’s school and colleges, according to U president Rebecca Cunningham, who presented the final 2026 budget this week to the University’s Board of Regents.

In-state students will now pay $16,132 per year, up from about $15,100, while non-resident undergraduates will see tuition grow 7.5% and pay $39,018 per year. Tuition increases at the Duluth campus will be milder. U officials said inflation and federal funding cuts necessitated the hikes, which are the largest tuition increases since 2011.

The University will not receive any new state funding for general operations “for the first time in decades,” Cunningham said, even as more than $40 million in cuts “and rising” are being handed down from the federal government.

“We can all agree there are no easy choices this year,” she said, addressing the board. “Higher education is truly facing unprecedented challenges. The University of Minnesota is not immune, and therefore we have to make difficult decisions.”

Financial aid kicks in

Despite the tuition increase, the state’s North Star Promise program and other sources of financial aid will heavily buffer the impact for families earning less than $110,000, U officials said.

As a result, families earning less than $80,000 may not see a net increase at all in both tuition and fees.

Once other sources of aid are exhausted, the state-funded North Star Promise aims to cover “last dollar” gaps in tuition assistance for low-income students enrolled in Minnesota state colleges and universities, tribal colleges and the University of Minnesota.

“Our least-resourced students will not see this tuition increase in their tuition bill,” Cunningham said. “Our students … are paying 3% less in real dollars than they were paying a decade ago. … We do not have run-away tuition, as we do in many other parts of the country.”

Regents vote on budget, tuition hike

Expressing concern over what they described as an unprecedented fiscal climate, the Board of Regents voted 9-3 to approve the 2026 operating budget of $5.1 billion on Wednesday, as well as funding for $194.6 million in capital improvements.

The U will dip into its central reserves for $60 million to support a Strategic Investment Fund, while leaving programmatic “scope reductions” to the individual deans and leaders of each school, college and unit.

“The new strategic plan isn’t done yet,” said Regent James Farnsworth, in an interview. He cast a dissenting vote after expressing concern about the tuition hikes, as well as cuts disproportionately impacting academic programs rather than administrative spending, and what he deemed a lack of “collaboration and communication” with impacted units.

“My biggest concern is about the proposed tuition increase, and what that means for families who may already be stretched thin,” said Regent Bo Thao-Urabe, who also cast one of the three dissenting votes. “Certainly, I know this is a very complex moment for the University, with no easy choices.”

Regent Mary Turner noted that demands for student services, including disability services, have ballooned over the decades, as have the University’s contributions to cutting-edge medical and scientific research, even as state support has dropped with time.

“In the late ’70s, ’80s … our state government funded us up to 60%,” said Turner, who voted to support the new budget. “What did we get this year? Nothing.”

Construction on campus

Also approved this week, the University’s capital improvement budget relies on $60 million from the recently-approved $700 million state bonding bill for facility work, as well as another $8 million from Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council for permanent suicide prevention barriers along the Washington Avenue bridge.

The state funding will allow the U to complete long-deferred maintenance across all of its campuses, said Gregg Goldman, the executive vice president for Finance and Operations, addressing the board.

Otherwise, “we’re asking every campus, college and unit to do more with less,” he said.

Major construction projects in the capital improvement budget include:

• Solar panels across multiple locations on the Twin Cities campus ($25.4 million).

• Betty’s Apple House, a new apple house at the Landscape Arboretum, funded entirely by philanthropic gifts ($23.4 million).

• Safety railings on the Washington Avenue bridge, funded by Hennepin County and the Met Council ($8 million).

Strategic planning initiatives

Despite overall cost-cutting, Cunningham said the new budget sets aside “modest” one-time funding for strategic planning initiatives, which are still being developed.

Three likely examples, she said, include investments in artificial intelligence, “the revitalization of the St. Paul campus” and student wellbeing.

“One cannot cut toward the future,” Cunningham said. “While we make cuts, we must also make investments toward the future.”

The U also plans to take steps toward growing student recruitment online and nationally while preparing for its next capital campaign, Goldman said.

Related Articles

Gophers football gains five commits Sunday

UMN: Board of Regents to vote on sale of golf course in Falcon Heights

Coon Rapids man charged in shooting at UMN after Wayzata graduation

Two shot outside Mariucci Arena Friday released from hospital

Two shot Friday night outside Mariucci Arena on UMN campus

Twins starting pitcher Chris Paddack had a message for all lending an ear after Minnesota’s 12-5 win in Cincinnati on Thursday afternoon.

