Your First SpeedWeek ? Tell Us about It

[Stainless1]

In 1978 - 1980 the carpet was the same stuff that had been in those rooms since the 50's.  Yep your white socks turned a little dark... but we had 8 people cleaning the carpet in that room, we musta hauled several pounds of dirt outta there. 
  

[DallasV]

I was born in October of 1967 and was drug out to my first speedweek in 1968. I must admit I don't have any stories that I recollect but pictures show we only brought a station-wagon full of tools, a parachute for a tent, and a flatbed trailer with the race car on it. We now look like the circus is coming to town when we show up. Anyway I've been to every speedweek that has happened since.

[jl222]

 
  1958 just out of high school in Santa Barbara Ca. My twin brother and I and leland Viera headed to Bville in a 1947 chev sedan with a steady knock and an oil burner, Got a gallon of booster oil from Pep Boys and took off with $30 apiece, sleeping bags and peanut butter and jelly.  Hey gas was about 25 cents a gal. Ok not over 55 mph 3 miles out of town 6o mph
 Water pump went out in Santa Paula about 50 miles from SB cost 12 bucks generator in Lancaster 30 bucks. Drove to about 25 miles past Tonnapaw, rolled out sleeping bags and slept on the ground,  Didn't think any thing about it. Got to Bville saw a crash and went out to see. Big mistake GET OFF THE TRACK!!
 what did we know?  Saw a streamlined motorcycle go 250 mph? Texas Cigar?  Long time ago
Also a studebaker crash Joe Pisano I believe. We were watching from the platform of the timing tower when he came bounding up the steps apologizing for tearing up the course.
 Freddy Dannenfelzer and couple of other friends were there and were going back thru Reno so we decided to go that way, in those days 80 was a 2 lane road littered with dead jack rabbits.
  We had a flat tire and jack would not lift car enough to get spare [threads showing] on.
So we were digging out the hard as hell ground when a semi truck came over the hill and headed
for us, we made for the sagebrush and the truck missed us weaving down the road.
 We stopped for gas some little town out there and spotted a tire out in the field got gas grabbed the tire and got the hell outa fhere.
 Got to Reno found Freddy in a motell don't remember how, But we sacked out on the floor that night. Next morning we were walking to our car sleeping bags in arms and manager yelling at us.
to stop
 Got the hell outa there too.

  Well that's the best I can recall.

  Back to Bville in 62 and not again till 87 where Troy and i and others helped Fast Freddy fix a broken ring and pinion and go 287 the fastest for his Modified blown fuel roadster.

 Then I found a Camaro in 1988 with a smashed front end and the world's fastest Camaro [294 mph AVG in 1st timed mile tack at 7000 before end of mile and 317 mph] was born.

              JL222

 
 

 

[bob]

my first trip to bonneville was in 62 or 63 , I was 10 or 11 . went with my dad - John savarino , George snively ,( the founding father of the snell foundation , helmet testing ) Georges wife Suzanne and another buddy of my dads . all from Sacramento ca.   George road raced a Healey 100-6 at the time , scca in northern calif.  my dad had a large foreign and sports car shop in Sacramento and  built and maintained the Healey . so was pretty used to hanging around race tracks -- but nothin like the salt . pretty sure it was the western ridge were we stayed. they all buncked up in a couple rooms . I slept outside by the pool on a army cot , I thought was pretty cool . the Healey if I remember didn't do all that well , road race gearing , and stock English cooling system . but still I was in heaven , never seen nothin like that before. that was it till about a dozen years ago , wandered back . kinda wanted to do this . so built a KDS streamliner . ran it last year at world of speed and shattered the record ( at 70 mph ) ha ! ha!  ,I had a blast . this year for speed week I put a compound turbo setup on it and proceeded to melt the insides of it , I guess 40lbs of boost was a bit much for a 500cc diesel . the first plan was to build the 100-6 Healey  ( I have Georges Healey in 60s road race set up ) for bonneville , but found out there wouldn't be much left of the original car to make it legal to run . to nice a vintage race car to chop up . you guys are right ----salt fever ---

[CharlieR]

2014, it rained, a lot.

[ThumbBiker]

Story of first Bonneville Speedweek with granddaughter and grandson. Was really a special time.

[jim b]

What great thread to read.

For a couple of years in the 80's worked for Kenz and Leslie when they kept the streamliner in their Denver warehouse, heard lots fo stories but didn't get to Bonneville till 2004. Never a racer, I went to take photos and the highlight of that first trip was see Tom Burkland run his AA streamliner. I've made a half dozen trip since, always taking photos. During those trips I was lucky enough to meet some legend of the salt flats and a few of the Bonneville's standout photographers, Freud, Raytherat, Pork Pie etc. They were all welcoming and wonderful to chat with.

I've managed to sort through a mountain of photos and get a few up on my website
www.jimbenning.com

Those photos tell more about my Bonneville trips way better that I can write about here.

jimbslim

[JR'S PAPA]

1960. I watched Mickey Thompson go 406. And I got to see Danny set his record in 2016 along with my kid and grandson!!!
Good times, both.

