The month of May was very good for participants in the International 36hp Land Speed Racing Challenge. Bruce Cook brought his beautiful tan 1951 Volkswagen Beetle, a standard Canadian split, to Maxton with a new big bore and stroked 1493cc 36hp engine featuring Whitey Worsham ported and polished single port heads, dual Porsche 32 carbs prepared by Mr.Okrasa, Dave Ruiz, and tuned by Bruce's son Cody Cook. Their first pass down the Maxton Mile resulted in the fastest speed ever attained by a naturally aspirated 36hp Beetle, 99.815 miles per hour which finally broke the speed record set by Mel Ellis and John Gosvig clear back in 1962 at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Bruce now holds two 36hp Challenge speed records, his first being the Stone Stock record of 73.006 miles per hour set in 2008.
 
Tom Bruch pulled his 103 mile per hour record holding New Age turbo 36hp motor and replaced it with a 1415cc Super Stock Single motor. SSS is sort of like restrictor plate racing because you can only use a single 28 PIC carburetor and single port heads, regardless of the other modifications you apply underneath. SSS is really a mechanics category because having unobtanium parts is not a factor. Toms first pass down the Maxton Mile also resulted in a new SSS record of 90.203 miles per hour. This exceeds Toms Bonneville speed of 89.92 MPH he set in 1965 with an Okrasa dual carb equipped motor. Like Bruce, Tom now holds two 36hp Challenge records.
 
Last month a non-36hp VW also set a record on the Maxton Mile. A sixteen year old young lady named Talor Burns from Caryville, Tennessee, drove her 1974 Karmann Ghia fitted with the street motor from her brothers bug to a class record of 114.09 miles per hour. The two year old street motor is a mild compression 1914cc dual port fitted with dual 40mm carbs. Talor is a Junior who plays tennis at Clinton High School and is also on the drill team. And I know she is the only girl in the class with a world land speed record.
 
Coming soon will be new news about the International 36hp Challenge "1" Club for 36hp drag and land speed racers who have exceeded 100 miles per hour in competition and the addition of a new land speed race track due to open in August in the northeast.
 
May the Speed be with you.............................