The Pedal-to-the-Metal, Totally Illegal, Cross-Country Sprint for Glory

via daring fireball, a wired story about one man’s quest to beat the decades-old cannonball run cross country driving record.

from the article:

For nearly two years, Roy — a pale, shaved-headed, independently wealthy ectomorphic veteran of the Gumball 3000 road rally — has obsessed sleeplessly over every detail and thrown money at every possible electronic connivance. His mission is intended as a triumph of the mind over the base adrenal impulses of common speeders. His route is nothing like the careless line a spring-breaker might plot across a Rand McNally — it’s a painstakingly GPS-mapped and Google Earth-practiced manifest desti-document, waypointed mile by mile for detours, construction, and speed traps.

it’s an amazing piece of writing that hunter s. thompson would have been proud to hang his name on.