Most people love to hear rumours or listen to gossip. These are some of the stories we heard during and after the event. Some can be verified. Some cannot.
We have acknowledged the people who have helped to verify the stories. If you know differently, we want to hear from you so that we can move the rumour to the facts list. Of course, we will request proof; or, at least be able to quote you as saying so.
If you have any more rumours or facts, drop us an email and we will post them up.
info@cannonballrun.info
How Much Did It Cost?
We heard that the total cost to enter a car in the 1994 Cannonball Run was AUD 5,000.00. This included accommodation in the 5-Star Diamond Beach Hotel / Casino for the driver and the crew, as well as petrol for the race.
Julie Coughlan of car # 29 set us straight.
At 23 years of age, Julie and Warren were the youngest competitors in the race. Julie confirmed that the cost was AUD 7,500.00 and fuel was extra.
See now ... That is straight from the horse's mouth. A big thank you to Julie for turning our rumour into fact.
This is the picturesque MGM Grand Hotel Casino. At the time of the Cannonball Run, the venue was called the Diamond Beach Hotel - Casino. It is a Northern Territory icon, and was a fitting place to finish the Cannonball Run event.
What Exactly Were The Rules?
What Qualified You To Drive In This Prestigious Inaugural Event?
Well ... We are glad you asked, because Julie Coughlan (Car #29) has come through with the goods again.
Here is everything a driver needed to compete, including, payment plans, a run down of what the Northern Territory is like, the itinerary for each day of the "event" and more.
Speed Limits?
Forty kilometres outside of the Darwin city limits has always been known for driving "flat out." There is literally no posted speed limit.
Before the 1994 Cannonball Run began, the competitors were told the rules were "go as fast as you like." After the death of the two Japanese dentists driving the Ferrari F40, there was a limit of 180 kilometres per hour placed on all competitors. Essentially, the race winner was decided at this point. With the exception of a car having a catastrophic break down in front of you, the position you were in at the time of the accident was the position you were going to finish in. Overtaking was not permitted. Everyone had to travel at up to 180 kph.
Australian Speed Derestriction Sign
Car 28 - The Mini Cooper S
Driven by Charlie Ryder
Charlie Ryder was in his early 70s at the time of the 1994 Cannonball Run.
Charlie was the founder of the Mini Club of Australia and was the owner of the very first Cooper S, a London to Sydney Marathon Rally Car, imported to Australia.
Charlie used to own a garage in Gosford called "Ryders Garage." If anyone knows of Charlie, he was apparently a very fit man. We have personally spoken to Charlie a few years back. One gets the thoughts when speaking with Charlie he has had a full and complete life.
It was rumoured that on the very first day, Car 28, the Mini Cooper S, broke down only a few hours out of Darwin. It was also rumoured that they called for a new motor to be delivered, set up a tripod, and the spare motor was fitted - all inside an hour.
We know these cars are small, but we also know they can be a bitch to work on. It's a credit to the driver and navigator to know their vehicle so well and be able to do everything themselves, let alone in that short space of time.
Consider this:
70 years of age and changing a motor in a mini, inside an hour. Are you up for it?
23 September 2011 - Update
We spoke to Charlie on the phone. At the time, he told us he was 89 years old and his memory was not what it use to be. He shared a few bits of gold about the run and we thought we would list them here for you.
The story he told about the blown motor is actually this:
"We blew a head gasket about 150 ks out of Darwin. My navigator had a relative in Darwin, so we rang on his mobile phone. Hahahah ... can you imagine that? Back then we would have all had the old Motorola brick. So, they rang that relative and got him to bring down a head gasket. By the time he turned up with the head gasket, I had the motor stripped down and ready to go.
Charlie had a plan. He knew his Mini couldn't out run the exotic cars, but he knew his little Mini was a fuel miser. Charlie took a fuel tank from an outboard motor boat and hooked it in with the existing Mini tank. (We bet he wouldn't get away with that now.) So at the start, all the cars would roar past him and, later in the day, he would over take a heap of them as they were filling up with fuel on the side of the road.
Charlie's wife was going to be the Navigator during the race. A few days before the race she got sick and watched the race from her hospital bed. Sadly, about 4 months later, she passed away. The old story of the Tortoise and the Hare. 🙂
Charlie's Mini was considered the underdog and everyone wanted to see the Mini Cooper S race. The "Peoples Car", as the old Mini Cooper S became know, had Charlie leave first, every day after the first day. Not because he was the fastest of course, but because he was a crowd favourite. Everyone cheered the old Mini on. Apparently Allan Moffat let this happen.
