Around 10pm tonight, in a stunt to promote BioWillie diesel, two ad copywriters from Atlanta will attempt to drive a Jetta TDI from NY to LA, without fuel stops, in less than 36 hours, or 40 hours, depending on which which website you go to. You have to admire the cause but one can’t help but point out their lack of research. They claim the record is 35:54, which was set by Brock Yates and Dan Gurney in 1971. I think we’re all aware that the record is 32:07.
Jack May and Rick Cline won the 1975 Cannonball Run, beating the Brock Yates/Dan Gurney record in a Ferrari Dino. In this article he wrote for Car Collector, he waxed philosophically about his reasons and motives for making the run. A particularly funny part of the write up involves getting nabbed in Ohio by a cop…who seems more interested in the Ferrari than anything else.
Wow. To be listed in the official wiki history as the current cross-country record holder really is something, I think. I’ve still never met Brock Yates, though. I wonder if he’s read "The Driver", because I give him some serious props, if you read between the lines. If I were him, I’d smirk, laugh, call me an idiot and make me buy the first round.
Before I get into how much I love this thing, let’s be clear. I’m not an SUV guy. Most SUV’s handle terribly, and accident statistics show how often they are driven by people who don’t know it. Personal observation also suggests most of them don’t need them, but hey, it’s a free country. If I had to buy one, some are obviously better than others. The Cayenne. The Toureg. The Range Rover. The X5.
If you haven’t read "The Driver", I’ll let you in on a secret. We at Team Polizei like to think outside the box…the Polizei uniform box, that is, which is why - on our final cross-country run in October 2006 - we didn’t merely strip the Polizei M5 of our traditional livery. We re-liveried as Storm Chasers, and although we were lucky enough never to have to resort to what little Storm Chaser knowledge we studied prior to departure, let me tell you, the mere thought of encountering a real tornado made me realize how hilariously bizarre a Storm Chasing M5 must have looked.
Rory Camangian - formerly of Spike TV, a three-time(?) Bullrun veteran, former co-pilot of Fast Lane Daily’s Emil Rensing, an automotive industry man-about in New York & LA, and a man who also appears in my book at a critical moment, has written quite a thoughtful and unbiased review of "The Driver" based on his far-superior-to-major-media knowledge of the history of cross country racing.
Now if only he had mention Cory Welles‘ upcoming documentary on the topic, "32 Hours 7 Minutes" just once. Just once.
Several weeks after SEMA I finally got the link for my interview with Car Crazy’sBarry Meguiar, the man with one of the few brands to actually sponsor the Gumball even way back when I started out in 2003. Meguiar knew ALL about our 31:04 record run, and the Cannonball, and just so happens to know Brock Yates, which is why we could barely start the interview without laughing, let alone get through it without giggling like kids. I gave him a copy of "The Driver" once we were done, to which he responded, "call me next time you go, and let me know when that 32:07 movie is out!"
