Cannonball Run challenge

The run was intended both as a celebration of the United States Interstate Highway System and as a protest against strict traffic laws coming into effect at the time.

[4]: 202 The traditional start point is the Red Ball Garage on East 31st Street, Manhattan, and its finish is at the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach, California, a distance of just over 2,900 miles (4,700 km) depending on the route.

[11] In May 2007, Richard Rawlings and co-pilot Dennis Collins allegedly broke the 1979 Cannonball Run time during the 2007 Bullrun entry, driving a black Ferrari 550, modified with extra fuel tanks.

[14][7] In November 2019, the driving team of Arne Toman and Doug Tabbutt, with spotter Berkeley Chadwick, set a transcontinental record of 27 hours 25 minutes.

[18] In April 2020, an anonymous crew traveled from the Red Ball Garage[19] on the east side of Manhattan to the Portofino Hotel[20] in Redondo Beach, California—a total of 2,825.3 miles (4,546.9 km)—in 26 hours 38 minutes.

[23][18] In May 2020, Arne Toman, Doug Tabbutt, and spotter Dunadel Daryoush set the new cannonball record of 25 hours and 39 minutes in a modified 2016 Audi S6 disguised to look like a Ford Taurus police interceptor.

Police-evasion modifications included brake light kill-switches, radar detectors, laser diffusers, CB-radio, and a roof-mounted thermal camera.

Performance modifications included a trunk-mounted 67-US-gallon (56 imp gal; 250 L) auxiliary fuel tank sourced from the car used in Toman and Tabbutt's 2019 cannonball run, modified turbochargers, an upgraded heat-exchanger, and custom ECU tuning that allowed for engine-mapping to be changed on-demand to suit either 91- or 93-octane fuel, allowing the car to generate an estimated 600 horsepower (608 PS; 447 kW).

[30] In April 2022, the team of Nik Krueger, Mark Spence and Wesley Vigh drove from the Red Ball Garage in New York City to the Portofino Hotel and Marina in Redondo Beach, California, then back to the Red Ball Garage in 65 hours and 28 minutes, shattering the prior record by nearly eight and a half hours.

[31] That record was beaten just one week later by Bennett Wilson, Chris Ruppmann, and Grady Leno with a time of 65 hours and 19 minutes in a 2012 Mercedes S550 in April 2022.

In October 2024, the team of Nik Krueger, Wesley Vigh, and Christopher Michaels drove from the Red Ball Garage in New York City to the Portofino Hotel and Marina in Redondo Beach, California and back to the Red Ball Garage in 61 hours and 59 minutes, setting the current Coast-to-Coast-to-Coast Cannonball Run Record and reclaiming their short-lived title from 2022.

[32] On April 4, 2020, the three-man team consisting of Sean G. Petr, Jason Adkins, and Mark Spence piloted a 2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI SE from Goodwives Shopping Center in Darien, Connecticut to the Portofino Hotel and Marina in Redondo Beach, California in 28 hours and 30 minutes beating both the previous diesel record and Darien-Redondo time by more than 3 hours.

[34] Motorcycle between New York and Los Angeles 1917 to present: In 1968, the Great Transcontinental Electric Car Race was held between student groups at Caltech and MIT.

[48][49] The Caltech team, led by EV pioneer Wally Rippel, converted a 1958 VW Microbus powered by lead-cobalt batteries from Electric Fuel Propulsion Corporation of Detroit.

As proof, Reese presented 16 documents notarized on both ends, identifying drivers and three eyewitnesses: Matt Nordenstrom, Johnnie Oberg Jr., and Anthony Alvarado.

[55] On August 24–27, 2016, the LA–NYC record was broken again by a team comprising Alex Roy, Righthook CEO Warren Ahner, and StreetWars founder Franz Aliquo, who completed the run in 55 hours flat in a 2016 Tesla Model S 90D.

[57] In December 2017, with an early-production Tesla Model 3, which are delivered to California-based customers only, Alex Roy and co-driver Dan Zorrilla broke the eastbound Electric Cannonball Run record again, driving 2,860 miles (4,600 km) from the Portofino Inn to the Red Ball Garage in 50 hours and 16 minutes.

[60] In August 2019, Kyle Conner and Matthew Davis set a record of 45 hours and 16 minutes driving westbound from New York City to Los Angeles in a Tesla Model 3 Long Range which had been modified, including lowering the car for better aerodynamics.

[61] At the end of 2020, Kyle Conner, Drew Peterson and Tijmen Schreur lowered the EV record to 44:26 despite winter conditions in an Out of Spec Motoring Porsche Taycan with the large battery, aerodynamic wheels, and massaging seats, using Electrify America CCS chargers with up to 350 kW.

[67] In October 2024, Kyle Conner, Tijmen Schreur and Drew Peterson broke the record driving a 2025 Porsche Taycan in 39 hours 29 minutes.