Just got off the phone with Haller and Bullrun co-chief Dave Green, who are currently hurtling along in a Lotus Elise with no air conditioning. There was a morning drag race in, Great Bend, KS, wherein the cab from the Queen Latifah bomb Taxi raced a local sherriff. The cab won. Meanwhile, we'll be joining the rally tomorrow night at an undisclosed location. Haller and Ward have totally shelved the Stude, which means we'll be riding along with a variety of characters. We'll hit the stops along the way, but remember, we only stop for the best.

More on the Bullrun [Internal]

So the veterans of the Fourth Battle of Bullrun aren't pulling into Manassas, VA tonight, but rather Kansas City, MO, after bombing down from Chicago via Saint Louis, presumably not stopping to check out the legendary screen door of Belleville, IL. Alex Roy has been aggregating anecdotes for us, and after the jump, we aggregate further.

First in? The Johannsen-piloted Magnaflow RS4. And hot on his vapor trails were the Porsche 911 GT2 driven by Tove Christensen, with Rob Ferretti in the SuperSpeeders Ford GT in third. What's more, Ferretti has now collected three tickets. Thankfully, we are not his underwriter.

Meanwhile, Rob Rill of Team Darkcyde (whose support Navigator, driven by Jason Garber, pulled into KCMO in fourth) claims that this is the heaviest law-enforcement presence he's experienced on any rally, corroborating Richard Rawlings' earlier report, as well as seven-rally veteran Nicholas Frankl's assertion that he'd never seen such a "harvesting season" as far as tickets go.

Speaking of the Frankls, Wonder Twin Annabelle was accosted for hitting 106 mph, and Frankl's report was actually issued to Alex Roy while he was following the police cruiser to the station in their Z06 with Annabelle handcuffed in the back.

Meanwhile, the Stude is semi-offically toast at this point, with Haller and Ward motoring along in Skiny's A6 4.2. and the Studebaker most likely to finish the journey back to Los Angeles in Richard Rawlings' Gas Monkey Garage trailer. More Bullrun badness to follow. Keep clicking back.

More on the Bullrun [Internal]

Just got off the phone with Haller, riding along with Skiny in the Audi A6 4.2. He reports that the Chicago to St. Louis lunch run has some really fast portions to it, roads where it would be theoretically possible to do 200+. Meanwhile, after almost scoring an engine last night due to the generosity of one of our readers (thanks, Steve!), Ward had us google Crower's number. He's gonna try to have the parts overnighted and see if they can't get the last two days of the rally in back in the Studebaker, which is currently travelling in Richard Rawlings' Gas Monkey Garage trailer. Best of luck, guys!

More Bullrun [Internal]

If anyone out there's got a speed shop in Chicago, or has a buddy who does, Haller and Ward need your help as of right now. They're headed into the City of Big Shoulders with the Stude on Rawlings' trailer, and Kevin thinks he knows what the problem is — the lifters in the Chevy small block are toast. They need to buy a set of solid roller lifters (aka cam followers), (preferably Crower, but brand isn't necessarily important), possibly a set of pushrods, and an intake gasket. If you can help, e-mail davey@jalopnik.com and we'll pass your info on to Kevin Ward.

From Scotto: "We're still in Michigan. We just saw two cars on the side of the road. The Matador Brothers in a Lambo just got pulled over. There's a yellow Murcielago, I think it's #37. They've been pulled over like four times." According to Alex Roy, the Matador boys were nailed for 10 over. Now, anyone who's ever driven in Michigan knows that people regularly drive 20 over the limit on ice, so the MSP is obviously enjoying screwing with the Bullrunners.

Rob Ferretti just got busted twice in ten minutes for 85 in a 70 in the SuperSpeeders Ford GT; at this point, it seems like the MSP is nailing anyone doing more than 70. They've got static radar towers that they're using to vector squad cars toward the participants.

