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Richard Petty to Drive His 1967 Plymouth Belvedere at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Richard Petty is one of the foremost racing legends ever.  He dominated NASCAR from 1964-1986.  He was a brilliant, uncompromising driver who set so many winning records in NASCAR during his brilliant career that nobody except Dale Earnhardt ever came close to matching him.  When asked of what his most iconic car was, many people will immediately tell you his 1970 Plymouth Superbird or 1967 Plymouth Belvedere are his most iconic car. More people will tell you that his Superbird is the most iconic car to ever race NASCAR.  I’m inclined to agree.  All of Petty’s Plymouth’s were powered by the legendary, versatile 426 Hemi.  What I am here to tell you about is Petty will be driving his 1967 Plymouth Belvedere.

Richard Petty’s big, Petty Blue 1967 Plymouth Belvedere will be an amazing sight to see at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed.  It’s going to be a change from the wailing Le Mans and F1 cars that populate the Festival of Speed.  It was the car that Richard Petty drove in his most dominant season ever, 1967.  Just next month, Petty and his big, blue, burbling Plymouth will reunite.

Petty’s 1967 Belvedere was actually a 1966 model redone as a 1967 model (it can get expensive to supply a brand-new car that hasn’t hit the market yet for one person to race).  Normally, it lives over at the Petty Museum in North Carolina, but it has also been displayed at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  For the 1967 NASCAR season, Richard Petty was a force of nature.  He was simply unstoppable.  He won 27 out of 48 races entered, including a 10-race winning streak.  That is a NASCAR record that stands to this day.  It would be the second of his seven championships.  His first championship was in 1964.  Until 1967, Petty was referred to as “The Randleman Rocket.”  After 1967, his new nickname was “The King.”  I’m trying to resist the urge to make bad Hakuna Matata jokes…

While the full list of the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed invitees hasn’t been finalized, we do know that Indy 500 legend Al Unser will be driving his 1978 Lola-Cosworth Team Penske Indy car.  We also know that Formula 1 legends John Surtees and Emerson Fittipaldi will be driving a Ferrari 158 and a McLaren M23, respectively.

Some other highlights of this year’s Festival of Speed:  Sebastian Loeb will be attempting to set a record in his Pikes Peak-winning Peugeot 208 T16, and a timed supercar run of a prototype Acura Honda NSX.

On a sad note, Richard Petty’s longtime wife, Lynda Gayle Owens Petty passed away on March 25, 2014.  She was 72.  It was unclear for a few weeks on whether Richard Petty would come to the Festival of Speed.  A quiet announcement on Petty’s website a few weeks ago said that he will be going to Goodwood.  I would like to offer my sincere condolences to the entire Petty family.

 

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The World’s Fastest Electric Car!

Don Garlits is a drag racing legend.  It’s why he’s known as “Big Daddy.”  Garlits has set records, not only for the amount of wins, but also for eclipsed times, trap speeds, etc.  He’s been active in the drag racing world for the better part of 60 years.  Many credit him for actively starting to make Top Fuel drag racing safer.  He’s learned the hard way on how unsafe old nitromethane dragsters are.  His favorite engine is the 426 Hemi that propelled him to many a victory.  Now, at age 81, he’s trying to set yet another record.

The eerie silence of electric vehicles is a bit creepy to some.  Nowhere is it more apparent than a 1/4 mile dragstrip.  Top Fuel dragsters make 8,000 horsepower, shake your body to the core, and easily hit 150 decibels.

Big Daddy’s Swamp Rat 37 isn’t what he usually drag races.  This is evidenced by the fact that he went 323 mph six years ago.  He regularly drag races a 2009 Dodge Challenger Drag Pak (Dodge’s equivalent of the Ford Mustang Cobra Jet and Chevy COPO Camaro, except it’s got a 600 horsepower Viper V10 under the hood).  Anyhow, Swamp Rat 37 isn’t nearly as quick as other cars he’s sailed down the 1320 feet of a quarter mile in.  But, his new record proves that electric dragsters aren’t slow, either.  According to Wired, Garlits and Swamp Rat 37 just went 7.258 seconds at 184.01 mph at Brandenton Motorsports Park in Florida.  That’s a little bit short of the 200 mph Garlits is aiming for, but he still went 24.16 mph faster than the previous record.

