[jrdavid68]

"Gumball 3000" Rally off to Rough Start

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) -- Shortly after setting out from San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel for the beginning of a 3,000 mile cross-country road rally, a few of the drivers participating in the Gumball 3000 were taken out of the race Thursday night by officers from the California Highway Patrol, said CHP Officer Marcus Bartholomew.

Bartholomew said that by 9:30 p.m. Thursday, officers had arrested two participants in Marin County and four participants in Solano County. He said that a number of citations were also issued and some cars were impounded.

"We were just getting flooded with 911 calls from drivers on the highways because these guys were driving like maniacs," said Bartholomew.

Bartholomew said entry-fee paying participants in the Gumball 3000 had just started the first leg of the race to Las Vegas at 8 p.m. when CHP started receiving reports of high-dollar vehicles - Porsches, Ferraris, and BMWs - with painted-on race numbers and emblems weaving through traffic and onto highway shoulders at speeds over 100 mph.

According to Bartholomew there are approximately 100 participants in the cross-country road rally. Exact arrest figures from the opening night have not yet been compiled, said Bartholomew.

(Copyright 2003 BCN. Photos Copyright 2003 KRON 4 News.)