“Make sure y’all vote Buck for the All-Star game,” he told reporters.

Byron Buxton’s current play certainly deserves such a stage.

The Twins’ center fielder homered in each of the first two innings to help snap Minnesota’s six-game losing streak and bring the club back to .500 on the year (37-37). For the second straight game, Buxton opened the proceedings with a leadoff home run.

And for the second straight game, Minnesota’s starting pitcher relinquished the 1-0 advantage by surrendering a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. That spelled doom for the Twins on Wednesday, as the offense outside dried up in a 4-2, rain-shortened defeat.

But as Paddack returned to the dugout after giving up those runs on Thursday, Buxton came over and told him, “Keep us right there, and we’ll be just fine.”

He wasn’t lying.

Kody Clemens turned hard on a ball and kept it inside the right field foul pole to put Minnesota back up 3-2 in the second frame. Next up was Buxton. He delivered the same result, and suddenly it was 4-2 Twins.

There was no slowing down the Minnesota bats on this occasion. The Twins chased Reds starter Nick Martinez midway through the third frame, putting seven earned runs on his ledger before his exit.

Minnesota scored multiple runs in the second, third and fourth innings, and led 9-4 through three and a half frames.

“Guys were seeing it well, a lot of crooked numbers there in the first four innings,” Paddack said. “So, definitely getting some run support early as a starter, it takes a little stress off your shoulders where you can go out there, compete, be aggressive in the zone.”

Paddack noted Thursday was perhaps the most fatigued he’d been all season, calling it a “grinding” start. He said Cincinnati features a low-sloped mound that makes it feel as though “we’re throwing on flat ground.” So, he didn’t have the same velocity and bite on his stuff.

But he and catcher Ryan Jeffers adjusted and devised a plan to be aggressive early in counts against the Reds’ patient hitters and pound the lower half of the zone. Paddack (3-6) threw scoreless frames in the fourth and fifth innings to earn the win.

“Walking off the mound with Rocco shaking my hand,” Paddack said, “it definitely was a positive.”

As was the entire day for a team that’s struggled so mightily of late. Minnesota had dropped 10 of its last 12 contests entering Thursday’s bout, effectively erasing its previous hot stretch of play.

Frustrations were seemingly let out with each swing in the matinee. The Twins tallied a whopping 17 hits. Everyone who stepped to the plate for Minnesota on Thursday recorded at least one. Carlos Correa went 3 for 5. Jeffers — who also homered — Clemens and Ty France also had multi-hit outings.

“We were relentless early in the game, and then we stayed on it and had some good at bats throughout the game,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters. “We continued to put ourselves in a good position to score a bunch of runs. Great day for the offense and, overall, just a lot of positives.”

It was Buxton leading the charge.

He tacked on a double to go with his two home runs as his torrid pace at the plate continues to pair beautifully with his heroics in the outfield.

“He’s been in a good, relaxed place. You might call it ‘the zone,’” Baldelli said. “Whatever you want to call it, he’s playing great. Seeing the ball good. Had another good day at the plate. Swinging at good pitches, really attacking and barreling them up. Just another incredible effort.”

Buxton has homered in each of his last three games. Over the last 10 days, his batting average has spiked from .258 to .280.

“He’s played a lot of games where he’s just taking over the game. He’s doing a lot of the heavy lifting, and he likes it. I think it fires him up. His teammates are fired up, too, watching it,” Baldelli said. “But he’s exuding a lot of confidence right now. It takes a lot for him to do that, because he’s kind of a reserved guy in some ways, but I think he’s loving the way he’s playing right now, and I’m loving the way he’s playing right now.”

Buxton is breathing life into a Twins’ team that was in major need of a jolt. He provided one. Now, the challenge is to keep the electricity pumping as Minnesota returns home for a seven-game homestand, which opens Friday against Milwaukee.

“We played some tight ballgames on the trip. I’m fine grabbing the win today, getting on the “Overall, some things that we want to do better, something that we did well. We’ve got some guys playing well right now,” Baldelli said. “We should just ride today’s momentum into tomorrow and get back to work.”

