As a kid I was totally enthralled with the movie, The Cannonball Run, starring Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. This wacky cast of characters and their high jinx as they traveled across the country actually pale in comparison to the madness that goes on with the Gumball 3000.

The event was created in 1999 by ex-racing driver, designer and British entrepreneur Maximillion Cooper, and was born from Cooper’s vision to combine cars, music, fashion and entertainment to create a pop culture lifestyle brand of the future.

The rally stops were Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen and Amsterdam for the European leg. Here’s a short list of just some of the madness that went on in Europe. Thousands lined the streets in Stockholm for the start. The Anastasia Date and Asian Date Camaros were the only old school American muscle cars at the starting grid and garnered a great amount of attention in a field of exotics. In speaking with Anthony Volpe, the marketing manager behind the vehicles, that was his strategy going in and it seemed to work well.

The Camaros rolled through Europe at high speeds for hours on end, leaving a journalist jailed, as tickets were handed out like candy on Halloween and the German government pulled over every Gumball car to check passports and drivers’ licenses.

The European leg of the Gumball 3000 finished with a big bang of party. Unfortunately one of the Camaros experienced a literal bang in the engine compartment in Germany and got sent back to the States. Anthony luckily had a plan B, with his own ‘69 Camaro standing by in the States for the U.S. leg of the rally. Amsterdam Gumballers were recieved by a large crowd at Amsterdam arena before being put on a cargo plane and flown to Reno, NV.

That’s where Drive! got involved on the Gumball 3000 action. The chartered flight from Amsterdam (which for many on it was the highlight of the entire trip) where they had a parade, complete with a marching band, color guards and a fleet of classic cars and a motorcycle club, was a party in itself. Food and refreshments were provided for the Gumballers as the cars were unloaded from the cargo plane. U.S. leg participants rolled in with a couple of McLarens, an SLR and even another SS Camaro.

A drivers meeting was held with Maximilian opening, followed by some words from the Mayor and police chief of Reno who welcomed the Gumballers. After a quick stop in Reno it was off to San Francisco. The replacement Camaro joined the Yellow Camaro and it was smooth sailing to SF. We left SF for Los Angeles with a stop at Willow Springs raceway where we would have lunch and some track time with some Vipers and Hellcats. Paced laps were also given to cars from the Rally cars that wanted to do a couple of laps.

L.A. Live was the Los Angeles staging ground for the cars’ overnight stay. The rally picked up additional cars and drivers in L.A., including F1 superstar Lewis Hamilton, who piloted a Koenigsegg Agera HH, the only one in the U.S. The Rally went through Death Valley and tested the cooling systems of the Camaros but fortunately for them they passed with flying colors. A ride in the grey AsianDate.com after lunch found us being tailed by a park ranger, so Anthony decided to slow the pace a bit to 20 in a 35 MPH zone, which led to a back up of traffic for probably a quarter of a mile. This got us stopped for what has to be a Gumball 3000 first, going too slow. After being let off with a stern warning, we made our way to the end of Gumball in Las Vegas. Gathering up all the cars at the Bellagio parking lot we rolled to the final resting place for the cars. With the carnival-like atmosphere, attendees got to view the cars, see a skateboard demo by Tony Hawk and Deadmau5 DJ’d a set for the crowd.

Gumball is one of those things that should be on your bucket list. If not, a driver at the very least should check out at one of the stops on a future rally. A special thanks to AnastasiaDate.com and AsianDate.com, Anthony Volpe and Ryska Posten for the lift!

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