Charlie says he has a bit of video. He is going to make a copy and send it up for us. I'll keep you posted.
Telecom (Telstra ) Car With The Trailer / Camper
It was said that a couple of the drivers complained about a Telecom vehicle (the company is now known as Telstra) towing either a trailer, or a small camper during the final leg of the race. The complaint was on the Alice Springs to Darwin leg in the latter stages after the speed restriction was put in plac.
This is how the story goes:
"A Telecom vehicle towing a trailer or small camper over-took us (the competitors) whilst we were restricted to the speed of 180 kilometres per hour. We (the competitors) had a speed limit placed on us of 180kph, however the general public could go faster if they chose to. So, the Telecom car and trailer was "leap frogging" us all. To add insult to injury, the car occupants were taking pictures of every competitor's car as the Telecom car, trailer and occupants over-took each and every one of us at speeds of in excess of 200Km's per hour. The 'photographer' was even leaning out of the car at this speed to take photos of us."
As a bit of general background information, and for our overseas readers who don't yet see the irony, Telecom, or Telstra as it is known now is a Government owned organisation, and not normally known for doing anything fast.
The Local Lads' Funeral
Keith Alan Pritchard and Tim Linklater
The only names that stick in our mind are the two mates that died in the Ferrari F40 incident. Aside from the drivers, two other people died - the officials that manned the check point.
The reason these guys are on the "Rumours" page is that we heard, but cannot verify, the following:
The two mates were both members of the "HQ Club," part of the Darwin Motor Sports Club. For those that may be reading this asking, "What the hell is a 'HQ Club'," let us start here:
From 1971 to 1974, Holden, an Australian car manufacturer, (Yes, Australia actually manufactured it's own cars for many years.) released a model of car called the "Holden HQ." The HQ covered a range of cars including the Belmont, the Kingswood, the Premier, the Monaro, and the Statesman. Basically if you had one, you could race it in the HQ Club.
Holden made 485,650 of these HQs, so there was quite a few around in their day. Nearly half a million of them graced the streets of Australia.
Rumour has it:
The police allowed all HQ Club members' vehicles, registered for the road or not, to go into the funeral procession for these now decease local boys. Basically, if you belonged to the club and owned any Holden HQ, (race, track, or on road) for that one time, you could drive your car on the road as a mark of respect for the lads that died doing what they loved best. That was, "anything to do with cars."
Pay Out
The wife of Keith Pritchard was paid over AUD 99,000.00 by the Northern Territory Government for her husband's death, under the statutory entitlement for the Traffic Act.
Racecage Pty Ltd
ACN: 058 876 298 or ABN: 79 058 876 298
Alan Moffat & Crew paid nothing towards anything to do with the local boys that lost their lives whilst volunteering to help and work for free.
Racecage Pty Ltd was established on 17 February 1993 and is still in business today.
R.I.P.
Keith Pritchard
12 July 1962 to 24 May 1994
Keith leaves behind wife Susan, sons Daniel and Wynn, and daughter Nicole.
You made it to Bathurst, mate. Some people dream it, you made it happen.
With special thanks to Gerry Pritchard, Keith's Dad, for the pictures and permission to post them. That's a HQ in race / track colours.
Letters to the Japanese
Gerry Pritchard informed us that he sent a letter to the two wives of the Japanese dentists that died in the Ferrari F40 at the same time their son died.
The wives had arrived in Alice Springs under a media frenzy when they were told that Keith had said the "Japs were crazy and were going to kill someone." In Australia, we know that when someone is "crazy," it can mean a variety of things. In this case, "crazy" implied that the two Japanese drivers were a bit gun ho, or a bit too showy. Nothing wrong with that, they had a Ferrari F40. The fastest car on the planet at the time, who wouldn't be just a slight bit "showy"? 😉
However, in Japan, the word "crazy" was taken quite literally and Gerry Pritchard (Keith Pritchard's father) set out in the letter to right the wrong. There was no disrespect intended. The letter was sent to the wives through the Japanese Consulate. Gerry was told that the letter had been published in every Japanese newspaper at the time
The following is the reply from Mrs Kabe. Both in Japanese, and the translation from the Consulate.
Prize Money
As I was walking by the TV, I caught the end of a program that showed a quick flash picture of the Strathfield Porsche that won the event. In this website, we have very rarely used the word "I," but on this one I am on my own. As I sat on the step of our sunken lounge, I was horrified to hear that:
"... the race organisers did not pay out the prize money."
