Coast to Coast Racing History

1909 “Ocean-to-Ocean Automobile Endurance Contest” - The Henry Ford Challenge


Eureka Springs Arkansas resident and car collector, Morris Dillow, loves automotive history and doesn’t mind life in the slow lane. In fact, he plans to spend 30 days in the non-passing lane when he drives his 1922 Ford Model T from Tarrytown, NY to Seattle, Washington on June 15 with 54 other Model T owners from around the world.


Dillow, a retired master electrician, grew up in Elgin, Illinois where he fell in love with cars at the age of 14. Over the years, he has restored more than 26 antique cars for himself and private clients. Today, his personal collection includes more than 11 classic cars, including one of only three known operational Jewels, built in Massillon Ohio in 1907. 


Unlike many rare auto collectors, Dillow drives his collection rather than allowing them to become expensive dust collectors. His love of driving and appreciation for history led him to organizing the 2019 Ocean-to-Ocean Rerun, a re-enactment of America’s first transcontinental auto race, the 1909 Ocean-to-Ocean Automobile Endurance Contest. Starting in New York City on June 1 with the first competitor reaching Seattle 22 days later, the first place prize was $2000.


“Henry Ford was true marketing guy who knew he had to prove the durability of his cars. This event created an ideal opportunity to show the Model T was affordable and more reliable than any of his competitor’s cars,” said Dillow. “There were very few paved roads West of the Mississippi River in 1909. Competitors faced running out of gas, fires, getting lost, axle deep mud and even quicksand. Ford heavily advertised the race results after the Model T was first to cross the finish line after 23 days. As a result, it became the worlds’ best selling car in the first half of the 20th century,” added Dillow.


The group will leave Tarrytown, NY on June 15 for a 4000-mile journey to Seattle, which they anticipate will take 30 days. As a lifetime member and designated co-chairman of the 2019 Ocean-to-Ocean Rerun, Dillow is also instrumental in organizing the 50+ year Annual Eureka Springs Antique Automobile Festival. 


(by Eric Studer for Eureka Springs Independent. Note: Five months after the1909 race, the first place Model T was disqualified due to an engine change during the competition, in violation of the rules. The second place Shawmut car was awarded the win.)


Florida to California E Motorcycle Record - 2021

Steven Day is the current cross-country E motorcycle record holder, riding from Florida to San Francisco in 93 hours on his Energica in 2021, the first sub-100 hour coast-to-coast record on a zero emission bike.


The Cannonball Run 

The Cannonball Run is an unsanctioned speed record, typically accepted to run from New York City's Red Ball Garage to the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach near Los Angeles, a distance of about 2,906 miles (4,677 km).   Brock Yates and Dan Gurney set the first record of 35 hours, 54 minutes in 1971. As of October 2021, the overall record is 25 hours and 39 minutes, with an average speed of 110 miles per hour (180 km/h), driven by Arne Toman and Doug Tabbutt. Current Cannonball records include:

  • Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) Car: 25h, 39m
  • Electric Car: 42h, 17m
  • ICE Bike: 32h, 52m
  • Electric Bike: 178h, 17m


In early June 2020, as reported by Road and Track, Fred Ashmore, completed a solo run in 25 hours and 55 minutes.  Ashmore, driving a rental Ford Mustang GT equipped with a 5.0 Liter Coyote V8 and 10-speed automatic transmission, replaced the seats and interior of the vehicle with fuel tanks capable of holding approximately 130 gallons of gasoline, which allowed him to make only one fuel stop. Since the vehicle was a rental car, the modifications were made as covertly as possible as to leave no visible damage and allow them to return the vehicle to its original condition upon return of the vehicle to the rental company. 


Double Transcontinental Record

Also in May of 2020, the team of Chris Clemens and Mark Spence in a highly modified Mercedes SL500 followed the Toman/Tabbutt team out of New York, drove from the Red Ball Garage in New York to the Portofino Inn in LA and then turned around and went back to the Red Ball Garage in 74 hours and 3 minutes.

Motorcycle Record

Motorcycle records between New York and Los Angeles - 1917 to Present:

  1. Alan T Bedell drove a Henderson 4 cylinder motorcycle from LA to NYC in 7 days, 16 hours, and 16 minutes on June 13, 1917.
  2. Erwin "Cannonball" Baker drove his Ace motorcycle from LA to NYC in 6 days, 22 hours, 52 minutes in 1922.
  3. Wells Bennet rode an Excelsior/Henderson in 1922 to cross NYC to LA in 6 days, 16 hours, 13 minutes.  
  4. Earl Robinson in 1935 did the run in 3 days, 6 hours, 53 minutes. 
  5. Rody Rodenberg set his record of 71 hours 20 minutes during June 17–20, 1936, on a 1936 Indian Scout. 
  6. John Penton (of Penton racing fame) set a time of 52 hours 11 minutes for the solo LA-to-NYC motorcycle run in 1959. The trek was made on a BMW R69S.
  7. Tibor Sarossy, at the time a college student, set a record in 1968 of 45 hours 41 minutes. Tibor used a homemade fuel cell made of jerry cans, which allowed for a reported four fuel stops. He also claims he never slept, although he did pass out from a diet of Hershey Bars and coffee at a produce inspection station in California. He averaged 58.7 mph on a BMW R69S.
  8. Fred Boyajian set a new time of 42 hours 6 minutes on October 11, 1969. Fred used a beer keg to provide extra fuel. Evidence was Western Union telegrams at New York City and Los Angeles. 
  9. Carl Reese left from West Valley Cycle Sales BMW Dealership in Winnetka, California, at 3:15 a.m. PST on August 28, 2015. Reese arrived at BMW Motorrad dealership in Manhattan, New York City, at 9:04 p.m. EST the next day, travelling 2,829 miles in 38 hours 49 minutes on a K1600GT BMW motorcycle. The trip was documented by notaries at both the start and finish line.
  10. Adam Frasca posted a time of 37 hours and 7 minutes. Frasca departed Manhattan, NYC at 12:03 AM EDT Tuesday, April 9, 2019 and arrived Redondo Beach, LA at 10:10 AM PDT. 
  11. Calvin Cote completed the run in a time of 35 hours 6 minutes, departing the Portofino Hotel and Marina at 3:00 AM PDT April 20, 2019 and arriving at the Red Ball Garage at 5:06 PM EDT April 21, 2019. The 2,772-mile run was completed on a 2012 BMW K1600 GTL equipped with a 15-gallon auxiliary fuel tank, radar detector, and radar/lidar absorbing paint. 
  12. Alex Jones set a new benchmark of 32 hours and 52 minutes atop his 2014 Yamaha FJR1300. The bike was equipped with a 7-gallon auxiliary fuel tank, radar detector, laser jammers, and additional lighting. Jones left the Red Ball Garage on Oct 17, 2021 at 6:24 AM EDT and arrived at Portofino Hotel at 12:16 PM PDT the following day, covering more than 2,800 miles with stops only to refuel. 


Electric Vehicle Record

In 1968, the Great Transcontinental Electric Car Race was held between student groups at Caltech and MIT.  The Caltech team, led by EV pioneer Wally Rippel, converted a 1958 VW Microbus powered by lead cobalt batteries from Electric Fuel Propulsion Corporation of Detroit. The MIT team converted a 1968 Chevrolet Corvair powered by NiCad batteries. The MIT team raced from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Pasadena, California, while the Caltech team raced the opposite direction. A network of 54 charging locations was set up along the 3,311-mile route, spaced 21 to 95 miles apart. The race began on August 26, 1968, and ended on September 4. Although the MIT team reached Pasadena first, they were towed part of the way. After assessing penalty points, Caltech was declared the winner with a corrected time of 210 hours 3 minutes.


With the introduction of long-range EVs, such as the Tesla Roadster (2008) and, in particular, the Tesla Model S, coast-to-coast travel became more feasible. In January 2014, Tesla Motors completed the first coast-to-coast corridor in their supercharging network for the Model S. A team from Tesla Motors completed a 3,427-mile route from Los Angeles to New York City run in 76 hours, 5 minutes. (Time included 60 hours, 8 minutes driving, and 15 hours, 57 minutes charging.) In July 2014, a team from Edmunds completed a slightly shorter 3,331.9-mile route in 67 hours, 21 minutes. (Time included 52 hours, 41 minutes driving, and 14 hours, 40 minutes charging.)[45]


