Bonneville Salt Flats: "Save the Salt" 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...

Bonneville Salt Flats Race Car: 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...

Bonneville Salt Flats Race Car: I arrived at the Salt for World Finals 2009 right as the sun peaked over the mountains.  What a beautiful sight.  I pulled up to the start line where there were race cars and bikes waiting to make their record return runs.  The first car I walked up to was this bright yellow VW Karmann Ghia owned by Larry Monreal from San Bernardino.  I asked the gentleman standing next to the car if he was Larry, and he responded that no, he was Jim, Larry's friend and driver.  As with any Bonneville Salt Flats land speed race car and team, there is always a big, long and interesting story.   No long  stories today, but I do want to share some details I learned by spending a few minutes with Jim that I hope will display what dedicated hot rodders and land speed racers these guys are. I chatted with Jim Bradshaw for like 10 minutes.  Something you'll experience when you attend a land speed event at the Salt Flats is the people.  It's almost sounding cliche attending my 4th event, but the people are the heart of this amateur...

Bonneville Salt Flats: World of Speed Finals World of Speed 2009 goes down on the Salt at Bonneville Speedway this Wednesday through Saturday.  It's the last event of the year on the Salt.  I'm hoping the rain we've been getting here in Utah doesn't cancel it.  I'm planning to be there Friday to cover the action, snap lots of pics and get some Salt stories.  Here's a pic I took from the last World of Speed event I attended in 2007.  This was actually my first time on the Salt and I was there with my oldest son (he was 4 at the time) and my dad, 3 Generations of Hechtspeeders!  That's poppi checking out the Volk Bros '29 Roadster as it sat in the 200 MPH Club Booth and my son giving a thumbs up! See You On The Salt!!! See all my pictures from the 2009 Bonneville Salt Flats World Finals...

Bonneville Salt Flats: Streamliner Race Car The Record setting crew from Arizona. This model T powered 'banger' is for real! 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 turbocharged 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...

Salt Flats Friendliest People 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...

Bonneville Salt Flats Inspired Hot Rod Thanks to Speedhunters.com for this beautiful shot of Rex's amazing Lakes Modified roadster at Speedweek 2009. If you had the engineering and fabrication skills of Rex Schimmer, how would you build a Model A roadster?  If (or when) I build a roadster, it could look much like this 1929 Lakes Modified Ford roadster!  Rex is actually a MyRideisMe.com member.  You can see his MyRideisMe Garage and make his ride one of your favorites and put him in your "crew" like I did. Rex's roadster is unmistakeably a traditional style Lakes Modified build, but it is also very unique and one of a kind.  Read on to find out exactly what went into this 7 year project, which culminated in the ultimate drivable roadster you see here. Rex: How did I get into cars? Been a car guy since I was 11 or 12. I started reading the "small" magazines, Rod and Custom, Car Craft, etc. around 1955 and bought my first car, 1953 Ford Victoria hardtop in 1958. I dropped it using dropped spindles, cut coils and a de-arched spring, removed the hood and trunk chrome, frenched the head lights...

Salt Flat Recap: Story by my Dad, Greg Martin, who I was lucky enough to spend speed week with! I’ve never seen such a group as these speed freak, salt flat hot rodders. I do believe they would all agree with Mark Twain’s adage, “Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.” My first impression after riding my bicycle down the three-mile-long pits was that maybe I had stumbled upon a movie set for yet another Mad Max movie. I fully expected to see Mel (Max Rockatansky) Gibson or Tina (Aunty Entity) Turner come screaming down the pits followed by a cackle of hyenaish groupies. Oh, well it must have been the immediate effects of the blazing reflections off the salt – the old timers told me to make sure you put plenty of sunblock on the bottom of my chin and nose. I was amazed by the diversity of cars and syckles that ranged from the do it yourself bring what ya got to the high-tech, hyper-slick long blown fuel streamliners with a million secrets beneath their perfect skin. The...

Bonneville Salt Flat Pictures: One great thing about attending Speedweek at Bonneville Salt Flats is that there's something for everyone. You get to watch all sorts of vehicles leaving from the same starting line, all seeking to break the record of whatever class they're in. And just like in the "good ol' days" of hot rodding - the only thing anyone really cares about is going fast! But until I get to sit behind the wheel and drive down the salt at record breaking speeds, I've gotta pay attention to some of the other details that just might not have anything to do with speed! So here it is...Grease Girl's picks for Salt Flat Favorites 2009. Best Way to Get Around. This isn't a mini-sized hotwheel! This is a monster-truck sized red wagon! Best Body Type. Call me partial, but I can't help but have a little pride when the most common body type ya see at Bonneville is nearly as old as Speedweek and happens to be almost identical to my own daily driver! That's right, Studebaker Coupe's were aerodynamic when first made and they just keep on...

Bonneville Hot Rods Yearly Car Show:     2009 Bonneville Nugget Casino Car Show Picture Gallery is now online!   After the Salt closes on the first Friday and Saturday of Speedweek, hot rods, street rods, a street-driven belly tanker and any ride that made the trip to Bonneville congregate to relax at the Golden Nugget Casino parking lot.   This is not your typical car show, these cars are driven hours and hours to make this show.  There were numerous cars from California and as far as Nebraska. (any farther?)  Make sure to check out the Nugget Car Show at next year! Check out the Nugget Car Show Gallery for more pics!...

Bonneville Salt Flats Hot Rod:   One piece of the Bonneville Speedweek recipe that can't be forgetten is the get together on Friday and Saturday night at the Golden Nugget in Wendover. From a Salt insider, the Nugget Car Show is not an official car show. You won't find any websites announcing the Car Show, but it just sort of happens. It has become a tradition. Enter Jerry Armijo and his 1933 Ford Pick up hot rod.     As I was strolling the Nugget parking lot soaking in the hot rods, I saw this pick up full of Salt. It was not the only hot rod with salt covering it, but it appeared to be the rod with the most.   One of my favorite parts of the Bonneville Salt Flats is how the salt gets everywhere. These open wheeled hot rods are especially good at flinging the salt. I started snapping pictures of this rod and how the salt was basically covering the windshield when I met Jerry, the proud owner.Here's what I found out about this cool ride.   It's a 1933 Ford Pick up. When...

Bonneville Salt Flats Tragedy: 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...