Math is not subjective- but how we use it is. The Cannonball run is an American underground speed contest where “cannonballers” aka participants- drive from New York to Los Angeles on a 2800 mile journey over public roads open to other traffic. The record is just over 25 hours. So yes. You can drive 2000 miles in one day because you can drive almost 3000 miles in just over a day. Check the math on that- and it isn’t theoretical. We know it can be done because it HAS been done. You probably aren’t going to accomplish that feat in your hand me down Honda Accord- most record holders of recent times have been higher end exotic or performance cars, although the most recent record was set using a Modified Ford Mustang that was actually a rental car. Common modifications include things to detect and avoid police and road hazards, power upgrades and supporting reliability modifications, and of course- modifying the vehicles to carry LOTS of extra fuel to cut or eliminate fuel stops.
Indianapolis 500 regularly finishes in under 3.5 hours, so 2000 miles could be easily done in under 14 hours, but this and your Cannonball info, though interesting, doesn't address the fact that the math challenged individual in the OP's post seemed to be arguing that he could do this as a matter of routine, without resorting to a closed track and trained pit crews or driving a modified vehicle cross country while persistently breaking speed limits and avoiding all bottlenecks and law enforcement.
I would disagree on the point that I doubt most people would drive 2,000 miles in a single trip outside of occasional vacation trips or if their work demands it. So I don’t think we can infer this person means to do this routinely. I would agree they seem to imply that they could do it any time they wanted. They almost certainly do not mean on a closed track- hence why I used the cannonball run as it takes place on open streets. Most people break speed limits persistently- driving 35 in a 25, 25 in a 10- and few people actually observe freeway limits. In fact the 75mph listed in the original example is well above the speed limit for much of the country. So I’d also contend that persistently breaking the speed limit is a nonissue- although admittedly there is difference in 10mph over and 100+ mph over the speed limit.
As for the modified vehicle- that is likely true. As I said- most people don’t have the sorts of vehicles that such an attempt would be practical in. But the latest record was set in a rental car which was returned after the rental, and no permanent changes were made to it- so with the will and the means it is practical that anyone with those things should be able to relatively easily get most any car up to the task.
What we can say- is that most people would not be able to make that journey in under a day. We can also say that doing so would be illegal and arguably dangerous- more dangerous than making the trip at lower speeds. There are also not 26 hours in a day, which I believe was a major part of the joke.
But my point is 2 fold:
1. It is entirely possible to make that journey in a day, and has been done.
2. We see a person using math as the proof that it cannot be done. While their math is correct- their conclusion is not. It can be done. Simply having the math, or even the math being right- isn’t enough. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to impart this on young engineers over the decades. You can know everything there is in the book. You can look at a problem and model it, all your math can be right and it can work perfectly on paper... and in two life it won’t work. All you have to do is forget one important factor, misapply a single principle so that your modeled expected behavior isn’t reflective of a real system, make one bad assumption, or fail to factor in certain realities of the physical world.
Within the parameters this person set- the task is not possible. In the real world, no one had to adhere to those parameters. Their model does out the window the second that you don’t follow their formula.
1. It is entirely possible to make that journey in a day, and has been done.
2. We see a person using math as the proof that it cannot be done. While their math is correct- their conclusion is not. It can be done. Simply having the math, or even the math being right- isn’t enough. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to impart this on young engineers over the decades. You can know everything there is in the book. You can look at a problem and model it, all your math can be right and it can work perfectly on paper... and in two life it won’t work. All you have to do is forget one important factor, misapply a single principle so that your modeled expected behavior isn’t reflective of a real system, make one bad assumption, or fail to factor in certain realities of the physical world.