Jalopnik: Cannonball Run

Is General Motors bankrolling a remake of Cannonball Run?

Mike Spinelli — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:28:19 EDT

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Is GM planning a run at the movie business, throwing its corporate weight behind a remake of the 1981 movie Cannonball Run? That's what insiders are saying about a project that could become the largest, and edgiest, product placement deal in history. UPDATE! More »

Dom Deluise's Lincoln Town Car: Buy It Now For Only $6,900

The Auto Insider — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:40:00 EDT

You'd expect a Captain of Chaos to drive something a bit ahem... chaotic, rather than this 1998 Lincoln Town Car owned by the late Dom Deluise. Buy it now for only $6,900! Dun dun DUNNNN!!! More »

Dom DeLuise, Dead At 75

Pete Gaines — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:40:00 EDT

Actor Dom DeLuise, star of Smokey and the Bandit II Cannonball Run I and II, three films every auto-lover needs in their DVD collection, died yesterday at age 75. More »

Countach Guy Needs Help: Basement-Built Lamborghini Fans Lead To Huge Web Hosting Bill

Ben Wojdyla — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST

If you remember (and really, how can you forget?) last month's stories about Ken Imhoff and his amazing basement-built Lamborghini Countach replica, you probably know the story turned into kind of a big deal — not just here, but all across the internet. While Ken was most gracious in allowing us to run the inside story of his amazing 17-year-long project, and humble in his sudden fame, he was not expecting all of you cretins to massacre his website's bandwidth limit. As such, Ken has gotten stuck with a huge bill from the company hosting the project homepage, kiengineering.com, and he's wondering if we might pitch in to help him out a bit... More »

EXCLUSIVE: "I Am The Guy With A Lamborghini In The Basement"

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Last week we brought you the story of Ken Imhoff, a Wisconsin man who, after falling in love with the Lamborghini Countach in the classic movie Cannonball Run, followed his dream by building his very own Lamborghini in his basement. The amazing build took place over the course of ten years and was completed and dragged out of the subterranean depths only about a week prior to our story. That very same day Ken contacted us, amazed by the response the post had garnered, to let us know "I am the guy with a Lamborghini in the basement." Of course we knew you needed to hear more, so over the last week we've been working with Mr. Imhoff to put together a story that will not only do justice to his car, but to his vision and persistence. Below is Ken's story in his own words, along with a load of new pictures of the finished car and details of the entire extraction process. What's most interesting to many may be the technical details — those too await below the jump in this exclusive detailing of one of the most amazing build we've ever seen. More »

Cannonball Lambo or Bond's Lotus? Which Is Cooler?

Mark Arnold — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:00:00 EST

Each week we'll let two silver screen automotive icons face off and let you decide which stays and which one goes home, tailpipe between their legs. That's right, it's like an online Thunderdome — except without the death thing. We call it the "Star Car Shootout." Let's get ready to rumble. More »

Transcontinental 144: Alex Roy on the Rawlings/Collins Record Attempt

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 14 May 2007 17:45:00 EDT

The ever-lovin' Herr Roy knows a thing or two about transcontinental control of incontinence in the service of swaths of ground covered in short amounts of time. He's harbored a friendly rivalry with both Richard Rawlings and the Collins Brothers since his first Gumball back in '03. And as a classic business-giver, Alex has laid down his call for third-party verification of the record (which, according to our conversation with Bullrun organizer Andy Duncan earlier today, there is ample evidence of). While refutations have been flying all morning, there are rumors of Rawlings appearing on Jay Leno tonight (which we heard from Bullrunners, but haven't been able to corroborate with our Tonight Show contact), and Andy insists that they "Definitely, definitely, definitely" went. If it all checks out, even given the distance between Darien, CT and Manhattan it sounds like they well-and-truly broke the Cannonball record from '79. Meanwhile, we're waiting for the exact mileage and a route map to see if there's any possible way that they outdrove the Diem/Turner US Express time from '83. – Davey G. Johnson More »

Did Rawlings and Collins Break the Transcontinental Record?

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 14 May 2007 17:00:00 EDT

"Cannon Ball" Baker More »

Texas Duo Claims to Have Broken 1979 Cannonball NYC To LA Run

Ray Wert — Mon, 14 May 2007 14:52:04 EDT

Bearded Bullrun impresario Richard Rawlings and co-pilot Dennis Collins claim to have broken the famous 1979 Cannonball Run time from New York City to Los Angeles of 32 hours and 51 minutes. According to a release, the two bet rival Jay Riecke they could beat the time in their 2007 Bullrun entry, a black Ferrari 550 (pictured below the jump), modified with extra fuel cells. The final time is a claimed 31 hours and 59 minutes, which has yet to be independently verified. Rawlings and Collins are now on their way down to Key West where they hope to beat the rest of the Bullrun rally down to the finish. – Ray Wert More »

Pony Express: Saleen to Build Special-Edition Mustangs for Road Rally

Mike Spinelli — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 21:23:52 EST

