Hot Rod Ramblings: Salt Fever in the Snow

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I’m sure many of you are under snow like me.  You lucky hosers in Socal and Arizona, I’m jealous.  Seeing the white stuff outside made me think of the white stuff 2 hours west of me, the Bonneville Salt Flats, also known as the “Great White Dyno”.  I wanted to post up some pictures from Speedweek 2009.  They’re not glamorous shots or anything, but they remind me of the mecca of hot rodding that is Bonneville and Speedweek that I experienced this past August.  I can’t wait for 2010.

This red Olds is cool.  Dig the aluminum sheet airdam, blower poking through the raked hood, Mooneyes decal and Moondiscs and the front windshield littered with Bonneville Speedweek stickers.  This was the first car I shot when I got on the Salt.

This was the second car I saw.  Love the yellow with white walls against the white stuff.  This truck had a “Bean Bandits – San Diego” plate.  Super clean hot rod here.  Everyone’s gotta have a Shop Truck!

Love this roadster (I think maybe a model A by the body line, I’m still learning) spotted parked in the pits to chat with some old buddies no doubt.  That vintage “Hudson Mfg Co” umbrella tells me this is likely a Bonneville veteran, prepared for sun and rain.  Much respect to the old timers at Speedweek.  Hopefully this will be me in a few years.

Compare the #369 D/GR roadster of Mike Water’s with the rusty street rod above.  Notice the setback drivers position with aero wind screen, roll cage and setback engine.  That’s how its done folks!  Oh, its for sale too.  I actually saw a goodly number of race cars for sale.

The Kelly & Hall #664 Belly Tank Lakester sitting in the pits with drivetrain exposed.  Notice some things here…header covers and tennis balls used to keep the Salt out of the engine.  Check that Datsun pickup’s undercarriage.  See how the Salt sticks like snow?

Look at the rearend sitting just off-centered enough so that the driveshaft is centered.  Instead of lightweightness like in many forms of racing, land speed racing on salt requires more weight for more traction.  Look at the stack of weights just behind the engine.

Shawn Killian’s EJ25 turbo Subaru powered Rat Fink inspired belly tank lakester.  One of my favorite cars at Speedweek 2009.  When asked, Shawn said it was at 2.8 Liters from 2.5.

I heard it went 220-something mph that day.  I love how it still retains a TMIC (Top Mount Intercooler) just like the Subaru Impreza WRX STi that the engine comes from.  Takes skill and lots of custom fabrication no doubt to pack that much “stuff” into a belly tanker body.

Out of tech inspection and ready to get in line.  Check out just how low this belly tanker rides.  Nothing like scraping belly on the Salt at 200+ eh?  What a ride that’s gotta be!  Look off into the horizon.  Nothing but sky!  Like another planet out there at Bonneville, Utah.

There you have it!  Some Salt amongst all this Snow that’s keeping me indoors during the Christmas break.  Hope you enjoyed a look back at Speedweek 2009.  I hope you can make it out to Speedweek 2010.  I know I’ll be there.  Leave a comment below to let us know if you’ll be there!

See you on the Salt!

Hechtspeed

“Internet Barn Find #10″: Burkland’s 400 MPH Streamliner

Dallas Volk, my Salt Flats insider, sent me this link.  He is good friends with the Burkland family.  I knew I needed to share their website with you all.   This post does come with some sad news, that Gene Burkland has passed away this week.  I mean this post to be in deep respect and a tribute to Gene and his family’s great history at Bonneville.

The Burkland Streamliner is a twin Donovan Chrysler powered, 4 wheel driven racecar that has gone over 400 mph.  Please take a look at their website HERE as it is full of pictures and information, as well as links to other Land Racing websites and stories.  This blazing fast Streamliner was designed and built by Gene and his son Tom Burkland.  If that’s not “My Ride is Me” I don’t know what is…Here’s a quick blurb from the site about the Burkland family:

