Mark:
Thanks for the report on the Wendover Racing scene. My last visit there was
as support crew for my engine builder, Al Burtoni. He and some other
Bonneville racers had rented the "salt" for some testing. At the time, I
brought my Audi 5000 Turbo Quattro street car as the chase car. We ended up
doing 147 down the salt with 5 guys in it (one of them filming with video)
chasing Al's one of a kind Lamborghini Countach salt racer (he ended up with
a record in his normally aspriated class @ 201.something).
The excitement that weekend came when we screwed up by staying out on the
salt too long and it got dark. Then, we couldn't find the "trail" back to
the park where the access road is (at the time, we didn't know the trick of
aiming for the V in the mountains). We ended up getting his Dually and 5th
wheel trailer stuck up to the axles after getting into a "thin" area in the
salt. Man, is it strange out there at night!! Fortunately, the Audi carried
us all back to Wendover for the evening. The next day, we found some old
codger who ran the wrecker service in Wendover, who brought out his
Peterbuilt tow truck with about 5 miles of cable on it!! He could stay on
the thick part of the salt and run the cable to where we were and pull us
out....quite an adventure. For a while, we thought we might be leaving the
whole rig there as a new monument to racing!
I'd consider coming to Wendover for a race...its a great place with nice
hotels, casinos, and entertainment. Now if you guys can just get it
coordinated with RMVR, or whoever, and get that Park City race off the ground
that's been talked about for years...THAT would be something!! I'd
definitely make the trip for that!!
Myles H. Kitchen
1965 Lotus Cortina Mk1 #128
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