Has it really been 35...

Has it really been 35 years...? Motoring journalist and screen writer Brock Yates wondered aloud. Yes, it has! On 15 November 1971, Yates and racing legend Dan Gurney climbed into a Ferrari Daytona and blasted, non-stop, from New York to Los Angeles in 35 hours and 54 minutes, averaging 80.8 miles per hour. They defeated seven other teams, including a huge Travco motorhome and a Cadillac driven by three men who had answered an advertisement in the local paper, placed by the elderly Caddy owner, who wanted someone to deliver the car to California. It was not to be driven at more than 70mph, the ad had stated - but it was.

The race was named in honour of Erwin G "Cannon Ball" Baker, who made 143 trips from coast to coast, beginning in 1914 when he crossed the country in 14 days riding an Indian motorcycle on dirt roads

And so began the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. That name would be shortened to Cannonball, and it has since spawned a rash of imitators. "They all have "ball" in the name," said Yates. "The Gumball, Redball, Fireball, Goofball. I may have started it, but now I can"t stop it."

The idea behind the original Cannonball was to make fun of speed limits, especially on those vast stretches of road in the western states, where you may not see another car for hours. This ratcheted up when, at the end of 1973, the federal government established a national speed limit of 55mph, enacted to save fuel during a petrol crisis. The limit was sold to consumers on the basis of safety: "Save lives - drive 55," the campaign slogan went. Yates wanted to prove that a competent car, driven properly, could far exceed the limit and cause no problems.

The race was named in honour of Erwin G "Cannon Ball" Baker, who made 143 trips from coast to coast, beginning in 1914 when he crossed the country in 14 days riding an Indian motorcycle on dirt roads. Yates shortened "Cannon Ball" to "Cannonball," and soon dropped "Baker", should there be any objections from relatives of the man, who died in 1960.

As expected, the original Cannonball was both applauded and derided. Critics grabbed hold of a tongue-in-cheek statement Dan Gurney made: "We never exceeded 175 miles per hour." Governч­ment officials were not amused. Yet the Cannonball persevered, running in 1972 and again in 1975. This is when the world really took notice, as there were two movies released, "The Gumball Rally" and "Cannonball", which were based on Yates" event, but had no participation by him. Yates was recruited to write Cannonball Run in 1979, which meant he needed to make one last dash to provide a plot. The film starred Burt Reynolds and a long list of celebrities. And 1979 was the last one. The roads were getting jammed, the police had perfected radar traps, and, as Yates puts it: "There were more and more guys in the race with fast cars who really didn"t belong."

He recalls visiting a wealthy sometime-racer in Florida, who showed him a brand new Lamborghini: "I"m going to win the next Cannonball in this," he told Yates. "And I remember thinking, "You"re not good enough to drive that at 180mph". At that point I knew it was over. I realised that sooner or later we were going to kill somebody. That was why it ended." Even so, Yates is toying with reviving the race one last time, possibly in 2007, with a very controlled entry list. I"m pleased to say my name is on it...

Steven Cole Smith lives and works in the US, and is the motoring correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune