A Dangerous, Illegal Thrill Ride Across the U.S.

Mike Jones - Tulsa World

The "Cannonball Run" might have made for a fun movie back in the day, but movies are make-believe. Remakes of popular movies are popular these days, but the recently completed Cannonball Run was the real thing.

This was no fun-for-all rollick starring Burt Reynolds and Farrah Fawcett in the 1981 movie and, at the risk of sounding like an old fuddy-duddy, it was not only highly illegal but extremely dangerous.

It was a 2,795-mile race from New York to California. The goal was to break the standing speed record of about 32 hours. Alex Roy, a wealthy 35-year-old, and his co-pilot broke the record at just under 32 hours.

The route took them across the United States and, according to a map of the trip, they passed through Tulsa via the Will Rogers Turnpike, which merges into I-44 and the Turner Turnpike, on their way to Oklahoma City and points west via I-40.

They almost got stopped by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (I wish they had). But their souped-up BMW was equipped with about every kind of electronic radar-detecting gizmo you can think of, which gave them an advantage over the "smokies" out there enforcing the traffic laws.

The job that Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers and their colleagues in other states do is dangerous enough without having to worry about joy-riding yahoos out to trick the cops and endanger lives in the process.

In some places they reached speeds of up to 160 miles per hour. They were slowed only by some traffic congestion, much of which they avoided with the help of a spotter in an airplane overhead. In one driving rainstorm they had to slow down, to about 80 mph.

The inside of the super-tricked-out Beemer must have looked like the cockpit of the space shuttle. Here's some of what they had on board:

Official highway patrol sunglasses; a 20-gallon reserve fuel tank; binoculars fitted with a gyro stabilizer; military binoculars; a Hummer-style bumper-mounted thermal camera and LCD dashboard screens to help see outside when it was dark; front-and-rear-mounted sensors for a radar/laser detector; bumper-mounted laser jammers; redundant GPS units; police radio scanners, and a CB radio.

Roy was even able to flip a switch in the car which would kill his brake lights so officers would not notice when he reduced his speed. A brake-light kill switch, there's a feature certain not to get the endorsement of AAA.

They didn't even stop for restroom breaks. I'll let you figure that one out, but the recent road trip of a jealous female astronaut comes to mind.

They made it safely to California and claimed the new record. We're sure they are very happy and have gained fame for the foolish exploit (CNN anchors were giggly-thrilled to interview Roy). How many drivers and passengers must they have put in danger along the way?

Roy and his cohorts are welcome to play all the dangerous games they want. They can jump out of airplanes (with or without a parachute as far as I'm concerned), or climb dangerous mountains or bungee-jump from high bridges if they so choose. That would be preferable to endangering the lives of hundreds if not thousands of innocent highway drivers and law enforcement officers to get their cheap thrills. If they simply want to go fast in cars, then why not join the NASCAR circuit? It seems that Roy has the money for it.

"The Cannonball Run" was a movie. So was "Godzilla" and "Psycho" but we don't expect to meet a fire-breathing monster in downtown Tokyo or a deranged killer in the shower of an isolated motel. At least we all certainly hope not to. We also don't expect to see Burt Reynolds flying down I-44 at 160 miles per hour. Well, not these days anyway.

I'm certainly glad I didn't meet Mr. Roy and his thrill-seeking buddies along the turnpikes, although other travelers certainly did.

This is not fun, it's dangerous and selfish -- and just plain disgusting.

Copyright 2012 by Tulsa World