The most LEGENDARY Cannonball story of all time!

yet i don't know how to run an [Music] ambulance the ambulance thanks to cal needham the engine was so exotic that it was trouble from even before they turned it over for the first time they always had to goose that along and then the night of the event they were still working on the engine of the ambulance they were really worried because they didn't have a backup you know this was what they were gonna they're rused and of course brock wanted to shoot needham and that's how the tension was and it was enough tension there anyway but he didn't need him came off we picked him up i forgot in hartford and he was bringing he said a doctor he found a real doctor in l.a and he was bringing him and so off the plane comes i'll need him he always wore embroidered like jeans with little studs and sparkles i mean they were really kind of really show businessy you know glitzy typical needham but needham was every bit of man that you could ever imagine so so he could he could wear him and you know nobody would punch his lights out so off the plane he comes and this doctor was 6'4 and he looked for like one of the cold gate palmolive kids that were on the commercials years ago with the red hair and the kind of you know little wholesome guy and he apparently was a radiologist and it turns out he was clueless he didn't know what the hell he was doing there hal met him in a bar in the sunset strip where he met everybody and he convinced lyle royer that was his name he convinced lyle that he was going to make him a star the only thing he had to do was come east and begin to pretend to be a doctor in an ambulance and drive across the country and whatever and this guy bought it he was clueless he came we went right to see the ambulance and and whatever and we did everything we needed to do there could do there i don't think he said three words in this entire evening he was so confused and startled about what he'd committed to and there was a recaro seat for the doctor now every ambulance should have a recaro seat right and that was right next to the gurney for me they were a group of about 80 cars i think now don't i'm not sure that's exactly the number but it was a large field and they went off i don't know if it was every two minutes every four minutes whatever but they went off pretty rapidly and it was going to take a long time to get everybody launched and so we couldn't leave not that even if we wanted to leave we could have left because the ambulance would would start wouldn't and then it would stop and it would you know so we were kind of paralyzed with fear wondering if we were even gonna stop be able to start our own event based on this high-tech stuff finally at the end we were able to turn it over and you know thank god and uh that we were on the road and and nobody we didn't find any littered people or cars along the way so we said well so far so good we haven't got to the george washington bridge yet but okay and so off we went cal was driving brock was passenger i was in the gurney and lyle roy was the recaro seat and he and i were back there together being stupid like a patient and a doctor and we never said one word to each other this whole time but we're off and we're going now we're going across the george washington bridge we're okay we're moving and all of a sudden i hear kind of a siren go off another siren go off a click some noise and they're fussing in the front seat and i lifted up my head and and just in time for how neat i'm saying to brock well yates i don't know how to run an ambulance he says i don't know what lanes and what buzzers and whatever and brock says well if you hadn't wanted the god damage we would have had time to figure it out and you know so so they're bickering and they're really pissed and it's so obvious because we're going from one lane to the next lane lights are going on sirens are going on and off and i'm saying this is like looney tunes this is crazy but you know we were moving straight ahead so that was a good thing then probably i don't know it must have been about bergen county new jersey all of a sudden i hear yates say oh we're screwed and i said what does he mean we're screwed and needham said what's going on what what he says we got cops behind us with lights on he said you got to pull over and need him said oh i need himself every 12 seconds excuse me everybody so i get under my blankets the doctor gives me i didn't realize they brought a um iv along with water in it and you know when you put water trickle down your arm when maybe you don't know well women you trickle down your arm you get this incredible urge to have to go to the bathroom with the water so now i'm hooked up to an iv that is not functioning properly on me but i can't move i can't say anything because i'm supposed to be in a coma i was in the coma of fear is what i i mean that's why i didn't move and so i'm under i'm out i've got a mask on i've got the iv in i've got my pajama top on i've got i do have blue jeans on the bottom though in case you have to run or do something at least i'd be covered and and lyle we're just sitting there like a stone and we pull over and the two guy it becomes like a hollow silence because everybody knows their screw what are we going to do so the brock and hell get out the doors they close them and then the hell walks around and they come to the ambulance door and all we could hear is them talking to the troopers after a few minutes of conversation one of the policemen say you're an ambulance you got a patient you you're just driven by three signs where