Very few electric cars make supercars look slow, though the Tesla Model S does come close – very close.  However, Big Daddy’s dragster makes every supercar look slow.  Swamp Rat 37 has six 7.5-inch DC electric motors.  Total output from those motors is 1,500 kilowatts, equivalent to about 2,000 horsepower.  Power for those motors is provided by four lithium-ion battery packs that store 420 volts and 3,600 amps.  It’s a little bit more powerful than sticking your finger into an electrical outlet.  Since he’s living his life 1320 feet at a time, there’s no such thing as range anxiety.

Big Daddy built up to full power over the course of several runs, turning in a 10.9, an 8.75, and on his fifth run, he hit 178.42 mph.  His sixth run was the record-shattering run.  For me, the most striking noise is not the whir of the electric motors, but the tires.  The noise of the tires is always drowned out by the thundering engines used in Top Fuel dragsters.  For some,  this may devalue electric dragsters forever, but Big Daddy has shown the world that there’s potential in everything.

Enjoy the video of Garlits setting the record.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea4igN8Thtg

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Dodge Revives Classic Shaker Hoods and Scat Packs!

While it’s been a couple of months since the 2014 SEMA show in Las Vegas, I only recently heard about the legendary Shaker Hoods and Scat Packs returning to Mopar!

Since the 2014 Dodge Challenger looks like it’s 1970 ancestor, it seems fitting that the Challenger should have the legendary Shaker Hood.  Like the original Challenger, the 2014 Challenger can also be fitted with a hood that has the air scoop directly attached to the engine.  This Shaker Hood isn’t just a useless piece of retro jewelry, either.  It provides cooling air to the thirsty HEMI engine under that beautiful hood.

What makes the Shaker Hood even more accessible to enthusiasts who want a 2014 Challenger is the fact that it comes as its own special model!  It’s called the 2014 Dodge Challenger R/T Shaker, and it comes with it’s unique graphics, a period-correct Satin Black Shaker Hood, plus the optional Super Track Pack performance package and a few other cosmetic changes.  It also comes with a spectacular creamsicle-orange color that is a must!

Also returning for 2014 is the Scat Pack.  The last time the Scat Pack was seen on the 1968 Challenger, Charger, and Dart.  Back then, it was called the “Scat Pack Club” package, and it collectively referred to all of the performance models, and it also encouraged camaraderie among enthusiasts and owners.  This time around, however, Dodge is using the moniker as a performance package for, you guessed it, the Dart, Charger, and Challenger.

Each Scat Pack package is available in three stages, with each stage offering additional performance enhancements for the mighty 5.7-liter HEMI V8 on the Charger and Challenger and the turbocharged 2.4-liter four cylinder on the Dart.

These performance enhancements include enhanced ECU tuning, and freer-flowing intake and exhaust systems.  The V8 cars come with more serious modifications:  Not only do they come with what’s mentioned above, but they get new Iskendarian camshafts, and ported-and-polished cylinder heads – in the upper levels.  The Dart has to make do with brake and suspension enhancements.  All three Scat Pack cars come with cool graphics and custom interiors done up with Katzkin leather.

The Challenger R/T Shaker and the Scat Pack Challenger, Charger, and Dart will arrive in dealers by mid-May 2014.

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Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse Black Bess Headed to Beijing Auto Show

Bugatti’s recently gotten into the habit of making special-edition Veyrons.  The special-edition Veyrons are a six-part series of limited-edition Veyrons offered to the public.  The one I am talking about, “Black Bess,” is installment number five in the series.

The “Black Bess” Veyron pays homage to the Bugatti Type 18 “Black Bess.”  Like the original Type 18 Black Bess, the new Veyron Black Bess is painted black with gold accents throughout the exterior.  I’ve got to say it looks pretty darn good.  Some of these gold accents, believe it or not, like the grille and rear badge, are made out of legitimate 24-karat gold!

