CONCLUSIONSWhile the justification (or lack of it) for the Cannonball Bak-

er will be debated for some time, a number of tangible conclu-sions were forthcoming regarding routes, type of vehicles,tactics, etc.

While the Ferrari won, it was not driven the fastest. TheCadillac's over-the-road average (excluding stops) was fasterand Moon Trash's was equal to the winner (see followingchart). There is little question that the Ferrari won for otherreasons: such as excellent mileage—the highest of the eightcompetitors at 12.2 mpg—combined with a 29 gallon gas tankthat provided a range of 300-350 miles. This, coupled with itsextraordinary high-performance capabilities in acceleration,braking, comfort, cornering and cruising speed (plus Gurney),made the difference.

The Ferrari made nine stops for gas, consuming approxi-mately 50 minutes. The PR DA van made one seven-minutestop. The Ferrari consumed 240 gallons of fuel averaging 80mph, the PRDA van used 356 gallons while traveling a slightlyshorter route and averaging about 3 mph less. On the otherend of the scale, the Cadillac and Moon Trash, both withstock tanks, made 15 and 14 gas stops, respectively, butwere in the thick of competition, //other factors like police andmechanical troubles are discounted. In sum, the extra weight,lower mileage, poorer handling, and general hazard of mas-sive fuel loads produce strong limitations.

Big car or little car, van or Ferrari, sedan or sports car,economy car or monster machine—there is no clear-cut solu-tion. When it is remembered that the first five finishers wereseparated by less than two hours, the difficulty of deciding onthe perfect long-distance vehicle comes into focus.

The problem of tactics provides a clearer answer. To runflat-out or to cool-it; that is the question and the "cool-it"school seems to be the way in any long-distance journey.Speeds in excess of 100 mph, regardless of how safe theymight be on modern Interstates, simply attract too many law-men. The Cadillac, with five apprehensions that cost themseveral hours, is a perfect example of the limitations of thismode of travel. By contrast, the two fastest cars, the Ferrariand the PRDA, collected but one ticket between them andboth made the trip at carefully paced, ever-watchful speeds inthe 90-100 mph range. (The Ferrari was stopped during theperiod that rule was violated.) Sustained speed is the key tothe Cannonball, and any time lost to the police is a disaster.Therefore a happy medium must be found without attractingattention. Sounds simple, what?

Seven of the eight competitors used essentially the sameroute—the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstate 70, Interstate 40network running through Columbus, St. Louis, Oklahoma City,Flagstaff, etc. Only the Ferrari took a different course. Ratherthan run Interstate 78 from northern N.J. to the intersection of

the Pennsy Turnpike at Harrisburg, its crew cut northwardacross New Jersey's Route 46, through Netcong and Hack-ettstown, to Interstate 80 due west across Pennsylvania.From there they cut southwest across Ohio from Akron toColumbus, intersecting with the conventional route. This is agood choice if one leaves in the middle of the night. Other-wise Route 46 is clogged with traffic over much of its two-lanedistance. It is unusable during daylight hours.

The Ferrari also used the Ash Fork cutoff west of Flagstaff,Arizona, heading south on Routes 89, 71 and 60 to reachInterstate 10. While good road, there are several mountainoussections on Route 89 that are extremely dangerous andshould only be attempted by expert drivers in excellent cars.

The Ferrari traveled approximately 35 miles farther than itsrivals, but the higher speeds attained over that extra distancehelped to win. Yet the perfect route, especially with the con-stant addition of new Interstate highways, is still unknown.(Nearly six hours was lopped off Moon Trash's original record,set last May, primarily because of better route knowledge andthe new four-lane sections that were opened this summer. Ifthis trend continues, a 32-hour trip may be possible.)

There has been lengthy discussion of the so-called north-ern route, taking Interstate 80 westward across Iowa, Nebras-ka, Wyoming and Utah, then cutting southwest across Ne-vada to take advantage of the absence of speed limits in thatstate. However it is 200 miles longer and winter comes earlyto Wyoming, making the trip in November extremely risky. Thesouthern route, using Interstate 81 to Knoxville, Tennessee,then cutting west across the deep south to Texas, etc., hasbeen studied, but it is again 200 miles farther. But then, ifthere were bad weather in the central states . . .

One conclusion is clear; better roads in the east and centralU.S. permit faster average speeds than in the far west. Theslowest running comes in New Mexico and Arizona, mainlybecause many towns have to be safely traversed. And don'tforget, five of the 10 traffic tickets came near the Arizona-Cali-fornia border. It is ironic that here, in the vastness of theWest, there is the heaviest concentration of police. Why? Be-cause, given one-on-one situations in the desert, it's easiestto make arrests. No competitor was even looked at in theheavy traffic of New York, St. Louis, Oklahoma City or LosAngeles, where the accident probability is highest.

That was the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memo-rial Trophy Dash. No one who ran, not Gurney, not Adamo-wicz, not anybody, got a dime for the race, making it somekind of milestone in modern automotive annals.(Editors Note: Because Car and Driver, nor any other formalorganization for that matter, has no sanction or direct involve-ment with the Cannonball Baker, this staff, individually or col-lectively, will not recognize, support or publicize any attemptsto break any of the records reported in the foregoing story.)

TEAMS

FERRARIPRDA VANCADILLACLITTLE ROCK TANKERSAMXMOONTRASH IIUNION 76 TRAVCOMGB/GT

ELAPSEDTIME

35363637373957

DNF

5447

5645480325

AVERAGESPEED

80.077.277.275.476.774.050.8

(SLIPPING CLUTCH*LOST ADDITIONAL TIME RUNNING

MILESRUN

(APPROX.)

2876284028552845289728902915

COLUMBUSEXTENDED PERIODS AT

MILES STOPSFUEL PER BY

STOPS GALLON POLICE

91

151

14

1912

,OHIO;

12.28.58.99.0

11.58.06.9

RAN 560 MILES

1

053010IN 7

TOTAL AVG. SPEEDTIME WITHOUT

STOPPED (EST.) STOPS (EST.)

1:050:073:152:15*1:314:00*1:30

45, AVERAGED

82.577.584.680.179.882.552.2

74 MPH)REDUCED SPEED

MARCH 1972 39