I never knew that the Cannonball Run was actually a thing. I knew it was a movie with Burt Reynolds back in the day but didn’t realise that it was based a real rally.
Taking advantage of the ‘Lockdown’ due to the Coronavirus Pandemic a new team driving a 2019 Audi A8 Sedan claim to have created a new record for the 3,000 mile journey from East to West. The new time of 26 hours 38 minutes which beat the previous record set in November 2019 by 45 minutes. The sceptics are disputing whether the attempt was ‘legal’ because of the lack of traffic on many of the roads were clear because of the ‘Lockdown’.
A report from Track & Road say that three people shared the driving from the traditional start of the Red Ball Garage, New York City.
They reached the traditional end 26 hours and 38 minutes later at the Portofino Hotel & Marina, Redondo Beach, CA.
Back in 1971 the Cannonball Run was first attempted under the name ‘Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash’. The creator was Brock Yates, editor of Car and Driver Magazine. The record time then was 32 hours and 7 minutes and held by David Diem and Doug Turner. This record was untouched until 2006.
The race is still illegal and during these troubling times the drivers were lucky that there were no accidents caused by them and diverting essential emergency services to tend to them. There were four races in the 1970’s and then in 2006 the race was resurrected.
USA Road Trips by Max 
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