More on the Bullrun [Internal]

As of right now, the Bullrunners are on their way to Chicago after leaving Toronto and heading toward Windsor and Detroit. According to Haller, the Stude is most likely toast after two more cylinders went out. The car is currently on Richard Rawlings' trailer. Speaking of Rawlings, the Texan has picked up another co-driver in the form of William Woo, whose yellow Murcielago took a dirt nap on the first stage, much as it did on the Bonneville Salt Flats during last year's rally.

Also out with fuel-pump problems is Hayden Christensen's Ferrari 360, who was not spotted by any of Roy's contacts in Toronto.

The first group of cars left Toronto at the same time, with the SuperSpeeders Ford GT of Ferretti and Lehmann-Haupt arriving in at 11:55, the Collins Brothers' 550 at 12:05, followed shortly by the Reicke RENNTech CL600 at 12:10, and the Team Darkcyde support truck at 12:10. Rawlings showed up 15th.

While the Canadian police did not seize vehicles as had been rumored, they did stop all Bullrun cars and form them into a convoy for the trip across the border. From Ferretti via Alex Roy, American police have an exact car count (57 vehicles), which the only could've obtained by cooperating with Canadian authorities, who had set up gauntlets using radar and laser at the same time. Meanwhile there's apparently a nationwide APB out on the Bullrunners. Yikes. The Collinses have just been nailed for doing 150mph in Michigan.

Here's the latest, fresh from Alex in our IM window: Main Bullrun Convoy suffering major "harvesting session" at hands of Michigan PD whilst taking I-94 West from Detroit toward Chicago. Team Frankl Twins (led by former Champion Team Polizei Bullrun co-pilot Nicholas Frankl) are leading convoy of 5-6 Bullrunners on safer route southwest from Detroit via US-12 in order to take I-80 West into the Chicago House of Blues checkpoint. Team Twins (Nicholas and Annabelle Frankl) currently hold the Bullrun 2006 speed record, set at 3:18 pm, of 196mph in their silver Corvette Z06

More on the Bullrun [Internal]

Quick update from the Bullrun.

Scotto/Harris Z06: We heard from the Tall One: "1 ticket: 96 in a 65. The cops in Jersey were pretty fuckin' tight. We'd hear 'em over the scanner, 'Yeah, that, uh #67 Corvette, he's got good brakes,' as we nosedived into a speed trap." More musings from participants after the jump.

Notes from Dennis Collins, who's hammered almost 26,000 miles out of his '99 Ferrari 550 Maranello: "We started 34th and they didn't even have the gate open when we got [to Pocono]. Two of the Murcielagos broke. I've never gotten more than 3,000 miles out of a Lamborghini. 22,500 and it's never broken. I got a flat tire once, but I don't know if that counts. It's a great car, which is why I keep it." While the Lehmann-Haupt/Ferretti GT rolled in first with the Tove Christensen GT in second, Collins hit Toronto in fourth, but apparently, there was some sort of a time-card snafu involving the two first-place cars, so all is currently lost in the wheels of confusion. [Above photo courtesy JF Musial, Team Polizei]

Meanwhile, the Ward/Haller Stude is overnighting in Erie, PA, due to be sussed out tomorrow morning after a good night's rest. Stay tuned to Tha Jalop for all your Bullrunning needs.

More on the Bullrun [Internal]

We just received an update from Mister Roy in New York, who hasn't slept since Thursday and bombed out to the Poconos and back this afternoon. At 6:58 EDT, the Ferretti/Lehmann-Haupt Ford GT pulled up at the Toronto Hilton, with the Tove Christensen Porsche Turbo in lukewarm pursuit, arriving roughly 30 minutes later. The above photo was shot by a man named Hovik. The Ward/Haller team is near Niagra Falls with one cylinder out.

No doubt, an all-night thrash is ahead of Bret and Kevin. Get it fixed, boys. We need a ride in a few days. Meanwhile, Skiny has ditched his ride and is hanging out in Detwa, due to immigration issues. He'll be back on when the rally reaches the US. As for the pic on the hood of the GT? That's Bullrun organizer Dave Green, who at one point was a male model. The caption reads, "Hasbeen Models Inc." on the bottom and "I Used to be Pretty" on the top. Way to fuck with the heads-of-state, boys.

