The most ambitious street rodding adventure in history gets underway next week as 59 year old San Francisco Bay Area native Dave Schaub will attempt to drive all 49 continental United States in just nine days behind the wheel of a custom 1932 Ford roadster. Schaub's grueling journey begins Wednesday, September 9th just outside Needles, California along Interstate 40. When he pulls into Hyder, Alaska 9 days later he will have driven his street rod 9,800 miles through the U.S. and Canada. A daunting task to say the least.
An experienced adventurer with many years of cross country hot rod journeys under his belt, Schaub is supremely confident he can go the distance. "It's going to be a long hard road. It will be the ultimate reliability run to test the mettle of me and my machine. When I get road weary, I will turn my thoughts to the kids. I'm hopeful that will give me the added boost to pull it off" he said. Since he first started drumming up interest in his journey last spring, Schaub has raised over $70,000 by asking folks for a penny per mile donation. He's also sold signage on his car. All proceeds he raises will go to the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford.
According to the route map on his website (www.49in9.com) Schaub will blow through as many as 11 states in one day. He plans on driving about 16 to as much as 20 hours per day to accomplish his amazing feat. "If my calculations are correct, I should actually finish in 8 days and 17 hours," he said. "That's assuming I don't have any major delays. I've done half of the route already and everything went smooth. My car is mechanically sound and I've been doing a lot of physical training for the trip. I'm good to go!"
A daily internet blog will be updated on his website. A satellite tracking device has also been added so fans can drop in and check his progress at any point during the nine day journey. The site also spells out his exact route and even includes a song he wrote about his amazing attempt.
For more information or to donate, visit www.49in9.com