The race organisers were Alan Moffat and Company or "Racecage Pty Ltd." They sited "legal reasons" for not being able to pay.
I remember either myself speculating, or the winners of the Cannonball Run (Ron Conrad) that were driving the Strathfield Porsche said words to the effect of, "Alan Moffat had a heap of legal fees to pay out on after that horrific crash involving the dentists."
In the end, we heard from Ron Conrad that Racecage Pty Ltd did pay out an "undisclosed amount of money." Ron has never disclosed the amount he settled for. $50,000.00 was the amount supposed to be paid out.
Alan Moffat
How easily he could have been the hero of this town at the finish line.
How easily it could have gone the other way.
You can picture here, if no-one had died and the event had been a success, the smile on Alan's face, and the arm out the window of his car either punching the air, or waving.
You also have to remember the emotional and financial strain this would have put on Allan Moffat. No matter who you are, how famous you are, or how much money you have; this would have had to affect you.
Why the News Pulled the Incident Footage Off the Air
Without going into too much detail of what we remember about witnessing the crash happen on TV that night, and what exactly happened, we heard a rumour as to why the footage was not shown on air again after the first time. In fact, we have never seen the footage since ... anywhere.
We remember hearing about it on the radio all day, and we sat glued to our televisions all night waiting for the footage to come on the local news.
Rumour has it, the reason why the footage was only shown on the news once, and not again in later bulletins, was the Australian Federal Government stepped in and stopped it from being aired again.
On one hand, people didn't want to glorify an accident and see it over and over again in their lounge rooms, similar to what they did with September 11 and the planes hitting the Twin Towers. After some time the government banned the continual playing of the footage.
On the other hand, the people of the Northern Territory didn't like the idea or the knowledge that the Government of Australia had decided what they could, and could not watch; especially as the Northern Territory had founded itself as a Territory because it didn't want to be a state that was told what to do by the Australian Federal Government. The people and the local government had always carried out things their own way; hence, the open speed limit. So, being told you couldn't see "that footage" again, was a bit of a slap in the face to the Territorian people at the time.
Maybe it wasn't the Australian Federal Government at all, but this was the rumour on the day.
Facts From the Winning Car's Navigator
On 20 November 2008, I was contacted via email by one Mr Andrew Kelly, who introduced himself as the navigator in Car 184.; the driver being Ron Conrad. Car 184 is the Strathfield Porsche - the Porsche that won the event.
Mr Kelly told me that he had some 'goss' for my website. Of course we are always up for a bit of Cannonball Run associated gossip; only this gossip is fact. Read below. It is quite chilling.
At every other check point, the roads were bitumen and the checkpoints were in the middle of the road.
What was not stressed in the documents supplied was the (death point) checkpoint was not on the road, but was on a clear piece of bushland on the side of the road. Further, there was fresh gravel that was dropped on the ground to supposedly make a smoother stopping area to check in.
We were third out that morning; first the Ferrari, second Johnny Kahlbetzer and third Car 184.
I never heard why this point was ignored. Further, the distance was at least 100m out, that means shorter than the calculated distance, so as you came up over the hill and thought you had 300 metres, you realised there was only 200 metres.
We called for the race to be postponed and were nearly going to pull out, but we were told that we need to move on. After seeing those guys laying on the ground it is a scary thought of how the organiser just walks away with no liability.
I personally was a contributor in the charity to raise funds for the time keepers but that does not go far.
Neither Andrew Kelly nor Ron Conrad have ever been asked to testify, even though they were the second on the scene that day.
Where the Cars Were Stored
Whilst the cars were in storage waiting for the race, it is known that they were kept in storage in a "not so secret" location.
The Trade Development Zone: This was a group of buildings set up by the Northern Territory Government to encourage overseas manufacturers to our shores.
The zone now has the main loading terminals for shipping located there.
Car 110 Dodge Viper
Car #95 Ford Mustang Fast Back (in the background)
Car #109 Ford GT HO XY (Shaker)
Car 93 The Volvo 850R
Car 29 The Mazda Rx-2
Car 108 Chevrolet Corvette
Car 110 Dodge Viper
Car 107 Chevrolet Corvette
Car 182 Pontiac Trans Am
Car 31 Pontiac Trans Am
Car 65 Ford Falcon XW GT
Car 108 Chevrolet Corvette
Car 77 Porsche 928 S4
Car 96 Porsche 928 GT
Car 32 Ford Cobra XC
Car 27 Ferrari
Car 26 Jaguar XK140
Car 36 Porsche 928
Car 50A Mazda RX7 (in the background)
Car 129 Chevrolet 1500 Pick Up
Car 100 Lotus Esprit Turbo
Car 141 Ferrari Testarossa 355
Car 248 Pontiac Trans Am
Car 209 Ford XA GT
Car 75 Chevrolet Impala
Car 52 Chevrolet Corvette Calloway
Car 103 Corvette Stingray
Car 184 Porsche 911 Turbo
Car 130 Ford Falcon EB GT
Car 28 Mini Cooper S
Use of the Word "Cannonball"
It's been rumored that Racecage Pty Ltd didn't have permission to use the word "Cannonball."
