Team Allegedly Sets New 'Cannonball Run' Record Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

By R.J. Johnson - @rickerthewriter

April 13, 2020

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A team of high-speed rascals have apparently taken advantage of the empty highways to achieve a new record racing coast-to-cast, according to Road & Track.

Ed Bolian, who set a previous record for the coast-to-coast race in 2013, says he's seen documentation that a team completed the "Cannonball Run" from New York to California in 26 hours and 38 minutes - beating the previous record set in November of 27 hours 25 minutes by Arne Toman and Doug Tabutt.

The team is said to have used a white 2019 Audi A8 sedan outfitted with additional fuel tanks strapped into the trunk. The team of up to four drivers began at the traditional starting spot of the Red Ball Garage in New York City and finished the run at the Portofino Hotel & Marina in Redondo Beach, California.

The people involved in the coast-to-coast stunt have not publicly come forward, but a photo of the car fitted with the additional fuel tanks was briefly posted online.

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[SWIPE RIGHT] Only a few months have passed since we reported that the New York-to-Los Angeles Cannonball record was broken. It's allegedly been broken again. The 26 hour, 38 minute time—which beats the record set in November by more than 45 minutes—appears to be legitimate, according to former record-holder and Cannonball insider @edbolian. @alexroy144, another former record-holder, also said the new claim is credible based on his analysis of multiple sources. All we know about these new drivers is that there were three, maybe four of them, and that they were driving a white 2019 Audi A8 sedan with a pair of plastic fuel tanks ratchet-strapped into its trunk. They started at the Red Ball Garage in New York City and ended at the Portofino Hotel & Marina in Redondo Beach, California, the traditional start and end points of a Cannonball attempt. Do you condone a fast-paced cross-country road trip during a national emergency?

A post shared by Road & Track Magazine (@roadandtrack) on Apr 9, 2020 at 7:00am PDT

However, not everyone is impressed by the new record. Despite congestion on the roads being down nearly 50 percent thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, people are calling the coast-to-coast run during the coronavirus pandemic reckless and unsafe.

"Do I think this is the best use of time while the country is staying in during a pandemic?" Bolian said in an interview with Road & Track. "Probably not, but for me to say it's awful is like a cocaine dealer saying a heroin dealer is awful."

The original Cannonball Run grew out of the 1970's 'Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash' memorialized in the fictionalized 1981 movie starring Burt Reynolds.

While a new record may have been set, at least one 'official' Cannonball account said it wouldn't publish any information about the runs during the coronavirus outbreak.

“None of these so-called records have any value,” an Instagram story for the account stated. “We won’t publish them because doing runs in these #covid19 days devalues the difficulty of the exercise. It could end up badly.”

Photo: Getty Images