Four years of planning for Bullrun and we end up in Whitefish, Montana, population 5,032?! Why not someplace decent and warm like Miami or Mexico… All I know about Montana is that it has the highest per capita population of crystal meth addicts in the U.S. I once saw this guy on Cops outrun the police for miles in Montana. When they finally dragged him from his car he was naked expect for his cowboy boots. So David (my cousin and the co-founder of Bullrun) and I don’t know what to expect.

There are three things we’re looking forward to when we land:

1. Seeing the contestants’ cars – they were delivered the week before from all over the States.
2. Getting our car delivered – it’s a Noble M12 and will be the pace car for the rally. The one issue is that David kills cars, literally. He’s a great driver (raced professionally in Europe) but things always go wrong when he’s behind the wheel; cars lose the will to live.
3. Meeting the flag girls – ‘nuf said.

We check out the contestants’ cars that are being guarded in a warehouse downtown. It’s all very secretive, none of the cast members know who else is in the show or what anyone else is driving. This is on purpose so that we can get their initial reactions on camera.

All the cars are on lockdown before the rally starts


David with the Nissan and the Mustang

The cars are bitchin. The Lambo Murcielgo is a beast, a total road monster. The Nissan looks awesome too – the 9 Second Racing guys have modified the hell out of it and I think they’ll be tough to beat. But the one that blows us away is the Dodge Charger. Being Brits, we’re not natural lovers of American Muscle but goddamn! The thought and work that’s gone into restoring that car (driven by Mr. Angry) is incredible. It’s gorgeous and badass at the same time.

The BMW, Scion and Lotus are going to be contenders for their durability and agility. The Chevy and Mustang are great classic cars but can they go the distance for 4,000 miles? The Trans Am and the tricked out Civic (with the hilarious paint job) are total unknowns to us, and we figure the F150 will be filling up for gas every 500 yards. However, we’ve learned from running the original Bullrun rally over the years that you just never know.

Bullrun seems like the biggest thing in the history of Whitefish; the town starts showing up at the crack of dawn and it’s a mob scene by the time we’re ready to start. The contestants roll in one by one, seeing their competition for the first time. Everybody’s jaws drop when the Lamborghini screams around the corner – those guys have a huge target on their backs. Introductions are polite but it’s only a matter of time until that bulls**t ends.

Our Monster Truck


Goldberg is about to tell everyone where we're going


Chaos at the starting line

The thing you need to focus on at the start of Bullrun is not getting too excited. If you do, you’ll screw up: miss a turn, forget to refuel, forget a map! Easier said than done; you’re on TV and thousands of people are cheering. The adrenaline is insane. We see f**k ups every year on the real Bullrun. Guys turn up in $500K cars but suddenly look at one another realizing that they’ve forgotten the GPS or the map.

David and I hop into the Noble that we’ve kitted out with $1,000 worth of the best GPS and radar equipment we could find at the local Best Buy. The contestants can’t use such devices but we don’t have to follow their rules. (They aren’t even allowed to play music in their cars.) We study the route to Athol, jump on the 2, and get there first.

It’s FREEZING in Athol as we film the first challenge, about 10 degrees. It takes two hours to reset the course each time but it’s worth it. When the explosions go off I can literally feel the fire on my face from about 100 yards away. Team Trans Am totally screwed up the drive into Athol, going to the police station to get directions. I mean come on you’re trying to be too clever! Get a map! But Mike drives the balls off the Trans Am in the challenge compared to the Mustang boys who look like they’re driving Miss Daisy. The Mustang boys are bumped to last and start sweating like a couple gravediggers in an Alabama summer.

“Chachi” and “The Fonz”, as they’re nicked named (Andre and Rich) for Team Olds drive well and crush the Civic. Dirty Rice must have had his eyes closed; he couldn’t hit the barn door with a shovel. The shoot lasts until 6:30am – we’re all exhausted and manage to get a couple hours of sleep.

The drive into Seattle is pretty smooth. The Civic (Dirty Rice and Paris) and the Scion (Dimi and Andrea) are down at the bottom. We’re surprised as hell at this point. The Civic screwed up the challenge and make it into Seattle thanks to their alliance with the Lotus boys. The sisters have a solid car and can drive, but they’ve made some fatal mistakes. It’s painful, only 1 minute and 15 seconds separates the two cars. The girls are super pissed when they learn that they’ve been eliminated. But they only have themselves to blame for wasting time and not focusing on the team they needed to beat. It’s a shock but hell, this is Bullrun – somebody’s gotta go home.