Tracbar rally citroen avant panamint valley

The Death Valley Journal:
The 2002 Citroen Traction Avant “Tracbar Rally”
Details Below

Between 2002 and 2004, I was living in Big Pine, California. Since 1987, I had been working in the company plants in Trona, California. During my time living in Big Pine, I had a small home I rented for the days I worked, which was four days per week with four day off. I’d drive down early in the morning on my first day of work; returning home after my last.

I’d often see interesting sights on my commutes. One of the most memorable started the minute I pulled out of my driveway in Trona. As I pulled out, driving down the Trona-Wildrose Road northbound was on old Citroen Traction Avant. The date was July 24, 2002.

Being a lover of old and especially unusual cars, I immediately recognized the car as a Citroen, of maybe 1950s vintage. I caught up with him immediately and passed, noticing right off the bat that the car had European license plates.

Before long, I was running with a gaggle of Citroens and passed a long line of them all through Panamint Valley as I drove northbound. Passing all, I managed to take plenty of photos of each car.

As I pulled up to the stop sign at the junction of Panamint Valley Road and California State Highway 190, my usual practice was to turn west Lone Pine bound. But just to the east by the mileage sign was another site – another Citroen Traction Avant parked across the sign, with a “prospector” and the family of the car’s owner. A Dodge van was parked nearby, with a large television camera.

Curiosity got the best of me. I parked and walked among the numerous people around the van and car. Everyone was speaking in French, including the “prospector.” A female reporter was interviewing the car’s owner in French.

After she finished her interview, I asked if the cars were Citroen Traction Avants. Immediately the camera swung to my direction and the reporter switched to perfectly fluent English with only a hint of a French accent. They were very surprised that an American knew of this car and they interviewed me briefly.

I found out that the cars were part of a cross-country rally, called the “Tracbar Rally,” and their progress could be followed on the Internet. The newscrew uploaded via satellite link their reports daily, which was shown on French television.

After I visited a while, the cars went on their way east into Death Valley. I turned west for Lone Pine. The roads were empty … for only a few minutes. For half way up the mountainside above Panamint Springs Resort, I began running into the rear stragglers of the Badwater to Mount Whitney marathon …

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