Inside the Veyron Black Bess, it’s got beige leather seats, contrasting brown leather trim, and a red steering wheel.  All three of those are homages to the original Type 18 Black Bess.  The inspiration for the Veyron Black Bess is notable everywhere, especially on the  interior door panels, which feature hand-painted scenes of the Type 18 Black Bess in action.  Each of the six Veyron Black Bess’s will feature different artwork to ensure that no two are alike.

As for the Type 18 Black Bess, it got it’s name from it’s original owner, French aviation pioneer, Roland Garros, who named it after a British race horse of the era.  The Bugatti Type 18 was one of the original supercars.  It had a 5.0-liter inline-four-cylinder engine making around 100 horsepower.  That gave it a 100 mph top speed, and all seven Type 18’s had (or still have) an impressive racing pedigree.

The Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse Legends Black Bess  made it’s debut at the 2014 Beijing International Auto Show alongside the original Black Bess on April 21.

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The World’s Craziest Go-Kart!

Go-karts are fun little vehicles.  Some of them can go up to 70 mph – in just a few seconds!  Others can climb up hills.  Most don’t have Chevy big-block V8 engines, though.  Dirt Every Day, a fun off-road show on the Motor Trend Channel has a go-kart with a 454 big-block.  I’m pretty sure that that just elevated the host, Fred Williams, to the crazy-maybe-stupid category.

In the previous episode of Dirt Every Day, Fred had an off-road club of college kids called the Poly Goats come and demolish a 1986 Pace Arrow motorhome.  For those of you who don’t know what makes it so special, I have one number for you: 454.  Nothing else needs to be said.  The Poly Goats made mincemeat of the Pace Arrow.  By the end of the episode, it was a bare chassis with a 454 cubic-inch V8, a Turbo 400 transmission, and a beefy rear end.  That’s a good start for a monster go-kart.

However, Fred needed to build and install all of the necessary components to ensure that this crazy contraption starts, stops, turns, and shifts.  However, every go-kart needs to be safe, so Fred turned to his good friend, Frank, who is an engineer.  Frank helped Fred out by giving him tips about the rollcage.

After Frank, some of the Poly Goats come to help Fred get the crazy kart good to go.  After a long day wiring the pedals, steering column, and shifter, fabricating the wide wheel set, and wiring the engine up, the go-kart is good to go.  Fred wisely decides to not drive the go-kart around his neighborhood.

The next morning, Fred trailers both his mini go-kart and his recently built monster go-kart out to a remote ranch for some off-road hoonage.  He is going to have a shootout.  Instead of him driving both go-karts, he has a couple of Poly Goats come and assist him.  They are brave souls.

One of the contests is where the contestants have to see who starts their engine first.  The big go-kart wins by a mile.  The next contest is a timed obstacle course where the drivers have to go around one or two trees depending on kart size, moving around bottles, and going in between cattle skulls.  The tiny go-kart wins.  Then, a drag race, as drag races have proven to be popular on the Motor Trend Channel.  The big go-kart wins.  You just don’t expect a tiny gas-powered go-kart to win against something with a 454.  Then, Fred decides to have a tug-o-war competition.  Yeah, we all know who won there.

After all of the contests, Fred takes the monster go-kart off-roading.  It looks like a lot of fun.  Don’t do this at home, kids.

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Break My Window – I Dare You!

You know what usually happens when you park your car in front of a fire hydrant – you get a ticket, your car is towed to impound, and you get a bunch of impound fees to top it off.  Notice the emphasis on usually.  However, the owner of a BMW 335i Coupe wasn’t so lucky.

A couple of days ago in East Boston, the BMW owner parked their car in front of a fire hydrant.  Shortly after that, a fire broke out in a nearby house.  When Boston’s best came, they had no choice but to smash in some of the left side of the Bimmer to get access to the fire hydrant.  They also needed to have more room for the inflexible fire hoses, so they literally bounced the BMW about a foot and a half.  Then, they broke in the windows of the BMW and fed the fire hose through.  Oh, and to add insult to injury, the Boston Police Department towed the BMW, AND sent a $100 ticket to the owner.  As if getting smashed windows, a big dent, and a lot of embarrassment wasn’t enough…

While the Boston Fire Department said that the firefighters didn’t take any glee in doing such a thing as that.  If that makes them sleep at night, okay.  However, the BMW window-smashing went kinda viral on the vast expanses of the internet.  Ex-firefighters said that they all pray to do what their brethren in Boston did to jacka**es.  Conflicting points of view?  You bet.

