Navigator's Run....

lol, just did a quick search and find this thread funny. The head of the rally claims its not a "scam", but the rally got cancelled the day of the launch after everyone showed up and rumor has it no refunds are being issued.

 

www.navigatorsrun.com is down.... but any "hate mail" can be directed to his myspace

http://www.myspace.com/NavigatorsRun

Personally, I wont waste my time

Edit: I guess this doesn't break © of www.swisscarsightings.com 's photo
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interesting how they put a five lug BMW rim onto a center locking enzo... ;-)

 

IMHO, these guys left everyone at the starting gate!

No events and no mention of refunds per my source.

I was told 9 cars showed up but they cancelled the event the day of the event and left....

(They asked the Viper club to line there cars up so it would look like they had more people than they actually did, just a bunch of scammers...)

 

Ugly bodykit!

 

I am sticking with my first comment

HAHAHAHAH

 

WOW...was looking forward to seeing the Run come through Wichita. WOW is all I can say...

 

$4k for all hotels and meals on a cross country race? Bwahahahaha...maybe at the local no-tell-motel...

 

This may shed a little light on the situation.

Teckademics was suppose to film this event and here is the post regarding exactly what happened:
http://teckeast.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30098&highlight=navigator

Make your own judgements on what was what.

 

That link doesn't work for me.....

 

The whole TeckEast site's missing now. Maybe someone REALLY doesn't want the word out

Maybe Ashley Van Dyke can comment, as she's apparently connected with the run. See http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-18-2007/0004609725&EDATE=
and the run's myspace site.

 

it amazes me (and it truly is sad) that these sort of frauds are able to continue bilking honest, albeit naive, folks out of their money.

 

I have been quietly watching the banter back and fourth on the Navigators Run. Now I do not know its organizer personally but we have shared conversations before and after the debacle. Its "my opinion" he organized this rally with the best of intentions, the results of which may speak otherwise, but I want everyone who is a critic out there to understand organizing a rally is no easy task. People go way out on a limb so others can have some fun and enjoy motoring- or at least that's why I did it. Made harder by the Gumball 3000 and Navigator's "situation". Our entry fee is all inclusive at 6100.00, this includes 9 days of 4 and 5 star accommodations (so you are aware rack card for the hotels alone would be 5500.00), believe me there is no profit in this scenario, even when you factor in sponsor dollars. Thanks to my friend Brock Yates (Organizer and originator of the "real" Cannonball Run) who took my under his wing and gave me insight where the profit can come from- "t-shirts and hats!" he said. Also don't fault people for making a profit, unfortunate as it may be- money makes the world go round. Unlike most rallies, ours is an invitational, this allows us to choose a quality competitor. Ours is also not a high speed race over open roads- I'm sorry but in my opinion, doing this is absolutely irresponsible. The public road system is simply too congested. I, like most of you, enjoy "running" at excessive speeds, but controlling the testosterone of 100 vehicles on the road is impossible, factor in egos and a lack of professional training and you have a high likely hood of innocent people getting hurt. Our rally is a "game" Ala Amazing Race bracketed with two track day events. Thankfully FBR Transcontinental Rally has major brand support such as Insurance Office of America, FedEx, American Driver Magazine, and V1Jets- this is possible because we are not "racing" and the fact I don't have pictures of skanky women on our site. We have been slapped with everything from "How fun can it be if your not racing on the highways?" to "what no broads on your site?" but the fact remains, no major brand will support that kind of run- and without the financial support of the major brands- well you have a Navigators Run problem. Fun on our rally is an Orlando to LA interactive adventure experience... especially when you have a couple hundred like minded auto enthusiasts sharing the experience with you over 9 days and 3500 miles. All our teams are also on a mission; Find Americas Missing Children. Each team is assigned a different missing child's- the mission is to ask everyone you encounter in the journey "Have you seen this child?"; Our "Race to Recover America's Missing Children" will be the nations longest recovery effort in history. So you know the Fireball trade name name is not by accident, and its not to copy Gumball, Discoball, Dustball, or even Cannonball... our name is a tribute to the late NASCAR legend, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, a native of our hometown Orlando Florida. If you a too young to know who "Fireball" was- goggle him, he is one of the greats. I'm not a big forum "poster" and I do realize by posting anything there will likely be haters out there and negative people who will bash anyone just to do it... but I want you to know is the organizer (me) of The Fireball Run Transcontinental Rally is a true auto enthusiast, a weekend racer, and rally participant. My reasons for organizing this rally are because I felt current rallies are too tightly focused on hard core open road racing (which is fine- every one has to serve a niche). However I want to have "fun" and not worry someone could die in the process. Basically I had always wanted to be a character in the Cannonball Run- FILM. Which to me embodied light hearted competitiveness and lots of camaraderie. Fireball Run therefore is "character driven" high camaraderie... with fun competitiveness. Take a look at our competitors and what they are driving- Fireball is all about fun. Our motto is "Be a character- but have some class." Wow sorry about this long posting. One look at our web site and you can seen a number of people have invested an incredible amount of time and money so others can live the "Cannonball Run Movie" experience... I really could use your support and positive energy. I welcome you to get involved with our forums even if your not part of the event. Hell we welcome you to come hang out with us (yes we have a "real" office in Orlando). We know not everyone can afford the rally but we had to price it responsibly to ensure the events success. Honestly I wish I could give everyone a free entry- but that too is impossible. Again for for those of us who are true enthusiasts... your moral and blogging support is greatly appreciated. For those of you who are "haters" I suggest you try and organize one of these yourself and see how you like to be hated. For anyone who cares I am pictured in the July edition of Car & Driver (that's me in the Mad Max car wearing the black shirt). Also while I haven't seen it personally, I hear there is a great article on us in the August edition Grass Roots Motors-sports Magazine (this ones legit- they are not a sponsor and not connected to the rally). Again folks thanks for tolerating this long posting... I hope to see all of you "one the other side" in October 2007.

