I got to meet one of the original Cannonballers!
 

I was at the Hot Rod & Restoration in Indianapolis this weekend and got a great surprise! I met one of the original Cannonballers!

There was this older guy walking around with a beat up blue-satin jacket on and on the back there was a HUGE patch that said "Cannonball - sea to shining sea memorial trophy dash".

So, my curiosity was just killing me...... I walked up and asked if he actually had done the Cannonball. His response was "yea, I actually did all 4". The man's name is Stephen "Yogi" Behr, and he was the winner of the 2nd Cannonball with a time of 37hours 17min from NY to LA! The car was a 70's Caddy! Flat out it could run 105, but at 70% it would cruise along at 95. It was fantastic getting a chance to hear some first hand stories about what running the Cannonball was like and out of the 4 races, he was only stopped once which ended in a 5 hour detention in a jail cell.

It was a great treat, and figured you guys would like to hear the story! If you want to read more about Mr. Behr, just Google his name, there is a lot of info on him!

I was thinking about the Cannonball run just the other
 

day. Probably the biggest influence on my build style. I saw that movie in high school and dreamed of building a car that I could run. I always wanted a car that was fast topend and could handle well...basically a pro-tour car before they were called that. All of the fun cars that I have owned since I have been 16 have been built this way. My first car was a 73 Lugana S-3. After that I had a number of different Vettes because they fit the bill.

I grew up in Arkansas...North Little Rock to be exact and went the the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Anyway it was 203 miles from dorm room to city limits. Me and a few of my friends would always see who could make the trip the quickest. Now realize this was 1982 and not too many cars on the road in Arkansas. 50 miles of the trip was through the mountains where turns were as slow as 5 mph(called the pig trail).

My buddy Marks set the mark high with a 2 hours and 5 minute run in of all things a 69 Camaro SS. I had a 78 vette with a warmed over L-82 and an auto. Made the trip in 1:55. His car had a 3.73 rear and mine had 3.55...no overdrive. On the interstate I was taching 4,500 to 5,000 the entire trip.

What a ball...thanks for letting me drive down memory lane one more time.

Great story! i love the cannonballs aswell, I remeber when i was little and my dad loved to tell the story of a guy from Pa. outran the cops in the late 50's he went three states before they caught him he was running a 51 F1 ford truck with a hopped up Caddy motor in it and had the bed cut out and the entire bed floor was a fuel tank most likely an old moon shine truck but the cops could hardley keep up and they just thought he would run out of fuel and they did eventually catch him, and to there amazment he had still enough fuel to go over 100 miles yet........

That must have been an absolute blast! :wow:

That's awesome I always enjoy talking to older scene have great stories (and I respect them alot to) must have been fun

Very cool! Thanks for sharing Craig.
W

You guys have to read Brock Yates' book; "Cannonball". It recounts the highlights from each race and is a great read.

1:55 from fay. to little rock , that getting it on .
and on the pig trail thats even faster

Kenny
 

That was back when I was young, dumb and full of...

Fear had me driving a little harder than normal. I was pledging Sigma Nu and snuck back to NLR to see a girlfriend. The plan was to drive down after a party for a quickie and drive back. I fell asleep. Woke up and only had about 2 hours to get back for role call at 8:00 in the morning. It helped that it was very early Sunday morning when I was making the drive. It was also winter and no leaves were on the trees. I hit the pig trail just as the sun was coming up and I pretty much used both lanes because I could see if any cars were coming.

Stuff like that makes me fearful of when my kids start driving. How I am still living amazes me.

You meet all the cool cats Craig......btw, we still didn't get that beer!