Shop Tour of the East Coast company 1945 Speed and Custom

Well, we see many shops in Southern California, but its good to see what being built in other states and of course, all over the globe, today we look at a company way over there on the other side of the East coast, known as 1945 Speed and Custom. They are also in the Oilers Club, an original Hot Rod club that is still strong in their Vintage lifestyle as it is down here in California, I saw some of them Racing at TROG in NJ and it sure did draw a lot of spectators. So below is just a little blog on this great company on the East side of the country, if you over that way, drop in and see them.

Formula Drift Champion Chris Forsberg takes us on a tour of garages around the country, from professional outfits to grassroots backyard garages. In this episode we visit 1945 Speed And Custom in Troy, New York. Owner Jeremy Baye shares his love for building some of the coolest custom hot rods in the world. Baye is a master designer and fabricator creating classics reminiscent of a bygone era with a focus on high-quality metalwork, his 10,000 square-foot shop is in a renovated car dealership along the river. Baye tours us through finished works including a custom Rail Dragster, a late 40s Big Car, a 1927 Ford Model T, and Baye’s own ’51 Ford Flathead V8 Truck. After a tour through the garage checking out some works in progress, Forsberg heads out for a drive in the 1927 Ford Model T.

Located on River St in NY, this shop has been around a few years now and know their way round Vintage, Custom and race cars, they are a hands on fabrication shop and can go from a small modification to a turn key head spinning Hot Rod.

Custom Work

Taking a piece of history and transforming it into something entirely new is the ultimate form of innovative self-expression. 1945 has the ability to take that idea in your head and make it a reality. Our expertise in hot rodding and resto-modding automobiles from all eras is unmatched across the Northeast. Anywhere from period correct American hot rods, to Modern Day Imports, we have all the resources to make your custom work possible. “Customization” may range from simply adding power brakes to a car for better drivability, to completely innovating how a car looks, drives, and sounds.

Restoration Work

There are times when an automobile or bike is so neat or rare that a restoration is the best route to take. This is no simple process; it takes expertise and skill to complete a restoration to top quality. 

1945 has the abilities to authentically restore your automobile or motorcycle from any era. We are dedicated to doing work that stands out from the rest, work that makes our clients confident in their project’s development, and highly satisfies them with the outcome. The most important advice we can give is don’t bring your project to an auto-body shop who does restorations on the side. Choose an experienced and full service shop like 1945 for unparalleled craftsmanship in fine automobile restoration.

Refinishing

1945 Speed and Custom holds itself to the highest standards when it comes to refinishing automotive classics and masterpieces. With some of the best talent in the world on our team, our abilities in the refinishing sector of automotive work is unmatched in terms of quality and aesthetics. Anything from authentic looking paint jobs, to custom metal flaking, to flawless pinstriping, 1945 can turn your project into a true masterpiece. Visit our portfolio to see some of the wild paint jobs we have completed in the past.

MECHANICAL

Whether you are looking for a “juice” brake upgrade on your ’31 Model A or a full LS swap in your ’68 Camaro, 1945 has the abilities and skill to execute and complete any mechanically oriented task with ease and perfection. Anything from engines, transmissions, front and rear axles, suspension, and steering, to simple dashboard components and wiring,  1945 has the expertise to restore or customize your automobile or bike of any era to a flawless finished product.

We are sure there is no part of a vehicle’s mechanics that we can’t repair, restore, or customize – from any era or make.

©2017 by 1945 Speed And Custom.

1945 SPEED & CUSTOM

Bonneville Salt Flats part 2

OK, the previous Blog took me so long as the photos were high quality and the download time kicked me right in the Spuds, but, I have a few more photos left but these I took with my phone, so not great clarity, but wanted to share a few more photos of the great times Jennifer and I had at Speed Week in Bonneville.

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Above is this A-Bone Pick up, as we all hung out outside the Nugget Casino and Hotel in the evenings, this was a super place just to have a beer and look at other peoples rides, chew the fat with many people that had traveled from all over the globe and we all had one thing in common and that was of course Speed Week.

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Check out this Pick up, very cool and old school as it had swooping fenders with rear skirts, a lot of work went into this rig and I sure loved the way it sat in the weeds, great job of it.

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Envious of the Hop Up coupe, just take a llok at this really Period machine, I mean sat on cross ply 16 inch Firestone’s on 40 ford steelies and unchopped too, such a treat for me to see this.

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Just when you think you have seen it all, this El Gringo loco truck was just bad ass, very cool, I am sure it bumped around on the tarmac but loved the style of this pick up.

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Studebaker trucks have always been cool, almost Custom from the factory, I see this has old school ribbed bumpers and sporting 2 sets of 1939 tear drop lights at the rear, tight looking rig.

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My God, Drool factor is off the hook, this Brown Suede Oxide three window was the epitome of Hot Rodding, complete with Black-walls and Stainless Hair pins, I just loved looking at this, Schroeder Race track steering box too as you can see the Pittman arm hanging out the side of the cowl.

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I loved this three window as it even had an original 1932 Utah License Plate, what is not to like about this really Nostalgic Hot Rod.

