! WILL DOKTORED GET IN THE SHITE?Doktored was on the Gumball 3000 rally a couple of weeks ago..
As usual, he was larging it.
The New York Times thinks that he is the event's organiser :)
This is extra special funny as he got involved in a screaming match with the REAL organisers over the phone yesterday..
They are so going to kick his arse :)
***** NYT ARTICLE before print ******
BY JOHN CLARKE Jr.
Las Vegas, Nevada -- In 1981, Burt Reynolds, his moustache and a star-studded cast of actors and athletes from Dean Martin to Terry Bradshaw, starred in the race car driver’s celluloid dream, The Cannonball Run, about an illegal coast-to-coast race. The dream came true five years ago in Europe when British entrepreneur Maximillion Cooper, inspired by the movie, launched his own race called the Gumball 3000 for fifty of his closest friends.
Since 1999, races have been held in across Europe and Russia. Last year the Gumball 3000 traveled from New York to Los Angeles, ending with a party at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion. This year the race started 8 p.m., April 17 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. More than 80 cars, including Bentleys, Morgans, Aston Martins and Mercedes Benzes, a Volkswagen Eurovan with racing suspension and an 18-wheeler cab that runs partially on vegetable oil, ripped off the mark, crossed the Golden Gate Bridge.
Drivers then headed for Reno, Nevada and ultimately--hopefully—Miami Beach, Florida, stopping in Las Vegas, Nevada, Tucson, Arizona, New Orleans, Louisiana and arriving at their destination on Tuesday.
Before reaching the city limits, one driver was arrested for speeding reckless endangerment. Another, shortly after, was arrested for driving 120 mph in a 35 mph zone. A $3,500 bail was posted, but he quit the race. Some estimate drivers have received up to 22 speeding tickets, while others have finished with a mere three. In the past, drivers have totaled cars. Nobody said the race was safe. However, organizers clearly state on race literature to drive carefully and obey the law during the race.
Organizers say the Gumball 3000 is not technically a race. However, competitors push speed limits and attempt to beat one another to the check in points for bragging rights. And there are no purses and few sponsor deals. Sometimes drivers win medals, other times trophies. Essentially, it is a driving party among wealthy friends that has grown up and gone public. Drivers say it’s about camaraderie and speeding in the face of adversity (one crew from London drove most of the way through Nevada missing at least one gear on its Lotus).
"Cars have broken down and we’ve had some in jail and they’ve posed bail" Cooper said at Rah, a nightclub at the Luxor. "But everyone made it." Perhaps he was unaware of the arrests.
In the movie, the drivers were a motley crew of hayseeds, ego hounds, klieg light junkies and bored rich souls. In the real life race, drivers and those involved with the race were just as diverse and ranged from vague businessmen to retired military to celebrities such as millionaire skateboarder Tony Hawk, Jack Osbourne of MTV’s The Osbournes, Motley Crue singer Vince Neil, British model Jodie Kidd, motocross champ Carey Hart and the musician Pink.
"We have all types here from the celebrity to the banker to the bragger," said organizer David Harrison of London, as drivers arrived at Mandalay Bay for the evening festivities. "And they’re all petrol heads."
As the Friday evening party migrated from the Luxor to a less family-oriented Las Vegas destination, Gumball drivers and press took shuttles. On board, a disco ball and colored flashing lights gave the ride the feel of a mobile strip club. On one shuttle, a man in a long ponytail wearing a white leisure suit, danced around the bus, using a metal pole as a stripper might as he mugged for an MTV cameraman. He charged through a rap to the music until, as if it weren’t enough of a show, he dropped his pants revealing a black thong. Tony Hawk folded in hysterics.
"In San Francisco he had the leopard skin thong," laughed Harrison.
As the evening wore on, drivers, models and random celebrities mingled quietly. Mike Tyson, it was reported, will take the remaining legs of the trip. This has some organizers rather concerned. Luckily, he has been nowhere in sight and organizers breathe a sleepy sigh of relief.
"We just don’t need that," said one organizer who asked not to be named. "Nobody needs that. We’re hoping he doesn’t show."
Occasionally Gumballers swerved up to the bar grinning but tired. In the pre-dawn hours, most of the drivers are fast asleep. However, a small crew holds court at Island Bar at Mandalay Bay, sipping beer and gin. A British gentleman and former soldier laughs and talks about skiing in Europe and talked about soccer.
"I have to watch the futball game this morning," he says. The small crew reminds him that he has to drive in a few hours. He shrugs, waves it off and says futball is the priority. Perhaps he’ll catch up after the game.
Around 9 a.m. Saturday, a crowd gathered at Celebrity Cars to watch a pre-start motorcycle show. News helicopters hovered above creating a dust storm as onlookers and drivers grew antsy and revved their engines. Police looked on slightly amused and definitely bewildered. Two drivers calmly sat and smoked in a sleek Mercedes 600 CL waiting for the road to open up, as a gaggle of scantily clad women in platinum blonde wigs mingled with the crowd and posed for pictures. Somewhere Burt Reynolds had to be smiling.
Then, one by one, drivers pulled out of the parking lot, peeling out onto Industrial Road and tore off through the Las Vegas, the city Noel Coward once called a "fabulous, extraordinary madhouse." And considering the Gumball 3000, you can not argue with that.
Hugo Rune - 01/05/2003 12:32:41 - Add a comment
