Legends Podcast #532; The Cannonball Run (Car Movies)

Fifty years ago, automotive journalist Brock Yates and Car and Driver editor Steve Smith conceived the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, a timed race from East Coast to West Coast of America. The first "Cannonball Run" from New York City to the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, California, was covered in a widely-read article, and the race was run four more times throughout the '70s. By the end of the decade, a movie was in the works, to be written by Yates and helmed by stuntdriver-turned-director Hal Needham. Two 1976 films - Cannonball and The Gumball Rally - beat Yates' and Needham's film to the screen, but their 1981 film - which boasted Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, and Farrah Fawcett leading a stacked cast - became the sixth highest-grossing film of the year and remains an enduring classic. Now, forty years later, we're putting pedal to metal and checking out The Cannonball Run!   For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek.com   You can find us on iTunes under ''Legends Podcast''. Please subscribe and give us a positive review. You can also follow us on Twitter @LegendsPodcast or even better, send us an e-mail: [email protected]   You can find all our contact information here on the Network page of GonnaGeek.com Our complete archive is always available at www.legendspodcast.com, www.legendspodcast.libsyn.com