PS I suck at both grammar and spelling- so please forgive that too.

Cheers- J "JJ McClure" Sanchez
Organizer of the 2007 Fireball Run Transcontinental Rally.

 

Best of intentions..... Well I'm sure you and your missing children's rally have the best of intentions too, unfortunately it seems like most of these "me too" rallies best intentions ultimately involve scamming their unwitting participants. If your massive post and spammish username weren't so pathetic I would suspect it were some kind of joke. The one thing I am vaguely curious about is just who you invited to send you $6100 for the priveledge of participating in your rally. Is there a list of suckers that you work from or are you hoping to find your victims here?

As I side note I'm starting my own rally..... It's going to be called "Takethemoneyand Run"

 

I stopped reading right about here [I did get to the part about how organizing a rally is hard], but as you admit, the lack of paragraphs makes your post nearly illegible.

The assertion that "organizing this stuff is hard" is a complete cop out. Here's an idea: start with something you have some hope of being able to manage and if you fall flat on your face, you eat the risk and face the music.

I will never attend a rally or run with an entrant fee that doesn't have a lot of history behind it. If it's your first year, you should consider waiving the entry fee. Creating and operating a website and negotiating group rates (and letting entrants finalize accommodations) isn't difficult. Finding local sponsors to put up prizes isn't that difficult either.

I've been organizing a leisurely drive (read: we're not eyeballing Garmins and bumping against rev-limiters scheming to make it to point x first) with friends, family, and acquaintances for a few years now. It's at the point where we need some infrastructure around it; web site, mailing list, etc. We're making another drive (it's a two day between MN and IL) this summer after which it will likely be advertised on local "community" sites and made available to the public.

 

at least www.fireballrun.com is a decent, semi-legitimate-looking site.

 

You know what IS an easy task? Knowing ahead of time you're not going through with the rally, calling participants rather than letting the few show up an figure out there is no rally. Oh, since it looks like virtually no money was spent on the event, how about a refund?

But to go quiet along with keeping the money? That's not 'the best of intentions'.

So many people on Fchat (and other sites) have gotten burned with these 'rally's' or 'events' that legit or not, it's going to be hard for future events to attract people.

 

What a great thread! Ferrari Chat has wealthy exotic car owners, so what a fine idea to come there to scam! Don't bother with the paupers, like me, on Corvetteforum. Gee, I guess having money doesn't automatically mean you're a sucker! BTW, to the "taken under his wing" friend of Brock Yates, whom I've talked with several times, the original rally he did for CandD back in the '60s was called the "Fireball Roberts Memorial Sea to Shining Sea Rally." Surprised Brock never mentioned that to him...

