The Real Story of the Illegal Street Race across America

I love how you used the same intro song as Summoning Salt uses for his speedrun videos, really fitting considering that CanonBall is literally a speedrun of America

Those were the shortest 50 minutes of my life, fantastic content dude, keep it up !

My run in ‘79 was what it was. I am in awe of the guys taking the bit in their mouths and perfecting the run beyond our 34:07. Thanks for compiling this video. I attended this past summer’s Cannonball get together in Long Island, as did you, I presume. We’re real proud of our little moment of civil disobedience, and especially that it was done safely with no accidents or anyone hurt. I always slowed for a pass, and only once had to shut off all the lights and pass a couple self righteous truckers on the right shoulder.

As a fan of Steel Ball Run I love that it was based on a real race with so much history behind it

My father used to do a thing he called “cannonball run”, he would drive from our town in higher B.C. All the way down to Vancouver island, it was a 12-14 hour run and they’d try to do it in 8-10 (him and my uncle) and they succeeded multiple times!

As a Polish person, I find the "pole position" joke amazing

The fastest known speeding ticket was issued in May 2003 in Texas. The driver was operating a Koenigseggs CCR, a super sports car made in Sweden, and was allegedly going 242 mph (389 km/hr) in a 75 mph zone.Aug 22, 2009

I love the rebellion of the original race. Even more, I love the gall of people willing to do such a run and document it carefully. It's a wonderful thing. Especially with all of the tech which law enforcement have at their dispense nowadays. I love that this thing still exists, and that there are people such as Alex Roy and his co driver, Ed Bolian and his mate, and Doug and Arne, the guys in the smashed E class.. I totally dig what they have achieved.

With all the Vinwiki attention that cannonball culture gets, I am always looking forward to learning more about it.

Considering all the data they have been releasing about the pandemic in the past year its dumb that people complained about people doing the run during the pandemic. Especially considering they called it "unsafe" when there had literally never been a more safe time to recklessly speed

My main gripe with "Good drivers should be allowed to ignore speed limit" idea is that most of the people who wish to ignore speed limits are, in my personal experience, terrible drivers. Also: The pole position joke made my day.

Summoning salt vibes

This is true American history. Saying "Why the hell not?" and just going for a mad dash across the country with abandon to everyone else. I doubt another event will be like this again (especially considering how shitty some drivers have gotten), but I love that it did happen.

The first time I found out about Cannonball Run was in the early 2010's thanks to a certain racing game, NFS Hot Pursuit. There was DLC called "Lamborghini Untamed Pack" and had a Gauntlet Time Trial named "Cannonball" Lamborghini Countach was the vehicle used

This was honestly one of the best documentary type videos that I've ever seen. I've never been this invested in my life. I hope you can continue to find these thrilling and adrenaline filled stories so you can turn them into documentaries.

RIP Brock Yates. I met up with him every year later in life during One Lap of America when I was in my teens and 20s, and am lucky enough to have called him a friend. He was my idol when it came to automotive journalism, a field that I dreamed of getting in to. He was always kind, helpful, and absolutely fascinating to talk with.

Back in 1979, a friend and I got wind of the upcoming Cannonball and made plans to enter. We'd also seen a small spot in Corvette News about a guy and his 1963 Corvette claiming to be the "fastest Corvette in the world" due to a time somewhere around 41 hours. With both our racing backgrounds, we figured we could beat it and take that title, even if we didn't get close to the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Run record. Our plan was to eliminate fuel stops by having "inflight refueling" by having a few pickup trucks along the way with gas tanks, booms, and hoses that could be swung over to us and the navigator crawl over the decklid to fuel the Corvette while driving down the road. Even at reduced speed during this for "safety", it was clearly faster than pulling into a gas station, stopping, refueling, and then pulling back out on the road. We figured it would save at least an hour. In the end, our projected budget was going to be enormous, with gas for 6000 miles roughly for the Corvette, gas for the pickup trucks to get in position, hotels for everyone, food, and other expenses. Trying to round up enough friends to be as crazy as us, after all one would have to drive a pickup while another was in the bed swinging the boom to us and operating a pump, all going down the road at 55 (or more) mph. We figured we'd need about 10 gas stops and that at least 5 needed to be inflight refueling to make it worthwhile. Clearly we didn't fall into the rich enough to throw money away like this would have been. My Dad had even suggested that due to West Coast Corvette prices at the time, when we got there, sell the car and fly home to offset some of the costs. And by 1979, getting out of tickets wasn't nearly as easy plus they counted for more than simple fines. In the end, that much money paid for almost two seasons of road racing.

What an amazing video! The Cannonball is definitely one of my favorite topics to this day! Also, if you want to stick with street racing for the next video, check out the history of the Black Ghost Challenger.

I have watched about 5 VinWiki videos on the Cannonball this week - and this was better researched and put together than all of them combined! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

I have an idea that will speed up the refueling. 😏While filling the tank, the extensions in the trunk could be made to be replaceble. I bet one could swap 3 peaces faster than filling them. Also the car could be modified to be refilled from both sides. 😏