Driving NYC to LA in 31 hours 4 minutes

That's an average of 90.1 mph for the 2,794 miles between Classic Car Club in Manhattan and the Santa Monica Pier in California. Get this, and no traffic stops, no tickets (that would cost a detrimental 15-minutes). Feel bad now about getting pulled over recently?

Meet Alexander Roy and his 2000 BMW M5 and welcome to the "subculture of illegal endurance racing" and the efforts to break transcontinental records, as the New York Times puts it in today's paper, a story in tow with yesterday's release of “The Driver: My Dangerous Pursuit of Speed and Truth in the Outlaw Racing World,” a book by Roy about his "roadtrip across the country."

Roy, the 35-year-old president of Europe by Car, a high-end car rental agency based in New York, has achieved fame in automotive circles for participating in road rallies like the Gumball 3000 and Bullrun. Those events are successors to the 1970s Cannonball Runs that inspired the movie franchise.

The events are usually weeklong affairs that do not officially sanction racing but involve teams speeding from checkpoint to checkpoint.

A relentless self-promoter with a shiny bald head, Roy became known for driving in a mock German police car dressed as an officer. He reasoned the outfit could help keep him out of jail and win style points with judges and notoriety with fans. His co-driver, Maher, 28, works in banking and races in Porsche club events on weekends [New York Times]

In addition to the polizei clad, he also is a bit 007 with police evasion toys: a radar, laser jammer, night-vision, GPS, CB radio, a ground-to-a-radio and a Cessna plane overhead to watch for enforcement, especially when in Ohio, known for the nation's most feared state highway patrol.

Of course, all this does not go with controversy (and we're not talking how dangerous all this can be). Some say Roy's route doesn't count as it was not the "sanctioned route of the original Cannonball," a 2,811 mile journey from Midtown Manhattan to the Portofino Inn and Yacht Club in Redondo Beach.

People are so damn picky. Anyway, how do they avoid the Los Angeles traffic?

Photo by BlueLeaf via Flickr