I love this. Not only because it’s an incredible story, but this is some first-rate storytelling by Doug DeMuro.

The gist is Ed Bolian –  who is, unsurprisingly, a Lamborghini salesman – not only broke the cross-US driving speed record, he tore it off the wall, jumped up and down on it, poured gasoline on it and set it on fire.

For the record, Ed (and two accomplices) did the drive in 28 hours and 50 minutes, incredibly knocking more than two hours off the previous record.

Honestly, it would have been surprising if he didn’t break the record after all the head-spinning, years-long preparation he did, including tricking out the vehicle: a 2004 Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG. Modifications included installing two 22-gallon fuel tanks in the trunk, a police scanner, two Garmin GPS units, three radar detectors, a kill-switch for the rear lights, a CB radio, and two laser jammers. Slap on a jet engine and you’ve basically got the Batmobile.

Just look at it!

It should probably go without saying that attempting to break this record is highly illegal.

I recommend reading the full story.