“Gene and Betty Burkland, from Great Falls, Montana (the first SCTA members from that state), have been active in racing, and at Bonneville in particular, for over three decades: their first Bonneville car was a chopped-top, Chrysler-powered ‘53 Studebaker Competition Coupe, with which Gene set a record in A/BFCC at 255+ mph in 1978 (this car was recently restored to racing condition and ran at Speed Week in 2000 and 2001).
As soon as he grew old enough, their son Tom joined the team, and promoted the building of their next car, a Datsun-based, Chrysler-powered, ground-effect Competition Coupe, which allowed him to set a AA/BFCC record at 294+mph in 1985.
Around that time came the idea of building a streamliner, which took all of the next ten years to become a reality.
As much as the finished car looks like a fairly sophisticated, high-tech, million-dollar job, it is in fact strictly a family effort: in true hot-rodder tradition, it was home-built using generous supplies of the most precious materials available at no cost: skill, hard work and enthusiasm, plus a little help from their friends!
Then of course, Tom’s experience as an aerospace engineer (he worked on F-16’s) was a key factor in the design of the streamliner…”

 Do yourself and favor and browse the site for a few minutes, you’ll be inspired!

Hechtspeed

Bonner’s Bad Berkeley: A 310 MPH Sports Car

…oh ya, and its FRONT WHEEL DRIVE.  Tell that to the “wrong wheel drive” haters!

Pikesan and I first met Dr. Bonner Denton, Professor of Chemistry and Geosciences at the University of Arizona, in the starting line at Speed Week 2009.  His crew was performing the final preparations for a speed run.  He gave us his whole land speed racing’s history in about 10 minutes.  The more he explained the workings of the Berkeley, the more interesting it got.

Racing on the Salt Flats is a funny thing.  Bonner Denton, owner/driver of this record bearing 1959 Berkeley sports car describes racing on the salt similar to driving on 1-2 inches of wet snow.  Try putting 2400-2500 HP’s of twin turbocharged 540 cu in of  Donovan V8 goodness to the salty ground.  Nope, he doesn’t need a push truck either.  This baby drives off the line under its own power.

Going back to 2000 when Bonner first started running this particular Bad Berkeley, it replaced his Bocar.  The Bocar set the record at 264 MPH with an A motor in 2001.

The first thing you notice about the Berkeley is the super elongated nose, which gives it a streamliner-esque look. Rule changes allowed the wheelbase to be lengthened and the nose streamlined for the Modified Sports class.  Bonner describes in his own words: “That’s where science and technology comes in.  You have to be knowledgeable about aerodynamic forces.  What you have to do is build a car that will NOT fly.  We hope not to fly, but quite frankly, I never intended this car to go much faster than 300 mph.”

Although the Berk’ has run as fast as 310 MPH out the back door as its called, the 3 records held by the car are still in the 200’s.  They are A/BGMS (440ci – 500ci engine size, Blown Gas Modified Sports) at 264.007 MPH set in 2001, AA/BFMS (501ci and larger engine size, Blown Fuel Modified Sports) at 272.232 MPH set August 2009, the AA/BGMS (501ci and larger engine size, Blown Gas Modified Sports) at 298.983 MPH in 2008.  That’s fast.  “Bonner’s Bad Berkeley” is THE fastest Sports Car!  And he’s not done yet.  He has his sights on a record over 300 and the infamous Blue Hat.

Check the engine specs Bonner sent me.  The car makes an estimated 2400-2500 HP at about 20 psi of boost with the AA engine.

Class AA	540 cu in Donovan 4.5 x 4.25
Heads	Dart
Cam	Crower (Custom Grind)
Rods	Carrilo
Crank	Lunati
Pistons	Ross
Turbos	Garrett Air Research Custom
Intake	Modified Hilborn/Fast electronic
Headers	Custom
Class A	493 cu in Donovan 4.5 x 3.875
Heads	Dart
Cam	Crower (Custom Grind)
Rods	Carrilo
Crank	Lunati
Pistons	Ross
Turbos	Garrett Air Research Custom
Intake	Modified Hilborn/Fast electronic
Headers	Custom
Frame	1-5/8 x 0.125 1020 DOM space frame
Differential	Coleman quick-change modified for FWD
Transmission	4L80E Lockup Converter

Let’s take a look at some images that will show you the ins-and-outs of the car.

Here’s a pic of the Berkeley in its skinless state.  Pretty straight forward chassis design, at least from the untrained eye.  Looks very beefy.  Interesting to see the quick change in the extreme front end of the car.

