Brock Yates and Hal Needham, accompanied by Brock’s wife, Pamela, and a doctor friend named Lyle Royer, ran the 1979 Cannonball in an ambulance. Yes. It’s true. Their souped-up Dodge “TransCon Medivac” carried a modified 440 Chrysler Magnum, high-speed shocks and sway bars, a 60 gallon fuel tank, and a whole crap-load of flashing lights, medical gear, stickers, uniforms, etc.
Ripping along at 125 mph, lights blazing, they were ordered to halt by a New Jersey State Trooper. When asked where they were headed, Yates replied, calmly, “California.” Sensing a ruse, the cop ordered the back opened, where Pamela was lying, covered, on a gurney, an oxygen mask over her face, with Royer tending closely to her. When asked why she couldn’t be flown to California, Royer responded that she had a rare lung disease that prevented her from flying due to pressure issues, but needed to be taken to UCLA Med promptly. Foiled, the cop let them go.
Well played.
(1971-1979) Cannonball Run, Cars, Drivers and Photos
This scene was reenacted almost exactly as it
happened in the first “Cannonball Run” movie,
with Burt Reynolds/Dom DeLuise as Yates/Needham
and Farrah Fawcett as Pam Yates (if you haven’t
seen it yet this film has one of the most flamboyant
cast ever).
Pictures from the book “Cannonball!” by Brock Yates
(I’m writing this because you didn’t and Brock is
veeeeery touchy on this).
“Cannonball!” is a great book, by the way. Highly recommend it.
“Cannonball!” rests on my bookself with “The Driver” right next to it. I hope to place a “32 Hours 7 Minutes” DVD on the same shelf when it becomes available…
You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog.