Three men just broke a record for the illegal subculture obsession known as the “Cannonball Run,” which involves driving from New York to Los Angeles in the shortest amount of time. The ongoing race has been attempted at least two dozen times, none of which broke 30 hours until Arne Toman, Doug Tabutt, and Berkeley Chadwick set off in a 2015 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Sedan from Manhattan and pulled into the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach in less than 27 and a half hours. The first cross-country chase took place in November 1971, known as the “Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash,” with eight vehicles and 23 people.
The last Cannonball record was set in 2013 by Ed Bolian and Dave Black for 28 hours and 50 minutes. “I didn’t want to break the record by minutes,” Toman said. “I didn’t want anyone else trying and I didn’t want to do it again.” The three men, while driving at an average speed of 103 mph, ran two dash-mount Garmin GPS units, one tracked by a third party, a police scanner, and a CB radio to track their speed and confirm their record-breaking time.
