Speed Week 2013!

This week we loaded up and drove to the Bonneville Salt Flats for speed week. I went when I was pretty young with my Dad and I had good memories of it. I wanted my boys to have the same experience so we went this year. I REALLY wanted to drive my bug out there so I could get some cool pictures of it on the salt. I had planned on doing that but as I read up about speed week people recommended having a bike to get around. (The pits are 3 miles long to give you some perspective.) In the end I decided to drive my truck out there so we could load up our bikes. I also heard it is brutally hot out there so I worried about my boys. I figured if we had the truck they could at least get in it and have air conditioning to cool them off if they got too hot. I do OK in the heat as long as I drink lots and lots of water. We packed a big cooler full of water also. Here they are ready to go in the morning.

 I had to get a picture of the cement tree that is in the middle of nowhere heading towards Wendover. It is a little over one hundred miles to the salt flats from Salt lake and it took us about an hour and 45 minutes to get there.

 Here is the turn off. We were getting excited.

 We drove to the pits and parked just outside them. That's when we pulled out the bikes and rode them through the pits checking out all the cars, trucks, bikes and everything else that was running around there. It was pretty hot so we slathered up with sun block, put some hats and sunglasses on and took lots of water with us. Check out the cool cars in the back ground. Two guys cruised them all around the pits throughout the day. The boys loved riding their bikes on the salt. I have to admit it was a blast.

I was in car heaven. There were Hot Rods absolutely everywhere. It was like a sensory overload. I am surprised I didn't wreck my bike looking at all the stuff. I figured there would be some cool stuff there but I had no idea there would be so  much of it. There were cars from all over the world. Tons of different states, Canada, Australia, England. It was like the ultimate car show except at this show they were driving all around on the salt, wrenching on them, tuning them and racing them. It was amazing.

 This rod had a supercharged straight 8 Packard engine in it. It was awesome.

 There wasn't a cloud in the sky with only a slight breeze. The breeze was nice to cool you off. More pictures.

 I love the contrast between the white salt and the blue sky.

This is A LOT of engine in a little car.

 These guys are from California and they had a ton of old 50's style cars all over their pits.

Me and Isaac love to watch roadkill videos on you tube. I mentioned to Isaac that they might be out there and we ran across them actually filming one. If you don't know what roadkill is, there are 2 editors of Hot Rod magazine that film a bunch of crazy stuff they do with cars and post it on You tube. They are hilarious. If you haven't seen it, check it out. If your not into cars you may not understand it but if you are,  you'll be rolling with laughter. It does have a little bit of language in them so beware.

 We talked to them after they were finished shooting and they are both great guys. It really made Isaac's day seeing them. He is still talking about it.They drove to Bonneville and ran the camaro shown here. It went 217 MPH but blew up at 218. I can't wait to see the video. They said it will be out next month.

Here is one of my favorite episodes of roadkill. These guys are hilarious and a little bit crazy!

OK back to the pictures.

 These bikes were cool. I loved the discs on the one. He was selling discs. I should of bought some but then I would of had to buy a cool bike for them to be put on.I don't really need another project.

 I saw this truck everywhere all day long. He drove it all over the salt.

 This was a cool car. I bought a t-shirt off him to help his cause.

Like I said, Hot Rods EVERYWHERE!

 I would of like to see this one run but didn't get the chance.

 There were lots of pit bikes running around all over but this was one of the cooler ones.

 I love his turn signal.

So we started in the pits and after about 3 hours there we went and watched some cars race about mid track. I was listening to the announcer and he mentioned that there was some good food at the Enola Gay cafe which was located at the starting line. We decided to drive to the starting line and get some lunch. This picture is at the starting line. This car was just getting ready to run. I am not sure if it was legal but we basically walked right up to the starting line. No one gave us funny looks so we spent some time watching them take off. It was a blast. It is basically first come first serve to race. They have a few different tracks but we watched track number 1 which was a 5 mile course and the fastest cars ran on this track. The drivers are all suited up waiting to run so that is why the guy is holding an umbrella. It gives the driver some shade. It has to be pretty hot sitting in a car with a fire suit and helmet waiting for your chance to run.

 We watched this one run and it spun out just past the mile mark. That was impressive to see also.

 This was a camaro with a blown big block. It also spun about the same place the other one did. We saw both of them spin.

 Check out that engine. Whew, it's a lot of engine.

 This car would be a blast to race.

 Lots of rods like this were driving all over.

An unusual one. Funny license plate though.

Another cool bike. I like the engine. It would be really cool to build one like this.

 He even had flames on his tires. Ha Ha, those are my kind of tires!

 We finally made it over to the cafe. We ate track burgers which always taste good at the track. If you had them anywhere else they would probably suck. Ha Ha.

 Back to the starting line to watch more cars take off.

Everywhere I tell you!

 So after lunch we watched some more at the halfway point. We then drove back to the pits and decided to take our chances driving through them with the truck. Again, no one gave us a funny look so we went to the end of the pits and I saw some cars further down the salt. I drove out to where they were and parked. I realized we were at the end of the 5 mile track. We watched a few cars run. It was cool seeing cars running 240 MPH as they run across the finish line. I then heard the announcer calling out speeds on a car. It was going really fast. Anyways we watched it as it went through the traps at 424 MPH. It was awesome! It actually set a new track record for it's class. The old one was 422 MPH. I couldn't believe we saw that especially at the end of the track. We then drove back through the pits and took some more pictures.

 We talked to one of the guys on this pit crew. It has 2 blown big block engines. One in the front and one in the back. They were setting up this car trying to get it to pass tech. He said it should run 450 easily and has the capability of going over 500. That would be a rush to drive.

 They are towing this one up to the line so it can make a pass.

So it was an incredible day. I have only posted a handful of the pictures that I took. I quit taking pictures during the day because there was just too much to see and take pictures at the same time. I have gone to many many car related things in my life but this one has got to be the best I have ever seen so far. It is really cool to see the caliber of these cars all in one place and then to actually see them being used. I love that. I am not a fan of having a show car and then never driving it because your afraid of damaging it. I have a lot of respect for those people who drive these cool cars everyday. I guess this was just my kinda crowd. If you get the chance to go to speed week, take it. Sure it's really hot, you get salt everywhere, it's hard on your car but you will never find a better bunch of people and it is worth the experience. It's like a different planet where the conditions are brutal and there are hot rods driving everywhere. Ha ha I had a blast and am planning on going back. Next time I will drive my bug out there. It will be great cruise.

We bounced back to Lagoon this week also. Can't pass that up. It was a great week! I haven't worked much in august but it has been worth it. I could get use to this. Ha Ha, Here is Ellie and Steven waiting in line for the terror ride at lagoon.

Until next time, Take a stand against boring commutes, ditch the A/C and drive something fun!