The Trans-America Grand Prix is an illegal race held every year btw Los Angeles and New York City. Recently released from jail, where he was serving a sentence for killing a girl while driving drunk, racing driver Coy "Cannonball" Buckman (David Carradine) hopes to win the race and get his career back on track. Racing team Modern Motors have promised a contract to either him or his arch-rival Cade Redmond (Bill McKinney) who is also in the race - the contract will go to whichever of them wins. Coy is still on probation and when his parole officer, Linda Maxwell (Veronica Hamel), with whom he is having an affair, discovers he will be crossing state lines in violation of his parole, she attempts to stop him, only to have him force her to accompany him on the race. Redmond also has company in the form of country singer Perman Waters (Gerrit Graham) and his manager Sharma Capri (Judy Canova) who have agreed to pay Redmond's race expenses in return for his taking them with him to New York in his Dodge Charger.