Authors: Alexander Roy
The Driver (22 page)
THEY WERE GIANTS.
1981 U.S. Express winner Mike Digonis and 1982 U.S. Express driver Steve Stander share their wisdom with Nine and me at New York City's Classic Car Club.
IF BALLS WERE CASH, SHE'D OWN WALL STREET.
The unstoppable Cory Welles checks the M5's front bumper camera.
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK.
Another day of staring at Garmin's MapQuest route planning application.
SPARE.
Rolling the M5's front spare down New York's Astor Place mere hours before the final cross-country run.
HIGH PRESSURE.
The enormity of our task finally got to the normally unflappable Maher.
ABOUT TO CROSS THE RUBICONâ¦
Or at least the Hudson as I punch out on the time clock.
POLIZEI AIR.
Pilots Paul “The Weis” Weismann and Keith “The Captain” Baskett.
CHESS, POLIZEI STYLE.
Hiding from the cops in the shadow of an 18-wheeler in Oklahoma during the final cross-country run.
WINKING AT THE POLICE.
The M5 (left), with one headlight out, approaches the police cruiser on the Santa Monica Pier, andâ¦
passes by it without any trouble. Incredible.
31:04.
We did itâand I couldn't believe it.
“Driven by this Malmstrom guy, who's one of the best? And then he forgave you for insulting him andâ”
“Invited me to his country house for the weekend.”
“And
how
did you beat him?”
“F40s suck in the rain, I sat on his tail all the way through a storm to Paris, and I just happened to know the city a little better, but that's another story.”
“Wellâ¦congratulations,” said Cory, with whom sharing details of my first unequivocal victory was but an ulterior motive. “The Express guys are mostly friendly now, even those who haven't seen each other for years. Good to know your guys are the same way. They sure don't look it in the videos online. Thanks for your check, by the way, it really means a lot. You wouldn't believe how many people waste my time just so they can see footage.”
“You're welcome. I'm curious. I googled âU.S. Express' and didn't find anything. I also tried the organizer, Richard Doherty, and Diem and Turner, and there's basically nothing about them anywhere.”
“Why do you think I'm making the movie?”
“All right, then, if the race ran from '80 to '83, why did it end? What came after?”
“Nothing. After Diem and Turner set the record and it got in the news, a lot of the guys were freaked out about press. Doherty thought someone else would pick up the reins in '84, but no one did.”
“Cory, you say a lot of the Express drivers were former Cannonballers?”
“Doherty wasâ¦and a couple of others.”
“And Brock Yates knew about Doherty organizing this?”
“Yeah, and he tried to stop it.”
“And you've interviewed Doherty at least once, recently. Does he know if anyone else tried to organize a similar raceâ¦later? Recently?”
“Dunno, but he was definitely worried about copycats. Everyone was scared someone would get killed on another race that might let
anyone
in, and then everyone would be screwed.”
“What happened to the other events?”
“There was the
Four-ball,
and another one, but none as big as the Express.”
I tried to sound nonchalant, but there was no avoiding the question. “Soâ¦when
can
I see more footage, or at least learn more about the Express, especially since you can't fit everything you've got in 90 minutes, right?”
“Alex”âher voice hardenedâ“
no one
gets to see anything until I'm done.
No one
. I'll be done when I'm done, and that goes for investors, too.”
“Coryâ¦I totally understand, and I'm glad my investment's in safe hands. Let me ask you this, then, how long before there's more to see? Three months? Six months?”
“Call it a year. This isn't some street-racing video. If anything changes, I'll let you know.”
One year meantâ¦September 2005. I couldn't let a year pass without showing the flag.
Unless the phone rang before the January cutoff for the 2005 Gumball,
I'd have to go out again.
But it didn't. I had to do something spectacular.