FURTHER READING
For more on the antics of the Cannonballers look no further than founder, Brock Yates’, excellent book documenting the whole mad affair, including a first hand account from Bill Warner himself of his 1975 Porsche run. Yates famously competed in the the fi
maximised fuel economy. They bolted in a CB radio, and a “Fuzzbuster” radar detector, which likely detected more airports than Highway Patrol cruisers. The car also ran a quad tipped sport exhaust at the time. An oil change and a full tank of fuel, and he declared the car ready.
His driving partner was to be Tom Nehl, also an experienced racer and IMSA veteran; Warner was initially thrilled at this pairing, until Nehl told Bill he’d need to drive all the night time stints, since he, Nehl, had terrible night vision, and couldn’t drive fast at night. What could possibly go wrong?
Warner and Nehl elected to take a Southern route rather than the more northerly route many of the Cannonballers chose, hearing that the Highway Patrol in the northern mid-western states were alerted about the race, and was “waiting for them.” The full results of Cannonball III are well chronicled in the August 1975 issue of Car and Driver magazine, and also in Yates’ excellent 2003 book about the whole grand affair, entitled simply Cannonball! So we won’t recount the entire sordid affair here, but the little white Porsche finished in 14th place, completing the entire near 3000 mile romp in 41 hours, 35 minutes averaging 69.9 miles per hour (including time down for fuel and pitstops). That speed might not sound scintillating given Yates and Gurney’s run in their screaming Daytona, which often topped 150mph and occasionally pushed 170.
Team White Porsche’s strategy was to let the faster cars run the rabbit position, hopefully attracting most of the law enforcement attention, and mechanical setbacks. Although when conditions allowed, they did crank up the heat to 100–130mph in order to make some time, but 85mph was the most consistent average. Warner recalls the 911 running smooth and trouble free the entire way, often exceeding 500-miles per tank of fuel. He also said that “we underestimated the difficulty of the Cannonball.” Their smooth, relatively modest pace wasn’t met with the arrest rate they’d projected for some of the faster runners, hence the lower mid-pack finish. The last place car finished 18th. The overall winner was a Ferrari 246 Dino that set a new event record of 35 hours, 53 minutes averaging 81.0 mph.
Sans the driving lights, and the more recent swap to the set of Fuchs S/T wheels now on the car, Warner’s 911 appears much as it did for its Cannonball run. The Brumos built 2.7 lasted and ran well for 30 years, the hound’s-tooth seat inserts have been replaced once, and the car’s had one repaint in its original colour. Save those seat inserts, the interior is absolutely factory original. Bill chuckles at the notion of the rectangular outside rear view mirror, in that it’s regularly postulated that “’71 911s have round mirrors, and only for ’72 did they get the rectangular piece.” His car was produced in September of 1971, so it’s not a stretch to imagine that by then, ’72 spec pieces had begun arriving on the production line.
After 46 years of ownership and around 130,000-miles, the car was more than due a refresh, which it got in early 2017. So the previous 2.7 came out in favour of a carefully built and prepared 2.5 running “big heads and 46mm Webers plus a stock, single exhaust system.” Warner notes that the new engine is good for 180–200 horsepower, and that it’s a lot stronger than was the previous 2.7 or the original 2.2. The new 2.5-litre motor with S cams and 46mm Webers was built by David Glenn of Flagler Beach, Florida. The aforementioned S/T wheels came off one of the late Peter Gregg’s cars. This refresh also included new front and rear anti-roll bars, plus a longer 5th gear to help keep the noise and revs down for highway cruising. Its break-in cruise included a road trip, still with no longer pregnant wife Jane but no babyseats aboard, around New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Warner says it’s the car he’ll never sell, and that it’s already earmarked for his son to assume ownership duties when that time comes.
Brock Yates – magazine writer, book author, movie producer (of the Burt Reynolds Cannonball film), and SCCA Transam competitor – the original Cannonballer himself, nicknamed The Assassin due to his direct, to the point and often acerbic writing style, passed away on October 5, 2016. PW
Bill’s strategy was to let the faster cars run the rabbit position