2020 Cannonball Run Sets New Record – But Is It Legit?
There's no doubt about it it, 2020 will be a year that goes down in the record books. Most canceled concerts and tours, most sporting events held without fans, most meals eaten at home, fastest Cannonball Run ever.
Wait, what? Cannonball Run? Wasn't that a cheesy Burt Reynolds movie from the early eighties?
Yes, it was. It's also a real thing and according to Driving.ca, the records for this unofficial cross-continental road race are falling left and right.
Wikipedia tells us that the very first Cannonball Run was named after Erwin "Cannonball" Baker, the owner of may speed records back in the early twentieth century. The 2,825.3 mile run begins at the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan, New York, and finishes at the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach, California. The shortest elapsed time on record was set in April of this year at 26 hours and 38 minutes with an average speed of 106 mph. This shattered the previous record by a full 47 minutes.
With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping many people close to home and the highways largely free of congestion the Cannonballers have been setting new records in many categories of the run. New records for this year include not only the overall best time but also those for Solo-Driver, Diesel-Power, and Coast-To-Coast-And-Back-Again. This begs the question, should these records stand against those who had to deal with the typical traffic and congestion as drivers from previous years, or should they get an asterisk?
* This record set during the great pandemic of 2020
Ed Bolian, one of the previous record holders weighed in on the subject asking, should you be allowed to break the law (violate shelter in place / no non-essential travel orders) while breaking the law (shattering speed limits across the United States)?
Maybe they'll just go with the asterisk.
In case you missed the original movie it had a star studded cast made up of a veritable who's who from 1981 and would make for some fun viewing while you're staying at home with the family. You know you need a break from all those Disney shows.
The movie was so popular it was followed by Cannonball Run II in 1984, a Cannonball Run 2001 reality TV show, and numerous speeding tickets issued to wannabe Cannonballers.
Stay safe, keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down, and always stay Falls Strong.