Here’s a look at the large exhaust.  I love how the exhaust pics up salt from inside the body from the front wheels.  Those Garret turbo’s are Large and In Charge, that’s for sure.

Boost is the only way to get 2500 HP right?  I wonder if that exhaust aids in forward propulsion?  That’s gotta have some force behind it…right?  Maybe it works as a stabilizer, liked vectored thrust?

This shot was taken in the pits.  You can see the Laptop downloading run data sitting on the “dash”.  This interior is all GO.  You can see the Ignition switch with permanent marker to point you in the right direction.  The big tach right in front of your face.  Not sure how much you’re looking at that at the 3rd, 4th and 5th mile marker.  The Salt is smooth, but not that smooth.  I can’t imagine what its like to go 300 MPH!?  You can also see the blue Bonneville stickers from years gone by.  These blue stickers are proof that these guys have been around the Salt awhile.

Here’s a drivers view to his left.  You have the shifter engaging the 4L80E transmission.  Be careful not to bump the Fuel cutoff shift to the “OFF” position, also in permanent black marker.  Keep it simple right.  Looks like a fire extinguisher  at the ready in case of emergency.  Bare aluminum seat holding Dr. Bonner down during his runs.  Again, super spartan here, no cushion?  Crazy!  That is hardcore!  Throw in some ziptied roll cage padding and its off to the races!

So, with the body off the Berkeley, I found this view interesting.  First, you wouldn’t think this was a race wheel.  It’s different than the pic above in Bonners shop.  That’s a beefy 6 lug bolt pattern too.  Emphasis is certainly on strength and durability as opposed to lightweight or looks.

Check out that “salt flap” behind the wheel.  Can you image how fast that tire turns?  Then imagine the force at which the salt flings up off the tire and hits the salt shield/flap?

This last pic was taken at the end of the day.  Preparation for the following days runs continues until about 7pm when they kick everyone off the Salt.  You just leave your racecar and trailer on the Salt over night.  But back to this picture, Bonner is at the Laptop downloading data while his crew is nose-to-the-grindstone with their individual tasks at hand.  These guys have to be total Salt Heads and dedicated friends to come all the way out from Arizona to slave away in the heat and salt (its everywhere and sticks to everything) in support of Bonner’s Bad Berkeley.

There you have it!  A 300 MPH Sports Car!  Good luck next year and here’s hoping to seeing you with a Blue Hat in 2010.

Hechtspeed

Click To Enlarge the Pictures

Rollin’ in the Dust at El Mirage

Before attending Speed Week at Bonneville this past August, I had no idea what El Mirage was. But once the land speed racing bug gets ya, it gets ya bad. So rather then waiting until next year to drive out to Bonneville salt flats again I decided to check out another SCTA event, the 2009 finals at El Mirage dry lake bed.

There is one drastic difference between racing at Bonneville and El Mirage; Salt vs. Dirt. From what drivers say, the dirt is more of a challenge to drive on then the salt. From a spectators perspective, the dirt kicks up a trail so you can’t see the car as it speeds away. Both venues have their draws though. One big draw to El Mirage (for me) is that it’s a mere 2 hours from Los Angeles, just outside of Palmdale, California. You know what that means, my ’55 Studebaker got to get her little tires on the dirt!

And there was a lot of dirt! I’ve never experienced anything quite like rolling onto the dry lake and speeding 4 un-marked miles west to the starting line amidst a flurry of campers’ off-road recreational vehicles. Stude had a good time on the dirt and I think she wanted to race, but for now was merely a spectator.

Studebaker Champions being somewhat of an icon for land speed racing, I was hoping to find some Studebaker racers at El Mirage but didn’t find any this time around. I was also hoping to see Tonya Turk and Gene Winfield get into the El Mirage 200mph club  (dubbed the “Dirty 2’s,”)but this wasn’t the year for that. There was only one 200 mph club inductee (each “track” has their own separate 200mph club) and that was Erik Hansson driving a belly tank roadster at 203.059 beating out the standing record of 194.744 by nearly 9mph!

