We first told you about this Studebaker Avanti and its Land Speed Racing legend status in the Land Speed Racing Avanti intro.  We have a quick update for you.  Dan and crew took the #88 Avanti and its borrowed twin supercharged Studebaker V8 to El Mirage for some runs down the dry lakebed at El Mirage.  It was 191 days in the making and it was well worth it. The Stude looks right at home on the dry, cracked lake bed.  Dan suited up and was able to make 2 runs, well, 1.5 runs.  Before actually getting down the dirt track, it took many hours and helpful hands to get the Avanti to pass tech inspection.  Most of the little things are safety related, like sealing off the interior from fire hazards and the correct protection. Avanti Dan suiting up.  No racing happens without help of family and friends. Two land speed racing Avanti's at the starting line at El Mirage is a beautiful sight to see.  Dan and team were able to figure out a bunch of bugs, get tech inspected, and get another list together to get ready...

Bonneville Salt Flats: Land Speed Record Info: The countdown is on for Speed Week, the land-speed racing event of the year! This Speed Week makes sixty-two years that Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) and Bonneville Nationals Incorporated (BNI) have run this week-long speed spectacular. Since the whole point of the event is the “world’s fastest automotive speed trials” that means SCTA/BNI are responsible for verifying the record breaking speeds. Upon my first Speed Week experience last August, I pondered exactly HOW one breaks the speed record as I watched speedsters, lakesters, roadsters, coupes, pickups, and motorcycles speed from the starting line. I headed down to the tech inspection area to find out. Every vehicle goes through tech inspection upon arrival to verify both legality and safety. If they’re lucky they’ll go through a second time to verify a broken speed record! So how do you break a record at Bonneville? First, you’ve got to build a kick ass car and follow SCTA/BNI's rules while doing it. All sorts of different classes of cars race at Bonneville. They differ by body style, body modifications, engine size, and fuel used. Pick...

Bonneville Salt Flats: Jeep Race Car This story is: "My Ride is Me"!  Combine Bonneville Salt Flats Racing, a Jeep Comanche and a father and a son.  Perfect! Meet Peter, a new member here at MyRideisMe.com, he's a Jeep guy, but not the off-road type  you might expect.  Here's his story... It was too good for me to mess with.  ha ha  I asked him one question, that's all it took to get him talking. -Hechtspeed Written by: Peter Lechtanski "The Inspiration?   Why do people do what they do?  What makes something (a car) so important to us? I guess to answer your question, I have to go back 40 some years, it was 1963, and a saw a story on the evening news (on a black and white TV) about this 24 year old guy named Craig Breedlove. He'd just gone 400mph+ at the Bonneville Salt Flats, breaking a record held by the British since 1949.   He was the first man to go over 400mph in a car (and later the first man to go 500, and 600mph). I was about 12 years old at the time, 2 years before we elected...

The latest Internet Barn Find is for those land speed racing Salt (or dust) Fever infected bunch.  I bring you DLRA.org.au, the Dry Lakes Racers Australia site.  The Dry Lakes Racers Australia held it's first Speed Trials meet in March 1990 and has been doing so (weather permitting) ever since. It has attracted competitors from all over Australia, the United States of America, New Zealand and the UK.  Currently they only race once per year, but that could change in 2011. The racing happens on Lake Gairdner (well, it used to be a lake).  It's an 8 mile track including the shut down area.  The bummer part is it takes 80 miles driving on dirt roads to get to the race track (compared to Bonneville's 1 mile from "Lands End").  Just like at Bonneville, the site admin told me that if you stand around too long, you'll likely get put to work.  Here's a fendered (smart move with 80 miles of dust) hot rod roadster heading out to Lake Gairdner for Salt Flats Racing.  80 miles of dirt roads is no joke and not for the faint of hot rod heart. There...

