Most of the racing fans I know tend to stick to one form of the sports, the NASCAR fans look down on the Formula One fans, and vice versus, although I am not sure where the truck racing fans and super modified people stand on the issue. However there is one area that they all seem to agree and that is that going fast is great, which brings us to Speed Week at the historic Bonneville Salt Flats.
I knew that speed records were often set at the salt flats but I had no idea that it was a regular event that occurred once a year where fans of just about any type of engine driven vehicles from bar stools on up can compete to set records or in many cases just go very, very fast.
So on September 8th and running to the 11th is the World of Speed held by the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association (USFRA). The event has an interesting format in that once you get accepted via registration, you run in a random order.
There is no head to head racing; it is just the driver and the machine against the track and the timer, going all out to set a record, or to achieve set speeds that allow you to say that you have achieved a certain standard at the event such as the 130 MPH and the 150 MPH clubs
Racers seeking to set records run in what is called the Record Run, and they make two runs, one a qualifier and the other is called the Record Run, which are the first races in the morning. The average of the two races is what is used to establish new records.
The Salt Flats have two courses with the short course running four or five miles while the long course running seven miles or longer. For most cars, they must qualify to run the long course by first running the short course at 175 mph, reaching that sped by the 2 ½ mile marker.
While many people are probably familiar with a wide range of vehicles that are raced at the Salt Flats from the famed streamliners to muscle cars, vintage cars and motorcycles there are some oddities as well including bar stools, Volkswagens, go-carts and electric vehicles.
I am not sure if there will be any over the air broadcasting of the events but there are a host of web links to some of the teams that are participating here. If you are attending send us some pics!
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