Bonneville Salt Flats Streamliner Special thaks to Spectre Performance for extended 2011 Bonneville Speed Week coverage If you're following the racing from Bonneville Speed Week, you probably saw the "Maro Special" featured as one of the Baddest Race Cars of Bonneville. Owner Bobby Moore made the baddest list twice when details of his World's Fastest Corvette hit the web. So if you need details about this nitro- burning all-wheel drive streamliner, be my guest and hit the links above. This story's about the quest for 400 mph. Bobby's quick to point out the many people who helped and continue to help make the Maro Special, a concept started back in 1999, a reality. One key to running 400 is safety and the Bonneville Salt Flats master of Safety is Lee Kennedy. Lee's listed as the "Car Technical Co-chair" on the SCTA website, but for this race car he's been the mile by mile co-pilot of reaching 400 safely. For previous salt attacks including Speed Week, running fast wasn't possible. As Bobby said, "Before getting up in the morning, I'd have to start thinking about turning left." In other words,...

2011 Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Car Show Video Recap My man Josh Clason did it again! I see people walking around with hand held video cameras shooting people, cars, whatever all day long. When will you ever watch it again? Not so for Josh! With his #1 supporter, photographer... also his loving wife Becca, Josh wheels the heavy gear around Viva's car show to get the best, clean shots. Enjoy. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/23517705[/vimeo] Josh is an independent that can shoot your hot rod shop, club event or track day with the same professionalism you see here. Get in touch at Joshclason.com. Need more? Check out Josh's first video shared with MyRideisMe.com: Bonneville Salt Flats Video The Salt "It Sings" Everything else from Viva Las Vegas Car...

Hot Rod Video from Idaho Give credit when it's due. I gotta say, I like taking pictures. Not just pictures of hot rods, but just about everything. And although editing takes some time, I enjoy it! For the pictures, recomposing them, making the most of the colors, zooming in or out... it's fun and the end result's rewarding. That's not true for me with video. I hate editing video! For that reason, the few I've done aren't much to look at. On the other hand, check out the handiwork from Josh Clason. Josh tells us: "I had the opportunity to cruise up to Boise, Idaho a few months ago and meet with Matt Whitlock of Wrecked Metals. We had a great time shooting this over the course of 2 days. The cars and motorcycles Matt has put his touch on have been amazing." [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/20498710[/vimeo] Josh first caught my eye when in his first trip to Bonneville, he shot this Bonneville Speed Week Video. The boy's got skills! Josh, let us know what's next! More on Josh at his home page: JoshClason.com/ Can you shoot video like...

Auto Meter STACK for Bonneville Salt Flats Racing From the analog data of "Old School" and to accuracy, speed and ease of digital data logging. That's the simple goal here. From there, the Volk Brothers Racing 1929 Model A roadster is looking to use the data at the race track to modify or update the engine setup to ultimately go fast and break a record. Then, the reality of salt flats racing steps in... Photo courtesy of SCTA website Backing up a step, Auto Meter Gauges, Volk Brothers Racing and MyRideisMe.com teamed up for Speed Week 2010 and World of Speed for some high speed runs down the Bonneville Salt Flats.  Our salt infested friends, the Volk family, run a Ford roadster with a fuel injected big block Chevy engine. They compete in the B/GR (373ci-449ci engine/Racing Gas, Roadster) class at Bonneville during Bonneville Speed Week and the Utah Salt Flats Racing Associations World of Speed. "...all while trying to keep a 200 mph rolling brick on a straight line for 5 miles." The Volk family salt flat racing pedigree includes (what seems like) 200 mph club membership for...

Hot Rods at Bonneville Salt Flats   Every year tons of hot rods, rat rods and some customs make the road trip of a lifetime to the Bonneville Salt Flats for Speed Week.  I spotted these hot rods cruising around the pits and thought you might like to see 'em.  I gave you all a sneak peek in the Speed Week 2010 Cruise In blog post for some of these rods.  This time we'll get down and salty with my favorite rides of Speed Week.     This is H.A.M.B.er Bass's bad Model A 5 Window Coupe that made the Hot Rod Pilgrimage from Dallas, Texas by himself.  Yes, SOLO!!!.  My jaw dropped when I saw this Coupe parked next to the tech inspection area.  All I could say was "Wow!".  I was too curious and found his thread on the HAMB HERE and read that this is bare metal.  It had already started to surface rust by the time he got home after being out on the salt and going through a humid Texas.     I really like this photo.  Gives you a detailed shot of the well executed...