I’ve got to tell you looking at the pictures and videos of the BMW, it’s definitely a feel-good moment.  Everybody has at least one automotive-related mess up.  While I don’t know the owner’s name, I can quite confidently say that this is one of them.  Bummer to the Bimmer owner!

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Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6X6 to Appear in Upcoming Jurassic Park Movie

When Mercedes-Benz turned the off-roading world upside-down when it released a civilian version of it’s six-wheeled G-Wagen that it builds for the Australian military, lovers of specialized military hardware clinked glasses with those wealthy enough to afford it.  Not surprisingly, the rest of us mere mortals able to buy a G-Wagen had to settle for the four-wheeled G63.  How depressing.

Anyhow, the G63 AMG 6X6 will be making an appearance in Jurassic Park 4.  That doesn’t seem all too surprising, considering that Mercedes-Benz vehicles have been in the Jurassic Park movies since the second movie.  This has been confirmed by the Jurassic Park 4 Committee Facebook account.

A picture of the G63 6X6 was shown veiled by a white tarp and strapped to a pallet, en route to Hawaii.  Not much else is known about the G63 6X6 being in the movie, but I’m sure that it’s going to be awesome!  I mean, how can you go wrong with six wheels?  Well, I guess if they need to have something that’s heavier-duty, they can always go for an AM General 5-ton troop carrier!

The one thing that I’m absolutely sure that they need is a teenager as a stunt driver…They don’t need to look far!

 

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Ford Wins 12 Hours of Sebring for the First Time Since 1969!

The last time Ford won the 12 Hours of Sebring was back in 1969.  That was when a Ford GT40 MkI beat out a Ferrari 312P.  That was at the tail end of Henry Ford II and Enzo Ferrari’s decade-long motor sports rivalry.

Now, 45 long years later, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Ford Daytona Prototype brought the glory back to Dearborn after 12 chaotic and dramatic hours.

The skilled drivers, Marino Franchitti, Scott Pruett, and Memo Rojas, managed to get the Ford Daytona Prototype across the finish line a mere 5 seconds ahead of Ryan Danziel and the Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD ARX-03B.  They managed to do this after a late restart bunched the field up.

The win makes Chip Ganassi the only team owner ever to have race titles from the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, and the 12 Hours of Sebring.

As for the GT classes, cars from Stuttgart took the win.  Andy Lally, John Potter, and Marco Seefried won GT Daytona in the No. 911 car.  Amazing pit stops helped Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long, and Michael Christensen drive the CORE Autosports Porsche 911 RSR to victory in the GTLM class.

With the Prototype Challenge class, former NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Colin Braun helped put the CORE-ORECA Chevrolet FLM09 best reigning class champion Bruno Junquiera.

With the highly anticipated Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, fuel pump issues and 2 spins dropped the leading Vette to 6th, which disappointed driver Oliver Gavin.  Ben Keating and the SRT Viper GT-D retired within the first hour after a truly spectacular fire.

The revolutionary Nissan DeltaWing led its class for several laps, but retired after Lap 104, thanks to a collision on that lap, in addition to a botched pit stop and multiple mechanical issues.

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A Spectator’s Guide to the Bonneville Salt Flats at Bonneville Speed Week

The Bonneville Salt Flats are one of the world’s fastest places.  The sound barrier was broken there in 1997.  Multiple records have been set there over the years.  It’s also the only racetrack where the ground underneath you can give you sunburns…and taste bad!  I’m hoping to the 2014 Speed Week (August 9-15) with my dad.  I thought it would be smart to tell you what to do and bring as a spectator.  Enjoy.

