Ghostbusters Take On The Promised One – goldRush Rally GRX

Each year I wonder how Ramin, Aimee and the team will out-do the prior goldRush Rally. Named “The Promised One” they set the expectations high and had to make the 10th anniversary over the top.

While I had been hard at work building out my 40 page Police Guide for all of the participants, I actually wasn’t planning to be on the goldRush Rally this year. It pained me to miss it, but family obligations with an unclear outcome required me to sit this one out. My schedule cleared out suddenly in early June, but it was too late to join in the fun. Or so I thought…

Plans Change In A Flash

One week before the rally I found out there was one spot available. In a 4 hour span I went from going with Omar in his Widebody AMG GTS, to taking my ALPHA 9 E63 AMG. Then as luck would have it (for me) Syed’s co-driver had to back out last minute and I got my spot! I hate last minute preparations but I wasn’t going to let this chance pass me by. First thing I did was spring into action gathering all of my Police countermeasures.

Back to the Themes in 2018

If doing the 10th anniversary goldRush Rally wasn’t enough, the car and theme were right up my alley! The vehicle of choice was Syed’s wife’s Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S Estate Wagon. The theme even more fitting for me, would be done as ECTO 1 from the Ghostbusters! The only problem was, Syed had not started getting costumes together. I immediately took the reins of the project and proceeded to try to put Amazon Prime out of business with the amount of stuff I had to order!

GRX – Boston to Vegas

The Rally started in Boston on June 22nd 2018 and was slated for the next 10 days meandering West, ending in Las Vegas. The 10 year anniversary brought out the normal goldRush Scofflaws and some celebrity guests. Professional Wrestler Goldberg, Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks’ Cliff Avril, NASCAR driver Kurt Busch and Howard Stearns “Ronnie the Limo Driver” would all be joining us.

goldRush Rally GRX Begins!

The start of the Rally was at Underground at the Ink Block. An urban park located underneath the Expressway. A really cool spot to kick off the 10 day adventure. A DJ and tons of fans joined us to make a memorable start to an epic adventure.

After a group photo and drivers meeting we jumped in our cars, engines revved and we enjoyed a Police Motorcade and sped out of Boston.

One State In, Trouble Already

Things went smooth through Maryland but in Connecticut we had our first run-in with the law. We were leading the pack in the Ghostbusters E63 when we blew past a Connecticut State Police Car on the side of the road. Thankfully he wasn’t using radar, but it was clear we were going pretty fast and up to no good.

The Ghostbusters Make A Clean Getaway

At the next exit we dived off the highway and into a gas station. The Novitec Ferrari 488 N-Largo, Omar in the Prior Design Widebody AMG GTS, Keith and Larry in the LBI Limited Porsche 911 followed. We were hoping they wouldn’t. The officer pulled in behind Team Loan Sharks in the red Ferrari and engaged him in a conversation about how fast he was going.

Omar and Keith went around the back of the gas station and got in the drive thru for some coffee. As we watched another couple officers arrive and follow them, Syed and I got in the Wagon and snuck away unnoticed… In a Ghostbusters Wagon with a fake ECTO 1 license plate! The guys left behind ended up with tickets for driving “too fast for conditions” but we snuck away and headed back out onto the Interstate like a boss.

Big Surprise At Barrett Jackson

Our first stop was Barrett Jackson in Uncasville CT where we had a lunch and a VIP private seating area overlooking the auction block. While at lunch we were picked as one of 3 teams to represent goldRush in the Motor Trend Live Stage. Along with Team Salamone and Guntherwerks we were interviewed for their live program.

Private Seating Overlooking The Auction Stage

After our interview with Motor Trend we joined the rest of the goldRush Family inside the auction. It was VIP all the way as we passed through security check points back stage and got to see all of the behind the scenes action inside the Barrett building. A VIP seating area overlooking the auction stage awaited us in typical goldRush fashion.

After Barrett we had a relatively uneventful drive to New York City without incident to the beautiful Lotte Palace Hotel.

Invading New York City

That night there was no formal dinner plans. Seeing that we were in New York though I had to contact Superspeeders Rob Ferretti about getting together. He quickly whipped up dinner reservations just a few minutes from the Hotel and I got to spend some time with some of my Adventure Drives family.

After dinner a “quick trip” to Times Square turned into a fiasco as New York traffic on a Saturday night is just terrible. I missed the party at Marquee, the hottest club in Manhattan featuring Lil Jon which was a pretty awesome from what I heard.