Bullrun

"Bullrun" is an American reality television series based on the trans-American road rally of the same name. The televised version has 12 teams compete in a 4,000-mile (6,400 km) 18-day road rally to win the grand prize of US$200,000. "Bullrun" uses a modified 12-car rally format.

Objective

Each day of competition contained three distinct stages - Leg 1, Heads-Up Challenge, Leg 2.

Each team begins the day by choosing whether to follow "My Way" or "The Highway" (both of these terms explained below under "Routes"). In the first leg, the teams must reach a checkpoint in the fastest time. However, if a team is caught speeding, that team receives a five minute penalty.

After all the teams complete the first leg of the race, the team(s) with the fastest time(s) choose a lower pair of teams to compete heads-up in a challenge, in which the winning team will gain the faster time of the first leg between the two.

Finally, the teams compete in a way similar to the first leg, but a time bonus may be added midway on the routes, depending on the length of the second leg.

After all the teams complete leg two, the times for both legs (including time bonuses and speeding penalties) are combined. The team with the longest time to complete both legs is then returned the keys to their vehicle, in which they must immediately leave.

Routes

Before races begin, the teams have 2 options on how to get to their destination: "My Way" or "The Highway". "The Highway" is the route the producers of the show have chosen for the day's race. It is generally easier, but may take longer to complete. The second option is "My Way". "My Way" is a route the teams make-up on their own. Chances are the routes they choose are shorter, but harder to complete. The only rule of these two options is that once you choose "My Way or the Highway", you have to stick to it until the end of the second leg of the day.

Example: If a team chooses "The Highway" for leg 1, they would have to select "The Highway" for leg 2 as well. Those that choose "My Way" must avoid "The Highway" route.

For Bullrun season 1, on Days 5 and 6, all routes were "My Way" due to short legs.

Rules

# No GPS or Satellite Navigation systems can be used.
# No cell phones.
# No laptop computers.
# No radio or CD player.
# Speeding will lead to severe penalties, such as a time penalty. An arrest will lead to immediate disqualification.
# Each start of day, cars can only leave when instructed to do so.
# Cars must start and finish each day under their own power, or the power of their drivers.
# Cars outside the maximum time allowed for each leg will get picked up by the ‘reaper’ and towed – leading to disqualification.

eason 1

Season 1 of "Bullrun" premiered on Spike on March 13, 2007 and had its season finale on May 15, 2007. The season was hosted by former professional wrestler Bill Goldberg.

Filming for Season 2 was at one point scheduled for Summer 2007.

Teams

The races on Bullrun are competed by 12 teams composed of 2 people (driver/navigator). The teams on Bullrun are:

Winner

The winning team for Season 1 was Team Trans Am. The father/daughter duo of driver Morgan Alsop and her navigator dad Mike Alsop from Lafayette, Indiana pushed hard throughout the entire rally to always place near the top of the leader board. Morgan Alsop's impressive driving and Mike Alsop's ability to find the shortest route and time bonuses lead them to dominate most of the race. Mike also drove the car for a few Challenges. Morgan Alsop was the only woman in the race after Team Scion's elimination in Stage 1. They defeated Team Olds by almost 9 minutes.

Eliminations

*Team Scion was the first team eliminated after not being able to find the ending point, with the team storming off angrily. Goldberg referred to the team as sore losers and admonished the other teams not to be like them.

*Team Nissan was eliminated in the second episode despite being one of the quicker teams in the premier episode, after breaking down in the first leg of the episode's race. Using an RB26DETT engine from a Japanese-exclusive Nissan Skyline, they were one of the few teams unable to repair their engine on-site. They were towed to both leg finish lines, which in turn led them to having the highest time and be eliminated.

*Team Mustang was eliminated in the third episode, after losing a cylinder because of a broken pushrod in the second leg. They tried to push it out on seven cylinders, but decided against doing damage to their car and eventually ending up on the wrecker.

*Team Lamborghini was eliminated in the fourth episode after they decided that they would rather not ruin the car, as the car already has an estimated $60,000 worth of damages (from a slipping clutch and hitting a raccoon), therefore finishing the final leg on a flatbed.

*Team BMW was eliminated in the fifth episode after forfeiting their place in Bullrun to Team Honda, who originally was to be eliminated. One of Team BMW's members faced the death of a family member, and the other member chose to accompany him.

*Team Chevy was eliminated in the sixth episode after Cesar's restroom stop costs the team several minutes, as all the teams were within a few minutes of each other.

*Team Honda was eliminated in the seventh episode. They finished last in the first leg 24 minutes behind the next place and were unable to go up in ranks due to a failed challenge.

