I stumbled across a story the other day that caught me off guard. It was a report that a three-man team, driving a 2004 Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG had shattered the record for the fastest non-stop drive across the United States, what has affectionately come to be known as “The Cannonball Run.” I wasn’t so much stunned that the trio had carved over two hours off the record time (a tremendous achievement), I was surprised that in this day and age of high speed chases, speed cameras and plaintiff’s attorneys that anyone would attempt it at all.
The notion of being the fastest person to drive from coast-to-coast in an automobile came about in 1933, when racer Edwin “Cannonball” Baker drove his Graham-Paige Blue Streak from New York to Los Angeles in 53 hours, having only slept a half hour in the process. Among Baker’s prior achievements was a coast-to-coast run on an Indian motorcycle in 11 days. This result was made all the more spectacular by the fact that it was achieved in 1914, when decent roads were all but nonexistent!
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