I missed seeing many of the 148 racing entries and 18 records set this year since I was only there Sunday afternoon. Next year I’ll have to put the whole weekend of November 13-14 on my calendar and catch it all. That will of course be after the 2010 Bonneville Speed Week August 14-20th. Mark your calendars now and I hope to see some of ya’ll on the salt – or the dirt!

Check out all the pictures from El Mirage 2009 at the MyRideisMe gallery and if ya want more info on Bonneville/El Mirage head on over to the SCTA website.

Happy Trails!

Stromberg Carburetors and “Old Crow” Bonneville Land Speed Record

Stromberg Carburetor is proud to announce the first World Land Speed Record powered by New Stromberg 97 carburetors. Congratulations to Bobby Green and the Old Crow Speed Shop crew from Burbank, CA for shattering their 104mph 2008 V4/FS record with a new 127.270 mph pass at Bonneville’s Speed Week in August 2009 with their belly-tank lakester.

The traditional belly tank lakester has been a Bonneville favorite since Bill Burke fixed a war-surplus aircraft drop tank onto an early Ford chassis back in 1946. The natural streamline shape of the tanks, used during the war to hold extra fuel on aircraft which could then be jettisoned or “dropped”, was the perfect ready-made streamlined race car body. The Old Crow Team was put together specifically to maintain this tradition.

In the FS (Fuel Streamline) class, the design of the body is restricted only to the extent that at least two wheels must be covered. The V4 engine class is for Vintage (pre-1935) 4-cylinder engines.

Says Stromberg owner Clive Pew, “I met the Old Crow guys with heads in hands on Monday as they couldn’t get enough fuel into the very hot H&H Antique prepared 4-banger with the two old Stromberg 48s they had. I had New 97s with me, so three went onto the engine’s hand-build plenum-equipped intake. They needed to make up a riser for the center carb to avoid fouling on the magneto, but a sheet of plywood from another team was pressed into action. Real Salt Flats ingenuity in action.”
With little time to tune, Bobby smashed his own 2008 record with a 127.270 mph pass, backed up on Wednesday. A new V4F/FS record and the first New Genuine Stromberg 97-powered world Land Speed record!

Said Bobby Green, “The Old Crow Team were all talking about what great quality the new Stromberg 97s are. They don’t leak. They don’t even weep. And they did the job pretty much straight out of the box. Thanks for the help and nice work.”

Street, strip or salt, the genuine Stromberg 97 continues to maintain its record of over 70 years of hot rod performance.

Stromberg Carburetor replacement parts, new carbs and tech info

Save The Salt: Preserving a Legendary Race Track

With all the Bonneville Salt Flats racing coverage and stories from MyRideisMe.com, maybe the most important story is the behind the scenes one, which is the “Save the Salt” program.  Please follow along as Larry Volk (Chairman of the Board) and the Save the Salt Board Members provide a history of the Save the Salt Program and how important it is to the future of Land Speed Racing at Bonneville.

What is Save the Salt?

It has come to our attention that there are a number of folks out there that are not fully aware of what our Save the Salt organization is all about.  To that end we have comprised the following brief history of when and why Save the Salt was formed.  We hope this tells the story “In a Nutshell”.

Thanks to Mary West (Secretary of Save The Salt) for putting this history together and thanks to JoAnn Carlson (SCTA/BNI Office) for forwarding the note to us from a gentleman who is a new competitor at Bonneville.  He said that he knew Save the Salt was important but he wondered what it was.  By the way, he sent a donation along with his inquiry.

Save The Salt, a brief history:

During the (1930-1940) era the Bonneville Salt Flats was able to support the weight of 10-ton twin-engine streamliners that roared down the 13.5-mile long Race Courses. The Hot Rods roared onto the salt flats in 1949 with the first Speed Week event and have run every year since.  Of course a few years were missed due to weather.

By the early 1960’s the pioneers of Land Speed Racing began to notice subtle changes in the surface of the raceway.  There were discussions of why the surface seemed to be getting weaker and that this unique body of land was shrinking.  We were able to get only as much as 7 miles of decent salt for our courses, if we were lucky.  It wasn’t long before fingers were pointed at the mining industry on the south side of interstate 80.  Owned by Kaiser Chemical, their operations covered some 50 sq. miles of the salt flats.

