The Cannonball Run is a 1981 film comedy starring Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Dom DeLuise and Farrah Fawcett, and directed by Hal Needham. It was produced by Golden Harvest films. There were two sequels, 1984's Cannonball Run II and 1989's Speed Zone! The latter was also known as Cannonball Fever.

Plot details

The Basis

The movie is based on the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, an actual cross-country outlaw road race from the Red Ball Garage in New York City (later Darien, CT) to the pier at Redondo Beach, California, just south of Los Angeles, organized by automotive journalist and the movie's screenwriter Brock Yates. Some of the more interesting aspects based on real life include the "ambulance" entry and the "all female entry."