Bumper car rides are a staple of theme parks around the world, and in the 1970's scaled down versions of the ride were produced to be a part of the children's sections of parks. This gave many of the youngest guests their first chance to drive and have a great time smashing into other kids.

 
     
One of the short lived attractions added at Great Adventure was the original children's bumper car ride, The Great Race. The new ride was added in 1976 as part of the new Kiddie Kingdom section of the park which had replaced the original Ride-A-Rama children's area.
     
The Great Race was a standard portable kid-sized bumper car ride with a simple canvas roof, and not particularly well suited to permanent installation in a theme park where the elements could wreck havoc in the winter.
     
The small ride featured 12 scaled down cars which really left little room for movement, limiting the speed of the vehicles and preventing the possibility of serious crashes. The young guests who were too small to ride in the parks two adult bumper car rides appreciated having a ride of their very own.



     
A strange feature of The Great Race was the Disney character decals that lined the inside upper canopy of the ride.  Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and friends were prominently displayed all around the internal perimeter of the ride and would be illuminated at night when the florescent tube lighting was switched on. 

The Great Race only lasted three seasons, being replaced by the Crazy Cars kiddie bumper cars ride in 1979.