Salt Flats racing events cancelled for second year Monthly Newsletter of the Early Ford V8 Club of America The Utah Salt Flats Racing As- East Tennessee Regional Group October 5, 2015 sociation cancelled its World Fi- nals race scheduled from Septem- ber 29 to October 2, because of poor conditions of the salt, as it had ear- lier cancelled Speed Week which was supposed to run on August 8 Tom’s ‘40 coupe places in top 25 at Allendale through August 14. Tom Collins’ Deluxe ‘40 coupe was one of the top 25 cars displayed at the AACA show at Allendale on Sunday, Sept. 20. The top 25 were determined by vote of the participants entering vehicles in the show. Dave Williams, This was the second year events show chairman, re- Tom with his ‘40 Deluxe coupe of the Bonneville Salt Flats have ports that 283 vehicles were registered for the show. The one coming been cancelled. Though the racing the longest distance was from Chattanooga 215 miles away. community is disappointed, and The Nirtheast Tennessee Mustang Club won the car club award with many racers feel that deterioration 19 members attending and 16 Mustangs entered. of the flats mean an end to racing A slight drizzle and the threat of more rain caused show officials to at Bonneville, drivers hope the cut the event an hour short and present the awards at 3;00 p.m. rather salt flats will repair themselves as than at 4:00 as scheduled. natural forces have in the past. In the meantime, they’re holding Club acquires trailer for storage of cruise-in suplies speed trials this year on an airport The club has acquired a runway in the Mojave Desert. 6 x 10 ft. enclosed alumi- This isn’t the first time concerns num trailer to store the have been raised about the salt banner, standards and flats deteriorating. Between 1960 other itejs of equip- and 1988, the U.S. Geological Sur- ment used for the Friday vey estimated that 55 million tons night cruise ins substan- of salt disappeared from the crust, tially reducing the work thinning it by one and a half feet. required to set up for the But the precise cause of these evening events. changes to the salt remains mys- It has been decorated terious: It could be a sign that the with an Early Ford V8 Salt Flats have started deteriorat- Club logo and identifica- ing, but it could also simply reflect tion of the East Tennes- normal shifts in this ethereal envi- see Regional Group on the ronment. rear door. The Bonneville Salt Flats are a Moving Pictures, paint- 30,000 acre expanse of hard, white ing and printing company salt crust on the western edge of that has done the print- the Great Salt Lake basin in Utah, ing for the dash plaques Meals for Wheels about 12 miles long and 5 miles ad portraits of the favorite Meals for Wheels on Oct. 8 will be provid- wide with total area of just over 46 cars for the cruise-ins did ed by Gary Williams and Bob Scales with square miles. Near the center of the painting. help from the club. (Continued on P. 2, Col.1.) Page 2 Ford Words, October 5, 2015 Salt Flats Continued from page 1. the salt, the crust is almost 5 feet thick, tapering off to less than 1 inch at the edges. Total salt crust volume has been estimated at 99 million cubic yards or 147 million tons. The salt is approximately 90% sodium Chloride, NACL, com- mon table salt. Some complain mining interests are destroying the flats. For al- most as long as people have been racing at Bonneville, others have been extracting the potassium dis- An early salt flats roadster solved in the shallow brine aquifer Flats for over a century. Racers failed until the 1930s when Ab beneath the ground. say that the emptiness of the flats Jenkins, a Utah native driving a The company that currently make it hard to gauge their speed. Studebaker dubbed the Mormon runs the mining operation, Intrep- The salt flats were first discovered Meteor, began setting endurance speed records at Bonneville. Jen- kins was later instrumental in promoting land speed racing and luring British racing legend Sir Malcolm Campbell to the Salt Flats in 1935. Since that time the Bonneville Salt Flats have at- tracted racers from throughout the world and have become the site of numerous land speed records. Their attraction for these racers is due to the hard, flat surface that is continually renewed by nature each year. Jenkins and Britisher John Cobb set records back and forth until Campbell boosted his Bluebird racer to 300 