the hell are you taking her or and you didn't know me me the girl he said where are you taking the patient and brock and now almost in sync said l.a and i'm in the you know i'm sucking air in the mask i'm going all i could hear was their response and the trooper said l-a what the heck's wrong with the patient and so they both said ask the doctor and i'm now comatose under here pretending to be comatose and i am scared out of my mind because i don't know how this doctor who hasn't said one word to me is gonna deal with this because he he didn't he was clueless so the door slides back and i hear the rumbling of the door and lyle puts his stethoscope on he's got all the accoutrement of a doctor clipboards and so on and he turns to the troopers and says the and i'm paraphrasing really officers we have got just 48 hours to get the senator's wife to out a medical center and there was silence brock and hal were like oh that must have been that sounded pretty good you know and they were judging his acting skills i'm lying there saying wow that's pretty impressive and the two troopers are saying what's wrong with her and he says the senator's wife has fibrocystic disease of the lungs and she cannot be flown and troopers kind of looked they each looked at each other and they didn't know what the heck to do they were totally confused brock and hal's pupils were dilated about this you know like rocky raccoon i'm under coma watch and i'm saying if they buy this oh this is not going to happen you know we're going to we're going to jail i can see it my father is going to read about me in the paper they finally said and we've we puzzled as to why they let us go and they said well you two guys you better get your act together and figure out what all the lights and stay in in the right lane because you're all over the road you're never going to make it to california and that was it and these we heard the door slam shot the track rolled over while royer went back to being a stone and yates and needham climbed to the car this time brock was at the wheel and housed the passenger seat and everybody was again dead silent we could not believe that the troopers didn't do anything and we had an on a forged tag on the back of the ambulance everything was wrong and the ambulance had a recaro seat and while they were talking and the door was open the ambulance was going room [Music] i mean there were all the signs there that this was bogus and the troopers let us go some 20 odd years later we always wondered people magazine came and interviewed brock and i for the movie and there was an awful lot of publicity with the movie so we often wondered if those policemen ever realized that they were taken and this was you know wrong and this was a stunt and we wondered what the troopers were saying on a parallel track to our telling of our story and it was one of the sweetest moments in my life truly barry mcguire came to our house to do car crazy and they of course talked about the cannonball and whatever and brock said well we never met the troopers and you know told the story about being arrested and that really did happen and it was pretty word for word what it did did occur and barry looked at the screen tv screen and said if either one of you troopers or anyone who knows them sees this program you call me and one of them mark fenich who is the only fellow that was still alive called and introduced himself and barry called us and he called hal and put it and then we i set up a conference call and we met each other by you know conference call and talked and it turns out that the trooper um jim who is the other trooper who went on to become the police chief of police for bergen county in jersey um had passed away but that they had been telling their story on a parallel track for years and they knew and they said they just didn't know what to do with the senator's wife because senator you know they knew the rain had come down on them if they you know screwed with a political figure they were going to get in more trouble than it was worth and they just said forget it let's go you know we're out of here and it was such a charming story and then when brock's book on cannonball was released in 2001 or something i think we were at sardis for uh the chowdhurst society for book signing and unbeknownst to us they had located the troopers and they invited them to come to new york and have lunch and to tell their side of the story it was such a magical moment they were such great guys and they had the best sense of senses of humor and march mark fenich who's the second um second the trooper could have been an emcee he was so funny turns out he's a car restorer and he does beautiful beautiful work and he said we knew we knew it had to be bogus but he said we didn't know what to do with it the chowder guys loved him and you know threw rolls at them and they presented brock with a 47 300 something a speeding ticket for for that arrest that night uh and they were so thrilled to be there and the chowder gave him a standing ovation and it was really just a neat moment it was everybody coming together with a sense of humor you know it was very sweet and it meant an awful lot to us [Music] you

Channel: VINwiki

Views: 121,759

Keywords: VINwiki, Car Stories, Pam Yates, Lady Pamela, Brock Yates, Hal Needham, Lyle Royer, Burt Reynolds, Dom Delouise, Ed Bolian, Cannonball Run, Cannonball, Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, 55 mph, pulled over, police, scam, ticket, ambulance

Id: 9jq4o1yjr00

Length: 14min 15sec (855 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 09 2021