Few images are as inherently cinematic as the sight of a leather-clad biker on the back of a two-wheeled symbol of freedom, an endless horizon in front of them, and their checkered past behind them.

The 1981 comedy classic "The Cannonball Run" was based on a series of illegal coast-to-coast car races held across the United States in the 1970s, but its origins began on two wheels. The events were ...