Epic Willys Adventure offers participants excitement, adrenaline and Jeeps. It is the Cannonball Run of the Jeep world, and racers are gearing up for the Great Mitten Run.

Racers will traverse more than 1,500 miles of scenic backroads, starting and ending in Butler. To them, it's more than a race, it’s a homage to the Jeep’s heritage and a testament to the bond of the Jeep community.

The race kicked off Thursday with racers departing from Butler. They will loop through Toledo, and up and around Michigan, before returning to Butler for the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival.

Participation in the race is not open to just anyone. To be selected to compete, drivers must be behind the wheel of restored Willys Jeeps, dating between 1941 and 1964.

Teams are tasked with daily challenges that allow them to earn points, such as getting photographed in front of historical landmarks or helping other drivers along the way. Unlike other races, the winner isn’t determined by who’s the fastest.

Jonah Hodgkins, chief marketing officer at JeepsterMan, has experience competing in these races. Hodgkins participated in the 2023 Epic Willys Adventure 4, “Race for the Concord Cup.”

“About 17 years ago, I started doing marketing for Kaiser Willys. I started going to rallies and farm shows and found that I loved it,” Hodgkins said.

Before starting with JeepsterMan and meeting the people at Epic Willys, Hodgkins had an idea for a comic he wanted to create.

“I wanted to do a comic book about Jeep racing, with all the models, it would’ve been a large-scale race. Jeeps are relatively slow,” Hodgkins said.

When Hodgkins participated in the “Race for the Concord Cup,” he was assisted by his navigator and sponsor, John Vilbert.

Vilbert, who’s been in the Jeep business for nearly 30 years, runs JeepsterMan, a company he started with his father.

“It really just started out as a side business for my father,” Vilbert said.

According to Vilbert, his father started the business to help other kids in the neighborhood whose own fathers were not always around. The money Vilbert’s father made selling Jeep parts was used to help other kids go on camping and fishing trips.

“He was really the neighborhood dad who looked out for everyone,” he said.

Vilbert’s father, a high school dropout who had a tough childhood, felt compelled to help children who were going through the same thing.

“He’s really inspiring, he went from high school dropout to earning his PhD and working for Boeing,” Vilbert said.

Hodgkins and Vilbert made the race in Jonah’s 1962 CJ3B. The Jeep’s call sign is Pursuit 46, in honor of some of Vilbert’s fallen comrades from his time in the military serving in Afghanistan.

“I was serving in Afghanistan in Operation Odin and P46 was a call sign for a crew of mine that went down in a crash; three members of the crew on board were killed,” Vilbert said.

For Vilbert, the Jeep’s call sign is a way to honor those fallen heroes.

When Jonah approached Vilbert to sponsor his Jeep, it was an easy decision.

“Jonah always wanted to coordinate a race of these vintage Willys Jeeps, when he came across Epic Willys, he asked if I could help make it happen,” Vilbert said.

As Jonah’s navigator, Vilbert said, while the adventure is fun, it takes a lot of hard work.

“You’ve got to plan for everything, you need to know what parts you need to bring, what supplies you need — and it's important to note that you can only bring what fits in your Jeep,” Vilbert said.

While on the road, Hodgkins and Vilbert would assign each other tasks each day to ensure they had everything needed to make it to the next checkpoint.

“Fuel is a big thing, so we would start a clock and calculate our mileage so we know when we’d have to refuel,” Vilbert said.

According to Hodgkins, a lot can go wrong while out on the road, and drivers can only use what they have available to them.

“Baling wire is really important to have with you, it can literally hold your exhaust on,” Hodgkins said.

Unfortunately, for Hodgkins and Vilbert, they had to throw in the towel early in 2023 when their Jeep blew a head gasket.

“We had to call in a ‘Code Red,’ which means you can’t fix your rig and you’re out of the race,” Hodgkins said.

Once a “Code Red” is called in, a team is dispatched to come pick the other team up.

It wasn’t all bad for Hodgkins and Vilbert, however, the day before the head gasket went, they set a speed record during the race of 75 mph.

While Vilbert won’t be out racing this year, he does plan to be in Butler for the festival to see Jonah return from the race.

Racing for the first time this year, Tom Moses will be driving his 1964 FC150. This is not only Moses’ first time racing in the Epic Willys Adventure, but his first time participating in a Jeep race ever.

Still, even as a novice, Moses is ready for the challenge and excitement.

“I didn’t even know what Epic Willys Adventure was until I came across it in an online forum,” Moses said.

According to Moses, a lot of what he read online said the Epic Willys Adventure was hard to get accepted into because of the strict criteria.

“When I applied, I didn’t expect to get accepted, but within a few days I received an email congratulating me,” Moses said.

Moses is most excited to get out and meet fellow Jeep enthusiasts, whom he believes to be some of the nicest people.

“What I think the most about is the fact that these little trucks were built to tow airplanes, plow snow, and they’re geared so low that with pedal to the floor you’re maybe going 30 to 35 miles per hour,” Moses said.

More of a challenge than a concern to Moses is the simple fact that some of these vehicles are more than 60 years old, which opens the door to a lot of breakdowns.

Moses will be participating in the race with his navigator, Nathaniel Porteus, one of his co-workers.

“I’m very excited to come out to Butler to see the festival,” Moses said.