*Team Lotus was eliminated in the eighth episode. They sandbagged the first leg, but beat Team Olds in the challenge. Despite successfully delivering Operation Poison Arrow (which is to sandbag and beat the competition in a challenge to take their spot), they got lost on the second leg and Team Olds got a 1-hour time bonus.

*Team Charger was eliminated in the ninth episode. During the challenge, the Charger stalled three times due to the high altitude and not resetting the timing on their car, losing their second place time to Team Olds who was already five minutes behind. The other teams try to negotiate with Team Olds to allow Team Charger to retry the challenge in exchange for brake fluid, but Team Olds refuses because Team Charger had put them up against the Lotus in the Challenge the day before which almost eliminated Team Olds.

*Team F-150 lost after inheriting Team Olds' two hours late last place time after losing in the challenge by 15 seconds.

*Team Olds lost the rally by 9 minutes to Team Trans Am.

Time bonus cards

In the second leg of a day's race, the teams are given a choice to pick up a time bonus card. If a team chooses to attain one of these cards, then they not only have to take a path longer than the highway path but risk having the other teams empty the card supply before they get there. Also, the teams do not know either the value of these cards or how many there are until they get one.

*Leg 1: 45 minutes, team 6 is the only team to pick it up.
*Leg 2: 90 minutes, team 2 follows team 9 pick one up. Team 6 also picked one up.
*Leg 3: 60 minutes, team 1, team 10, and team 11 pick one up.
*Leg 4: No team went for a time bonus, time unknown.
*Leg 5: 45 minutes, team 11 follows team 8 and both get one. Team 9 picks up the last one and team 7 is left empty-handed.
*Leg 6: No time bonus cards issued.
*Leg 7: 45 minutes, team 9 and team 4 each get one, and team 11 is left empty-handed.
*Leg 8: 60 minutes, team 11 and team 9 each get one.
*Leg 9: 45 minutes, team 9 picks up the only one, but told team 11 that there was only one beforehand. Team 11, not trusting team 9, finds themselves empty-handed at the box and finishes the leg in 3rd place.
*Leg 10: There were no time bonuses. It was a straight race to the border.

Car troubles

*Leg 1: Team BMW hits a large rock and damages their radiator. They seal the leak with Team Scion's help and continue their participation in Bullrun.
*Leg 2: Team Lamborghini discovers their clutch problem and finishes on a flatbed. Team Nissan stalls in the first leg and finishes on a flatbed.
*Leg 3: Team Lamborghini hits a raccoon. Team Mustang breaks a push rod, losing a cylinder on the second leg. Team Mustang finishes on a flatbed.
*Leg 4: Team BMW's engine quits after doing burnouts (believed to have been electronically turned off by the car to cool down). Team BMW is able to restart their engine and continue their participation in Bullrun. Team Lamborghini's clutch problem worsens, and they finish on a flatbed, resulting in instant elimination for not finishing a leg of Bullrun under their own power, as, unlike any other team to finish on a flatbed, they did not push the car across.
*Leg 5: Team Trans Am thinks they have lost their transmission after running over a bump. The bump causes a fluid line to be torn loose. This is quickly repaired, and they are able to return to the road.
*Leg 6: Team F-150 competes against Team Lotus in the Challenge, which is a drag race with a concrete wall at the end if the cars don't stop in time. Team F-150 chooses to crash through this wall, resulting in damage to their headlights and grill. They are able to repair the damage and continue.
*Leg 7: No car troubles.
*Leg 8: Team Charger has a gasket come loose as they begin the first leg. They tighten it down in seven minutes and are back on the road.
*Leg 9: Team Charger's engine stalls three times in the challenge. Team Olds has air in the brake lines, hindering their braking system, therefore on the second leg they choose to downshift to slow down instead. Also, they run out of gas just short of finishing the second leg, resulting in them having to push their car past the finish line.
*Leg 10: Team Olds was two hours late to the challenge after pulling over for repairs to their brakes. They were accused of trying Team Lotus' "Poison Arrow" bad time trick by the other teams.

how cars

The official pace car was a Noble M12 GTO with a top speed of about 185 mph (298 km/h), and the challenge demonstration car was an SSC Standard Aero with a 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) time of 2.78 seconds.

Production

"Bullrun" was produced by Bullrun Prodcutions, Maloof Television and Rocket Science Laboratories for Spike.

External links

*
* [http://www.bullrun.com/ Official Bullrun website]
* [http://www.gtspirit.com/ GT Spirit] - Site devoted to road rallies, such as Bullrun or the Gumball 3000. Features daily commentary from race participants during each race