  • The Bonneville Salt Flats are in the high desert of Utah.  The Salt Flats are located just 5 miles away from Wendover UT, and West Wendover, NV.  West Wendover is a casino town, and Wendover is a pretty neat little town.  Wendover Air Field is located at the edge of Wendover, and it’s the same air field that the Enola Gay took off from with both atomic bombs both times.  There’s a small museum honoring the brave flight crew and the Manhattan Project.
  • Bring a cooler with a LOT of ice and water bottles!  Fill up your cooler with at least 15 water bottles.  That might seem like a lot of water, but temperatures can go as high as 120 degrees.  There is a gas station on the frontage road leading to the Salt Flats that sells gas, water, snack food, and sandwiches.  It is advised to fill up with water and/or gas here.  Vendors sell food and water on the Flats, but they have been known to run out in the past.  Bring your own snack food and a LOT of water and hydrating drinks (people say that Gatorades, Vitamin Waters, and iced tea are also good things to bring).
  • Sun protection is REALLY important here.  The Bonneville Salt Flats have never heard of shade.  Bring your own.  Be imaginative – bring beach umbrellas, sun hats offering head and neck protection, and snow-worthy sunglasses.  The reason for the sunglasses being that tough is that the salt is so reflective that you can get snow blindness.  Vendors do sell heavy-duty sunglasses, but they are overpriced ($20).  Veterans of the salt say to bring skiing sunblock – the reflectiveness of the salt, plus the Sun beating down on you can make your skin look like a tomato.  Running long-sleeved shirts are also a good investment – they mean that you don’t need to worry about your arms, and they help keep your torso relatively cool.
  • Spectators are encouraged to walk the pits and talk with the racers.  Last year, the pits were over 3 miles long and 4 city blocks wide!  They are expected to be larger this year.  Bring a bike or some other form of two-wheeled transportation.
  • Camping chairs are a good investment.  The salt is way too hot to sit on.  The salt will leave burns a mile long on you!  It will also go into your pores and hurt like crazy to get out!  Since there are no grandstands, bring camping chairs with cup holders and an umbrella stand.  You’ll thank me later.
  • Radios are good to bring.  Racer/race information is broadcast on the 1610 AM radio frequency.  Racers also communicate with race officials or their pit crews with CB radios.  If you don’t have a radio, you should get one.  Otherwise, you won’t know anything about a racer or how fast they went!  There is no PA system except for a driver’s meeting on the first day that everybody is invited to.
  • Tarps and shoes:  The salt gets everywhere, and it corrodes whatever it gets on.  Bring a heavy-duty tarp and smooth-soled shoes are a good investment.  I don’t mean VANS, I’m thinking shoes like sneakers.
  • Binoculars are a good thing to bring.  Those tiny birdwatching binoculars you have won’t cut it.  Their field of vision is too small to track a vehicle going 200+ mph down the course.  Spectators can be anywhere from the start line to the final mile marker (Mile 6), but they are always 1/4 of a mile away from the cars for safety reasons.  Get big binoculars with a wide field of vision.  Because many cars are going in excess of 200 mph (some even go 400+!), this is too fast to track with the human eye, according to veteran spectators.
  • Optional entertainment is a good thing to bring, as Bonneville Speed Week isn’t meant to be fast-paced, even though the cars and motorcycles go bloody fast!  Bring the day’s newspaper, a good book, a new magazine, etc.  Some people bring iPads, but it’s hard to read or do whatever on something that reflects the Sun into your eyes.  Taking a nap or working on your tan is also a good idea.
  • Cameras are a must.  Make sure that your camera has a good zoom feature that can capture a car at least 1/4 of a mile away.  Also, make sure that you have something to download the hundreds of pictures you took that day onto.
  • Be prepared to meet lots and lots of nice people.  Lots of the racers are ex-engineers, ex-JPL employees, etc.  When you ask some of the racers what they worked on, and they give you, “If I tell you, and then I kill you” response, they aren’t joking.  Don’t go further than that with them!  Many racers are nice people who will go out of their way to show you their car, offer you a drink, or just chat with you for hours on end.  While there are some people who aren’t people people, there’s a LOT of nice people people.
  • The engines from the cars are very, very loud.  Think Top Fuel on steroids kind of loud.  This is because the engines are large and they have no restrictive exhaust systems on them.  The high-octane racing fuel will burn your eyes if you are too close.
  • Vendor food is good.  If you can name it, vendors offer it.  The food is good, but everybody says the Enola Gay Cafe is the best.  I don’t doubt them.  It’s even got folding tables and chairs for you to sit in!  It starts cooking at 6:00 AM (many racers arrive before then to work on their cars), and stops cooking at 5:00 PM (when everybody leaves the salt).  Many vendors sell t-shirts and other souvenirs.
