Today Historic Route 66 in Arizona is dotted with small towns filled with mom-and-pop diners, vintage motor courts, blazing neon signs, and classic roadside attractions. From the burros in Oatman, to a gigantic head that may have come aliens in Anteres (We Believe!), to a stone gas station that’s been burned down, blown up in a Hollywood movie, and still rose yet again from the ashes . . . As Roger Naylor wrote in his book Arizona Kicks on Route 66, “Quirky is the coin of the realm” – and so is resilience.

Did you know that a barber in Seligman started the movement to save the highway? Without him Route 66 never would have gained the “Historic” designation. That’s why Seligman is the Birthplace of Historic Route 66. Angel Delgadillo was the founder of the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, which served as the model for every other state along the route to do the same. It’s a true story of how one person truly can make a difference. As the Route 66 Historic Association of Arizona says, “It’s preservation is that of our history, and our future.”

The 1928 Bunion Derbies, a 3,400-mile, 84-day footrace from Los Angeles to New York City ran Route 66 through Arizona, and beyond. Charles Kastner is perhaps “the” historian of the Bunion Derbies, including his book about the 1928 race Bunion Derby: The First Footrace Across America. In 2022 ‘Chuck’ joined us to crew for his son, who finished the race with additional crew support from his brother. History past, and history still being made!

As Chuck tells in his book, “Cash and Carry” C.C. Pyle created the race to promote the new highway and provided, sometimes rather poorly, for 199 starters including five African Americans, a Jamaican-born Canadian, and perhaps as many as fifteen Latinos, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders, representing about ten percent of the competitors. The rest were white. Having this integrated field of competitors was highly unusual for the day. All were chasing a $25,000 first prize, a small fortune in 1928 dollars.

On May 26, 1928, 55 weary men made their final laps around the track in Madison Square Garden. Three of the top ten finishers were runners of color, including the $25,000 first prize winner, Andy Payne, a part Cherokee Indian from Oklahoma, the $5,000 third place winner, Phillip Granville of Canada, and the $1,000 eighth place winner, Eddie Gardner of Seattle. In honor of Andy’s historic win, the Route 66 UltraRun as the only (that we know of) traveling trophy: The Andy Payne Cup. The winner of the race ‘gets’ the cup, but only for one year, until the next race is held. Then, if he or she wins again, it’s ‘theirs’ for another year but, if someone else beats them to the finish at Topock66 on the Colorado River, they have to pass it on to the new winner. Yes, ala the Stanley Cup.

During the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, “Oakies” – mostly farming families from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas – used Route 66 to travel to what they hoped would be salvation, or at least the ability to work and support themselves and their families. In John Steinbeck’s classic American novel, The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and the 1940 film of the same name directed by John Ford, the Route symbolized escape and loss. Check out the Route 66 Museum in Kingman to learn more about the Oakies and more!

During WWII, as explained on the National Park Service site “Route 66 served as a military transport corridor moving troops and supplies from one military reservation to another. Motels saw an increase in occupancy, as families of servicemen stationed at military bases stayed for long stretches. But more significantly, Route 66 facilitated perhaps the single greatest wartime mobilization, as thousands of job seekers headed to California, Oregon, and Washington to work in defense plants.

When the war ended, traffic increased as rationing and travel restrictions were lifted. Automobile ownership grew dramatically over the next 10 years, with 52.1 million cars registered in 1955 (compared to the 25.8 million at the end of the war). With more cars and leisure time, families headed west on Route 66 to the Grand Canyon, Disneyland, and the beaches of Southern California. With the heavier traffic, businesses along the highway boomed, and the image of Route 66 as a Dustbowl migration route changed to one of freedom and kicks.” Then the interstates came.

With the construction of I-40 in Arizona, Route 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System in 1985. And when we say removed, we mean completely removed from paper road maps and atlases – yes, you had to be able to read a map before there was GPS in your car and on your phone – as if the cities and towns, and the people and businesses along the Route, didn’t even exist. Losing almost all of the traffic along the Route was the death knell for many mom-and-pop motels, restaurants, and shops.

The first Route 66 Association was founded in Seligman in 1987: a true grassroots resurgence leading to official recognition that Route 66 had “become a symbol of the American people’s heritage of travel and their legacy of seeking a better life.”

You will be running in, and retracing, the steps of so many other before you! The Route 66 UltraRun truly is 140 miles of history, and a race for everyone including those that came before us and those striving to keep history alive.