Cannonball Run Europe, one of the many high-profile road rally events making the world's idle rich just slightly less idle, is expanding to the US. The founders are inaugurating a new event in mid-2007 called the Great American Run. But more newsworthy than that is its confirmed partner in crime, as it were. That is, motorsports shop Saleen. The winner of the don't-call-it-a-race will receive one of 25 special-edition Saleen Mustangs to be built for the event. According to rally site GT Spirit, the cars — 11 of which have been sold to rally entrants — will be tuned to produce 600 hp. The cars reportedly do zero to 60 mph in under four seconds, with a top speed of 200 mph. They're no TransCom ambulance, but well, Jack Elam's no longer with us anyway. – Mike Spinelli More »

Shit. Dick Landy's Dead

Davey G. Johnson — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 20:15:00 EST

"Dandy" Dick Landy, one of the most innovative men in drag racing history, has died of kidney failure at the age of 69. Proprietor of Dick Landy Industries, Landy kicked the 1/4 mile onto its ear with what was the predecessor to the Funny Car, rocked early Pro Stock, built a flathead that was good for 300mph at Bonneville and constructed the 440 for what is undoubtedly the most famous ambulance of all time: the Yates/Needham/McClure/Chaos TransCon Medevac. Dick, you passed too soon, but thank you for everything you gave us. We at Jalopnik offer our deepest sympathies to the Landy family. – Davey G. Johnson More »

Cannonball Run II: Not Good, But, Starion Afterburner!

Davey G. Johnson — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 00:30:00 EST

Not only is there an extended scene of Jackie Chan's Starion crossing from San Pedro to Long Beach, but he then uses his afterburner to elude capture. It's a tossup between this car, Clarkson's infamous pseudo-rally car and Uncle Bumbeck's Battlecar Galactica as to which is the coolest Starion of them all. – Davey G. Johnson More »

Who Couldn't Use A Tad of J.J. McClure in His or Her Day?

Davey G. Johnson — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:15:00 EDT

We actually haven't seen The Cannonball Run since we got back from our first road rally experience. Oddly enough, these clips, strung together by some high-minded altruist, remind us more of our time on the Bullrun than we thought they would. And we'd totally forgotten about Reynolds' line about the black Trans Am having already been done. Meanwhile, we wanna see Victor Muller dressed up as Captain Chaos. All he needs is an orange Peking-to-Paris Intercon-Medevac ambulance and a co-driver. We volunteer to regrow our 'stache. More »

J.J., Where'd You Park the Ambulance? Cannonball to Return?

Davey G. Johnson — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 20:30:00 EDT

After retiring the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy dash, which famously terminated a bit above Pedro in Redondo Beach, Brock Yates launched the One Lap of America. Now, with renewed interest in point-to-point rallying due to the Gumball, the Bullrun, the Player's Run and the upcoming documentary about the 1983 US Express, which set a transcontinental record of 32 hours, 7 minutes, Yates is looking back to get in the game he invented. According to ForbesAutos, Yates may revive the Cannonball as early as this spring. Is that sound we hear Chuck Mallett sprinting to his garage? And will the Polizei take up the gauntlet Yates is about to throw down? Hang on, kids. It might get a bit bumpy. More »

Who Was Cannon Ball Baker?

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 08 May 2006 20:19:02 EDT

Erwin G. "Cannon Ball" Baker was a legendary long-distance record setter in the first half of the last century who traversed the nascent roadways of the nation on what were essentially sponsorship dares from manufacturers. He later became NASCAR commissioner, and when the idea for a cross-country road race popped into Yates' mind in the '70s, the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash was born. (Yates claims not to know why he compounded Cannon Ball's sobriquet, at least that's how we remember the story.) The One Lap of America is an outgrowth of that, ostensibly legal, but offering a copious opportunities for mad hoonage along the way. More »

Brock Yates' Full mph Column

David Thomas — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 16:37:31 EDT

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There is one Jalopnik staffer that admits to having never seen the movie The Cannonball Run. We all look at him in shame and wonder "How could this happen?" But maybe, just maybe, he can enjoy the first, and unfortunately the last, column Cannonball legend Brock Yates penned for the now deceased mph. To be generous, we're pasting Brock's entire column below for all to enjoy. More »

Money-Spendin' Idea of the Day

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 22:48:00 EST

Hey, we're so not getting paid by anyone to say this. Hell, we're barely getting paid by Denton. (God, it's a sad day when we have to say we didn't even get the idea from a press release.) But here's the deal: why not buy The Cannonball Run? It's raining in San Pedro this evening, and well, we can't imagine much better than curling up with a cute girl and Captain Chaos. That is, Captain Chaos onscreen, hot girl in our arms. Although Dom's kinda cuddly... Oh shit. We've been single far too long. More »

Calling Captain Chaos: Errors in The Cannonball Run

Davey G. Johnson — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 09:29:55 EDT

Could one of the greatest so-bad-it's- freaking- awesome films of all time actually have mistakes in it? So say the people at Movie Mistakes, claiming that there are a number of egregious errors in Dom DeLuise's finest hour, directed by Hal Needham and penned by Brock Yates (Hi Brock!). To wit: "JJ and Victor's ambulance's engine sounds are dubbed, and a few times you can hear the sound of shifting a manual transmission when the ambulance is shown to have an automatic." However, that can't be true. Dick Landy built that engine, and Dick Landy would never deceive us. More »