  • How to get to Bonneville from Wendover is important.  Here are directions on how to get there from the main drag in Wendover, UT.  https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Wendover+Blvd,+Wendover,+UT/Bonneville+Salt+Flats+International+Speedway,+Bonneville+Speedway+Rd,+UT+84083/@40.7604641,-113.9657532,12z/am=t/data=!3m1!4b1!4m16!4m15!1m5!1m1!1s0x80ac2f5b4f0db3a7:0xb33345362043f07d!2m2!1d-114.0355344!2d40.7375496!1m5!1m1!1s0x80ac308e73f0ed1b:0x6c5d8e3c50acde7!2m2!1d-113.895972!2d40.762569!2m1!6e4!3e0.  As you can see, it’s pretty easy.  Also, the volunteers who put on Speed Week have an entry/exit road marked with cones.  Stay inside of the cones.  Going out will mean your car will bury itself into the slushy salt and it will take lots of digging and tugging from multiple pickup trucks to extricate you.
  • Salt Corrosion is one of the worst fears among those of you living back East.  Salt is extremely corrosive, and the Bonneville Salt Flats are no exception – they will turn your car into vehicular swiss cheese!  Think twice about taking your brand-new Ferrari onto the Salt.  If you do, there is a truck stop just off of the I-80 that has a large carwash.  It is recommended that you take your car, rental car, motorcycle, whatever you are driving there, and wash EVERYTHING off!  With your bikes, a garden hose or compressed air will do just fine.  I’ve already talked about shoes, so I won’t go too far into that – just make sure that you can’t find any on them when you get into the car – it tracks everywhere, and it is difficult to get rid of.
  • Where and what to stay in is always a good thing to ask yourself when going on a trip.  There is a Best Western and other small hotels in Wendover, UT.  West Wendover has a Super 8 and multiple casinos.  All of these are booked solid through August 20th.  Same thing with the RV parks.  The mud flats outside of the Salt Flats are your only choice right now, unless you want to stay in Park City, or Salt Lake City.  Both of those are 110 miles away from the Salt Flats.  The mud flats are what they sound like.
  • Clothing is always good to have on hand.  Do NOT wear blue jeans – the tiny rivets in them will leave small, painful burns all over your hips and legs!  If you wear shorts, put sunblock on.  Make sure that your belt buckle cannot touch any skin – it will hurt!  Make sure your shirts are lightweight, light-colored long-sleeved running shirts.  Make sure your hats have a big brim that protects your face and neck.  Skiing sunglasses (not skiing goggles, alien) are also good.
  • Where to eat in Wendover is a good thing to know.  Long story short, follow the racers.  Many of the racers have been coming to the Salt Flats for years, and they know where the best places to eat are.  The Mexican restaurant at the truck stop is a good place to eat, as well as Mildred’s Custom Burgers.  Following the racers is a good idea, but waiting for them to finish eating isn’t.  Waiting for a table can take hours.  Neither restaurant knows what reservations mean, so driving quickly to get ahead of the hordes of hungry racers is smart.  But, sitting at a table inside (where all the racers are) is nice.  The racers talk about their day on the Salt, and previous experiences on the Salt.  Listening to their banter and chatting with them is smart.  Just be thoughtful of those waiting for your table.
  • What to do in Wendover/West Wendover is also good to know.  Wendover Air Field is now a small airport, but it was where the Enola Gay took off from both times with the atomic bombs, and there’s a small museum honoring the brave crew and the Manhattan Project.  The hangars look like they are right out of WWII, but inside, there is a multitude of cool helicopters, planes, and other stuff.  West Wendover has not one, but five casinos!  Wendover has a small movie theater that offers an air-conditioned escape from the boiling desert heat.  There are a few National and Regional Parks (Bonneville is a National Park) in the area.  There is even a 9-hole golf course that takes advantage of the desert to lure golfers onto rocky hills.
  • Gas stations are always a good place to get drinks and gas.  Buy at least 15 water bottles at the gas station on the frontage road leading to the Salt Flats.  The Wendover Truck Stop I have talked about, as well as the small gas station on the way to the Salt Flats.  Don’t ever underestimate Bonneville – it gets hot, and always keep drinking!  Dehydration is a bad thing under the best of circumstances, but you could be dead by the time the helicopter from Salt Lake City arrives.
  • What to do after the racing ends is good to know.  The Bonneville Salt Flats close about 5:00 PM, and they open at 5:00 AM.  Bonneville is on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, and it is fenced off and gated at 5:00.  When racing is winding down, go back to your car and pack up and head out.  It gets crazy getting out of there at 5:00!  Go into Wendover for a burger or Mexican food.  The racers enjoy an ice-cold beer or two, but don’t let that discourage you!  Go up and talk to them!  They are cool folks!
  • When to get to Bonneville to set up to watch racing:  Bonneville opens up at a bright-and-early 5:00 AM, but most racers get there about 6:00 AM.  The courses open up at 7:00, and the quickest runs happen from 7:00-9:00 AM, as the air is cooler and less humid there.  You have to pay a small amount of money as an entry fee every day as a spectator (racers pay for it when they register their car for Speed Week), but it’s really not much.  Getting there earlier is better.
  • Bring a lot of cash.  Some vendors don’t take credit cards, and the Bonneville volunteers collecting entry fees don’t take credit cards or checks.  Plus, cash is good to take wherever.  You can use it to tip, donate to the Wendover Air Field museum, or even donate to the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA).

