Cannonball Magnets
Description: The Hooterville Cannonball is a fictional railroad train featured in Petticoat Junction, an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The train was considered an "important character" by the show's producers, and producer Paul Henning hired railroad historian Gerald M. Best to make sure that the locomotive sounds used on the show were authentic to a train of the same type and age. The 1890s-style train with a whimsical schedule gave the otherwise fanciful show a degree of authenticity; Henning said that "the train's weekly appearances on TV might set the space age back 50 years and drive train buffs insane with delight, but without it our show would lose its character image."
Description: Cannonball Run (also known as the US Express or C2C Express) is an unsanctioned speed record from New York City to Los Angeles. It was popularized in the 1981 film The Cannonball Run and 1984 sequel and named for Erwin "Cannonball" Baker who set more than 140 driving records from the 1910s through 1930s. The challenge was revived in the 1970s by automotive writer Brock Yates as the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. The traditional start point is the Red Ball Garage on East 31st Street, Manhattan, and the traditional end is at the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach, California, a distance of a little over 2,800 mi (4,500 km), depending on route.
Description: The Cannonball Run is a 1981 comedy movie that follows a wacky cast of characters as they compete in an illegal cross-country road race. The race at the center of the movie is based on an actual event, the Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, organized by Brock Yates to protest the 55 mph speed limit then in effect in the U.S. The Cannonball was named for Erwin G. 'Cannonball' Baker, who in the roaring '20s rode his motorcycle across the country. Many of the characters are based on ruses developed by real Cannonball racers over the several years that the event was run. Largely panned by critics, the movie was a hit with audiences and did well at the box office, which lead to the 1984 sequel, The Cannonball Run II.
