The Gumball 3000 is a legend in itself. Started in Europe during the year of 1999, the Gumball 3000 incorporates over 100 cars and participants in a 3000 mile long cross-country journey. Since then, the Gumball 3000 has extended beyond its overseas roots to the U.S. starting in 2002. Some of the participants this year included many well-known stars from David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff, MTV’s Dirty Sanchez and Tony Hawk to Dave Mirra, the Cuban Brothers and Bam Margera. The featured cars in the rally ranged from Bugatti Veyrons, Lamborghini’s, Porsche’s, BMW’s and lowriders to classic American muscle cars. Many of the racers documented their progress on various blogs over the internet this year from the start in Los Angeles, CA to the finish line in Miami, FL. Altogether, the Gumball 3000 is an 8-day road trip that lives up to its expectation of being stylish and adrenaline-filled adventure across America.

During the 8 days of “having fun”, the drivers had overnight stops including parties and checkpoints in Las Vegas, the Hoover Dam, Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, Dallas, New Orleans and Orlando. Obviously there will be the ultimate party when the drivers cap of this adventure reaching Miami, Florida’s Ocean Drive. Along the way, some drivers had the opportunity to “chat” with a few law enforcement officers. One driver was so kindly escorted to a holding area surrounded by metal bars. The friendly law enforcement officer implied that the trip was a courtesy extended to him for going 170mph in a Bugatti Veyron. Wonder what that was all about?

The Gumball 3000 Rally is officially working with the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit organization benefiting and raising awareness for the needs of severely injured United States Service men and women. Wounded Warrior representatives will be present throughout the event, as well as partnering with Gumball 3000 at forthcoming events and fundraisers.

In this day and age it is all about the media (image and video) coverage, and we have just that to share with you. Below you will find a collection of various Gumball 3000 images and videos leading up to the finish in Miami, FL on Friday, May 8^th 2009.

PRESS RELEASE:

Ladies, Gentlemen, prepare to start your engines… as the 11th annual Gumball 3000 Rally from Los Angeles to Miami is about to begin!

Attracting ‘rock stars’ to ‘royalty’, the entry grid of over 100 amazing cars and participants in this year’s Gumball is nothing short of spectacular! From David ‘The Hoff’ Hasselhoff to Jackass’s Bam Margera and Ryan Dunn in a custom BMW; next to action sports legends Tony Hawk, Danny Kass, and Dave Mirra in tricked out Jeeps, Chevy Trucks and Porsches; alongside Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs, British indie stars The Enemy, MTV’s Dirty Sanchez, the hilarious Cuban Brothers and the fire-breathing Fuel Girls together with vintage rocker Lemmy from Motörhead and Avenged Sevenfold – Gumball has it all – showcasing Bugatti Veyrons, Lamborghini’s to Low Riders and classic American muscle cars. With event sponsors including lifestyle sportswear brand Puma providing ‘Gumball 3000 Edition’ driving shoes, Nixon creating unique timepieces, and Monster Energy supplying the drinks – this eight-day ‘road trip’ is certain to live up to all expectations of being a stylish, adrenaline fuelled adventure. Think of Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett and Captain Chaos in the 70s Cannonball Run movies and you start to get the picture. Playmates, supermodels and an international cast of eccentrics come standard issue!

On Friday May 1st Gumball 3000 is hosting a ‘free’ music concert on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade – With live performances from LA hipsters U-N-I, Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs and the Cuban Brothers – followed by a ‘VIP’ party at the Viceroy Hotel with guest DJs including DJ Spider, DJ Homicide and Beef Warehouse.

The amazing super, muscle, import and luxury cars will all be displayed next to Santa Monica Pier on parking Lot 1550 from midday on Friday May 1st – ready for the flag to drop at 1pm on Saturday 2nd May! From Santa Monica the 3000 mile route includes a spectacular sight-seeing tour of the good ‘ole USA, peppered with overnight stops, parties and checkpoints in Las Vegas, the Hoover Dam, Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, Dallas, New Orleans and Orlando – before crossing the finish line on Miami’s Ocean Drive on Friday 8th May.

In addition to experiencing a classic road trip adventure, racetrack stop-offs at the Lonestar Motorsports Park in Sealy, Texas, and at the Palm Beach International Raceway in Florida will allow drivers the chance to put pedal to the metal and test their supercars to their limits. One participant that will undoubtedly use these stops to show the other drivers “how to drive” is legendary champion ex-Ferrari Formula 1 racing driver Mika Salo, winner of last years ’24 Hours of Le Mans’- taking his Ferrari F430 Risi Competizione Scuderia GT2 on the rally!

Gumball 3000 Rally are officially working with the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit organisation benefiting and raising awareness for the needs of severely injured United States Service men and women. Wounded Warrior representatives will be present throughout the event as well as partnering with Gumball 3000 at forthcoming events and fundraisers.

For daily updates go to www.gumball3000.com, and catch highlights of the action on YouTube, Pumamotorsport.com, Monsterenergy.com and on MTV – but if you live on route – then stop whatever you’re doing, get out of the house – and come along to see your favorite stars and cars roll into a town near you!

[sources: Gumball3000.com, SoulAssassins.com, Pumamotorsport.com, L4P.com (Thanks Verone24! and MarkM), Youtube.com, Twitter.com, Facebook.com]

Update on Images: We will be posting additional images Today (May 8th, 2009) as we get them from Miami, FL.

Enjoy the videos below!

One of the highlights of the delivery that President Obama gave to the joint session of congress was a vow not to walk away from the automotive industry. The tone seemed directed at the American infrastructure of the automotive industry which directly includes the suffering Big 3.

The points that were brought out by autonews and others in the automotive industry were the positive inspirational parts of the speech saying, “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.” Then later a specific address was directed towards the automotive industry having an obvious effect on the economy where the President said, “As for our auto industry, everyone recognizes that years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink. We should not, and will not, protect them from their own bad practices. But we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win. Millions of jobs depend on it. Scores of communities depend on it. And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.”

The speech will be critiqued among the media and other officials and a new wow factor may be brought out by those in the automotive industry where the President said, “We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century. And yet, it is China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient. We invented solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it. New plug-in hybrids roll off our assembly lines, but they will run on batteries made in Korea.”

With those words it gives the automotive industry a positive and supported hope, one that the President spoke of during his campaign and now lives it out as President of the United States. Others may remain skeptical of his economic remedies but a good portion of America, especially in the automotive world, woke up today with a new inspiration to rebuild, retool and bring this country back to where it needs to be.

[sources: autonews, whitehouse.gov]