So, three old farts.........

.......decided it was time to finally take in the action at Bonneville. If you haven't ever gone there you should, at least once, just for the experience. We went in a motor home and parked in the area just off I-80 near the track alternately called "The bend in the road", or "The corner". It's not a formal RV park with hookups, just a nice flat spot. Lots of folks park there with motor homes, trailers, and tents. From there it's a couple miles or so to the track entrance. We had the Polaris RZR, and a quad to shuttle back and forth to the track, and to go up and down from the starting line to the end of the pits (otherwise it's a looooooonnnnnngggggg walk). Many of you have seen pictures over the years that might try to show the vastness of the salt flats, but no picture can do it justice...........it's incredible! And the white surface do reflect the heat..........wear plenty of sunscreen! Even with a wide brim helmet on I improved my tan, even under the chin (or more accurately chins:)). I'll post up a bunch of pics here, some in the pits, some in the adjoining spectator areas, and the best of the race cars are in the staging lanes. You'll notice the teams bring along plenty of shade. If you go, take LOTS of water with you too. Most of the teams are pretty laid back about you getting reasonably close in the pits, just respect their working space. In the staging area you can pretty much walk right up and look everything over closely, and if the crew is not close to pushing off you can usually ask all the questions you want.

Back in the camping area the action picks up when the sun goes down. On Sunday night three of the camping groups "decided" to have a fireworks showdown. Well, one of them turned out to be pikers, they had the puny stuff you might do in your yard. The other two though had a pretty good showdown :D they each had some pretty impressive stuff. For those who don't do the camping thing, the action at night is in Wendover, just a couple miles down the road. Lots of cruisin', a bit of drinking :rolleyes:, and lots of socializing.

Now, just need Brother Severson to get that Rancheroo done so I can drive the push truck.............

Plenty of stuff to see.........

Eye candy galore........

Overload........

Blown flathead Packard anyone?

Lets get to the pits, then the staging area.....

I've always wanted to go...............now I REALLY wanna go! :) Had to be a super experience Bob, thanks for sharing. Sharp pictures too.

Now I just have to do a google map to see how many miles it is.:)

Don

Hurry up and wait.......

And here I was expecting a sick joke (probably directed at Don):LOL::LOL:

".....Many of you have seen pictures over the years that might try to show the vastness of the salt flats, but no picture can do it justice...........it's incredible!....."

You are absolutely right Bob, I've been thru there a few times (but my timing was never right for speed week). It is unbelievable both during day light or like one of my trips going thru at night under a full moon.

One ambition I have is to take a long road trip in one of my old pieces of junk one day.....out to the Peterson museum, then over to the Garlits museum and back to Bonneville for a least one day during the runs and in the process see if there are some CHR members I could actually meet in person.

A lot of time is spent in line............

And wait..........

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Originally Posted by Mike P

And here I was expecting a sick joke (probably directed at Don):LOL::LOL:

Now why would you say such a thing???:LOL::LOL:

One ambition I have is to take a long road trip in one of my old pieces of junk one day.....out to the Peterson museum, then over to the Garlits museum and back to Bonneville for a least one day during the runs and in the process see if there are some CHR members I could actually meet in person.

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Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

I've always wanted to go...............now I REALLY wanna go! :) Had to be a super experience Bob, thanks for sharing. Sharp pictures too.

Now I just have to do a google map to see how many miles it is.:)

Don

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Yeah, it's so easy for time to slip away and keep postponing these things. I know that's what's happened to me. My buddy Bubba (the guy on the left in the first picture) is working off his bucket list and that's what got me to make it happen. Shouldn't wait that way.........

Bob,

Thanks for sharing, it is something that I've thought about for the last twenty years as well.

Now, just need Brother Severson to get that Rancheroo done so I can drive the push truck.............


