The Top 10 Fastest Cannonball Run Records Ever Set

The Cannonball Run is an unsanctioned coast-to-coast race that traces its roots to 1933 and a man named Erwin George "Cannonball" Baker, who once completed the journey in 53 and a half hours. Automotive journalist Brock Yates popularized this feat in 1971 when he and Dan Gurney managed to complete the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash in just under 36 hours. There have been similar races since then, such as the U.S. Express, but Alex and David Maher's 31 hour, 4 minute time set behind the wheel of an E39 M5 in 2006 ushered in the modern age of Cannonball Run record attempts.

That 2006 run inspired Ed Bolian, Dan Huang, and Dave Black to try their luck in 2013 with a supercharged Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG, setting an astonishing new record. It was thought to be impossible to go much faster than 27 hours coast-to-coast, but this mindset changed when the Covid-19 pandemic set in. Due to nationwide shutdowns, members of the so-called fraternity of lunatics — enthusiasts dedicated to setting Cannonball Run records — saw an opportunity. Between April and October of 2020, a Cannonball craze kicked off that brought seven of the current top 10 times.

However, there is debate about the fairness of these Covid-era Cannonball Run times, due to the unusual circumstances of empty highways across the country. Rather than dive into that argument, we are instead presenting the top 10 fastest Cannonball Run records ever set, regardless of when it happened. Keep in mind, this is an unsanctioned race with no governing body, but Ed Bolian of VINwiki maintains a spreadsheet based on evidence provided by drivers that is considered the final word in Cannonball Run records. These are the times we will use for this list.

Ed Bolian has become something of a modern Cannonball Run spokesperson for this entirely unofficial race. His story starts in high school, when he interviewed Brock Yates for a school assignment and informed the famed journalist that one day he would beat Brock's record. No doubt fueled by the 1981 "Cannonball Run" film with Burt Reynolds and a certain black Lamborghini Countach, Bolian ultimately made good on his claim. With co-drivers Dave Black and Dan Huang, he set off from the Red Ball Garage in New York City on October 19, 2013. Some 28 hours and 50 minutes later, they arrived in Redondo Beach, California and pulled into the Portofino Hotel.

This traditional Cannonball Run route covered 2,814 miles, during which the trio averaged 98 mph and stopped for a total of only 46 minutes including three fuel stops. To hit this new record, the team drove a 2004 Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG, a car that today offers speed on the cheap. 

Aside from a pre-race tune-up, the car was left largely stock and chosen for its understated looks and its ideal specs. In stock form the 2004 CL55 AMG made 493 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque, featured the Active Body Control suspension system, and was designed for high-speed Autobahn cruising. Modifications consisted of a taillight kill switch, an assortment of radar detectors, and dual auxiliary gas tanks that enabled an 800-mile range. The record they set stood until November 2019.

The first Covid-era Cannonball Run on our list was completed in a 2014 Volkswagen Passat TDI, which set a record for the fastest diesel run at the time. Piloted by the three-person team of Sean Petr, Jason Adkins, and Mark Spence, the 28 hour, 30 minute run started in Darien, Connecticut rather than New York City due to concerns around Covid exposure. The team already had experience in the C2C Express, a Cannonball-adjacent race, so they set their sights on the Portofino Inn on the California coast when they kicked off their run on April 4, 2020 — the same day that two other record attempts were launched, both of which set even faster times.

The Passat TDI was chosen specifically for its anonymous looks and was left close to stock aside from an engine tune, upgraded suspension, and removal of the factory's 114 mph top speed limiter. In original form, these Passats made 140 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque from a 2.0L turbodiesel inline-four. Crucially, the diesel Passat offered world-record fuel economy and over 700 miles of range on the highway. With an extra gas tank fitted in the trunk, Petr, Adkins, and Spence averaged 25.5 mpg during their run even while maintaining an average speed of 101 mph.

Carl "Yumi" Dietz already had a colorful history of cross-country racing before setting a Cannonball record, having gained notoriety for running a 1977 Lincoln Continental Mark V coast to coast while dressed as an offbeat country club skipper. He was also friendly with the diesel-powered Passat crew and hit the road from New York City to California within an hour of that three-person team. 

However, Dietz was flying solo behind the wheel of a largely stock 2016 Cadillac ATS sedan, a car that he was delivering to a niece out west, which triggered the Cannonball effort. An interview with GQ shed some light on this otherwise lightly covered record, specifically Dietz's mentality, as he stated, "Driving cross-country is about the most American thing you can do. Driving it at speed, I feel, is just the embodiment of the American outlaw spirit, kind of civil disobedience at its finest." 

