New Jersey’s Great Pop Culture Moments 74: The Cannonball Run

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Check out the old NJ State Police Cruiser from The Cannonball Run (1981) !!

You may not remember this quick scene, but the cross country car race depicted in the 1981 comedy The Cannonball Run made a stop in New Jersey. In a humorous scene, incognito racer J.J McClure (Burt Reynolds) and mechanic Victor Prinzim (Dom DeLuise) are caught speeding at 120 miles in their ambulance when they are stopped by two New Jersey State Troopers.

Dr. Nikolas Van Helsing (Jack Elam) and the young photographer Pamela (Farrah Fawcett) are in the back of the ambulance. We assume that Dr. Van Helsing administered some sort of drug to Pam since she’s babbling and giggling as he formulates a tall tale to the police about her having cysts on her lungs that require urgent care in L.A, but only via a cross country drive, not a flight.

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J.J:
“Let me explain something to you, we have to get the senator’s wife to California in 72 hours,
do you understand what I’m saying?…We have to get the senator’s wife to California in 72 hours.”
VICTOR: 
“We’re very close”
NJ STATE TROOPER: 
“As long as you’re in New Jersey, I want you fellas to take it easy…you got that?”
VICTOR
“We sure do, thanks a lot”

NJ STATE TROOPER:
“I’m glad there’s no cupcakes like that in New Jersey”
NJ STATE TROOPER 2:
“You haven’t met my brother in law Ralph”