Some years back we the SCTA looked into the lack of international recognition
of land speed records. It took the Summers bros. something like nine years to
get a certificate from FIA. Jim Latten and several others including myself had
a meeting and started the Land Speed Authority.
The whole purpose was to become the LSA as the name implies. We felt, and many
of us still feel that we the SCTA/BNI are the experts in this area. We have
been doing it for years and will continue for years to come. Some of those out
there don't give the hot rodder a lot of recognition for their efforts.
It was hard to get everyone on the band wagon with the LSA, We did set rules
and basically the same requirements of FAI to assure that it would still draw
the same types of vehicles and to give the racer that qualified and obtained
the record would get the recognition within a short period of time.
As it turned out the interest was not as great as we expected at that time and
was very expensive to put on with only a hand full of vehicles. There are
hidden costs and the requirement of again the volunteers to do the event. It
could have been the timing was a little off. The interest of the hot rodder
and other world class entries are starting to surface once again. With the
Save the Salt program getting better each year we should be able to run two
ways before long.
The primary reason for all current record runs in the same direction is
safety. There is simply not enough hard salt to run on and safely stop the
high speed vehicles going toward the highway. Over the years since we started
the World Finals which was the whole purpose of setting FIA records and BNI
records at the same meet because of the smaller number of entries the SCTA
went to extremes to give the racer as much room for two way runs the salt
would allow.
Al Teague started a return run in the mud and looked like a sprint car coming
out of a turn onto the salt. Others that tried to run found the course
conditions very from mile to mile, rough, wet, rutted and all of it because
the mining away the surface. The SCTA and the volunteers that spend hundreds
of hours three or four times a year pick out and prepare the best we can for
you to run on.
The LSA went away because of several things but the SCTA is still looking at
ways to become the world authority on land speed records. I hope to see it
come to that myself. As far as trying to combine Bonneville and lakes records
it would be a mass undertaking and the rule book would become volumes.
Think about what the undertaking of the nostalgia class thing has done over
the past feel months. The addition of all of the new classes and sorting out
of records etc. has been difficult at best. The people doing it are as good as
you can get and after seeing the first draft of their work impressed me. It's
still not done but well into getting the proposal to the board for their
approval.
The bottom line is this has been in the talking stages for a long time and
with the input of other organizations it will some day become a reality. The
mention in one of the letters for two people from each one of them is the
right direction to develope the rules and standards to make it happen. I think
we all want the same end result but it's going to take time and many hours of
everyone pulling together. The other thing is we don't live in the same
neighbor hood so the e-mail, telephone and old fashion snail mail will be
doing a lot of work.
Just my thoughts on the matter.Hoping it all makes sense
Glen
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