Poor buggers... we don't think any other word would have done the trick.
What Happened to the Checkered Flag?
"I almost ended up with the starting flag at the end of the race but it ended up going for somewhere over AUD 3,000 at the gala auction held at the casino, after the race."
"Wayde McLeod" - The Official standing next to Marshall Perron at the start line.
From a Mechanic Who Was At the Event
We heard a one-liner from a mechanic who was at the event. Sadly, he does not do email, so it was hard to get a first-person story out of him.
"The F40 Japanese weren't wearing seat belts; and, having had a big one the night before, the driver chucked the keys to the navigator."
Car 164 - Mercury Cougar GT 1967
"Found It"
Driver: Marshall
Look what John found...
This is THE "Cannonball Run 164" 1967 Mercury Cougar Big Block 460 Ford.
The old girl had all her race stickers removed long ago and she sat in a shed in far North Queensland for over ten years. Other than the stickers being removed and having a tow bar fitted... (what the ??), the car is exactly as it raced back on the big day.
John planned to have this fine piece of motoring history registered on the road by the end of 2010.
John is also trying to track down the original number plate "CANNONBALLRUN 164."
Yep... he knows...
Then, You Would Never Guess . . .
One of the co-drivers sent me this email:
The vehicle was purchased from my father and driven there (to Queensland) by the new owner when he moved to Qld to live.
He fitted the towbar so he could tow his sand-drag bike. Also, the engine is a 460 BB Ford, bored to 482.
By the way, the plates are still in Darwin but NOT for sale.
I co-drove with my father in the ’67 Cougar #164 and raced with and against Slim & Tim at our local club meets here in Darwin. RIP lads.
Keep up the fantastic work with your website and maybe people will realise it wasn’t a full-blown “race” but a run/rally due to it being a timed event.
Thanks Lane Marshall.
Great to know that people still care enough to let everyone know what's going on.
Another Mechanic at the Event
"My name is Scott,
I found this site in the Australian Muscle Car mag and congratulations on a top job to bring this all together!
I moved from Darwin 12 months ago after living there for 28 years, and of course love the place!!!
Anyway, I have some (disposable camera) shots I will find, scan & send them!!! From the Noonamah check point!!! I wish I had more but I always thought there would be another!
I was an apprentice mechanic at Kerry Holden and worked on Greg Hanfords VN, the aircon wasn't working so I fixed it.
They then drove the car for a test drive and returned to ask me to “remove the condenser, as it was causing the car to overheat!” I had to ask, at what speed did it overheat? I think it was Greg or one of his crew that pointed to the 300km/h extra centre dash VDO Speedo and said "at top speed!" This car was amazing and had lots of cash thrown at it, wish I had taken some pics!!!. It was sold for a steal after the run and I wish I had the money! I’m a Ford man now, but I would still love to own this tough street car!"
CAMS Licences, Issued or Not?
"Did you know that after the crash at Ayres Rock, that night we all got issued with Cams Cannonball licenses?"
Mark Byrant - Driver of Car 10
Now that puts a whole new spin on things, doesn't it?
Personal Notes
Ian McAlister, driver of Car 93, the only Volvo, and the only station wagon in the event, kept some personal records.
Check out point 9:
Getting Ready to Go
Car 248.
Didn't Make it
Car 248 had a mechanical problem and weren't able to finish the event.
Cannonball Run Newsletters
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Cannonball Newsletter No. 1 |
| Cannonball Newsletter No. 2 (we don't have a copy - can you help?) | |
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Cannonball Newsletter No. 3 |
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Cannonball Newsletter No. 4 |
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Cannonball Newsletter No. 5 |
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Cannonball Newsletter No. 6 |
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Cannonball Newsletter No. 7 |
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Cannonball Newsletter No. 8 |
Random Information
Reader Contribution Welcome
Got any more rumours or facts we don't know about?
Send us an email to let us know.