Transcontinental Documentation With Spinelli and Roy

On Tuesday, our resident Empire Stater sat down with everyone's favorite Teutonic village person to chat about the difference between a rally and a transcontinental record attempt. Today FastLane Daily's got part two of their conversations, where Alex talks about the problems with irrefutably proving that one has travelled from New York to Los Angeles faster than anyone else, as well as the impact of accidents like the one on the Gumball 3000 on road rallies in general. More »

Rawlings and Collins on their Transcon Record Attempt

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It's Not a Rally, It's a Race: Spinelli Chats With Alex Roy Regarding Transcon Hijinks

Herr Roy is getting pretty popular around the FastLane Daily studios, having spoken yesterday on the need for independent verification of the Rawlings/Collins transcontinental record(?). Today, he and Spinelli sat down for part one of a two-part powwow on the ins and outs of the legality of rallying, as well as the inherent supralegality of traveling from New York to Los Angeles at a high rate of speed. More »

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

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?

"Cannon Ball" Baker More »

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

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 »

Bullrun '06: Fontucky to Beverly Hills

The rally was originally supposed to end at The Grove, one of the tonier open-air shopping areas in Los Angeles. However, at the last minute, mall authorities reneged on the deal, as they'd been doing some research on the Internets and decided that the Bullrun wasn't a "family-friendly" event. During the drivers' meeting at Fontana, David Green informed us that our final destination would actually be the Beverly Hilton, our hotel for the evening. More »

Richard Was a Rally Driver: Gas Monkey Video Podcasts

An old friend of ours, coming home from the video shoot for Primus' "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" back in 1990, was in a VW Rabbit that hit a telephone pole. May the same fate not befall Richard Rawlings on this year's Bullrun. His first vodcast is above — soundtracked by the early-'90s East Bay alternahit — and he's giving away a car at the SEMA Show. El Sobrante, represent! More »

Bullrun Update: Kansas City

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. More »

Bullrun Verit: Beset by the Po-Po

"More cop cars than I've ever seen on a rally. There's some drivers doin' stupid shit, like always." More »

Bullrun Update: What's Up With the Stude?

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 Update: Canadian Convoy

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. More »

Bullrun Impresario: Richard Rawlings

Richard Rawlings, propriator of Dallas's Gas Monkey Garage and one of Bullrun's bigger 'n Texas personalities, took some time out of his rally prep regimen of struttin' and testifyin' to do an on-camera ID for a crew we believe comprised the official Bullrun documentarians for TV. Later in the day, Rawlings was forced to find a new co-pilot for his BMW 7-Series car, when second-in-command, Michael Jackson (no Bubbles jokes, please) was denied entrance to Canada due to an undisclosed prior, and he and Rawlings were possibly strip-searched. Rawlings tells it, after the jump. More »

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

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. More »