Century of Speed
Pomona, CaliforniaFriday, January 24, 2014
Honoring the 100th Anniversary of Bonneville
Story by Richard Parks
Photos by Roger Rohrdanz
The Century of Speed exhibit at the 65th Annual Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) brought together around 60 of land speed racing’s (LSR) most unique cars in a variety of categories and classifications. Ron Main approached the promoters of the GNRS with the idea of having a very special exhibit of land speed racing cars. John and Annika Buck liked the idea and gave space in one of the buildings to Ron and others in the SCTA/BNI to organize a special exhibition and call it The Century of Speed. This special show also made it possible to showcase Ron Main’s and David Fetherston’s remarkable book; BONNEVILLE, A CENTURY OF SPEED. The first 2000 books were given by Ron and David to the SAVE THE SALT program to help in the replacement of salt on the famed Bonneville Salt Flats in Western Utah. Many hard working volunteers came together to help Ron Main fill the building with land speed race cars and sponsor’s booths. People came from all over the world to see this special exhibit of land speed racing cars and the people who race them.
The first moment that I entered the cavernous building 9 and looked at the history of LSR before me I felt overwhelmed. The scope and breadth of the cars and motorcycles was simply amazing. Ron Main and the volunteers spent a great deal of time to give this a very special look. It took some time, just to move in and around the aisles before I could truly appreciate all the men and women and their vehicles on display. My family has been involved in LSR since 1931 and we are newcomers compared to the first competitors from Europe and Daytona Beach. In 1914 a four cylinder, 300 horsepower Blitzen Benz ran at the Bonneville Salt Flats and was clocked at 142.8 mph. The current record, as of 2014, for a wheel driven, piston powered vehicle is over 430 mph. This is the reason for the exhibit being named, "A Century of Speed.”
Land speed racing is one of the two original automotive speed sports; the other one being town to town road racing. In the very first day of the automobile there were men and women who took this new vehicle and tested the endurance and speed of their cars against others. There is no prize money or purse to be won in LSR. It is simply the pursuit of man and machine against time itself. Land speed racing is a sport of gentlemen and ladies, and also egos and stubbornness. Whatever glory is to be found is fleeting, but that is not why men and women compete. It is the sheer thrill of making your vehicle and design transcend all that has gone before. Even if a land speeder succeeds in breaking an existing record barrier, he or she will applaud another LSR team to come and break their record. Often we think of our sport as “how fast or how many miles per hour we can go,” but the actual contest is time. It is time that we challenge and our enemies are wind, weather, breakage, aerodynamics, endurance and a host of other problems that confront LSR teams.
In this article I am going to name most of the race vehicles at the Grand National Roadster Show’s Century of Speed. For some of them I have commentary, and for the rest I can only hope that our researchers in the Society of Land Speed Racing Historians Newsletter will use it as a template for additional research and report their findings to us. I also hope that John Buck will give us another exhibit at a future show to bring together more of these record setting and unique vehicles for the public to enjoy. Here’s the list; modified roadster (Pete Aardema), 2004 Ack Attack world’s fastest motorcycle streamliner (Mike Akatiff), 1949 So-Cal streamliner (Paul Atkins), 1970’s Pontiac coupe (Gale Banks), motorcycle powered streamliner car (Dave Brant), 1952 Buick Super ‘Artcar’ (Jeff Brock), 1934 Ford So-Cal coupe (Bruce Canepa), 1971 Triumph GT6 modified sport (Keith Copeland), the blue roadster (Mike Cook Jr), Alfa/Romeo modified sports class (Mike Cook Sr), Yacoucci/Costella streamliner (Jack Costella). Mike Akatiff is a major competitor and record setter in streamlined motorcycles. Gale Banks has raced and sponsored numerous entries and his Gale Banks Engineering company is well-known in racing circles. Mike Cook is the promoter of Cook’s Shootout, a special Bonneville time trials reserved only for the fastest land speed cars on an invitational basis only. Mike’s family goes back a long way in land speed and early drag racing. His father was Doug Cook, a partner in the Stone/Woods & Cook drag car. His son, Mike Cook Jr continues his father’s legacy.
