Andy Payne ran here

The Lincoln (Ill.) Courier published a fascinating article about the Lincoln library’s research into the 1928 Bunion Derby, the transcontinental footrace that went the length of Route 66.

Oklahoma native Andy Payne, a previously unheralded runner, bested the talented field and took home a $25,000 prize.

The library used Geoff Williams’ excellent book, “C.C. Pyle’s Amazing Foot Race,” as a jumping-off point. The whole article is interesting, including a later link of one of the runners to the Illinois Route 66 Association‘s 1990 motor tour.

2 thoughts on “Andy Payne ran here

  1. I wonder if any of these people are still alive? How about where the finishers are buried?

    Ron, I see you’re getting up to the million mark in hits. Any idea when you’ll surpass it? I’m guessing near the end of February.

    You’ve got a great place to find out about what’s going on along the Mother Road. Keep up the great job.

    How about a list of red-letter days like when you started, got 1000 hits, 10,000, 100,000?

  2. Yeah, I figure February is a good guess for 1 million. But there are days in which traffic will surge unexpectedly, so it’s hard to make projections.

    Route 66 News hit 100,000 on July 1, 2006.

    https://www.route66news.com/2006/07/01/100000/

    As for hitting 1,000, my counter indicates that occurred in November or December 2005.

    Route 66 News launched in October 2005.

    Route 66 News averages close to 40,000 page views a month during the winter, up to 60,000 page views a month during travel season. It’s been going trending upward since inception.

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