Carl J. Reese and co-drivers Rodney Hawk and Deena Mastracci took advantage of a newly opened corridor on Interstate 70 to drive the 3,011-mile route from the City Hall in Los Angeles to the City Hall in New York City in 58 hours and 55 minutes during April 16–19, 2015, a new record for EVs in a 2015 Tesla Model S P85D. The drivers stopped 24 times for electric charging, with a total charge time of 12 hours 48 minutes. As proof, Reese presented 16 documents notarized on both ends, identifying drivers and three eyewitnesses: Matt Nordenstrom, Johnnie Oberg Jr., and Anthony Alvarado. Complete GPS logs recorded by GPSInsight (a fleet tracking company) were sent to Jalopnik, Guinness Book of World Records. GPSInsight provided GPS tracking equipment to the team to verify the event. Reese's team of three drivers broke Tesla Motors' (team of 15 drivers) previous record of 76 hours 5 minutes and Edmunds.com's (team of two drivers) previous record of 67 hours 21 minutes.


On October 18–21, 2015, Deena Mastracci and Reese were joined by Alex Roy. They beat Mastracci and Reese's prior record of 58 hours, 48 minutes for an LA–NYC run in an electric vehicle with a total time of 57 hours, 48 minutes. 


On August 24–27, 2016, the LA–NYC record was broken again by a team comprising Alex Roy, Righthook CEO Warren Ahner, and StreetWars founder Franz Aliquo, who completed the run in 55 hours flat in a 2016 Tesla Model S 90D. GPS logs were recorded by US Fleet Tracking, and Comma.AI's Chffr data logger, and data was shared with The Drive.


In December 2017, with an early-production Tesla Model 3, which are delivered to California-based customers only, Alex Roy and co-driver Dan Zorrilla broke the eastbound Electric Cannonball Run record again, driving 2,860 miles from the Portofino Inn to the Red Ball Garage in 50 hours and 16 minutes. Their drive took place December 28–31 of 2017. GPS data was captured using the GPS Tracks application, and video evidence was shared on YouTube.[50]


In July 2019 a family team of Robin Jedi Thomsen, and her parents Lars Thomsen and Betty Legler set a record of 48 hours 10 minutes driving westbound for 2,835 miles (4,562 km) in a Long-Range Rear-Wheel-Drive Tesla Model 3 between 12 and 14 July 2019.[51]


In August 2019, Kyle Conner and Matthew Davis set a record of 45 hours and 16 minutes driving westbound from New York City to Los Angeles in a Long-Range Rear-Wheel-Drive Tesla Model 3, which had been modified, including lowering the car for better aerodynamics. 

At the end of 2020, Kyle Conner, Drew Peterson and Tijmen Schreur lowered the EV record to 44:26 despite winter season in an Out of Spec Motoring Porsche Taycan with the large battery, aerodynamic wheels, and massaging seats, using Electrify America CCS chargers with up to 350kW. 


In October 2021, the EV record was broken twice in the same rented 2021 Tesla Model S Long Range. The first drive, from Los Angeles to New York City, by Ryan Levenson and Will Wood, lowered the EV record to 42:52. The second drive occurred on October 22, 2021, leaving from the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan at 11:00am and arriving at the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, CA 42 hours, 17 minutes later. The second drive was piloted by a driver team of Ryan Levenson and Josh Allan. The only modification made to the stock Tesla was to replace the factory 21-inch wheels with the more efficient Tesla 19-inch wheels and to over-inflate the tire pressure to 47 psi for the second drive. 


Electric Motorcycle Record

On July 8, 2021, Diego F Cardenas set the first electric motorcycle record from Los Angeles to New York City on a 2020 Harley-Davidson LiveWire in 7 days, 10 hours, and 17 minutes (178 1/4 hours). He used mostly Electrify America CCS chargers and a stock motorcycle without any alterations.


Running for Recognition
At a time when few women owned or drove cars, taking the wheel was a powerful symbolic act. In 1916, suffragists Nell Richardson and Alice Burke, with their cat Saxon, drove across and around the country to drum up support for voting rights for women. Their yellow Saxon automobile, nicknamed the “Golden Flier,” became a moving symbol of women’s rights and a podium for speeches in many towns and cities. Sponsored by the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the trip began and ended in New York City. It took five months, and covered more than 10,000 miles.


(Source: Wikipedia 2021)

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