The Gumball 3000: A Chaotic Celebration of Speed and Luxury
It's the time of year where public roads around the globe become a racetrack for the rich and famous. It's got an obscene lineup of million-dollar cars driven so recklessly you'd swear all of them were Nissan Altimas. It's the most interesting and stimulating way to see different countries around the globe, and blast straight through 'em! And, the coolest part? Johnny Knoxville did it.
How did it start?
And after everything that's gone down, how is it still a thing? Let's find out.
The Gumball 3000: A History
This chaotic mess of multi-million-dollar exotic cars driven by some of the richest people on earth. They rip through tiny European streets, fat American highways, and even around the Nurburgring, cheered on by international car enthusiasts, all for the glory of an engraved name on a cup. So cool.
But how did the Gumball 3000 start? What are they trying to prove?
To understand, we're have to go back to a time that wasn't great for cars. All right. During the oil crisis, we mention it a lot in the seventies, the federal government mandated a 55 mile-per-hour speed limit nationwide to save gas during the oil embargo.
Car enthusiasts, including CAR and DRIVER's founder Brock Yates, didn't think this was a good idea. They said, you know what? This ain't fair. Okay?
As a form of protest against the speed limit, a group of car enthusiasts came up with an idea. In 1999, they organized the first Gumball 3000 event in London. The event was designed to showcase their cars and prove that a faster driving experience was possible without compromising safety.
The name "Gumball 3000" refers to the British rock band The Rolling Stones' album "Sticky Fingers," which was released in 1971. The first Gumball 3000 event was inspired by this album title, with participants wearing custom-made "Gumball 3000"-branded clothing and accessories.
The Gumball 3000: A Celebration of Speed and Luxury
Today, the Gumball 3000 is an annual event that takes place in various locations around the world. The event features a diverse lineup of cars, including supercars, muscle cars, and even classic vehicles.
Johnny Knoxville, a well-known stuntman and car enthusiast, has been involved with the Gumball 3000 since its inception. He has participated in numerous events and has become synonymous with the brand.
The Gumball 3000 is not just about speed; it's also about the camaraderie among participants. The event features a series of challenges and racing events, as well as social gatherings and parties.
For those who are interested in attending the next Gumball 3000 event, there is good news. Donut Media has recently created a mural featuring the brand, which can be purchased for a limited time on their website.
Get your hands on this exclusive sticker now and show off your support for the Gumball 3000!
(Upbeat techno music)
Hello, my name's Rylie, and I'm a friend of the channel, and I'm also the artist that made the Donut Media mural. It's finally done after so many sleepless nights, snacks, Red Bulls, ups and downs, highs and lows.
Now it's finally here and I'm so excited you guys get to see it and have your own version of it as a sticker. It's not gonna be available for very long, so if you want it, I suggest you go to donut media.com right now and get you one.
(techno beat)
The Gumball 3000: A Legacy of Speed and Luxury
As the years go by, the Gumball 3000 has become an iconic event in the world of motorsports. The brand has expanded to include various merchandise, including clothing, accessories, and even a line of cars.
The Gumball 3000 is more than just an event; it's a community. Participants come from all over the world to share their passion for cars and speed. The event has become a cultural phenomenon, with fans and enthusiasts eagerly awaiting each year's lineup.
In conclusion, the Gumball 3000 is a celebration of speed and luxury that continues to thrive in an era where car culture is on the rise. Whether you're a seasoned car enthusiast or just someone who appreciates the thrill of speed, the Gumball 3000 has something for everyone.
WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- It's the time of year wherepublic roads around the globebecome a racetrack forthe rich and famous.It's got an obscene lineupof million dollar carsdriven so recklessly you'd swearall of them were Nissan Altimas.It's the most interestingand stimulating way tosee different countriesaround the globe,and blast straight through 'em!And, the coolest part?Johnny Knoxville did it.How did it start?And after everything that's gone down,how is it still a thing?Let's find out.This is everything you need to know to getup to speed on the Gumball 3000.(upbeat techno music)Hello, my name's Rylie, andI'm a friend of the channel,and I'm also the artist thatmade the Donut Media mural.It's finally done afterso many sleepless nights,snacks,Red Bulls,ups and downs, highs and lows.Now it's finally here and I'm so excitedyou guys get to see itand have your own versionof it as a sticker.- It's not gonna beavailable for very long,so if you want it,I suggest you go todonut media.com right nowand get you one.(techno beat)Now, you may have heardof this chaotic messof multi-million dollarexotic cars driven by some ofthe richest people on earth.They rip through tiny European streets,fat American highways,and even around the Nurburgring,cheered on by internationalcar enthusiasts,all for the glory of anengraved name on a cup.So cool.(chuckles)But how did the Gumball 3000 start?What are they trying to prove?To understand, we'rehave to go back to a timethat wasn't great for cars.All right.During the oil crisis,we mention it a lot in the seventies,the federal government mandated a 55 mileper hour speed limitnationwide to save gasduring the oil embargo.Car enthusiasts,including CAR and DRIVER'sfounder Brock Yates,didn't think this was a good idea.They said, you know what?This ain't fair. Okay?And as a form of protest against the"lunacy of government bureaucracy",Yates founded a thingcalled the Cannonball Run.Now you've probably heard of it,but if you haven't,the entire point of theCannonball is to drivefrom New York to Los Angelesas fast as you possibly can.California here we come!All right.The record is currently25 hours, 39 minutes.It was set during quarantine,and I bet three of those hourswere spent in LA traffic.(laugh track)Thank you, LA traffic.We're known for traffic.Thank you.- Thank you.(audience cheers)LA traffic.Thank you.Just like everything fun,the Cannonball Run wassuper dangerous and illegal.All right.Yates canceled the official event in 1979,but that wouldn't stop racing deviantsfrom taking the Cannonball as a blueprintfor their own races.All right, now let's jumpahead to the nineties.Skip the eighties altogether.All right.A young hot boy modelnamed Maximillion Cooperdecided to take hisearnings from the catwalkand learn how to street race.I mean, that's how most of us get into it.We're hot boy models,we make a buncha cheddar,and then we end up street racing.Tale as old as time.Now Cooper had enough contacts and friendsin both racing andfashion that he was like,- "Hmm, wouldn't itbe fun if I took the glamorand money of the fashion industryand melded it with thestreet racing scene?High fashion and high revving exotics,a wild after party every night.Yes. Yes.I think that would bemarvelous." (laughs evilly)I don't know where he's from.In 1999, Maximillion organized a fun rallythrough some Europe's most iconic citiesand called it the Gumball 3000,because the route would be 3000 miles longand it was inspired by the Cannonball Run.It's kind of playful, all right?It's fun.It's cheeky.The first official Gumball 3000had pretty much two requirements:bring an interesting car,and pay an entry fee of $8,700.Now, that isn't exactly cheap.But with that fee, youget hotel accommodations,you get meals,and access to every singleparty the rally had to offer.And believe me when I saythese were parties thatyou'd want to go to.Okay. Cause they're fun.They passed apps,they had little puffs withshrimps in 'em, all right.They got Thai, Thai, Thai inspired tacos.They had maybe a little bowl with stew.Like a, one spoon of like of goulash.Little stew bowl.Don't get me started on desserts.So many shrimps were consumed.Original Gumballers included Kate Moss,Jamiroquai, Kylie Minogue,and one of my personal heroes,Johnny Knoxville.Adjusting for inflation,their modern equivalents areBella Hadid, Drake,Camila Cabello, and Johnny Knoxville,because Johnny Knoxville'stimeless and he'll never die.He can't, they've tried.And because I like him so much,he's gonna come backup in the story later.So stick around.And while we're at it,go ahead and hit that like button.Now, as I mentioned before,Maximillion used the roughlength of the Cannonball Runas a template for his rally.But European miles arecompletely differentfrom American ones.They call them kilomiles over thereand they're made up bythe queen, all right?3000 miles in the US iseasy to envision, right?You start New York,you drive west until you see the ocean.Easy, just like the pilgrims did.But how do you spend 3000miles traveling around Europe?Because Europe is waytighter and twistier,and the exact size of two Wisconsins.Well, every year Gumballhas a different routebecause you don't wantto bore millionaires.Because when millionaires get bored,they do crazy shit.Basement shit.Private island shit.In 2001, the rally started in London.