Wrench. Ride. Repeat: The 2010 Cannonball Rally

Surely you have heard of the Cannonball Rallies, those cross-country rallies featuring insane cars racing each other from coast to coast.  Those were created by Erwin “Cannonball” Baker prior to WWI, and they ran all the way through 2007, engendering a couple of feature-length films and countless traffic violations along the way. 

Now there is a new Cannonball, spearheaded by Lonnie Isam of Jurassic Racing in Sturgis, SD.  This one is an endurance race instead of a timed rally, and here’s the kicker:  only pre-1916 bikes are allowed in the run.  Now that’s vintage!  The inaugural run set off from Kitty Hawk on September 10, 2010, aiming to roll into Santa Monica Pier some 3294 miles away. 

Cannonball Bike Classifications

There were 3 classes and their winners:

• Class 1:  single-cylinder, single-speed.  Winner:  Katrin Boehner (1907 JAP)
• Class 2:  multi-cylinder, single-speed.  Winner:  Brad Wilmarth (1913 Excelsior)
• Class 3:  multi-cylinder, multi-speed.  Winner:  Rick McMaken (1915 H-D)

The Cannonball began with 45 riders and ended with only 10, though 17 road more than 3000 miles.  Of course, the wear on the rider was much more than just the 150-250 miles covered per day.  There was the mechanical health of the bike to consider, none of these machines being younger than 95 years old.  Here at Vintage Motorcycle Insurance, we believe the perfect motto of the event was summed on the t-shirt of one rider:  “Wrench. Ride. Repeat.”