Rick Vesco, our first chairman of Save The Salt, spearheaded the effort to meet with Utah State and Federal Government officials as well as the Chemical Company to resolve the problem of salt depletion.
The goal was to return the salt that was accumulating in their settling ponds at the mining facility to the Raceway.  These early cries for help continued until 1989 when the Save the Salt Organization was founded and struggled to achieve recognition as they began to see the heavy toll the mining industry was taking on the salt flats.  In the meantime Kaiser Chemical had sold the operation to Reilly Chemical and a new 20-year lease for mining had been signed.

The once healthy 18 plus inches of salt had become so fragile that the Race Courses had to be moved farther and farther east.  Running on the long International Race Course was no longer possible.
Reilly Industries was forcing water through canals crisscrossing the flats into their evaporation ponds from which potash was extracted.  It was estimated that the process was taking an estimated 850,000 tons of salt from the flats each year.

The Save the Salt Board has members from the Southern California Timing Assn (SCTA) / Bonneville Nationals Inc (BNI). and Utah Salt Flats Racers Assn (USFRA).  This group was able to negotiate a restoration agreement in 1997.  Working hand in hand with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Reilly Chemical Co. they began to work together to return salt from the ponds.

The Lay down Project was to reverse the process by pumping brine water back onto the salt flats at the rate of 1.5 million tons of salt each year for 5 years. The BLM, Reilly Chemical and the Racers embraced the plan. It was a giant step forward with Government and Industry working together.

From the beginning of the pumping project racers began to notice changes in the surface.  By the end of the 5-year pumping plan the racers were able to get back to running on the old International Course.
Though not as long, there was a noticeable difference in the hardness and durability of the racecourses and on a few occasions we were able to get as much as an 11 mile course.

Once again the Potash Plant has been sold.  Intrepid Industries is now the owner and has shown an interest in our quest to have a healthy Bonneville Salt Flats and a strong racecourse surface.  They showed their support by once again starting the pumping process the first of February 2005.
We commend them for their efforts.  The Save the Salt Board is committed to working with both the BLM and Intrepid Industries.  While there is still a lot more to be done, our vigilance appears to have paid off, not just for the racing competitors but also by preserving this historical natural treasure, The Bonneville Salt Flats, for future generations to come.

Latest Update:

I made a trip to Intrepid Thurs. Feb 26th to see just how well the pumping was doing, talked to Russ Draper he told me that they started the pumping on Mon 2/23/09. As of Wed 2/26 they had pumped 25,000 tons of salt on to the flats. The brackish water that is being pumped has 23% salt, this is about the maximum that the pumps can handle.
Russ indicated to me that because of the trouble they encountered with the brackish well pump, they would not be able to pump as much as they would like to because they will need to start their production, he said he will keep us informed as to how much they are able to pump.

I took some pictures for every one to put on their websites.

Thanks: Larry

Anyone wishing to contribute to the Save the Salt fund may do so by mailing to:

Save The Salt
Russ Eyres
3673 Millikin Ave.
San Diego, Ca. 92122

Technical Advisors: Rick Vesco, Bonner Denton, Gordon Hoyt, Duane McKinney

Save The Salt Board:
Chairman: Larry Volk
Secretary: Mary West
Treasure: Mike Waters
BNI, Roy Creel
SCTA, Mike Cook
USFRA, Gary Allen

Rare 1976 Chevy Cosworth Vega Twin Cam Gets Salty

While at World Finals at Bonneville on Friday, I was cruisin’ the pits looking for cool cars.  I spotted the little red Vega with its hood up and the small crew busy working.  I walked over and just started watching and listening to the sweet Cosworth powered twin cam engine.  I did not know anything about the rare Cosworth Vega (only about 3500 total built during 2 years of production), but I left with the interesting basics.  The owner/driver Frank Sloan from California answered all my noobie questions and left me wanting more.  Luckily, his “Cosworth Vega Owners Association” decal had a website that can give you the history of the Chevy.  The concept actually started out as early as like 1970 or so.  The Chevy Special Projects group (Chevy Racing Dept.) wanted a hot little econo-rod to compete with BMW’s 2002ti and Datsun’s 510.  Original designs called for a 2.0L twin cam, 16 valve aluminum head and block built by the Indy car engine builder Cosworth to make around 185hp.  After having smog certification test failures, the car was late to the market and only showing 110hp. 

