by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

The first Canadian Cannonball Run, which will see motorists departing from Montreal competing against each other on public highways this Sept. 18 to 24, isn't such a hot idea, according to Brock Yates.

His opinion matters because he invented the darn thing.

Yates, now a semi-retired writer based in upstate New York, pioneered the Cannonball Run in 1971 before pulling the plug in 1979. "You must understand that the world has changed radically since the '70s," he says. "We've got masses more traffic and congestion on our highways and interstates. It's just a different world out there now. It was an illegal effort that I did when I was young and crazy, and now I'm concerned that it's going to hurt somebody."

Yates is revered as a legend in the automotive world, as editor-at-large and columnist for Car and Driver and as broadcast race commentator. He has also penned books and racing-film scripts, including the 1981 Burt Reynolds flick based on his creation, The Cannonball Run.

Yates says the original illegal, clandestine race was a reaction to a different set of circumstances. "At that time Ralph Nader was in full cry, arguing basically that the automobile be eliminated from the modern world, or slow them down to the point of being useless," he says. "I was using the German autobahn or French autoroutes as evidence that our system was being underutilized. But I realized by 1979 that the highways were becoming more congested and speeds were probably at the proper level. I knew somebody was going to get hurt if we continued."

Yates says his legal efforts to prevent others from using his copyrighted Cannonball Run title have failed, leaving him describing the current effort as "a sleazy copy of something I created." Yates now organizes an annual Cannonball One Lap of America, which sees cars race on a variety of racetracks in the U.S.

Such criticism doesn't ruffle the organizers of the Montreal-based event, in which 120 cars, whose drivers have forked over $8,000 each, leave our city en route to a destination only revealed minutes prior to the competition's start. "Those are fair comments," says Toronto-based event rep Prafull Koli. "But with all respect to Mr. Yates, our event is not a race, it's a rally. Drivers have to maintain a national speed limit under 55 miles per hour. If drivers appear at their checkpoints quicker than what we calculate their limit could be, they'll lose points."

Koli says event promoter Tim Porter chose to launch the race from Montreal because of our "racing heritage" and reputation as "the undisputed party capital of Canada."

Porter will pop over from Europe this spring to drum up interest in the event, which is being marketed as a party and vehicle display as well as a way to raise money for charity.

But driving skills will still be a factor. "Tim [Porter] will try to keep people on their toes, distracting them with six girls in bikinis by the side of the road waving flags, trying to get them to stop and distract them," says Koli. "There'll be some pretty wild parties every night. We're setting it up as a great holiday for everybody."