To complete his run, Dietz told GQ that he typically set the cruise control at between 110 to 119 mph for long periods of cruising. Being behind the wheel of an unassuming sedan like the ATS also likely helped him get away with an average speed 101 mph — particularly one fitted with the optional 2.0L turbocharged inline-four making a stout 272 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque.

Just a few months before Cannonball Run records started dropping during the Covid pandemic, a 2015 E63 S AMG nicknamed Angry Ursula set a blistering time of 27 hours and 25 minutes. This run, which started on November 10th, 2019, bested the long-standing record set in 2013 by Ed Bolian and his team. 

Driven by the three-person crew of Arne Toman, Doug Tabbutt, and Berkeley Chadwick, this super sedan — which we called one of the best Mercedes of all-time — was modified with an AMS Performance ALPHA 9 turbo package. This upgrade made the car good for 800 hp, although it was debadged to draw less attention and fitted with a 45-gallon trunk-mounted fuel cell to reduce stoppage time.

To that end, a robust roster of police countermeasures were used including image-stabilized binoculars, an airplane detection system, a gimbal-controlled roof-mounted thermal scope, and the requisite radar detectors and laser diffusers. Following the I-80 northern route between New York City and Redondo Beach, the Toman-led team averaged 103 mph over 2,825 miles. Other eye-popping metrics include a top speed of 193 mph, only three fuel stops, and a total time spent not moving of 46 minutes. Unbeknownst to them, this carefully executed record run would fall less than five months later.

Years after the Covid pandemic was in the rearview, Christopher Stowell set a new solo Cannonball Run record. It was also a new record for diesel-powered vehicles and the fastest time for a non-Covid run. By following I-40 across the country's southern route from New York City to Redondo Beach, he was able to average 103 mph and 23 mpg. Along the way, he was stopped by the police in Oklahoma, but the Cannonball gods were on his side as the ticket printer malfunctioned and he was released with a warning.

In stock guise, a 2015 BMW 535 with the 3.0L turbodiesel straight-six puts down 255 hp and 413 lb-ft of torque. EPA estimates peg highway fuel economy at 38 mpg. Stowell pushed those figures to approximately 400 horses and 560 lb-ft using an ECU tune. Other modifications included a square tire stance and an auxiliary fuel tank that brought total diesel volume up to 40 gallons for an 800 to 900 mile range. Unfortunately, Stowell's BMW threw a check engine light right out of the gate. Electing to hope for the best, he continued on gingerly at first, eventually reaching a top speed of 151 mph on the way to his trio of new records.

As we'll get to next, an Audi A8L set what was perhaps the best known Covid-era Cannonball Run record of 26 hours and 38 minutes between April 4th and 5th, 2020. Just 13 days later, the team of Chris Benvie, Chris Duerden, and Matt Fried set out in an Audi S8 Plus to beat it. Like many of the Cannonball Run stories from 2020, these guys were out of NYC in about four minutes, which is hard to imagine if you've ever tried to drive through the Lincoln Tunnel on your way to New Jersey, but this was one of the advantages these runs had during pandemic shutdowns. Unfortunately, the trio quickly discovered that Mr. Fried was prone to serious carsickness.

This would ultimately lead to Fried being left on the side of the highway in New Mexico due to how violently ill he became — with plans for a team spotter to pick him up of course. They were also pulled over in Missouri for going five mph over the speed limit, which is pretty tame for one of the fastest Audis ever made.

Between these hurdles and factory brakes that were not up to the high-speed task given them, Chris Benvie and Chris Duerden were just five minutes shy of the time set two weeks earlier. The story goes that a red light at the last highway off-ramp was the final straw in this Cannonball Run effort that, while still fast, was not quite quick enough. Unsurprisingly, the pair was not done with the Cannonball just yet.

The guys who piloted a leased 2019 Audi A8L to a new Cannonball Run record in April 2020 are infamous for being described as "three (or possibly four) of this country's biggest a**holes" by Car and Driver. The irony here is that this very magazine once featured the race on its cover. Of course, that was 1975 and in 2020, with Covid raging, sentiment had done a 180. Viewpoints on the ethics of crisscrossing the country in a time of national crisis aside, Chris Allen, his brother James Allen, and Kale Odhner achieved an average speed of 109 mph between the Red Ball Garage and the Portofino Inn on the same weekend as the previously noted Passat TDI and Cadillac ATS.