I'm going to put this out there up front... I will not be able to do this story justice.  But, its such a great story and a cool car that you are going to get it and you are going to like it.  Ok, I got that out, now on to the man and the machine. The man is cancer survivor and current cancer fighter Dan Sallia.  The machine is the historic Burke Bros. Bonneville record holding 1962 Studebaker Avanti.  I originally found Dan's story on landracing.com in a build thread he started there.  That led me to his more detailed build thread on RacingStudebakers.com where I spent about 4 hours reading through the posts during 2 separate nights, checking out the pictures and soaking in one of the coolest car-guy stories I've ever heard.  I knew I had to share it the MyRideisMe.com readers. Here's Dan working in the engine bay of the Stude.  Now THAT is a setback motor! Dan has been racing against Cancer for about 4 years and has had 3 tumors.  Recently another tumor was discovered, so Dan is working with his doctors (one doctor is actually a land...

Bonneville Salt Flats: Speed Week 2010 Preview: ...ok, ok, for those counting (who, me?) its actually 100 Days, 19 Hours, 34 Minutes and...wait for it, wait for it...53 seconds! For everything about Bonneville and Speed Week, check this out: Bonneville Salt Flats – Speed Week, Records and Pictures Or, see for yourself at the LandRacing.com homepage, where they have a countdown clock for Speed Week.  It's going year 'round for those with Salt Fever. Here's a little taste of the Salt from Speed Week 2009.  Dig this flamed 5 window coupe hot rod and yes, oh yes, a Studebaker Avanti.  That's a teaser for a feature coming up on another certain Avanti you guys will love. Speed Week is THE coolest car show around! One of the great "unofficial" events at Speed Week is the first 2 nights (the night before races start is night #1), there is a big gathering of all those racers, crew and hot rodders who've made the trip out.  It goes down at the Nugget Casino (across the street from Montego Bay Casino as you can see in the pic above) in Wendover (about 5 miles...

Throttle Magazine was the first known "hot rod" magazine, before it was even known as hot rodding.  Throttle was almost 100% focused on southern California Lakes and Midget racing.  It was only printed for 1 year, 1941, and included 12 issues.  The bombing of Pearl Harbor turned the USA upside down and hot rodding all but dried up for 3-4 years along with the magazine.  Throttle never came back after WWII ended.  "Hot Rod Magazine" picked things back up in January 1948 with their first issue.  Here's a quick look at Throttle through a Reprint book I purchased at The Rodders Journal website. Thom Taylor (check out Thom's website ThomTaylorDesigns.com), hot rod artist, was the person who spearheaded the effort to put together a quality reprint of all 12 issues.  No small task considering relatively few copies were printed and the fact that they are almost 70 years old.  That's Old School cool! Here's a glimpse from the Introduction by Thom Taylor of just what kind of effort was involved in this project: "Jack Peters, who created Throttle and was its editor and publisher, was an enigma.  Finding out what happened to him was difficult but also...

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...

Bonneville Salt Flats 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...

Salt Flats Tribute Car: Boy do we have a treat for you guys?  I've wanted to do a "work in progress" story on Larry Volk's street roadster since I found out about it earlier this year.  It's finally progressed to a point where there's good progress  showing.  The Volk garage is part hot rod time warp, part skill and craftsmanship, and part inspiration. We'll get to the 1929 Ford Model A Roadster project car in a second.  First, let's talk time warp.  Larry and his family have been into racing and hot rods since the early 1950's.  He started out drag racing  and dirt sprint car racing.  His race buddy Terry Nish invited him out to the Salt Flats in the late 1950's/early 60's and that was it for Larry.  He's gone every year since (unless it was rained out) and his life has become engulfed in the Salt.  Currently Larry is in his second stint as President of the 200 MPH Club, Chairman of the Save the Salt Committee and current holder of the SCTA Bob Higbee Award given out at the Opening Ceremonies of Speed Week 2009. With all this and more, Larry's garage...

Bonneville Salt Flats Race 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...

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...