Matter of fact, been doing some "communications" with the other interested parties the last couple weeks.....Plans are coming along, but nothing cut in stone yet... Hopefully the project will get back in action again next spring..... For now, I'll just settle for knowing that plans are starting to come together.... My first attempt at B-Ville, had no idea just how much was involved in the build as well as the advance planning!!!!! Nothing like going to the digs to run Super Gas for the weekend!!!!!!:LOL::LOL::LOL:

Also, have recieved some donations (parts) for an "appropriate" push rig.!!!!!!

And thanks for the pics, Uncle Bob!!!!! All motivation is gratefully accepted and acknowledged!!!!!!

I didn't make it this year. I plan on driving Roofus out next year.

Thanks for the pix ........

I'm with Don ..... I went by it twice on motorcycle X-country trips & now I yern for the salt. I wanna go.

Don ........ Let's plan a trip in the future.

Ratty 46

What kind of tempatures when you were there?

Thanks for the pictures Bob! I always looked forward to the issue of HotRod when they showed the Bonneville activities, but you actually have more pictures!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

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Originally Posted by uppster

What kind of tempatures when you were there?

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Highs were around 90, though the reflection made it seem hotter. Evenings cooled down nicely.

Thats something I haven't ever done----after driving by so many interesting places while going to races or flying over them while I was still working, I want to go see and do them. I've often thought about getting our rear engine fueler back from Hawaii(they don't race there anymore) finding the front wheel fairings and taking it to the salt----with some of the near tech parts available I think we could do 400+ pretty easily---anyone interested???
Don't tell my wife while I still am keeping the trailer--she thinks its for moving somewhere with warmer winters!!!!!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Thats something I haven't ever done----after driving by so many interesting places while going to races or flying over them while I was still working, I want to go see and do them. I've often thought about getting our rear engine fueler back from Hawaii(they don't race there anymore) finding the front wheel fairings and taking it to the salt----with some of the near tech parts available I think we could do 400+ pretty easily---anyone interested???
Don't tell my wife while I still am keeping the trailer--she thinks its for moving somewhere with warmer winters!!!!!!!

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Hey, the trailer scam works here, too!!!!!!:LOL::LOL::LOL:

Get the old car, I hope to be ready in a couple years. We could have us a geezer drag racer reunion..... Lots of over the hill racers show up at B-Ville!!!!

The other big consideration is this..... At the geezer level, we probably don't get quite as much done as we used to when racing on a weekly schedule.... So, look at B-Ville this way; You go race for one week a year, then have another 51 weeks to make changes and do the race prep work!!!!! Way better schedule for us geezers then them loooooong days and nights every week just to keep the car competitive!!!!!!:whacked:;);)

but dry rot on the tires-----

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Thats something I haven't ever done----after driving by so many interesting places while going to races or flying over them while I was still working, I want to go see and do them. I've often thought about getting our rear engine fueler back from Hawaii(they don't race there anymore) finding the front wheel fairings and taking it to the salt----with some of the near tech parts available I think we could do 400+ pretty easily---anyone interested???
Don't tell my wife while I still am keeping the trailer--she thinks its for moving somewhere with warmer winters!!!!!!!

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let me know if i can help:D

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Originally Posted by jerry clayton

but dry rot on the tires-----

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yeah, but other then that it sounds like a heck of a good plan!!!!!!:LOL::LOL::LOL:

any one has a body i have some engines a 632 donovan or 734 donovan i like to do some thing like that before they throw dirt on me:D

Pros and cons to the once a year deal, read about Ron Attebury's new car teething: http://atteburystreetrods.blogspot.com/

Interesting stuff.

Welcome back,
What camera were you using? My circa 1890 8X10 Rochester View would work for the stills but not for anything or anybody that moved:rolleyes:. On a serious side; Were you there when the blue(black?) car with the 34 ford grill(the one just after the belly tanker) in your first post ran? If so do you remember the times? Anyway, really great pics.

Jack.

Jack, the larger format pics were done on a digital, Olympus Stylus 880. The smaller ones on Bubba's Nikon Coolpix something or other. The real challenge was framing. The glare was so bad you couldn't see the image in the lcd screen, so I ended up not zooming the lense and just doing some cropping on the editing program.

