Roadtrip to the Races, Part II

We'd set up camp with flashlights and gone to sleep with a very limited idea of what this place was like.  

We woke to the sound of hot rods.  Lots of them.

Everyone was headed to the Salt, so we loaded up the ol' GMC and off we went too!

Our camp at the Bend in the Road was on an expanse of salt and soil mixed, with a shrub here and there.  A mile or so down the road we found the End of the Road.

Once you leave the pavement, there is just brilliantly white salt as far as you can see, edged with a mountain range.  For the Speed Week events, orange cones were set up for miles, directing traffic on this seemingly boundless dry lake bed.

 Many of the cars passing by were owner-built.  This was better than a car show!


Races would not start until the next day, but all the drivers had gone through orientation that morning and would be setting up pits and going through inspections to be approved for racing.  So, the plan was to make our way through the racers' pits and absorb all we could.  We parked the truck and took to the bicycles for the day.

 
Everything except tech inspection was open to the public, and the whole attitude of the place was surprisingly friendly and down-to-earth.

The first few pits we stopped into were streamliners - these are the cars that really scream down the track.  They are very low to the ground and aerodynamic, with engines optimized to the max.  The owners and pit crew were happy to answer questions and tell stories of the cars' history.

This streamliner was electrically powered, and was designed and built by engineering students at BYU.

Then, there was the jaw-dropping Blowfish.

This car was built inside and out to show car standards.  Absolutely stunning.  Every piece of it is well thought-out and so carefully executed.  It was built by Rad Rides by Troy, if you want to look up more info.
Amazingly, competitors would visit one another's booths to share their strategies and give tips to their opponents.  No secrets in this all-out race-for-the-pure-joy-of-it atmosphere!

Perhaps the most intriguing to us were the racers who came without the big names and deep pockets.  Those who built their idea of a racemobile and came with a dream to experience the thrill of racing on the Salt.  This father-son rookie team was so excited to be there!  They'd spent hours together on their belly tanker, and were hoping it would pass through inspections so they could get it out on the track.

 
 Another pit that we were drawn to was this team from France.  They spoke very limited English, and we knew even less French, but we unraveled their story with a lot of gestures and pictures and common Latin-based words.
 
 The story was quite similar to that of "The World's Fastest Indian" (a movie about Burt Munro, a New Zealander who first raced his homebuilt motorcycle on the Salt in the late 60s).  The fellow in the red shirt built much of the bike by hand, even the pistons!  That book of photos shows his step-by-step process, and he is describing one part of it there.  This was the family's first time to the States, although it had been the father's dream for years.  The bike was not built to break any records, but he still wanted the chance to drive as fast as he could on the Salt.  There were three motorcycles in the shipping container the bike came over in.  The airbags separating them popped in transit and the bikes were damaged when they fell against each other.  As he told the story, he kept saying "Just like Burt Munro you know!"


In such a unique landscape, it was common to see photo shoots taking place out away from the designated "roadways".  Even better, the car owners and photographers loved to tell you all about the car in the spotlight.
The "City of Salt Lake" was homebuilt in Salt Lake City and challenged the world record in 1960, but wrecked in the attempt.  The late driver's son carefully restored the car and is writing a book about his father, Athol Graham's dream.  One of the peaks in that mountain range is named after him.

" 198C", a 1940 Ford, is a head-turning show car now; however, in the 50's this beauty had a pit crew and a speed goal too.  We had a great conversation with the owner as it was in the middle of a photo shoot by the same magazine that featured it nearly 50 years ago.

Also common on the Salt were shade devices of all shapes and sizes!

 

 

Creativity was everywhere we turned. 

Even some of the push cars were rather unusual.

We thoroughly enjoyed our first day on the Salt Flats.  There was so much to see and learn from the wide range of people and vehicles, all with the same goals - to have fun and go fast.