 

Brocks rally was called the "Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash" named after "Cannon-Ball Baker." Cannonball Run is an owenrship of 20th Century FOX. Unlike Gumball, Dumball, Discoball, and the rest- ours was named in honor of a real person. With the blessing of the "Fireball" Roberts estate.

I'll let the event speak for itself; Mayor Dyer of Orlando Drops the green flag... Clearchannel dropped 350k in billboards across the country (6 of them are in Las Vegas). Oh and Oklahoma City sponsored an event...

As far as the invitation list? our sponsors decide who gets invited- the only way in the event is through a sponsor or by another registered team. You can try your hand at our online forum... which is handed off to our selection committiee- which has only authorized 2 players from online entries. If your arrogant, a jerk, or an all together negative person- you ain't getting in no matter how much money you have.

See you on the other side.

 

C&D never authorized the original events- I fact doing the 1979 Cannonball got Brock fired from C&D. Also the first "Cannonball" was in 1971... NOT the 60's.... if you need any more assistance with your intelligence let me know.

Oh and that Ambulance from the film... that ambulance was actually used by Brock and Director Hal Needham (dressed as EMT's) in the very last 1979 Cannonball- Brocks wife Pamela played the patient (thats why the movie Characters name is Pamela) and they really did take a doctor on the ride.... oh yeah- and that exact Ambulance is entry No 1 in the Fireball Run... making its first cross country debut since 1979.

Thank you come again.

 

There you go "Fireball"....breath deeply...

The 'enter' key (with the broken arrow) is your friend....

And you are here..'why' exactly??

Full discloser: Players Markus is a friend of mine, as is Roland Linder, and a few girls in the mix, as drivers or co-piloti, might NOT be such a bad idea....see AMG Girl, here....

As for the charity tie in...well ,I have ACTUALLY raised about $68K for Child Advocates here, but based upon the drag racing wipeout this month and the ensuing fatalities, methinks this type of "wrapping yourself in the flag" will come back to bite your azz, if anything goes wrong, along the way....

Best Wishes,
Bubba

 

Gee, you're a real clever guy--online. If you learned how to format posts, I'd really be impressed, Maybe you could brush up on grammar, too--at least you do know how to spell it. Yates got fired by David E. Davis because of a personal issue, not the Cannonball. You are correct, and I admit my error, it was the Cannonball Baker etc, etc, not Fireball Roberts. I seem to recall it being in 1969, but that was a long time ago, so won't debate the issue.

Btw, I met Yates at Road America. There was a Trans Am race that weekend, and I had just won the SCCA C Stock Production race. Mark Donohue was racing for Penske and presented the trophy, quite a thrill from my hero. Yates was there. I spoke with him for some time, although I was just a kid, he took the time to talk with me. Including about a coast to coast top speed run, no holds barred. I thought wow, would I love to do that race. Hence my flawed, but not completely shot memory.

 

I am also holding my own run. Entry fee is $28,000. Please western union the money to me. I only accept western union. Who is in? Start location is new york. End location is california. Route if through the US. Directions when you show up at start. Remember, western union only.

 

Part of your problem here is easy to solve, Fireball.

Take the gigantic chip off your shoulder and pretend, for maybe 30 seconds, that you're actually here to enjoy the company and conversation of a bunch of Ferrari guys.

Instead you come off as an arrogant jerk here simply to promote your own gig and (perhaps) fleece a few well funded Ferrarista of their not so hard earned money. (After all, everyone knows Ferrari owners are easy to squeeze money from, just ask any Ferrari repair shop.)

So, are you interested in Ferraris? Or just in getting a few of us to sign up for your "Fireball sea to shining sea rally for the over funded and easily fooled."

I dunno, seems to me that you're here for yourself first, last and always. Maybe you can prove me wrong. Maybe your rally has a spokesperson who can ask for participants without coming off as being annoyed by his potential customers.

Either way, if you're here to grab some players, then you need to pony up for sponsorship, and run your ads like the rest of the sponsors do.

Dave M.

 

Pot, ...meet kettle.
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