I got the video about it that came out last year, an unofficial one, I guess, Mischief 3000. I liked the cars, but I wasn't impressed with the people in it. Bunch of spoiled rich kids, and Eurotrash that came here to run this "race". No respect for anything--even their cars. They didn't even race! They all hung together to show off to each other, take pictures and try to be "cooler" than the next guy. They ran to checkpoints, partied all night, and took off the next day. They bragged about tickets and getting arrested, cussed cops for "catching" them, even though they all had stickers and crap *plastered* all over their cars. No stealth whatsoever, what did they expect? I have a pretty low opinion of the idiots in that race now, at least as they were portrayed on this DVD. Just because you have a fast car doesn't mean you know how to drive it. That was proven repeatedly. Plenty of donuts and burnouts, but most couldn't even do that right.
I've been reading Brock Yates' book on the Cannonball Baker, and that was a totally different experiment. He selected experienced drivers for it, 95% were in total stealth mode, not stickered, and they did not get many tickets at all. Some were professional drivers (Dan Gurney, for example). That was when the interstates were still relatively new and not nearly as populated though. They also made it a straight shot, endurance race. They treated gas stops as pit stops and ate on the go. The record is <33 hrs, start to finish. The Gumball? I think the do it in 4-5 days.
They are the racing equivalent to "ricers". They think they're doing it, but they don't really have a clue.
BTW, no I don't agree with the race. The roadways are entirely too packed, and the drivers don't know what they're doing. Even the best driver can have someone pull out in front of them, or a deer or child run out into the road. There's no place for this, too many variables. If there's a death, it probably wouldn't be one of the spoiled rich kids, but some innocent person on the road with them. That's usually how it works. I love the idea of Yates' One Lap of America, that would be the experience of a lifetime.