(laughs) Each driver brought their own carand were simply handed a mission pack.The mission pack gave info onwhere the driver was headedlike Berlin, for example,along with hotel information.And that's it.That's all you get.Get in your AMG GT3 andjust fricking go dude.Now this particular route wentfrom Berlin, to Poland,to Lithuania, to Russia, to Finland,where they take one ofEurope's largest ferriesto Sweden, and then Denmark.And then finally, finally end their drivein Beaulieu, England, 856 miles away.The grand total: over 3,200 miles coveredin just five days.Along the way, the driverhad to keep an eye outfor speed traps and gooseneckers and other d-bag ralliers.2001 was a major turningpoint for the rallysince 106 cars entered,including Max Cooper inan original Shelby Cobra,and Lord Montague of Beaulieuin a 1929 Blower Bentley,which was the oldestcar in Gumball history.Can you imagine driving a carbuilt in 1929 for 3000 miles?No, thanks!Kim.com, who is apparentlya real human manwith a real name,was the winner that yearthanks to his MercedesBrabus SV 12 mega car,but the most legendary car of them all?A 1989 Jaguar XJ6 pilotedby Johnny Knoxvilleand the Jackass boys.Random Hero, rest in peace.Knoxville later said thatof all the stunts that he didduring the run of Jackass,the closest he ever came to dying wasduring the Gumball 3000.And fortunately, MTV got it all on camera.And they released the JackassGumball 3000 Rally Special.They became MTV's highestrated show that year.I watched it endlessly.I've seen it so many times.And especially included abunch of legendary moments,a Latvian border patrol stop,which held everybody up for six hours.A speed trap at the border of Denmark,where authorities pulled15 cars over at once,and a Gumballer's storyabout flipping his Ferrari,ripping off part of his ear,and leaving the wreckedexotic upside down in a field.This is what crazy rich people do for fun.Cool dude.You know what I do for fun?I drink orange wine inthe park with my friends.After three years of tearingup the English countrysideand pissing off typically stoic Germans,the Gumball 3000 ran their first rallyin the United States in 2002.This was incidentally also the yearthat Mischief 3000 came out.Now, if you're not familiar,Mischief Productions putout a famous DVD seriesknown for its street racing videos.And even though the internetwas technically aroundin 2002,YouTube wasn't a thing yet,and you had to buy DVDs.Plus, if you're on the internet in 2002and your mom needed to use the phone,you have to get off.Once you got the DVD,you had to put it in a DVD player,and then sometimes they were justtoo scratched to even play.It was stupid.Sucked.Now I watch Dune on my phone.- It's a such a sadnessthat you think you've seen a filmon your (bleep) telephone.- Remember how I saidthere were really onlytwo qualifications for the Gumball?I lied to you.I'm really sorry.Right to your face.There's another rule. (chuckles)If you choose to participate in the rally,you sign a contract agreeingthat you will never,under any circumstances,release footage that wasn'texplicitly approved by the organizers.Any and all Gumball 3000footage has to be approved.Make us look cool and hotand buff and rich, okay?But you see,the Mischief crew didn'tsign that contract.They didn't even officially enter.They just fooled the organizersand ran the rally like they were included.I'm sure a PA got fired for that.And that is how theygot such insane footage.The DVD includes a New Jersey copgiving tips to drivers to avoid tickets,a wrecked 18 wheelerspilling Reynolds Wrapall over the interstate,a Texas speed trap thatwas so disorganizedthat it turned into a 40 mile backupwith overwhelmed policeeventually decidingto just let everyone go.Probably cause they didn't want to hear,"Do you know who my father is?"- Texas copswere also taped receivinghigh speed ride alongs from Team Roof.And there was in-car footageof a roof tune portion 996 Turbo Rreaching speeds of 208 milesper hour on the street.That is a speed that contributedto their win for hottestwheels of the closing ceremony.What an honor!And yeah, that ceremony took placeat the Playboy Mansion,the coolest place on earth.Every boy's dream is togo to the Playboy Mansion,you got boobies there.(whistling)They have a grotto, whichI think is a cave pool.And yes, there were so many passed apps.All of this is to saythat race organizersfound out about the DVD,and sued the absolute poopoutta Mischief Productions,though they eventuallysettled outta court,which means money.There's tons of stories like these.A grand yore and excessthat would make Kim.com'sgolden toilet blush.Again, Kim.com, apparentlya real human manwith a real name.But there's some wholesome stories too.In 2004, a skateboarder, Rob Dyrdek,participated in theGumball with his co-driverChris "Big Black" Boykin,documentarian Ruben Fleischerfilmed the drive and foundtheir dynamic so charmingthat he later brought the footage to MTVand the show Robin Big was born.If you don't know Robin Big,it eventually led to ridiculousness,and that is now all that MTV plays.And that is why my TikTok feed is fullof Rob Dyrdek telling mehow to be an entrepreneur.Unfortunately, all goodthings have to come to an end.The 2006 rally is known to many asthe last great Gumballbefore it was overrunby