This Ain't Pamplona: The 2006 Bullrun is Off! [Internal]

NEW YORK: So the initial hype is over and the action has begun. We just got off the phone with Alex Roy, who isn't competing in this year's Bullrun, but showed up in the Team Polizei M5 to escort the drivers up to Pocono and document the happenings. And happenings there were. After the jump, a gang of pics and lotsa anecdotes.

According to Alex and his photog pal JF Musial (who shot all of the photos for the story), somewhere on the high side of 60 to 80 cars showed up for the start of the race rally, and Roy reports that this year's start contained more high-end, solidly-prepared cars than in years past, including a trio of Audi RS4s, one of which, of course, was driven by Mario Andretti, as well as a couple of Spykers, one of which was piloted by Olympic hero Carl Lewis. The other Spyker, right off the bat, didn't fare so well. Driven by the company president, it got nailed by the fuzz before it reached the Poconos. In fact, according to the traffic on the Polizei scanner, the po-pos didn't have enough squad cars to respond to all of the reports of Bullrun activity.

On a lighter note, Troy Hanson, affiliated with Hayden Christensen's "Don't Fuck With The Sith, Bitch" team, ran out of gas in the Shelby GT-H Safety Car — replete with roof-mounted lights — short of the Jersey-Penna border. A New Jersey State Trooper pulled over to assist, and upon seeing markings on the Mustang indicating that Hanson was an IRL driver, the Indy Racing League-fan peace officer got Hanson topped up and then gave him a 120mph escort to the Pennsylvania state line. Whoever you are, inverse-of-Buford T. Justice, we salute you.

Meanwhile, the non-participant Polizeis were offering an escort to a peleton that included our boy Skiny in an Audi A6 4.2.

The first car out, a Saleen S7 that Alex predicted would break down, failed fifteen minutes after its departure and showed up last to the jambalaya lunch and lap of the track at Pocono.

Speaking of the lap, the Ward/Haller '54 Studebaker apparently dominated the on-track proceedings, and according to Roy, is the coolest car of the event, hands-down. We'll be blasting along in the Stude soon enough, wearing a cool shirt (and we don't mean fashionable — the thing's essentially a Cup car with a Studebaker body; needless to say, there's no air conditioning compressor hooked up to the 305-inch, 650hp small block.)

As for the favorites? The two most experienced teams on the rally are the Rawlings and Collins teams, with Rawlings in the 750il that he finished last year's rally in after his crazy-ass hot rod took a dirt nap, and Collins in a Ferrari 550. The main contender against the veterans is the Ford GT driven by Rob Ferretti and Noah Lehman-Haupt, who apparently have pretty much duplicated Team Polizei's law-enforcement-avoidance setup. Worryingly, their car — a vehicle that Noah rents out from his Gotham Dream Cars business, already has bald tires, and the GTs are legendary for blowing clutches during such events. But if they can keep it together, Roy thinks they've got a shot. The kids hit Toronto tonight.

As our date with the last few stages draws nearer, we'll keep you posted on the happenings. [Thanks to Alex and JF for the reportage and photos.]

Related:
Bullrun Madness!; Scotto On the Bullrun! [Internal]

So, as the kids in the cross-country, rich-people-rallying community (and those who obsessively follow such things) know, the Bullrun kicks off tomorrow in Spinelli's backyard. What only a few kids know, is that if all goes according to plan, Davey G. will be an embedded reporter with the crew of Kevin Ward's absolutely nuts-of-a-cheetah '54 Studebaker along with La Carrera Panamericana Unlimited Class co-founder Bret Haller, as well as with a few other crews for the last three days of the rally, catching a flight to an undisclosed locale, and then hauling ass (at legal speeds, of course — it's a rally, not a race), back to Los Angeles. Sadly, we won't be partying with Andretti, as he's apparently wussing out and only driving the beginning of the festivities.

Rallying Cars and Racing Stars; Racing Legend Joins Automotive Rally [ForbesAutos]

Related:
[Internal[