It has taken some air flights longer to go from New York to Los Angeles, what with all the security and delays, than it took Ed Bolian and two friends by car.
The men claim they drove the 2,800 miles from the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan to the Portofino Inn at Redondo Beach, Calif., known as the Cannonball Run, in 28 hours and 50 minutes. That breaks the old record by more than two hours.
Their average speed was 98 m.p.h. and they topped out at 158 m.p.h., according to their global positioning system. Bolian hired a GPS tracking company to confirm their stunt. They made the trip in Bolian’s Mercedes, bought and souped up for the trip with extra gas tanks and a dashboard full of electronic equipment that rivals a fighter jet. The multiple glowing screens across the dash make it look like the special Star Wars edition of the car
The 28-year-old, from Johns Creek, said it was something he had wanted to do for a decade. Recently, his wife has been talking about having children.
“So it seemed like a good thing to get out of the way now,” he said laconically
If it’s a hoax, Bolian has done a pretty elaborate job of proofing it out. He has pictures of him, the team and the car in Times Square, on the Great Plains, in front of the Portofino. Car blogger Doug Demuro says he has seen the records from the GPS tracking company.
The three left Manhattan at 9:56 p.m. on October 19.
They were somewhere in Missouri before the sun caught up. They stopped three times total for gas, chugged iced coffees and “and stopped five or six times by the side of the road to change drivers and urinate.”
By the time the sun was setting, they were approaching California. They got to the Portofino shortly before midnight, Bolian reports.
Bolian is moderately concerned about the police coming after him.
“But just saying that I went fast as some point is not a specific admission to any crime anywhere. It would be difficult for most precincts to establish probable cause to come after us, then trying to figure out exactly where we were breaking the law is quite difficult.”
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