Wilt

Basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain claims he drove from New York to Los Angeles, a trip of 2964 miles, in 36 hours and 10 minutes. That would require an average driving speed of about 82 mph assuming no stops. Well obviously there were stops for fuel, etc. If we adjust for, say, one hour of stops, that takes the average speed up to 85 mph. So yeah, not undo-able. Of course, driving west he got to turn his clock back three times for time changes, but I don’t think he was including those extra 3 hours in his time. (Readers, do not attempt to change your car clocks when you’re driving, especially when you’re driving 85 mph!) I tend to believe Wilt based on the exactness of his numbers.

Charles Lindbergh took 33.5 hours to cover 3610 miles on his transatlantic flight. But he didn’t have to make any stops, pay any tolls or deal with traffic, and he had a tailwind. Lindbergh had it easy.

Lindbergh’s plane is on display in the Smithsonian. Can we get Wilt’s car in there please?