The 24th annual Big Bend Open Road Race on U.S. Highway 285 between Fort Stockton and Sanderson is scheduled for Saturday, April 23, 2022 with practice beginning Wednesday, April 20.

The 118-mile roundtrip road race will close off U.S. Highway 285 to all other traffic from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 23, 2022. Motorists will need to find other routes for that period of time.

Practice sessions are scheduled for 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, and Thursday, April 21, 2022. Those practice runs will shut down nearly nine miles of U.S. Highway 90 from just west of Three Mile Bridge starting at Highland place and going to the roadside park west of Sanderson. There will be gaps in practice every 20 or 30 minutes to allow regular traffic to go through, but alternate routes are still suggested.

Law enforcement will be present for the practice runs and the race itself. Likewise, ambulances and EMTs will be available.

The race’s parade is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, April 22 in Fort Stockton. The parade route is starts at Rooney Park, heading north on Main Street and then west on Dickinson Boulevard.

The race has multiple divisions that are conducted in rally-like fashion, which means the closest average to the class wins. For example, whichever driver posts the closest average speed to 120 miles per hour in the 120 class wins that class.

The Unlimited Division is a more traditional race. The fastest driver to complete the 118-mile loop wins. The record top speed was set in 2002 by Dave Golder with a speed of 220.8 miles per hour.

See 2021 champions, the race entry list, and complete schedule in the B section of today’s paper.