Fireball Run Recap – It’s not the Destination, it’s the Journey.

It’s been over a week since I’ve completed the Fireball Run so I have had time to decompress and get back to the normal grind.  After replaying the adventure of a life time in my head and catching up on all the rest I missed, I now feel it’s time to review my coast to coast journey.

First off my co-driver Bob and I both felt that it was quite an honor to be one of the select few that were invited to participate in the Fireball Run’s “Race to Recover America’s Missing Children.”

Event organizers J. Sanchez and Martin Blake did an unbelievable job in putting such an event together; starting with getting national sponsorship from such companies as FedEx, GM, Clear Channel, RadarBusters and the Insurance Office of America, getting communities along the rally together as participants, planning out the rally from coast to coast, and putting together business professionals as participants in this event. My hats off to both!

The overall mission for the Fireball Rally was to bring national exposure in locating missing children with the Child Rescue Network and the assignment for each team was to place as many recovery posters out for each team’s sponsored child along the 3500 journey. Our child was four year old Francisco Rios – Carriere who was abducted on March 3, 2004 by his non custodial father.

At each stop Bob and I made along the trip, we took the time to speak with people passing out Francisco’s poster. In Beaumont Texas, my co-driver “The Veil Guy” even went that extra mile. While I was inside the local Walmart shopping for supplies, Bob stood outside and handed out over 300 posters to shoppers!

From day one at our starting point in Orlando, to the finish line seven days later in Hollywood Bob and I logged in over 3700 miles.

During our journey we logged 28 Ka band, 7 K band and 1 X band radar hits and one laser hit.

Even with all our high tech speed counter measure equipment that we had installed, we were not immune. On I-10 in Florida we were traveling well above the posted speed limit, when we spotted a trooper traveling on the opposite side of the highway after clearing a row of trees in the median. Bob reacted immediately in breaking as the officer simultaneously activated his instant on Ka radar gun. We were pulled over and given a good “butt chewing”, but it could have been worse if we were not paying attention to the road ahead.

Other drivers in the event were not as fortunate, even though it was stressed by event organizers not to be “stupid”.

One driver was arrested after being clocked at 145 in his Vett, and one team received three separate citations for speed all above 90!

Bob and I took the advice of a long time Cannonballer who placed third in the event after he related “I like 70, love 85 but never go above 90, that speed is jail territory!”

Our success in safely navigating the rally ticket free came down to a number of factors

First and foremost we applied a formula that I began using when I started teaching defensive driving over 20 years ago, my “Radar Roy’s Rules of the Road”
1: Know the exact location and speed of surrounding vehicles
2: Constantly scan the road ahead, as far as your eyes can see
3: Pay attention to the road surface
4: Watch oncoming traffic from as far away as possible
5: And lastly “watch out for stupid” who is stupid? Every driver on the road INCLUDING YOURSELF!

Secondly we applied all the techniques that I’ve developed in “How to Maximize Your Radar Detector” from proper mounting of the detector(s), properly interpreting the alerts of our detectors, paying attention to “clues” to other methods of speed enforcement devices such as the painted lines indicating Vascar or aircraft speed enforcement, keeping the detector in Highway mode for best sensitivity, and lastly reacting immediately and properly when an alert is given.

Third, Bob and I worked together as a TEAM! I’m not going to deny that The Veil Guy and I had our moments after being in the same car for seven days and driving over 3500 miles, but for the most part we worked together as a team.  The number one responsibility for the navigator was watching out for the driver. These meant watching ahead for hidden troopers and tell tale signs of speed enforcement, figuring out solutions to our clues for the rally and navigation.

The bottom line, you have to have trust in each other’s abilities, mainly their driving abilities. This was echoed by other Cannonballers who related if you’re with a driver that you cannot trust, you’ll be stressed and never rest between navigating and driving.

Speed Counter Measure Review
During our journey we tested the top radar detectors made today that included; The Beltronics STi, the Escort 8500 X50, the Valentine One and the RX65. I had also planned on testing the new Escort 9500i, however this unit was lent to another team that I sponsored and they had mechanical problems that left them at the starting line.

All the top radar detector’s performed well as expected, but early on I took I took favor to the STi’s ability to sniff out Ka band faster than the other detectors that were in our arsenal and used it as the main unit throughout the rally.

The Whistler Pro 78 also did a superb job during day four and when compared to the STi was just a little slower in reacting to alerts and only falsed one time.

The only radar detector that I felt was a disappointment was the Cobra XRS R7 as I found its falsing annoying and it totally missed a Ka alert of one trooper in La.

In New Mexico the STi and the Blinder M-27 both alerted to a laser hit, however we never could figure out where the officer was hiding. When both units alerted, we were 25 miles over the posted speed limit, which would had easily justified a very expensive citation. However after slowing down we were never given chase, so I can safely assume that our Blinder Laser Jamming system and the Veil stealth coating saved us in this encounter.

After being on both sides of this industry for over 30 years, I did find it surprising that the Mississippi State Police still used X band. I have often recommend to clients to turn off X band on their detectors unless they were driving in NJ or the southern parts of Indiana. I’m glad that I didn’t follow my own advice in this encounter, even though the patrol car was unoccupied.

Next Year’s Plans
Bob and I have been invited back to participate in next year’s rally therefore I have been thinking of devices that we would include with our radar detector arsenal along with plans to improve our scoring.

CB Radio: Just like the original “Smoky and the Bandit” several of the Fireballers used CB radios to communicate with truckers of impeding speed traps.

Beartracker Scanner: Several of the Cannonballers were also using the Beartracker Scanners that would alert of trunk mounted transmissions in the police radio spectrum.

iPhone: I had brought my iPhone and laptop computer that was equipped with a cell card to access the Internet to help solve clues while on the road. For all instances I found it much easier and more dependable (at least on this trip) to use my iPhone. Therefore next year, I’m leaving the laptop behind.

Over the last 15 years, I had received extensive training in defensive driving techniques along with high performance driving techniques from Bob Bondurant’s driving school and executive protection driving by the US Secret Service. However I admit that when I got on the track this year, I was very rusty. Therefore prior to next year’s rally, I’m going back to Bondurant to freshen my track skills and hopefully pull down some better times.

I’m also a diehard Harley Davidson enthusiast. No, I’m not thinking of running my Screamin Eagle coast to coast in next year’s rally, but would like to figure out a way to include it for some of the events. So I’m considering using my Harley Davidson Edition F-250 with my Screamin Eagle in the bed, and then perhaps run the bike on the track!

See you Fireballers Next Year!!!