1933 Ford Street Rod Featured Ride I first shared a quick photo of Jim Baugh's light blue 1933 Ford Sedan Street Rod in the Salt Flats Speed Shop Open House story. When Jim pulled up to the shop, I immediately started taking pictures.  Let's have a closer look... First of all, this '33 was built with a mix of two styles, Street Rod and Traditional Hot Rod.  When Jim was telling all about his '33, he sounded almost disappointed that it was a Street Rod.  I think he's been bit by the Traditional hot rod style bug that is so prevalent at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The Street Rod comes from the  big 'n' little tires, a reliable 350 small block Chevy and TH350 auto trans and front disc brakes.  The Traditional Hot Rod style's evident from several features: the chopped top, fenderless hot rod rake, authentic Ed Roth laid pinstriping, heavily louvered decklid and solid front axle. So which is it? Who cares! Jim nailed the complete execution and made a long-haul driver at the same time. Jim drove his '33 from Washington state to Alabama (or was it Arkansas?) for a family...

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. The wait's over: Bonneville Speed Week 2010 – First Look 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...

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...

The best 1964 Ford Fairlane? 1964 Fairlanes will always be one of my favorites. At one time, Pops owned a Blue one, Mom's was white and mine was my high school driver called, "The Highway Bitch". Red, white and blue, we loved our 64's. Pops still has his and is done up Pro-street with a small block Ford and big-fatties in the back.  The C6 went south so it's been sitting for a while, but here's a pic so you know what a "regular" 1964 Fairlane looks like. Here's another "regular" 1964 Fairlane at Bonneville Speed Week   The not-so-casual viewer will notice this is a 2 door post model just like the factory race cars Ford built known as the "Thunderbolt".  I've seen Pops work his butt off on this car and we've had alot of fun times in it.   Not to be outdone by the factory Thunderbolts, allow me to introduce, "Afterburner" If you've seen any of the Ring Brothers' builds, you know they set the standard and I'm not the only one who thinks so. Goodguys named Ring Brother's cars "Street Machine of the Year"...

[youtube width="320" height="265"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waYyhfRUosM[/youtube] Today I left the hub-bub of Las Vegas and SEMA to head out to Spring Mountain Ranch racecourse. In preparation for Saturday's Optima Invitational, myself and the others from the auto-blogging crew got a chance to get behind the wheel ourselves. Spring Mountain Ranch is almost like a country-club for speed seekers. People who are members get use of the track. In addition, they have certified race-driver training programs. While we didn't get the whole training program in one day, we did get the opportunity to go very fast in a few different situations. The day started out with the road course. If you're not familiar with racing (like me) think of the video game "Grand Prix". After a short orientation we headed out to driving machine #1: the Lotus. Although I may have been a little jittery that I would do something wrong - it was surprisingly easy! As we followed our guide, Rick, around the racetrack things got faster and faster. After the first few 1.5 mile laps I began feeling comfortable with the car and trusting of the squealing tires as I rounded a turn between 40 and 60...

2014 Detroit Hot Rods - Pikesan's Picks for Best of Show - Upstairs Detroit Autorama's a GREAT show!   Why else would I leave sunny and 80 degrees Arizona for freezing Michigan? The hot rods of course! We've already covered the 2014 Ridler Award "Great 8" Contenders so now it's time for my favorites from the rest of the show. These are the hot rods and some Motown muscle that caught my eye. This year, I'll separate updstairs from downstairs, but I think you'll see my style doesn't waiver much just from taking the stairs...   So here's a few of my favorites, then the rest will be in the MyRideisMe picture gallery. There's over 200 events covered since 2007, so lots to see in addition to the 2014 Detroit Autorama Coverage!   115 of the BEST pictures from Upstairs at Detroit Autorama here.   CraftyB 1932 Ford Roadster "Ridled" with details! 1932 Ford Roadster     For 2013, I did a story about "Shoulda-been Great 8" cars. Well, this isn't a Ridler car, but DAMN! It's way cool! I met Crafty-B and got to chat just a bit about this car. It...

Brock's Buick Upgraded & Faster at Bonneville Kicking off Bonneville 2013 Coverage, here's a quick look at the upgrades on Jeff Brock's too-cool 1952 Buick Super Riviera. We profiled the birth of "Bombshell Betty" in another story about this Bonneville Record Setting Race car here.   In the the picture above, you can see the windows added to the side of the car. Also, you get a first look at the custom made intake scoop! Jeff's an artist and no slouch when it comes to metal work!     If anyone wants the above picture for a screen saver, shoot me an email, I'll be happy to send it over!   Success! Jeff broke his own record. Rocket Heads Studio running in the XO/GCC class ran 165.735 on a 165.380 mph record. Yes, by 0.355 mph!   Make sure to check out more pictures of "Bombshell Betty" with the rest of the build history here:  Birth of Bombshell Betty for Bonneville   Click here for all of MyRideisMe.com's Bonneville Salt Flat...