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How Tom Sites Found Peace in the Great American Horse Race of 1976

Published January 6, 2026

I, Bernie Harberts, did not use generative AI to write or illustrate this article. Spell check and grammar check, yes. AI, no.

Tom Sites, Vietnam veteran and 1976 Great American Horse Race finisher, during interview about riding 1,966 miles from New York to California with horse Jose Dante — Tom Sites: One of the last riders who competed in the Great American Horse Race of 1976

I just unearthed a treasure—the only spoken account of the 1976 Great American Horse Race that exists on the internet.

In this outtake, Tom tells me what happened to the bearded man on the cover of the book The Great American Horse Race of 1976.

*The Great American Horse Race of 1976* by Curtis L. Lewis an Dennis D. Underwood. The story Tom told me about the dynamite and the alligators happend to the man in the forefround galloping flat out with that huge grin on his face.

I recently sat down with Tom Sites, one of the last people alive who competed in the longest horse race in history. Tom rode his horse Jose Dante 1,966 miles from New York to California with $500, no crew, and ghosts from Vietnam he couldn’t shake.

This interview goes deep. Tom opens up about the severed heads he saw in 1968, the drinking and drugs that followed, and how a runaway horse he bought on a whim became the path back to peace with himself.

Full interview and transcript at TravelGrit.com. This is the kind of story that won’t exist in another decade. Listen while you still can.

Got any memories from the Great American Horse Race of 1976? Leave them in the comments. I’d love to hear what you’ve got.

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