Cannonball

The Cannonball races were the brain-child of one Brock Yates. Yates is the former editor of Car and Driver magazine. Inspired by the cross country antics of Cannonball Baker, Yates created a race. Not just any race. It was the greatest underground illegal race of all time. There was only one rule, "there are no rules". In total four races were run, plus a test run, during the 1970's; the final race being run in 1979. The book Cannonball is Yates attempt to document the event and provide a compiled history for posterity sake.

Most folks probably assume the Cannonball only refers to the Cannonball Run movies. That's only partially true. Until I saw this book, I thought the movie was just plain old fiction. Oh no, the races were real. Drivers traversing the country from New York City to Redondo Beach in as little as 32 hrs and change. Part thrill ride, part endurance race, the Cannonball is a drivers dream race. The first Cannonball Run film is based on the final race run in 1979; in fact many of the antics in the film come straight out of the race.

The book itself is a thrill to read. Brock Yates not only created the race, but he participated as a driver in each race. He one only the first one, run in 1971, with race car driver Dan Gurney at his side. Yates doesn't just give his account, but he pulls from numerous other drivers who ran the races and allows them to detail their experiences. I mentioned above the book was compile, because it was. The words from the other drivers are in their own words detailing the exciting events as they traversed the country. Stories range from brief descriptions of the drive to exciting run-ins with the law including tickets and even arrests.

Most of the contributers did a decent job of telling their story, there were few that didn't capture the excitement of the race. The short bitswere usually the least interesting and could have been left out. In the 1971 race Yates and Gurney had a run-in with a cop. They drove past a coffee shop doing about 120 or so. The cop was in the shop and just witnessed a car drive by at an obviously illegal speed, so he took off doing 140 in order to catch up. Yates and Gurney ducked into a gas station to fuel up and avoid the cop, but to no avail. He caught up and promptly wrote a ticket for $91. He then turned the conversation to how fast the Yates/Gurney car could go. They hadn't tested that out yet. When the got back on the highway, they cranked the baby up to 172 mph, just for a bit. They of course one the first of the Cannonball races, driving a Ferrari Daytona (pictured).

The other races had similar stories to tell. Races were held in 1972 and 1975. Yates had not committed to running another race until he met up with Hal Needham, a Hollywood director. He's heard about the races and approached Yates about doing a film, but he wanted to run another race to get stories for it. 1979 was the final race and in many ways the strangest. The original starting point had been the parking garage used by the Car and Driver employees Since Yates had been fired, they move the stating location to a restaurant in Connecticut. The destination remained the same, and of course the "rules". The race included Yates driving an "Ambulance" with a "Patient", who happened to be Yates' wife. The plan of course would be they could drive as fast as they want and not get stopped, or at least not ticketed. Another driver borrowed a police badge from his buddy. He was hoping to get the Cop "Fraternity" treatment. He was careful not to claim he was a cop, only imply by carrying the badge. Things didn't work out so well, since he ended up in the slammer for a few hours. He was finally let go, without the badge.

Those are just a couple of the stories found in the book. It's really a fun book, but more than that, it's a commentary on the traffic laws. Drivers covered 350,000 miles in the four races with one accident, which involved only the one car. The injuries from the accident ended up being quite minor. This is proof to Yates that responsible drivers can exceed the posted speeds and endanger only themselves. More than anything the race demonstrated the ridiculousness of the 55 mph speed limit (aka the double nickel). Yates acknowledges that not all drivers can drive at such high speeds, but those that can shouldn't be considered outlaws. The book is almost a libertarian manifesto for the road.

The book reads great for the most part. The stories are fabulous and exciting. For me it was similar to reading Into Thin Air where I felt like I'd actually set foot on Everest. In this case, I feel like I've driven across the country about 40 times, without a dull moment. What I didn't like was that the book seemed to climax with the first race. It's not so much a problem of the writing, but more the high of doing this illegal thing for the first time. The thrill kind of begins to diminish with each race. The 1979 race seemed very contrived, which it really was. It lacked the same magic of the earlier race. It did come with some really cool stories, but it was less thrilling in many ways. Maybe it just seemed like the drivers were trying too had and the fact it was for a movie. I'd still recommend this book to anybody for sure, but certainly people who love to drive and love cars, fast cars.