Hi I've been looking at your Web site for a couple of months now and want to congratulate Jon on his great site!! My name is Dave Bloomberg known as the "Avanti Kid". A little info on myself, Born at Glendale, California 1939, yep I'm 71 yrs old! Graduated from Bakersfield High School in 1957 and spent a lot of time as a spectator at Smokers drag strip near Bakersfield. Went into the USAF 1957 to 1961 (electronics repairman), then went to work for Lockheed aircraft 1961 to 2005 when I retired after 43 years working in Avionics and Ground Support engineering, worked for 25 years in Skunk Works (A-12 & F-117 aircrafts), enjoying retirement now with my wife Barbara of 43 years. I was introduced to land speed racing in 1992 with a friend of mine at Lockheed, named Verlin Marshall who told me to take my supercharged Avanti to El Mirage to see how fast it would go on the 1.3 mile dirt course. I was very sure that I could do around 140 mph with no problem, but to my surprise I only did 125mph! From that point on I saw this as a big challenge to make my 1963 Avanti go faster, so being a fiberglass car the race officials said I needed to install a full roll cage to continue racing. So a roll cage was installed then major modifications to my engine started and continued over the last 17 years of racing at Muroc, El Mirage, & Bonneville. I had about 300hp at first and now have about 800hp with my modified Studebaker 289 ci engine, my car holds the D/CPS records for Muroc, El Mirage & Bonneville. When not racing I help SCTA as a race official to do the timing on one of the 3 courses at Bonneville for Speed Week or WF, I'm also on the Coupe/Sedan committee for rules changes. I proposed to the SCTA board to establish a new racing class for the muscle cars of yesterday called "Classic" for cars from 1928 to 1981. Recently I proposed to the SCTA board a 300 mph lane for Bonneville Speed Week. I really enjoy doing the timing with Frank Scott and his staff. The folks in Land Speed racing a a very special breed of racers, as you know they will give you the shirt off their back or loan you tools, parts etc to help you race in this sport. I can't thank enough the SCTA race officials and volunteers who put these races on for us! I recently raced my car at "World of Speed" this September and really enjoyed the race that the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association put on. We did our fastest time ever with our single turbo Studebaker engine (800hp) with a speed of 215.6 mph. We can't wait to return to the salt again next year. For our present plans, we hope to race at El Mirage this November 13th & 14th. I'm looking forward to getting to know more of you folks on this great web site, thanks for your support in the racing sport we all love. Take care, Dave Bloomberg
Topic: Introduce Yourself (Read 2276913 times)