Why We're Driving All 2,211 Miles of Route 66 in Its 100th Year

Route 66 opened in 1926. In 2026 it turns one hundred — and The Great American Road Rally drives all of it that can still be driven: 2,211 miles from Chicago to the Santa Monica Pier, every mile for a cause.

A road worth a century

When the Mother Road was commissioned, it stitched together the small towns of eight states into America’s first great cross-country drive. A century later, much of that pavement is gone, bypassed by interstate. But the parts that remain still carry the neon, the diners, and the stubborn optimism the road was built on — and that’s the route the rally follows.

From Chicagoland’s oldest 66 country to the Gateway Arch, across the Ozarks and the old mining belt, down the spine of the Will Rogers Highway, through the Texas Panhandle and up over the Continental Divide — before one glittering detour through Las Vegas and a final run to the Pacific. You can walk the whole route, stage by stage, with maps, elevation, and the lore behind every leg.

Nobody’s racing for a trophy

Here’s the part that makes this more than a road trip: no one is racing for a trophy. Every celebrity team carries a charitable cause down the road with it — ten causes in all, each championed by a sponsor. The show is the engine; the good it does is the point. Meet the ten causes and the organizations behind them.

Every mile, on purpose

Two thousand two hundred and eleven miles. One historic highway. One hundred years. The rally premieres this fall on The CW — and every mile of it is driven for a reason.