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Bullrun 2009 – Pittsburgh, PA – Staunton, VA

Pittsburgh to Thunder Canyon Raceway (Enterprise, West Virginia).

The 2009 Bullrun Rally is the 4th I’ve participated in.  In those years, I’ve never experienced a launch past 9:30AM.  You’re usually up at 7AM, grab breakfast, prep the car, view maps and strap yourself in and go.  The Sunday launch was out of the ordinary since it was at noon!  You have to know, a noon launch is amazing because it’s an open invitation party your ass off since you can sleep in a bit. The vast majority of Bullrunners took advantage and partied in the VIP area of Club Zen in Pittsburgh. The late start proved to be vital for me and many teams who rolled in at 4AM from the Bullrun Pittsburgh Party and various after-parties that may or may not include a Maxim Girl or Five.

We launched from Downtown Pittsburgh and we received the route card that sent us towards West Virginia to Thunder Canyon Raceway which put everyone into a frenzy once again since that would be two track days in two days on Bullrun 2009.  We rallied with two teams from Jersey that were there for the weekend, Team Hoboken (Greg and Jerry- BMW 335i) and Team Platinum Electric (Rob & Rob – Porsche 911).

Bullrun 2009 Team Hoboken Bullrun 2009 Team Platinum Electric

Weekend guys are excellent to have on the rally because they are incredibly enthusiastic.  They are almost always 1st Bullrunners which gives them kids in the candy store kind of gazes for 48 hours straight.  Weekend Bullrunning is very interesting because it’s an incredible experience cut short.  Weekend Bullrunners now get to go to work and be subjected to constant barrage of text messages, tweets, Facebook updates about  the fun they could have been having if they committed to going to the end.  It’s something I personally experienced and something I hope to never ever relive again.

Thunder Canyon Raceway

The 91 mile trip went fast and when we got their we were happy to find out the track was a dirt track made for very quick go-carts.  Bullrun ran close to 10 races which offered us the opportunity to let loose, drift, spin out and whatever.

Bullrun 2009Thunder Canyon Raceway

Mike Schwab from Team 13 was tough to track down on the oval as well as I came in second for my heat.  An earlier race featured a cameraman with the same name as me which causes both of us endless confusion when people are calling our name.  Despite only one hand on the wheel, Rory managed to keep the cart on track for some amazing footage.

Bullrun 2009 Rory Camera Guy On Track   

After the Bullrunners got off the track, they were eager to get to the next city for another night of partying. As you can see with the pic below, Bullrunners don’t park normally.  They part in a funnel leading out to make sure they take advantage a clearer path o the interstate.  The Bullrun Parking Funnel adds another bit excitement as everyone jockeys for positon to get a route card so they can get underway.

Bullrun2009 Thunder Mountain track        

Enterprise, West Virginia to Staunton, VA

The rumor mill was in full swing as for Staunton, VA being our next stop.  Staunton was a city that hosted one of the most outrageous parties in Bullrun history (2007).  Staunton, VA is an amazing city that basically looks like a movie set.  Only it’s one of those movie sets that starts exploding as cars and people scatter everywhere.  While cars may scatter everywhere at times, there weren’t any explosions, just great parties.

Bullrun 2009 Maxim Girls Staunton Cops     

This year was a true treat for Staunton local guys as Bullrun brought among most beautiful women to ever step foot in this fine city.  While the all girls college was trick during the 2007 Bullrun – It was our girls that truly made the party.

Bullrun 2009 Rawlings - Luigis    

The Bulrun Maxim girls even managed to get the Staunton Police force fired up enough to agree to a very quick police escort out of Staunton the next morning – MORE TO COME ON THAT…

The party moved from the Clock Tower to Luigi’s where a group of Bullrunners and another set of local girls converged.  Luigi’s proved to be just what the doctor ordered for the late night crew.

Rawlings below doing what he does best.

Bullrun2009 Staunton Virginia

Weekend Guys continued…

Another note about the weekend Bullrunners.  We had a team on that decided not to bring their very quick and comfortable Audi A8, but rather a rental 2009 Chevy Chevy Camaro in order to honor of their favortite character “Bumblebee”  from the Transformers.  International IT Genius, Ben Taylor, even sports a Shia LaBeouf hair-doo that drove a few Staunton girls crazy.  Ben and his co-driver, Dr. Phil Tasca, were among the Bullrunnerswho partied late into the night.

They even managed to get their car featured on the front page of the morning edition of Staunton’s local paper.  Apparently, American Muscle and Transformers play real well in these parts.

Bullrun 2009 - Ben Taylor

BONUS PIC

Some of the great scenery you can see during your drive from Pittsburgh to Staunton, VA.

Bullrun 2009 Couple Pick-up