Cannonball

Criminal

Vox Media Podcast Network

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.7 • 38.4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2020

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With Covid-19 shutdowns, people have been taking advantage of quiet highways to drive as fast as they can from New York City to Redondo Beach, California. They’re trying to break records set in an unofficial and secretive race called the “Cannonball.” Car and Driver Magazine editor Brock Yates came up with the idea for the race, and described it as a “balls-out, shoot-the-moon, rumble.” He also wrote the screenplay for the 1981 movie based on the race, “Cannonball Run,” which starred Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, and Roger Moore. In today’s episode, the history of the illegal cross country race, how it has evolved since 1971, and why fans say it will never go away. We speak with Brock Yates’ son, Brock Yates Jr., and Ed Bolian tells us about his record-setting cross-country drive in 2013. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop. Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.0	The first speed limits in the United States were set in 1652 in what was then New
0:36.8	Amsterdam, now New York City. The law stated that wagons, carts, and slays could not be run, road, or driven at a gallop.
0:48.0	And the first speed limits for motor vehicles were set in 1901 in Connecticut, 12 miles per hour in cities, and 15
0:56.3	miles per hour on country roads. After that, states continued to set their own speed limits,
1:04.0	ranging from 40 to 80 miles per hour.
1:07.0	But in 1974, President Nixon signed legislation
1:11.0	that established a national speed limit, a 55 miles per hour.
1:16.0	People called it the double nickel.
1:20.0	The new national limit was meant to conserve fuel in response to the 1973
1:25.7	Mideast Oil embargo. There were fuel shortages all over the country.
1:30.3	Gas stations were so crowded that you could only get gas on certain days,
1:35.0	depending on whether your license plate ended in an odd or even number.
1:40.0	The government had mandated a national speed limit once before during World War II
1:45.8	with the so-called victory speed limit of 35 miles per hour, which was also meant to
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