The Race Is On

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The Race Is On is a country song written by Don Rollins. It uses a thoroughbred horse race as a metaphor for a singer’s romantic life. Rollins wrote it after visiting Turf Paradise Race Course in Phoenix, Arizona. The story behind its creation is tied to how the song was offered to George Jones, who would turn it into a recognizable hit.

George Jones’s version was recorded in 1963 and released as a single in September 1964. It became the title track of his 1965 album The Race Is On and proved to be one of his biggest country hits, reaching number three on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1965. Jones’s path to the song involved a moment in Dallas at the Longhorn Ballroom when Dewey Groom first played him demos; Jones heard the opening line of The Race Is On and famously said, “I’ll take it!” The demo singer was Jimmie Gray, whose version was one whole step higher, a detail that led George to pursue Gray and ultimately record the song himself.

A separate recording of the same song came from Jack Jones in 1965. His easy listening version topped Billboard’s Easy Listening chart and reached number 15 on the Hot 100. The two versions were unrelated artistically, but together they helped bring the tune to a wider audience. On Cashbox, which combined all cover versions of a song, the George and Jack Jones recordings together reached number 12, giving George Jones his only top-40 hit on that chart.

In 1981, Dave Edmunds released a rockier take on The Race Is On as part of his album Twangin… with the Stray Cats. It peaked at number 34 in the United Kingdom but did not chart in the United States, and a music video was released to accompany the single.

Sawyer Brown released their own version in 1989 from the album The Boys Are Back. Produced by Mark Miller and Randy Scruggs, the single came out on September 2, 1989, adding another texture to the song’s long life in country, pop, and rock crossovers.

George Jones later revisited The Race Is On multiple times, including a 1994 duet with Travis Tritt for The Bradley Barn Sessions and various live performances, cementing the song as a lasting part of his catalog.