Bandits roll through Harrison

Staff Photo/Dwain Lair
Pontiac Trans Ams filled Rush Avenue between the Boone County Courthouse and the Harrison Daily Times this morning during the Bandit Run 2009.

By DAVID HOLSTED
Times Staff davidh@harrisondaily.com
Published: Monday, May 11, 2009 11:56 AM
A bit of 70s nostalgia came to the Harrison this morning as the Bandit Run made a stop on the courthouse square.

The Bandit Run is a “road rally” made up of fans of the Burt Reynolds-Sally Fields movie “Smokey and the Bandit” and owners of Pontiac Trans Am/Firebird, a car that was prominently featured in the film.

The run is sponsored by Restore a Muscle Car of Lincoln, Neb., and Year One of Braselton, Georgia. This is the third year for the event, and more than 100 people from around the country and Canada have registered. One Trans-Am owner from Maine said he drove 24 hours to join the run at Branson.
The Bandit Run left Branson this morning before making its stop in Harrison.

According to event organizer David Hall, about 55 vehicles stopped in Harrison, but he expected many more to join up along the route. Most of the vehicles were black and gold Trans-Ams, like the one in the movie. However, a Buford T. Justice 1977 Pontiac police car stood out.

Making this year’s run more special was the group’s 18-wheeler, restored to look exactly like the one in “Smokey and the Bandit.” The truck and trailer will accompany the group on its entire run.

Rather than “east bound and down,” as the movie’s theme song said, the Bandit Run’s itinerary was southbound as it made its way down Arkansas Highway 7 to Hot Springs. It will then head east to Memphis (Graceland), Nashville (Opryland Hotel), Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and then to Atlanta and the Year One facility.

Hall is the owner of Restore a Muscle Car and his business’ specialty, he said, was the black“Smokey and the Bandit” Trans-Am. He started marketing that angle and the idea for the Bandit Run was an offshoot.
As Hall stood among the loudly idling Trans-Ams, drivers with Burt Reynolds hats emerging from the drivers’ seats and horns blaring “Dixie,” he expressed his enjoyment of the event.   “It’s quite a great feeling,” Hall said, “having a large group of people sharing the same interest.”