USA: Bullrun Launches in New York

[Tony Intrieri, Car Owner]:
“It’s a 1995 Ford Mustang GT 5L. A lot of enhancements done to the car, which I don’t really want to get in to, because some of them I would hear about later.”

[Tony Intrieri, Car Owner]:
“Yeah, it’s a nice car.”

The Bullrun is a seven-day race across America in some of the country’s most expensive cars. Competitors pay a cool $20,000 bucks to enter. And they become the stars of the reality TV series  „Cops, Cars and Superstars.“

They start in New York City, and each morning they find out where they’ll be heading next. All they know is that they’ll finish seven days later in Austin–which organizers have dubbed „the official party capital of Texas.“

In other words, the race is pitched as one big party.

Tony Intrieri is from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. But his companion is not.

[Tony Intrieri, Car Owner]:
“Matthew, yeah, Matthew is from Calgary.”

[Tony Intrieri, Car Owner]:
“Matthew was with the flag girls. Matthew was at the party last night, for the launch of the rally. And Matthew is going to be going along with us pretty much the whole way through the first leg of the rally.”

[Tony Intrieri, Car Owner]:
“I don’t know if he is going to make it all the way through. Someone already dirtied his nose earlier. So he’s got a little mark on his nose.”

Made in America. A super-charged engine pumping out a little over 500 horsepower.  There’s only 400 of these in the world. And Howard Markowitz from New Jersey has owned three of them.

[Howard Markowitz, Car Owner, New Jersey]:
“This car, brand new when I bought it. Before I modified it was $135,000. Which by today’s standard is not that bad.”

[Howard Markowitz, Car Owner, New Jersey]:
“The car was hand-built. Everyone who built the car signed the aluminum placards underneath the hood over here.”

[Howard Markowitz, Car Owner, New Jersey]:
“A beautiful vehicle. A lot of fun to drive.”

But the $20,000 price tag to enter the contest threw some of the spectators.

[Mark Leitz, Spectator from Fort Lauderdale, Florida]:
“It’ s a lot of money. It’s kind of insane. They’ve already got $200,000 cars and now they are spending another $20,000, to drive across America.”

But for these drivers it’s money well spent.

Ben Hedges, NTD, New York.

(NTDTV)