|
of this magnitude that was so totally and completely NOT money driven. There was no mass of vendors selling useless goodies and unless you brought your own food, you didn't eat! The Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) has only one thing in mind and that is to provide a safe and reliable place to run wide open. And run wide open they do......!
The other thing is I have never been to this kind of event where traffic in and out of the spectator area moved so smoothly, regardless of the time of day. There was one delay leaving the Flats, but that was caused by an emergency vehicle carrying a spectator, not a racer.
Old "Too Low's" hat is off to the SCTA and all the volunteers for the way the whole event was handled. You guys should give some lessons to some of the other major car events.
Were there racers? Oh yeah, there were racers of every shape and size, whether you were into seeing Tanya Harding (yeah, that Tanya Harding!) boogie down the salt in a Model A, looking for a 90 mph record, or your cup of tea was watching an 85 year old from New Zealand celebrate his birthday with a pass of 185 MPH on a flathead Harley-Davidson motorcycle, it was there.
The Bean Bandits from San Diego were there, as they have been since the earliest days of Speed Week, running a modified roadster with a V-8, but operating only one half of the V-8 (one bank or side of the engine was unused). They had a couple of other racers there as well.
The guys from Ohio State University were trying to set a new record with a streamliner powered by electricity! They were using nitrogen to power the electric motors, but were having some problems.
Gene Winfield was there running a modified roadster (I think he's in his 80's) at 200 mph.
Chip Foose was there with Troy Trepanier campaigning a Barracuda called "Blowfish". That baby was a butt hauler!
I normally attach captions to each of my photos, but my mini-recorder let me down, so I hope these photos and more to come will show the incredible excitement that is Speed Week. If you haven't been, you should think about it. It's something that all gearheads should experience. Too Low
|