No, I didn't see the roadster/liner run, you might want to go to the SCTA site and see if they have any data posted. If you're going to the Tri-5 deal at XXX today I might see you there.

Nice pics.

Gotta respect that crowd, work all year on the car/motorcycle to make a few runs over the period of a week.

well i never been to b-ville but a freind of mine did build the rims for the GM SO CAL belly tanker with the ecotec . i drilled the fake knock off hubs for safty clips .**):D so that just may be as close as i ever get:LOL:

Looks like a blast. :)Never been, saw the world's fastest indian, and ever since wanted to go at least once in this lifetime. I noticed a lot of the shots show salt on the cars. Does the salt blow around(like sand in a sand storm?) Good thing its dry! Rust my plague in life!:LOL::LOL::eek:

Bob,
Nice pics!!
This is really tragic.
Barry Bryant, 46, from Anderson, CA, lost his life on the long course while traveling over 200 mph.
Ken








http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP4SHNvNTbc

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Originally Posted by stovens

Looks like a blast. :)Never been, saw the world's fastest indian, and ever since wanted to go at least once in this lifetime. I noticed a lot of the shots show salt on the cars. Does the salt blow around(like sand in a sand storm?) Good thing its dry! Rust my plague in life!:LOL::LOL::eek:

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heck you CAL guys do not know what rust is:D come to MI and i will show you rust:LOL:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stovens

........ I noticed a lot of the shots show salt on the cars. Does the salt blow around(like sand in a sand storm?) Good thing its dry! Rust my plague in life!:LOL::LOL::eek:

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The salt retains moisture, part of what helps it compact to such a hard surface. There isn't any apparent salt "dust" in the air (though probably is at a microscopic level), but what gets thrown off the tires sticks to the cars. It's kinda funny, you go to THE grocery store in town and there're little piles of salt deposited in almost every parking space.:LOL: They had truck loads of case bottled water backed up to their dock............not their first rodeo.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ken Thurm

Bob,
Nice pics!!
This is really tragic.
Barry Bryant, 46, from Anderson, CA, lost his life on the long course while traveling over 200 mph.
Ken

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Yeah, quite the tragedy. We'd already gone back to the camp site and knew something was bad when the ambulance went screaming by sirens a blaring. It wasn't very long before they went screaming back by, so they made the best effort they could, but he expired on the ride to the hospital. His dad has been doing this for close to 50 years, and they've had that car for a number of years. It had a reputation for being very stable. The word at the track was that somehow a door blew open, pressurized the tail section, blew off the deck lid and the car went airborne. Wadded it up badly. I haven't had the heart to do any more info searching to see if there's more to the story. RIP.

Great pictures, Bob; thanks for posting them. They got my rememberer goin' pretty good; what a great collection of fine cars, so many in the "old style". That Lincoln took me back to my junior high school days ('53, '54, '55) in Temple City, California, when every day on the way to and from school, I passed the house of a Gent who ran a couple of Lincolns in the PanAm races . On some afternoons, the car(s) would be sitting out on the drive, and he might be working on one or the other, and there was always a few kids hangin' around, me included.

Neat pics thanks,Bob,Yes,there were a few Kiwis over there again this year.Not as many as last year,but expect another Kiwi explosion again next year...:D
Another Kiwi by the name of Noddy Watts was there taking photos too,got an almost identical pic of the hot rod Lincoln on our hot rod mag forum among the several dozen he took there..Hmm,one day...gotta few things to get done before we come up for a holiday..:CRY:

Thanks for sharing the pictures, Bob. Only problem is now I really want to go too!:CRY: I would like to make it before I get too old to drive to it myself. I know my wife won't go so maybe I can hook up with some of the local HAMB'ers who go almost every year. One can only hope.

I'd love to make it to Bonneville someday before I die, but it's a long trip. Maybe after I retire...:HMMM: Meantime, for those of us east of the Mississippi, here's a closer alternative. http://www.ecta-lsr.com/?page_id=69 I think the ECTA runs the same rules and classes as Bonneville.:cool: