Actually the lines used in the movie were only about a half mile long
as I recall. Ron Christensen or Ray Buck should be able to give you a
definitive answer on that. They didn't use the course that was laid out
half a mile away for World Finals but had their own. They shut down
filming when a car or bike ran.
In 1951 here were two long, sturdy planks over the ditch as you came
off the highway and you had to be careful to get lined up correctly.
Many cars were flat towed from either the Western Motel in Wendover or
from the old barracks at the abandoned airfield because getting a
trailer across those planks was a job.. You found one of the
dilapidated barracks with a good roof and no sign of animal life if you
could. Brushed the dust aside and crashed for the night, interrupted
by the roar of newly rebuilt engines at some nearby spot where you
could rig up a come along. We also slept in the gravel pit that was
west of what is now the access road.
Wes
Wes,
As I remember, the course at the movie site was one mile. That is where the
Redhead and some other cars and Munro's bike made their runs. I went down a
couple of times with Jim Travis to provde Safety Patrol.
When we arrived at the start of our week of involvement, they were using the
BNI course for some of their filming. That is where the bike lay down was
done. I was told that the stunt rider broke his collar bone on that
replication. Burt faired well when he did it.
I believe it was 1964 when I first experienced major water on the salt. That
year we had to go in at the 12 mile entrance. We drove through the ditch
which had 55 gallon drums marking where to go. On the left side of the
entrance, the water was up to the second rib on the drum, 2/3rds of the drum
was under water. It didn't keep us from proceeding. we drove through 2 to 4
inches of water all the way to the dike and crossed the bridge. We did have
a race course, it was just difficult to get there. Lots of starters,
generators and alternators were replaced after that meet.
Tom, Redding CA - #216 D/FCC
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