At the time, the team kept their identities secret, instead going with the moniker for the team, Captain Chaos. Three years after the fact, these details were shared including specifics regarding the borrowed car. The 2019 Audi A8L was being leased by the Allen brothers' father and stored at Chris Allen's house. With a 335 horsepower 3.0L turbocharged V6, adaptive air suspension, and 44 inches of rear legroom, it was the perfect Cannonball car. So, rather than asking permission, the team fitted auxiliary fuel tanks plus a handful of police countermeasures and took off. 

A new record was set — although it remains unclear how the owner of the car felt about the adventure.

This 26 hour and 29 minute run that happened between May 30th and 31st 2020 featured the same 2017 Audi S8 Plus that had missed the all-time record by five minutes two months earlier. The drivers from the April run — Chris Benvie and Chris Duerden — returned and were joined by a new third co-driver, Samuel Lurie. 

To beat the 26 hour, 38 minute time on this go round, they addressed several issues discovered during the first run. First up was a new co-driver not prone to car sickness. They also swapped the factory brakes for an aftermarket kit to limit the previously encountered brake fade. A more rigorously choreographed fuel stop game plan was put in place due to struggles in this key area during the April run.

Finally, they increased the crew of police spotters from 12 to 22 and decided on the northern route on I-80 versus the prior run's southern route on I-40. All this planning seemed guaranteed to put the Audi S8 crew back on tap of the Cannonball rankings. Plus, new co-driver Lurie got "all hopped up on coffee beans and 5-Hour Energy" prior to his stint, according to an interview with Chris Benvie shared by VINwiki. Said to be shaking with adrenaline, he coolly put in a nearly 1,000-mile stint on a single tank of gas. 

The team succeeded in shaving nine minutes off their previous attempt for a total runtime of 29 hours and 29 minutes. Much to their chagrin, however, a new record had cropped up in the meantime.

The first team on our list to crack the 26-hour Cannonball Run barrier completed their run in early October 2020, which is important to note because the it was completed by two familiar faces — Chris Benvie and Chris Duerden. While they had beat a prior Cannonball record in late May 2020 with their Audi S8, an even faster time had been set in early May 2020 by a team driving an Audi S6. With the new record in their sights, they hatched a plan to take the all-time record with a 2019 BMW M5 Competition on October 10th and 11th of 2020. The team truly boogied, managing an average speed of 110 mph with another new co-driver, Safi Barqawi.

The M5 Competition was plenty potent in stock form with a 4.4L twin-turbo V8 good for 617 hp and 553 lb-ft of torque. Aside from an extra gas tank and unspecified upgrades to the engine and cooling system, their white M5 was largely stock, though it was debadged and lightly disguised to help it look like any old white sedan to the average onlooker.

With these minor modifications and the team's experience, a 24-hour Cannonball Run seemed like a surefire thing. Unfortunately, according to the trio, the relatively long 20 minutes required to exit NYC and a hostage situation that shut down the I-15 highway in California negated this hoped-for time. They did end as one of only two teams to go faster than 26 hours in the Cannonball Run, but the number one spot belongs to someone else.

It's unlikely Audi engineers developed the 2016 S6 to dominate America's Cannonball Run, but they couldn't have built a better car for the job if they tried. After all, the S6 some great specs for the challenge, sporting a 4.0L twin-turbo V8 with 450 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque, a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic routing power to all four wheels, and adaptive air suspension. 

This is the vehicle that was used to set the current all-time fastest Cannonball Run record in May 2020 with Arne Torman and Doug Tabbutt — of Angry Ursula Cannonball fame — behind the wheel. They were joined by Dunadel Daryoush, and managed to clear Manhattan in a little over four minutes before averaging speeds of 110 mph over the 2,816 miles to California. They even hit a top speed of 175 mph on their way to becoming Cannonball legends.

The Audi earned the nickname Fraud Taurus due to heavy camouflage employed to make it resemble a Ford Taurus Police Interceptor, right down to a blue oval emblem with the word Audi in Ford's script font. They even stuck a fake police unit number decal on the Audi. It had been modified with updated turbos and a 45-gallon fuel cell, lifted from Angry Ursula, was fitted along with a brake light kill switch, a CB radio, a radar detector, and a laser diffuser. Stopping for only 31 minutes on the way to a time of 25 hours and 39 minutes between Manhattan and Redondo Beach, this is currently the all-time best Cannonball Run record.