I blundered on this and thought it was interesting.
Otto
The Bonneville Salt Flats, 100 miles outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, still
attracts its share of speed demons. For example, at the World Finals Meet in
October 2004, Tom Burkland ran his Burkland Streamliner at more than 400 mph.
Perhaps even more impressive was Jim Odom, who blistered a record 328 mph on
his "Ack Attack" motorcycle.
I had more modest goals. My host, Bill Summers, runs a driving experience at
Bonneville called Summers Speed Thrills to give students a shot at the salt
from the driver's seat. He provides the car, pit crew and fireproof driving
suits; you fork over $5,000 for the thrills.
You may never have heard of Bill, but in 1965 he and his late brother Bob
(the Summers Brothers) ran their famous Goldenrod to a land speed record of
409.3 mph. After 41 years, the mark still stands in its class of wheel-driven,
naturally-aspirated, fuel-burning cars.
I was one of two students at Summers Speed Thrills for the session. The
other was Steve Markoff, chief executive of A-Mark Financial Corp. and a
former
Formula Ford racer. The car we were to pilot -- a 1987 open-wheel Bonneville
Lakester with a 650-hp, 468-cubic-inch V8 Chevrolet engine -- had topped 200
mph before. In previous outings Frank Cahoun, an oil consultant from Midland,
Texas, drove it at 207 mph; Ron Secor, a retired wrecking yard owner in
Irwindale, Calif., was even faster at 229 mph.
At least a quarter of the drivers didn't complete runs for one mechanical
reason or another. But, as they say, that's racing.
|