inexperienced rich boys.And yes,I'm actually telling you that the earlyparticipants were the good ones.Because this new crop ofralliers had unlimited cashand they seemed to enjoycollecting speeding ticketsand totaled cars,today, it's not that uncommon to have a,a rallier trash their first choice car,then buy another one on the way tomake sure that they can finish in time.Any kind of interestingstrategy quickly took a backseatto cold,hardcash.On top of being the lastgolden year of Gumball,2006 is also heralded asthe most valuable gridin the history of the rally.Cars included Mercedes-Benz SLR McLarens,which was a, a tourpractically built to withstandthe challenges of the Gumball.Plus, you can go 208 miles per hour.There were a few Bugatti Veyrons,which is my dream daily driver.I would drive it every day.I would never wash it.Cause I would just love to park itat Trader Joe's and justcovered in bird poop.At the time of this rally, 2006,the Veyron wasthe fastest production car in the world,and it could reach speedsof 250 miles per hour.Now we can't mention avaluable grid withoutincluding some Ferraris.In this case, it was, was an Enzo.The Enzo was blessed bythe Italian manufacturerwith a top speed of 221 miles per hour.Along with these over engineered monsters,the event also includedan unusually high numberof classic varieties,including F50s,275 GTC,and a 250 California.When all was raced and done,the total value of the 2006 Gumball gridwas estimated to be over $100 million.Yeah, baby.But for the first sevenyears of the Gumball,it was a miracle that nobodywas seriously injured.And then, the absoluteinevitable happened.On May 2nd, 2007,two participants of theGumball were drivingtheir Techart portion 997 Turbo throughthe Republic of Macedonia enroute to the Albanian border.A Volkswagen Golf pilotedby two elderly localsattempted to make a left.When they turned in frontof the Gumballers Porsche,vehicles met head on,and while the Gumballers made it out okay,the folks in the Gulf did not.Despite the ralliers andmedical professionals'best efforts,both people in the Volkswagen passed awayfrom their injuries, which sucks.You know, cause why?I gotta say this.I mean, this was totally avoidable.I mean this all kind ofsounds cool and glamorous,but at the end of the day,it's really selfish,and like not worth it.Like these guys are so rich,they can afford like,trailers,and real race cars,and track fees.Like they can go be real racecar drivers that they want.But instead they're just like,killing people in theRepublic of Macedonia.Just get your priorities straight.Don't kill old people.And as you can imagine,once the media picked up on the story,shit hit the fan for the Gumball.Though the organizers canceledthe remainder of the race,the public was rightfully pretty furious.Campaigns on the internetreferred to the eventas "the Dumball 3000"and "the Scumball 3000",and other fun, really clever rhymesthat poked fun on theserich people responsiblefor deaths of regular law-abiding folk.Now despite the horrible press,the Gumball continued on in 2008in a little place called North Korea.(laughs) Yeah.The organizers behind theGumball were apparently like,"Hey we got a bunch of flackfrom the international news mediaabout reckless drivingafter two people died,you know what?We'll win them back.Let's go to North Korea.We'll just go to a place wherethe international media isn't allowed."To get to North Korea,the participants andtheir vehicles were loadedonto three transport cargo planesand flown to Nanjing, China.Then, the ralliers wereflown by Air Koryo,a company known as theworld's worst airline.They were then flown to Pyongyang,where the Gumballers watchedthe North Korean versionof the Olympics.That night, they all went to a party.They toasted their fearlessleader, Maximillion Cooper,as well as Kim Jong-Il.I don't know.I don't know.Around 2013,all the negative press around the Gumballled to an obvious conclusion.Not!The Gumball 3000Foundation was established.You think I was gonna say that it ended?No! It'll never end.Instead, 14 years after its first rally,the organizers decidedit was time to give backto the people by donating to charities,like the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund,Child Bereavement UK,and the Tony Hawk foundation.That one's rad.Other than that decision,the Gumball has pretty much offeredsame (bleep) year after year.In its 23 years of running,nearly 5,000 people haveattended or participated.The entry fee has skyrocketed.It's now like $120,000 per car,which is just a little bit,I'm no math guy,but that's a little bit moreexpensive than 8,700 bucks.The next Gumball 3000 will take placein May, 2022 from Torontoall the way to Havana, Cuba.And I plan on enteringbecause I'm super richand I don't give a shit about anybody.And as for Maximillion Cooper,our fearless leader,he married Eve.So, he's a rough rider now.Thank you guys so muchfor watching this video,and every other video on Donut.Hit the subscribe buttonso you don't miss anything.If you wanna get some Donut merch,we have a lot of new stuff coming.I'm super excited about it.You can buy this hat.Get this hat.High quality.Go to donutmedia.com.We're doing new stuff almost every week.One of my best friends in the world,Andy, designs it all.And it's really been ajoy to create with him.I love you.
