Monday, August 6, 2007

Popular Mechanics' entry in the Great American Run

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For the past several years, Europe has been having a Great European Road Race. The Great American Run is a version of the Cannonball Run movies back in the 1970s ONLY it is pretty much cleaned up. Entries have to maintain a high but legal average speed along different sections of the route. The team closest to the desired average speed wins. The winner gets a Ford Saleen Mustang. Nothin' else matters.

I met the drivers and saw the entry for the Popular Mechanics team. To honor a prior entry in the Cannonball race, they used a 1980s vintage Chevy dually truck outfitted with a brand new Chevy 502 cubic inch engine. The truck had been well restored by the team and looked "cherry" (very good) but it has also been modified to use E85 whenever it can get it. Everyone was in high spirits at the display on 7th Ave in New York. The race organizer - Tim Porter - flew in from Great Britain (he is from the Midlands) and arrived in a beautiful but heavily decaled Bentley that was also flown in (from Indianapolis).

The race started Monday July 30 from four cities (New York, Washington, DC, Atlanta and Miami) and ended in Las Vegas Thursday August 2. Between 300 and 400 entries were expected to compete. The race will be followed by a convoy trip from Las vegas to Los Angeles where there will be ceremonies. Looks like everyone will stay on the right side of the law and hopefully no one will end up on the wrong end of a tow truck.

 

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