The Cannonball Run: The Last Race for Freedom

From New York to Los Angeles, with no rules, no stopping and no fear. This is the story of the Cannonball Run, the illegal race that became a cult and inspired one of the most iconic films among motoring enthusiasts of the 1980s. In May 1971, when America was bowing to the oil crisis and the federal government was imposing a national limit of 55 miles per hour, one man decided to say no. His name was Brock Yates, a Car and Driver journalist who believed that crisis was more political than real, a symptom of government interference in an attempt to limit individual freedom. His act of protest? To devise the craziest race in modern history: the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, in honour of Erwin “Cannonball” Baker, who in the 1930s crossed America coast-to-coast without stopping.

Yates set off alone at midnight on 3 May 1971, behind the wheel of a Dodge Custom Sportsman van nicknamed Moon Trash II. Departure from the Red Ball Garage in New York, arrival at the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, California. No mandatory stops. No set route. No rules. The only mission: to arrive in the shortest possible time, on roads open to traffic, avoiding law enforcement. A pure act of rebellion, a declaration of independence on four wheels. The success of the feat (and of the report published in Car and Driver) paved the way for a second edition in 1972, this time with real participants. The rules were as simple as they were brutal: same starting point, same finish line. End. No restrictions on vehicles, crews or modes. In that year, Yates teamed up with legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Dan Gurney in a Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona. They crossed the finish line in 35 hours and 54 minutes, covering 4,608 kilometres at an average speed of 130 km/h, with peaks over 280. Gurney, with irony, declared: ‘We never exceeded 175 mph.’