Over the last few days, I’ve been flooded with messages asking the same question:
“Did someone just break the Cannonball Record?”
The short answer is no.
There has been so much confusion surrounding a recent coast-to-coast record run that I figured it was worth clearing things up.
And when I say there’s confusion, I mean a lot of confusion. Some of my closest friends contacted me thinking the Cannonball Record had been broken. Jordan, who shares an office with me every day at Cannonball Garage and certainly knows the story, thought it had been broken. Even Dunadel Daryoush—who was sitting in the back seat of the Audi as our spotter when we set the current Cannonball Record—called Doug and me to ask if our record had just fallen.
When one of the three guys who actually set the record has to call the other two to find out if it was broken, I’d say the confusion is understandable!
So I wanted to clear up the distinction—not to take anything away from the new record, but because both records deserve to be recognized for what they actually are.
My friends Tommy and Mason recently drove a Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Diego, California, in 22 hours and 38 minutes. They covered approximately 2,365 miles at an average speed of 104 mph.
That is an incredible accomplishment, and they deserve a ton of credit for it.
But Jacksonville to San Diego is not the Cannonball Run route.
Two Different Routes, Two Different Records
The Jacksonville-to-San Diego route has been known by several names over the years, including the Southern Trail, Old Spanish Trail, and as we called it, the Atlantic-to-Pacific Record.
It’s a fascinating route with its own history and significance. Jacksonville to San Diego represents one of the shortest practical drivable routes connecting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States.
It’s also a route I have a personal connection to and one of my favorite cross-country runs.
In 2018, our team ran Jacksonville to San Diego in my Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG in 24 hours flat, setting the Southern Trail record at the time. That record stood for 7 years.
So I have tremendous respect for this route and for anyone who takes it on.
But it is not the Cannonball Run.
What Is the Cannonball Run Record?
The Cannonball Record traces its lineage to the famous Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash.
The route is New York City-to-Los Angeles —roughly 2,800 miles across the country.
That distinction is important.
Jacksonville to San Diego is approximately 2,365 miles.
Our Cannonball run from New York to Los Angeles covered 2,816 miles.
That’s a difference of roughly 450 miles—several additional hours of driving even at an extremely high average speed.
In May 2020, Doug Tabbutt, Dunadel Daryoush and I drove our Audi S6 from New York to Los Angeles in 25 hours and 39 minutes, covering 2,816 miles at an average speed of approximately 110 mph.
That remains the Cannonball Record.
And Yes, Our Record Was Set During COVID
Whenever our 25:39 record comes up, inevitably someone points out that it was set during the early months of COVID. That’s true, and I understand why it’s part of the conversation.
But there’s an important piece of history that sometimes gets left out:
Doug and I already held the Cannonball Record before COVID ever happened.
In November 2019, we set the record in my Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG at 27 hours and 25 minutes.
Not long afterward, that E63 was hit by a truck and badly damaged. Then, during the early days of COVID, our 27:25 record was broken.
We went back out and got it back.
On May 2–3, 2020, this time in the Audi S6 and with Dunadel spotting, we ran 25:39.
And that brings up something important about Cannonball itself. A line famously associated with Brock Yates and the spirit of Cannonball is:
“There is one rule: there are no rules.”
Cannonball has never taken place on a closed course under controlled conditions. Every era has had different cars, different technology, different traffic, different construction, different enforcement and different circumstances. Part of the challenge has always been recognizing the opportunity in front of you and making the most of it.
COVID was unquestionably an unusual circumstance. But we didn’t suddenly discover Cannonball because the roads were quieter. We were the record holders before COVID, lost the record during COVID, and went back out to reclaim it.
People can debate the advantages and disadvantages of different eras forever—and that’s part of what makes Cannonball history so interesting. But ultimately, the clock is the clock.
Our New York-to-Los Angeles time was 25 hours and 39 minutes, and that is the current Cannonball Run Record.
And that brings us back to why correctly identifying these records matters: the 24-hour Cannonball barrier still has never been broken.
Why Does the Distinction Matter?
This isn’t about taking anything away from Tommy and Mason. Quite the opposite.
They set a legitimate record on a legitimate and historically significant coast-to-coast route, and that accomplishment deserves to be recognized for exactly what it is.
But there is still one enormous milestone remaining in Cannonball:
Breaking 24 hours from New York to Los Angeles.
Nobody has done it.
To cover roughly 2,800 miles in less than one day requires maintaining an overall average—including fuel stops, traffic, construction, weather and everything else that comes with crossing the United States—of roughly 117 mph.
That’s the barrier that remains.
If someone eventually accomplishes it, they will have done something that has never been done before in the history of the Cannonball Run.
And when that day comes, they deserve for people to understand exactly what they accomplished—not to think that the 24-hour Cannonball barrier had already been broken because a different, shorter coast-to-coast route was completed in 22 hours.
Give Both Records Their Due
There doesn’t need to be any controversy here. Tommy and Mason made an incredible 22:38 Jacksonville-to-San Diego run and set a new Southern Trail / Atlantic-to-Pacific record.
Congratulations to them and everyone involved in making it happen.
The Cannonball Run Record, however, is New York to Los Angeles.
And at 25 hours, 39 minutes, that record still stands.
Two different routes. Two different records. Two incredible challenges.
And the first sub-24-hour Cannonball is still out there waiting to happen. 
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