Related Articles

Reds, rain sink Twins below .500

Reds hand Twins fifth straight loss

At 52, Twins analyst LaTroy Hawkins earns his college degree

Twins opt for outfielder to replace Royce Lewis on roster

Twins walked off for second straight day in Houston

By DAVID BAUDER

In the early days of Israel’s attack on Iran, U.S.-operated Radio Farda, which broadcasts in the Persian language in Iran, debunked a state media report that an Israeli pilot had been shot down and captured.

Related Articles

Hackers say they wiped out $90 million from Iran cryptocurrency exchange

These are 5 things the UN does that you may not have known

Europe and Iran will try diplomacy as US weighs joining fight with Israel

Trump says he’ll decide whether US will directly attack Iran within two weeks

Erick weakens after landfall in southern Mexico as a Category 3 hurricane

Its journalism has continued despite the Trump administration’s threat to its future, along with a Persian-language television outlet run by Voice of America.

Radio Farda, a branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and based in Prague, has continued broadcasting even though its managing editor estimated that more than half of its staff had been furloughed. VOA’s Persian staff, ordered to go on administrative leave in March, was suddenly ordered back to work Friday afternoon.

“We’ve been giving information to Iranians minute by minute about the conflict,” said Golnaz Esfandiari, managing editor of Radio Farda. That includes explanatory stories about Iran’s nuclear program and short videos posted on social media, she said.

Several Iranians have contacted the radio network to express appreciation for reporting that they do not get on Iranian state media, she said. Traffic to its website was up 77% on Friday compared with the 30-day average. At the same time, families in Iran of five Radio Farda staff members have been pressured by people in the government who want to see the broadcasts stopped, she said.

Through the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the Trump administration has sought to dismantle or sharply curtail the government-funded outlets that provide news reports to countries where there isn’t a tradition of free press. The administration says these services operate with a liberal bias.

Both Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are fighting the efforts in court.

Employees at Voice of America’s Persian service were notified in an email Friday from Crystal Thomas, the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s human resources director, that they were being recalled and needed to report to work immediately.

Kari Lake, who is running that agency, told Fox News that “we are ramping up — as we’ve always planned to do — to meet this historic moment.”

One person who got that email was at the office within three hours and worked until midnight, helping to put out a one-hour broadcast, said the employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak to the press. About 50 people have returned to work. Voice of America is banned in Iran, but many of its citizens find ways through the internet to bypass the ban.

Voice of America’s broadcasts — and social media posts — have become a challenge to produce because the administration has canceled subscriptions to news services like The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse, said a second employee, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

For the employees, it’s a stressful time, putting out urgent news reports without any sense of how long — or whether — they will continue to have a job.

“I’m grateful they’ve brought back our Persian service to continue their role as a trusted voice covering the region for the Iranian people,” said Patsy Widakuswara, VOA’s White House correspondent, who is a plaintiff in the court fight to keep the agency alive.

“But why smash a working system only to cobble it back together when you realize you need it?” Widakuswara asked. “And how many crises would it take for them to realize that all VOA language services are important — before, after and during breaking news?”

During video reports posted online this week, a Voice of America anchor explained where Iranian counterattacks were landing in Israel, and how Iranians were trying to send out information about what is happening through social media.

The danger for a service like VOA, having been off the air and off social media for more than two months, is that Iranian citizens will become accustomed to looking elsewhere for news, said Tom Kent, a media consultant and former president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

“You would hope that people would learn from this that international broadcasting cannot be turned on and off like a lightbulb,” said Kent, also a former AP editor.

Despite an Israeli airstrike on its headquarters Monday while the Republic of Iran News Network was broadcasting live, the state-run news service is still operating.

Radio Farda has stayed on the air despite cutbacks. It also continues to have access to news services like the AP, but those contracts will expire at the end of the month, Esfandiari said. Three people have been brought back from furlough to help cover the war, she said.

She said she hopes the conflict lets people who question the service’s existence know its value.

“It’s an information war, absolutely,” Esfandiari said. “These countries — Iran, Russia and China — would be very happy if we were gone.”

One of the VOA employees called back to work said they have not been told how long it will be for. Despite evidence this week that someone in the administration saw value in what they do, might they still lose their job eventually?

“I don’t want to think about that,” the person said.

This story has been corrected to reflect the name of Radio Farda’s managing editor, Golnaz Esfandiari, not Golnaz Esfandiani.

The Associated Press’ Jon Gambrell and Kamran Jebreili contributed to this report. David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.