Remember the 1981 Hollywood film The Cannonball Run? As many Octane readers will know, that critically panned slapstick flick was inspired by a real – and equally madcap – coast-to-coast race across the US: the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash.
Conceived by motoring journalist Brock Yates as both a celebration of the US interstate system and a protest against the country’s draconian 55mph speed limit, the Cannonball Run was held five times between 1971 and 1979. The premise was simple: drive from the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan to the Portofino Inn in Los Angeles by any route, in any road-legal car, as quickly as possible.
The most famous edition – and the one that inspired Hollywood – took place in 1975. That year, Jack May and co-driver Rick Cline secured victory in a lightly modified 1973 Ferrari 246 Dino GTS, completing the near-3000-mile journey in just 35 hours and 53 minutes and beating the record set by legendary US racing driver Dan Gurney and Brock Yates – the latter of whom wrote the Cannonball Run movie script.
Needless to say, the 1975 Cannonball Run is now the stuff of motoring legend. So when US auction house Mecum announced it would offer Jack May’s record-breaking Dino this August, it was naturally big news.
Especially since the car has remained in Jack’s ownership from new. He acquired the car in 1973 after seeing an example in Maranello two years earlier and coveting it. Fifty-two years later, and Jack’s Bianco Avus-finished Dino is arguably the most famous example on the planet thanks to its eventful 1975 sprint across the US.
On their way to securing first place and setting a new Cannonball Run record, May, Cline and the Dino endured run-ins with the law, collisions with jackrabbits, fouled spark plugs, devious misdirection from a rival competitor – and even a vicious sandstorm in California. Despite it all, they claimed the record with just one minute to spare.
Happily, Jack opted not to restore the car and instead treated it to regular maintenance throughout its 52-year lifespan. Offered with 50,819 miles on the clock, the Dino retains a number of small modifications performed by Jack and Rick for their trans-American adventure.
Flaps were added to the windscreen wipers to keep them planted at speed, while the rev-counter was rotated so Jack could easily spot when the 2.4-litre V6 neared its 7600rpm redline. To help avoid police attention, radar detectors and a CB radio were also fitted. One charming detail of provenance is a receipt for spark plugs that Jack taped beneath the boot floor during the run that still remains in place.
The matching-numbers Ferrari is due to cross the block in Mecum’s Monterey auction with no reserve on 17 August, 2025. It last appeared in public at the 2016 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance where Jack was awarded the Maurice G. Bauer Trophy for his Cannonball Run victory.
At the time of writing, no pre-auction estimate has been released – but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see it surpass Hagerty US’s top valuation for a 1973 Dino GTS, which stands at $680,000.
View the auction lot here.