Back to Frank Sloan’s Bonneville racer shall we.  Frank’s Vega used to race in SCCA road races in the late 70’s/early 80’s.  Frank picked it up and with his hot rod tricks, the car is making somewhere around 260hp naturally aspirated. He has to keep it that way, because he runs in the G/PRO class (G = 1.51-2.0 Liter engine, PRO = Production car).  Oh, and Frank just set a new class record on Saturday during World Finals, at a 2 run top speed average of 156.818 MPH, raising the record about 3 MPH, which was set back in 2001.  And get this, the little 4 pot of fury shifts at 9500 RPM.  Oh ya!!!  You can see from the pics, it runs a wicked tubular header that exits in front of the front tire, has a very big throttle body/intake manifold setup built by “BJ’s Racing Manifolds” and is using SDS (Simple Digital Systems) tuning equipment.  Its running Crane Cams camshafts recently reground to about 256 degrees when the engine suffered some internal damage, and some where around 13.5-14.0 compression.

I tried to snap some interesting photos of Frank and his “crew chief” who I failed to get a name for.  Sorry man!  You can see in the pics below that his crew man is checking valve lash under the cam lobes with feeler guages, and removing and replacing the valve cover.  It’s weird to see all the valvetrain (springs/retainers/followers) underneath the cams instead of on top like modern DOHC engines.  Remember, this design is over 30 years old and with modern tuning, Frank and crew more than doubled its factory power rating.  If I remember correctly, the factory top speed was 112 MPH.  Frank has added about 44 MPH without touching aerodynamics, besides a lower ride height.  He can only change gear, tire diameter, ride height, tranny and engine.  Nice work! 

Doesn’t the little Vega look like a smaller Chevelle?  The bummer of this car is it sold for only $600 less than a brand new Corvette in its day.  Way to go Chevy Marketing.  It touted up the Cosworth Vega by saying “Buy one Vega for the price of two!”  What?  Dude, what were those Marketing guys smoking back in ‘75, “man”!  ha ha  It’s too bad.  Small 4 cylinder lightweight sporty cars went the way of front wheel drive by the mid to late 1980’s.  Chevy should bring back the Cosworth Vega by changing the Cobalt from front wheel drive to rear, keep the SS’s turbocharged 260hp 4 cylinder and call it the Vega SS.  Now you’re talking.! Then, the Marketing department can say “Get a Corvette for half the price!”.  Sign me up!

Frank, thanks for sharing your passion with me.  Also, thanks for racing this rare piece of Chevy history instead of letting it sit in a Museum!  Oh, and p.s. thanks for the Chocolate cookie!  Another example of the fine people you’ll meet on the Bonneville Salt Flats, they’ll even share their cookies!

Hechtspeed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arizona Model T Streamliner Destroys a Record!

I was thrilled to find Tom Brawner of Scottsdale as a member at MyRideisMe.com.  Not only does Tom have a killer 1956 Chevy with perfect looking Real Rodder wheels with the Dow 7 coating, but he’s also got pictures of the the Corsair 3 T land speed racing streamliner powered by a turbocharge 4 cylinder!

Tom crew’s on the Corsair owned by Joel Young of Phoenix, Arizona.  He set a new world speed record for 4 cylinder flathead engine under 220 cubic inches with a speed of 130 mph. An amazing feat considering he was running on a 99.448 mph record set in 2004. Even more amazing, due to problems with the transmission shifter this record was set using only 1st and 2nd gear!

With the shifter problem resolved Corsair 3T bumped its previous record to 166 mph on its third run and backed it up the next day with a run of 154 mph for an average of 160mph. The slower speed on the forth run was due to a bad start and slick track.

The photo above was taken on the salt and features from left to right,  Brad Taylor – crew member, Joel Young – driver and owner, Tom Brawner – crew member,  and Dennis Cling – crew member.

Here’s some powertrain details: 196 cu. in. Ford T flathead

Engine modifications? Special crank, rods, pistons and aluminum head. Turbo charged

Transmission: Jack Knight 2 speed trans axle with overdrive attachment for 4 forward speeds.

Class details: V4F/BFS, Vintage four cylinder flathead under 220 cu in. Blown fuel streamliner.

History of the car: The car was run as the Thermo King Diesel in the 70s, then the car was totally rebuilt to conform to current rules, but was repainted with the original Thermo King paint scheme.

For more pictures and a bunch of build pics of this really slick looking streamliner, check out Hawk’s custom garage here at MyRideisMe.com.

Thanks for the info Tom! I can’t believe with only 20 or so square miles to cover, I didn’t even see you out on the salt! All land speed racers are all welcome at MyRideisMe.com a community for car lovers of all kinds. 1300+ members can’t be wrong so why not sign up today by entering your member name and email, that’s it!

Bonneville Speed Week’s Friendliest BBQ

When you’re on the salt, you’re either preparing to race or racing. The atmosphere is  more cooperative than you’re likely to find at any other kind of racing, but you’re still busy. Unpack, tech, race, hopefully impound (that means you have the potential to set a record!) then back in the early morning for a record run.  If you’re successful backing up your record, you go back to tech for a final inspection. If not, back to the pits to make a few tweaks to the car, then back in line to start over again.

Jon Amo, the founder of Landracing.com found that the land speed racers, especially the ones who are connected through the internet forum and chat, need a place to catch up with old and new friends and hear who’s running what and how fast.  That was the birth of “Salt Talks”. It’s a social gathering held on Sunday evening of 2009 Speed Week after the day’s racing was done.

About 6 years ago at around 5:30 PM, not long before Salt Talks were to kick off, Amo was walking around at the well known, “Bend in the Road” asking for a charcoal grill when Nancy and Jon Wennerberg heard.  Nancy said, “You need some women to run it!” So for a couple years after that, Nancy and Jon ran the Salt Talks, a BBQ, social and raffle with tons of great prizes.  Then, about a year-and-a-half after that, Jon, better known as “Seldom Seen Slim” bought Landracing.com and kept up the tradition of Salt Talks which has grown to, “A picnic for about 300 of our friends!” as Jon puts it. This was the 10 year anniversary.

So pull up a chair, a freshly made hamburger, hot dog or the specialty pasties. Pasties are a meat pie made of coarse ground beef, cubed or thin sliced potato, maybe some other veggie filler, onion, and seasoning.  This mixture is wrapped in a pie-crust-like dough and baked ’til the meat is cooked. Pasties are a staple of Salt Talks.

Slim promises, “We’re not going to have a lie detector test here… so you can tell us how fast you used to be, or how fast you would’ve done if you hadn’t broke.” He continued, “One year, for someone’s birthday, a $10,000 computer controlled fireworks show happened immediately after Salt Talks.  So you never know what’s gonna happen!”

Special thanks to Slim and Nancy and the other great folks at the landracing.com discussion forum for their hospitality and education on my first trip to Speed Week. I hope to see all of you again next year.

So you know, Nancy’s the real deal! She was in impound (remember, that’s a good thing!) with her production bike waiting to make her record run during Salt Talks. She set a record the next day at just under 200 mph. She ran 199.355 to qualify for the record, then 198.48 mph to back it up. The record she got is 198.909, upping the previous one of 196.604. (Somebody send me a picture!)

For an insane number of great shots from Speed Week 2009 race cars, show cars and the race bikes too (and tons more from years gone by!) check out photographer, “Ray the Rat’s” pictures here.

Bonneville Veteran Dies at Speed Week

With all the excitement about Bonneville Speed Week, before I post my first blog and pictures, I want to show my respect following the tragic death of a great family man and land speed racer, Barry Bryant.

Unfortunately, I only knew of Barry Bryant of Anderson, California by his race car.  I told some friends about a sinister looking, long and bad, silver and black competition coupe that stood out as one of my favorites on the salt.  After describing the car as best I could, I learned it was the Bryant family’s “Tom Thumb Special”

Late in the afternoon of 8/9/2009, Barry Bryant crashed near the 5 mile marker on the long course at Bonneville traveling close to 200 mph.

MyRideisMe.com would like to express our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Barry Bryant.

If you knew Barry, please leave a comment.

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