Few events in American car culture are as famous, or infamous, as the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. The name itself is historically significant, yet resolutely tongue-in-cheek. For short, it’s known simply as the Cannonball. It is the epitome of the great American road trip. It has spawned other illegal events, multiple movies, and a seemingly infinite number of road rallies. But before the glamour and the parties, there was a single, simple idea.
Teton Gravity Research and 8-time X Games medalist and 3-time Real Ski Champion, Sammy Carlson, introduce The Sammy C Project. The Sammy C Project hopes to inspire those even beyond the realm of snow to go after their dreams with tenacity.
Sammy Carlson, places himself in the record books as the first skier to hit a “ski-flying” long jump with freestyle intent. Carlson not only spun himself from the lip of a jump designed to send skiers upwards of 500 feet, but began several of many descents into the jump switch.
Built in 1970, the ski jump, known as Copper Peak, is the largest ski jump in the Western Hemisphere. Located on Michigan’s upper peninsula and along the shores of Lake Superior, the 24 story, 300-ton steel structure is named for the mineral deposits unearthed during its construction (a 140-pound copper nugget was discovered near the present-day judge’s stand). The ramp itself claims 364-feet of vertical drop and a 35-degree in-run, providing for jumps with distance records stretching over 500 feet.
“When we showed up it was a ghost ramp. It not been hit in twenty years,” declares Carlson. “The people helping me from the community where just as committed as I was to hitting the ramp. It was true team effort.”
The world’s most prestigious and acclaimed rally departs from Buenos Aires on January 2. A grueling 13 days later, the finish line will be crossed back in Rosario by only the toughest competitors as they must first negotiate 9,000km of unforgiving terrain.
Along with stages in Argentina, the Dakar Rally will be contested within Chile’s Atacama Desert as well as among the ear-popping altitude of Bolivia. Only half of those who set off from Buenos Aires are expected to complete the rally such are the challenges that lay in store for man and machine.
Not scared by such slim odds of success are the Red Bull Desert Wings as they count among their ranks reigning champions, former winners and those hungry to taste Dakar success for the first time. Click play and let’s meet the team coming to the party in 2015.