The red, white and blue star spangled flag paint job adorns Bruce Crower’s streamliner. Others were the 2007 sidecar motorcycle streamliner (Tim Cunha), 1990 A/Blown fuel streamliner (Robert Dalton), 1934 world’s fastest Ford roadster (Dave Davidson), 1909 Blitzen Benz (Bill Evans), 1950 Ed Miller lakester (Don Ferguson Jr), 2000 Ferguson streamliner (Don Ferguson Jr), 2013 streamliner (Rob Freyvogel), 2013 beast sprint car (Damion Gardner), 2008 Mormon Missile streamliner (Lynn Goodfellow), 1942 P-38 belly tank lakester (Bobby Green), 2008 lakester (Scott and Seth Hammond), 1920 Burt Munro Indian Scout motorcycle (Tom Hensley), 1934 Ford street roadster (Jim Jard), 2005 Dodge Ram pick-up (Wayne Jesel), Knapp streamliner (Jim Knapp), 1992 Pontiac Firebird (Jerry Kugel), 1959 Red Head streamliner (Bill Lattin), 1937 Harley Davidson motorcycle streamliner (Jim Lattin), 1928 Frank Lockhart reproduction streamliner (Jim Lattin), 1941 Stu Hillborn dry lakes lakester. The 1909 Blitzen Benz represents the first car in the exhibits century of speed and was famous in its day. Jim Lattin has a large museum of motorcycles and race cars. Jim often invites land speed racers to his museum when he completes a restoration on one of his famous race cars. Jerry Kugel’s Firebird ran at Bonneville with a lot of fanfare. Kugel is a master hot rod and roadster builder and the speculation was that his “doorslammer” would set some serious records. It did, beating my brother’s (David Parks) record by 81 MPH in two separate categories. Don Ferguson Jr represents another land speed racing family that has a history in the sport going back more than three generations. He also has an impressive collection of old and valuable race cars.
From the Museum of American Speed came the Wee Eel streamliner (John Mackichan), 1997 Freight Liner diesel truck (Don Lemmons), 1989 streamliner (Mackichan/Schulz), 1990 Honda CRX-JDM (Miriam MacMillan), 1929 Ford roadster (Mike Manghelli), 1929 Ford Model-A William Brothers roadster (Tom McIntyre), 1952 Tommy Thompson streamliner (Tom McIntyre), McLeish motorcycle powered lakester (Derek McLeish), 1934 So-Cal Speed Shop Ford coupe (Bruce Meyer), 1948 So-Cal Speed Shop belly tank (Bruce Meyer), 1929 Ford roadster (Bruce Meyer), 2001 Nish Motorsports streamliner (Mike Nish), 2008 Speed Demon streamliner (George Poteet), 1969 Plymouth Barracuda ‘Blowfish’ (George Poteet), 1985 Chevrolet Camaro (Jack Rogers), Bonneville streamliner (Amir Rosenbaugh), 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona (Lee Sicilio), 1968 Chevrolet Camaro (Tony Taormina), and the 2010 SWIGZ Pro-Racing Electric Superbike (Dana Williamson). Bruce Meyer began collecting and restoring rare racing vehicles before it was popular to do so and has a remarkable collection. George Poteet and Ron Main with their Flat Fire and Speed Demon have almost monopolized the top speeds at Bonneville for many years. Main is a colorful character in his own right. He has a massive collection of hot rod and movie collectibles and created Main Attractions, which sold old Hollywood movies. Main and Poteet have monopolized the top speed at Bonneville for a number of years.
Jim Travis lengthened the original 1960 squat streamliner named the ‘Pumpkinseed’ into the more streamlined version seen today. Travis built the 1957 Plymouth Savoy reproduction car called “Suddenly.” The original car was driven by Wally Parks at Daytona Beach and set the stock car record. Ray Brock then ran “Suddenly” at Bonneville and after that no one knows what happened to it. Other vehicles in the exhibit included; 1932 Ford roadster (Chet Thomas), Thomas streamliner (Dave Thomas), 1968 Mickey Thompson Challenger II streamliner (owned by his son Danny Thompson), 2014 Target 550 streamliner (Marlo Treit), 2011 motorcycle powered streamliner car (Jim and Mary True), 2013 Kent Fuller streamliner (Don Tubbs), 1929 Ford roadster (Steve Van Blarcom), class H streamliner (Dennis Varni), 909 Bonneville streamliner (Dennis Varni), the Markley Brothers belly tank (Dennis Varni), the Bob Herda streamliner (Dennis Varni), the Triumph ‘Orange Crate’ streamliner (Dennis Varni), 1957 Vesco streamliner (Rick Vesco), 1988 Vesco Turbinator streamliner (Rick Vesco), 1932 Ford roadster (Tom Walsh), 1969 Camaro ‘Big Red’ (Dave Ward), 1950 Kurtis built Cummins diesel (Bruce Watson), 1991 motorcycle streamliner (Sam Wheeler), and the 1927 Ford modified roadster (Anthony Young). Danny Thompson is still active in land speed racing and will attempt to take one of his father’s old cars and go after a record in his class at Bonneville. Dennis Varni has one of the nicest collections of famous LSR vehicles.
Gone Racin’ is at [email protected].