The Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash was a real cross-country race run 5 times in the 1970s. The last “official” race left the Lock, Stock, and Barrel Restaurant in Darien, CT – a local haunt for gearheads owned by auto enthusiast George Lysle – on April 1st, 1979, and was memorialized in the 1984 movie Cannonball Run starring Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Farah Fawcett, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, and Adrienne Barbeau. (The starting point for that race is also the starting point for the monthly Darien Cars and Coffee.)

Here are some photos of the actual event. Some are from the start in Darien and others are from the finish in Los Angeles. All are courtesy of Gero Hoschek, Producer of Real Cannonball, the upcoming documentary film on the Cannonball.