May 15, 2002
10:19 PM 
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Ahhhhh….road trips, a time to relax and enjoy the scenery….right?
Not for the participants of the Gumball Rally which just finished its inaugural race on U.S. soil. (More inside)
posted by Eric Lloyd NYC (3 comments total)
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Some memorable quotes from participants--
“I couldn't believe that I had gotten in so deep so fast. It seemed like a flash and all of a sudden I was running around a rest stop with a real patrol plane overhead. I laughed to myself at the time that it seemed like I was one of the guys on T.V. being chased. I tried to draw on my previous analysis of such situations I had watched on T.V., but there was no way out. At one point I actually took off my shirt and removed my baseball cap to appear like someone else. After spending 15 minutes in the restroom, I walked out with a family group to disguise myself. I immediately realized that this was wasted effort as the cops had my beloved car surrounded.” HBRAMSTEDT -Technician, Arcadia CA, Black BMW M5
“One of the ironies of being stopped in Arkansas was that the cops were not really aware of the event. They simply knew that there were large numbers of cars doing excessive speeds on the highways throughout the state.” Jeremy Master and Zerin Dube c/o Audiworld.com
“Being arrested by the same Cop in Virginia twice in 20 mins”
“The boys from Miami in the (Aston Martin) DB7 got 13 tickets on the first leg.”
“Kyle and I ran for about an hour on I40 though Texas at speeds up to 180/190. We were chased by the cops for 25 mins. Until they gave up.”
“Turns out that the driver of one of the Vipers is a wanted man in Arizona.”
I found these links while researching the possible importation of a car that is not yet available in the United States (2003 Mercedes Sl55), turns out Lonman brought one over just for the race, which turned out to be an efficient approach:
“As drivers and spectators milled about we soon learned how things were being handled for a lot of the European drivers. The problem was that many of the just-shipped-over European cars do not appear in US police databases. Similarly, the police do not have access to European license plate or driver's license information. As a result, in most cases the cops would simply write them a ticket and have them pay their fine on the spot”
Official Gumball 300 Site
Event coverage:
Participants accounts on the Gumball message board:
Assorted pics:
posted by Eric Lloyd NYC at 10:26 PM on May 15, 2002