I’ve also attached one of my favorite Roadkill episodes, where they attempt to set a landspeed record.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEcbwvNaxE8

Also, take a peek at the SCTA’s website.  http://www.scta-bni.org/Bonneville.html

The colors, excitement, people, cars, and the beauty are just some of the reasons why people return to Bonneville year after year.  It’s called Salt Fever.  Catch it!  Come to Speed Week 2014 and hopefully you can meet up with me and my dad!  Plus, getting to Bonneville is a beautiful road trip in itself.  Enjoy the trip to Bonneville and your time there!

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1957 Chevy Bel Air Returned 30 Years After Being Stolen!

How often is it that you get your car back after it’s been stolen?  What about if it was stolen 30 years ago?  What about if it was a cool ’57 Chevy Bel Air?  What about if it was stolen and returned almost a year before it disappeared for 30 years?  That’s what happened to Santa Rosa, California resident Ian “Skip” Wilson.  When California Highway Patrol investigator Mike Maleta informed him that there was a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air in a shipping container bound for Australia that might be of some interest to him.  Since U.S. Border Protection and Customs does routine checks of shipping containers bound for wherever, it may be no surprise to Customs agents.  Once they found out the car was stolen, it was handed over to the CHP to build a case.  Then, Ian Wilson received a call from Mike Maleta, a CHP investigator about the car.  The VIN matched what Ian gave Maleta, and the car was on its way to Ian’s house after a few days.  This isn’t the first time the car was stolen – it was stolen back in 1983, but returned to him without the engine and transmission.  He had bought the car back in 1975 for $375, and he hadn’t started re-rebuilding the car when it was stolen from his driveway in 1984.

The white-over-yellow hardtop now is a sparkling creamsicle orange with a Chevy 350 V8/Turbo 350 transmission setup.  It’s got disc brakes and rack-and-pinion steering.  A brand-new black leather interior complements the paint beautifully, and the slightly chromed 17-inch wheels also look sweet.  The rebuild is extremely recent, with the odometer showing nine miles showing on the odometer.

Skip had to pay just $900 for transportation, and originally was told by the DMV that he needed 30 years of back registration to get the car registered.  The state backed off for the back registration request.

Yeah, I’d pay $900 for a basically brand-new 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.