[NArias3]

1976, Dad and I flew into SLC Saturday and drove to Bonneville Raceway for the NHRA Division 7 points race.  Dale Smart's AA/DA (now Top Alcohol Dragster) was competing - Dad was a partner in this digger and I was a crew member.  After a huge lightning storm blew through and cancelled the meet, we headed west to Wendover only to find out the salt was flooded.  Sunday we weren't allowed on the salt so I spent the day exploring the town's wrecking yard, Dairy Freeze and climbing the hill and watching two guys paint the "LARSEN" banner above the Western, where we were staying.  Ken Logan and Jim Dincau's former Jerry Jones C/FMR was making its debut and this was the entry in which, again, Dad was a partner and I was a lowly crew member.

<<Note: Twelve years later, Smart, Logan, Dincau and Dad won the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis in TAD.>>

Two of my highlights: getting to sit in Al Teague's brand-new 76 lakester and shown the controls by Elwin himself, then attending the 200 MPH banquet and sitting across from Howard Johnson.

[Stan Back]

Great story!
(Aren't they all ? and life-changing, too.)

[wilcox garage]

     After reading about Bonneville in Hot Rod magazine for years,  in December of 2002 I read a article about David Fryberger driving to Bonneville and  racing a Street Roadster.  After reading that article I decided I was going,  not knowing where I was staying or who I was going with but I was going. 
     I convinced one of my best friends to go with me. We ran into some other local car guys who had some family that raced a Lakester. So we were set up with a room at the Nugget and had a crew to hang around with and learn the procedures of running on the salt. This was 2003 so we saw the Phoenix,  Flat Fire, the Nish streamliner , and even Stan Back's Street Roadster ( I have always had a liking for early Roadsters)  .
       I went back every year for 10 straight years. We built a D/BSTR and first ran it in 07 and eventually qualified on the record 4 different times with a best of 219 MPH run but could never back it up.
      We have had memories that will last a lifetime  , we definitely got a bad case of Salt Fever!

[JimL]

A few faded memories from 1969:

Really good salt that year, but we did get blown out by wind one afternoon.  I was pitted next to Don Sliger, which was really lucky; he gave me some good talking and helped me go faster.

Dad and I drove out from Colorado in his Chevy work van with my 450 Honda race bike and my 125 Honda Benly for a pit bike.  We stayed on the upper floor at the motel. 

We were really close on money, and those were the years when you had to pay Earl Flanders $20 for your record runs if you qualified to make them.  I had raised the APS-C-500 record from 101 to 121.102, and later made a qualify pass at 124.65.  We only had enough money left to drive home, and so I did not make additional record runs on that result.

The bike surprised us by doing a 118 return run without the fairing, for an A-AG-500 record of 116.654.  We thought the fairing would be much different, but we didn't know much yet.

I remember the day Bert Munroe missed a shift and "spun" the mag windings.  Somebody knew where a bomber wreck was still reachable, to salvage a mag and strip wiring.  A fellow with a BSA single (441 Victor maybe?) went with Bert, who borrowed somebodies Yamaha 80 trail bike.  I went along with them on my 125 Benly, but it couldn't climb the trail more than about half-way up the mountain.  I just sat around and waited until they came back down and we all rode back to the motel.  I think my dad stayed up most the night with Bert while he rewound his mag....I remember dad was falling asleep a lot the next day!

I remember the Bob Leppan crew were really nice to me, when they learned I had fouled too many spark plugs.  They had a twin that ran the same plug, and they sent a fellow down to find me and donated a whole box of plugs.  Without those, I could not have made my two records that year.

I remember visiting with Roosevelt Lackey in impound one morning (he was on a Triumph 750 Triple).  It was so amazing to meet him again in impound...in 2012!  We shared a lot of grins that day....43 years after sitting in impound together the first time.

Somewhere in this forum, this story is already there....but I will add it here.  I was a member of the "alphabet" as they called the AAMRR, and so my leathers were all black per their rules.  The seat on my Honda was black, and got smoking hot in the sun.  My mom had packed for us what she called a "turkish towel" (big thing about 5 feet long).  We got in the habit of laying it over the seat, hanging down to the ground behind the rear tire.
 
One day we're in line and two bikes ahead of us are having problems.  The starter comes around and motions for dad to pull the van up to the line....they are going to send me NOW.  We started my bike by pulling me on the van door handle, and so....away we go.  About 30 mph, I let go of the door handle, drop the clutch and go. 

As I was approaching the timing tower, I saw the "air ambulance" was fired up and taxiing along parallel to the course.  They had told us at the drivers meeting, that if a run was in trouble the plane would be taxiing before the incident in order to save time.  I didn't know that the tower had spotted that towel, blown out behind me and curved down rubbing on the rear tire....they were ready for my crash.  Luckily, nothing happened except Earl Flanders chewed me out real serious like when I got back to my pit.  That was a 122.5 run and I am confident that "land speed towel" record will stand forever.

I have rambled on too long, here, but it was a great...and lucky...first Speed Week.

[Stan Back]

"I have rambled on too long here . . ."

No, you didn't.  Thanx for the stories!