Okay, I'd like to welcome you all to an event that sometimes been called the automotive...

[Brock Yates, the organizer of the Cannonball Run, addresses the huge crowd of racers outside the starting line] Organizer: Okay, I'd like to welcome you all to an event that sometimes been called the automotive counterpart to the Bay of Pigs. [crowd chuckle] Organizer: You all are certainly the most distinguished group of highway scofflaws and degenerates ever gathered in one place, and we gonna have a lot of fun. Of course, you know certain skeptics note that perhaps 10,000 of the nation's most elite Highway patrolmen are out waiting for us after we start, but let's think positively. Think of the fact that there is not one state in the 50 that has the death penalty for speeding, although I'm not so sure about Ohio. [crowd laughs as rock shows a time card] Organizer: Everybody is gonna get a card like this. When you leave, you're gonna punch out hereat this time clock. 3,000 miles roughly away from here is another time clock just like that at the Portofino Inn. And the difference between the two times is your time across the country. The record stand at 32 hours and 51 minutes, and, believe it or not, those guys did break the 55 mile-an-hour speed limit. [crowd and racers cheering] Organizer: Okay, let's get that first car up here, and we're gonna get this thing underway!