miles an hour, and auto racing was interrupted by Ab Jenkins’ Mormon Meteor World War II. Speed Week began in 1949 and id Potash, has made it clear that to be drivable when a man by the the Douthern California Timing they return the salt—that is, the name of Bill Rishel and two of his Association moved its land speed sodium chloride—back to the flats business partners drove a Pierce- events from the dry lakes of So-Cal after extracting the potassium Arrow across the salt in 1907. to Bonneville. Instead of just big from it. Early attempts to promote au- budget streamliners, Bonneville In 1914, Motor Age magazine tomobile racing on the Salt Flats (Continued on P. 3, Col.1.) called the Bonneville flats a “natu- ral racecourse”, when driver Ted- dy Tetzlaff set an unofficial record of 142.8 miles per hour driving the Blitzen Benz. This year would have been the 101st anniversary of vehicles set- ting speed records on the salt ex- panse. Drivers have been racing vehicles of all shapes and sizes across Utah’s Bonneville Salt Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Blubird racer Ford Words, October 5, 2015 Page 3 Salt Flats Continued from page 2. was now full of returning GIs and their ’32 Ford Coupes, and High- boy Roadsters. Modified flathead Ford V8 en- gines drove most of these racers and a whole industsry providing parts that would increase their speed grew up. Aluminum heads, specially ground camshafts, in- take manifolds, exhaust headers and special ignition set ups bear- ing names of their makers. The Belly Tank Lakester was one of the earliest post war Bonneville developments. The idea came from A belly tank Lakester a Southern-California hot rodder named Bill Burke who emembered was back with a rebuilt Spirit of 576.553 mph. Just eight days when he served in Guadalcanal he America to achieve a new record later, Breedlove would break the saw P-51 Mustang belly tanks be- speed of 468.72 mph. 600 mph barrier with a record of ing uloaded and thought of using After a few minor adjustments 600.601! one to build a streamliner it using he made a record of 526.28! He got Arfons would return in 1966 with Model T and Model A parts. up to 539 on his return run before a newly rebuilt Green Monster to Alex Xydias founder of the fa- his parachutes tore off and he lost try and break Breedlove’s record. mous So-Cal Speed Shop built a control, crashed through a tele- One of the front wheel bearings belly tank Lakester of his own phone pole and into a brine lake broke and his car went out of con- powered by a 60 horsepower Ford at the end of the course. He would trol while he was at the speed of V8 that reached a speed of 145.40 escape unharmed but his Spirit of around 610 mph. The car was to- mph. Swapping the 156 V8 for a America was completely destroyed. taled but Art survived with minor 259 Mercury flathead, he got it to Art Arfons would then break this scratches and some salt burns to 181.08 mph. record with his rebuilt Green Mon- the eyes, but then retired from rac- Then came the jet cars. In the ster at the end of the month by set- ing and turned to tractor pulling 60s and 70ss, the Arfon brothers and Art and Walt and Craig Breed- love pushed their Green Monster and the Spirit of America to speeds of more than 600 miles per hour. Every time one of the Arfons or Breedlove would set a record, the other guys would go back, rebuild their cars or build a new one to beat that record. The competition officially start- ed in August of 1963 when Craig Craig Breedlove’s Spirit of America Breedlove beat Mickey Thomp- son’s 406 mph record with a new ting a new record of 536.71 MPH Craig Breedlove’s record would record of 407.45. The record would which was the final record set for stand until 1970 when Gary Ga- stand until October of 1964 when 1964. belich using a car powered by a Walt Arfons would set a record of Breedlove would return to Bonn- rocket engine that used hydro- 413.20 mph in Wingfoot Express. eville in 1965 with a brand new gen peroxide oxidizer and lique- In Just three days after Walt set car nicknamed Spirit of America fied natural gas. Not only would his 413 mph record, Art took his Sonic 1. On November 2nd of 1965 he break the 600 MPH barrier budget-built Green Monster to a Breedlove would set a new record and shatter Breedlove’s record record breaking speed of 434.02 of 555.483 mph Arfons and his re- he would set the fastest record in mph.