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How about this for a sight for sore eyes and when I say sore eyes, thats from the blinding glare off the Salt Flats today, the Rolling Bones Club drove down and they took their rides onto the Lake and when they came back each night, they pulled in at the Nugget, what a super rare sight it is to see all this Hot Rods in one place and covered in salt too. GULP!

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This Slammed Hemi powered 5 window was popular with many people, the owner was super cool to chat too, as were everybody at this event, something a few events dont have any more and this place was ooozing with Camaraderie.

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Just look at this sight, so much rare tin and not many places you will see as many as this in one place, it was Hot Rod heaven with out a doubt and I enjoyed every minute of it.

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More salt sprinkled here than a bag of English fish and chips and every one of these rides had Salt from the lake on it, it must of taken a week to get it off, sure hope it doesnt start to rust these old bodies apart.

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Just another view of the behind of these great cars , I doubt I shall be lucky enough to see anything like this line up again, unless I travel to the East coast and check the “Rolling Bones” group out.

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If you ever get to Speed week, you will know that the evening meet up is a great way to wind down from the Hot weather on the salt, it was still hot out here in Wendover but a cold brew helped to cool you down.

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Look at this, a gasser Corvette, there is a piece of History right there, who has ever heard of a slow Corvette? So this must be a heart attack to drive about?

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” Any Salt with that Sir” This pick up with Beer Barrel grill got many looks and I saw this quite a bit blapping about at the Lake in 100 degree’s +.

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El Cheapo is right but I bet he had a million dollars worth of fun on the salt?

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This Business coupe was tough as old boots, loved the chop and look how nice and close the rear bumper is too, so much work in this car.

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This long Closed Cab pick up had a nice Black Flatty in it with Dual carbs and 36 Torque tube headers, very cool and traditional.

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Oh my, this was just the coolest Roadster there, loads of Patina, loved the Canvass top, raked and chopped windshield and the commercial lights with those Tractor Firestone tires.

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How could I not take a photo from the other side too, this was in the parking structure of the Nugget Hotel and casino in Wendover, what a great show there every night for speed week.

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Check this ride out and it sits so well too, had more white powder over this than a cocaine addict with a sneeze! Loved the Black steelies and white walls too.

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The Flying Brick seemed to get all over the place, yet hardly any salt on it, I saw this cruising all over the courses of the salt flats too.

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We saw this Model A Roadster on the way up to Wendover when we stopped for some grub just outside salt lake City, I was so surprised that a show car with custom metal flake paint would dare to take their machine on the Salt, but he proved me wrong, great little ride and it was fast too.

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Tough looking 5 window Model A with a small block, cal custom finned covers, Sanderson style headers and a deuce grill with Louvre’d insert was a great attraction, I really liked it.

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5 window parked up was covered in Bonneville’s finest, the roof wasn’t even chopped and thats quite a rare sight theses days, I wasnt a fan of them rims or tires but, each to their own eh?

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This pick up was pretty wicked, loved the Patina and the stance, looked to have radar style 5 spokes and I bet this was a real smooth ride to where ever it drove up or down from.

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I took this with my phone and wasn’t sure if it would come out any good, but am pleasantly suprised with it, this was a fun area to be in, just by the side of the Nugget Casino in Wendover.

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Loved the smooth lines on the Custom Sled, this really did have a lot of work, Nosed, Decked, Frenched, you name it, funny to see the Salt around it like on the rim of a Sangria Glass.

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You can beat a drum, you can beat an egg, you can beat an opposing soccer team, but you cannot beat a traditional 50’s Model A 5 window coupe, such a wicked ride I never tire of seeing.

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All the way from Washington, this Highboy was a classy ride, a really nice 1932 Roadster with the deep Ford Blue gave it a Nostalgic style that is always popular no matter what year we are in.

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Here is its twin Brother, No license plate else you would think this was the same ride, Instrument Dash is cool too, but, great minds think a like eh?

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Now this is right up my alley, Road or Garden path, how can you not like this Roadster, the flatty sounded awesome when it pulled into the Casino parking lot, you cant beat the sound of a flatty.

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Liked this Model A complete with Knock offs and traditional rear tail light , being fenderless makes this A-Bone look a lot taller as well, come in number 46 your time is up!!!!

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I really did like this Roadster, the proportions were right, even the chopped Deuce grill shell was bang on the money and loved the 32 Headlights hanging from the side of the rails.

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If you look behind the cars you can actually see the salt lake, so not that far away from all the action, Wendover is the place to stay if you are coming to Bonneville but, book early or camp out.

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If you get to the Nugget Early, you can grab a good spot to park your ride as this is where the car show starts every night, it goes on all through the night too, always something cool to look at and everyone is super friendly too.

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I was sat down at the start line on the short course, a Customer of mine that I made some Megaphones for in Lawton Oklahoma, said he would be there with his pops, its a big lake so doubt I would find him, well this chap stood next to me said. “Carpy” What the heck, he was only parked right next to us, small world eh?

If you can ever make it out to Utah, do it, its a great place to watch History happen and one of the most friendliest events on the planet, so glad that I had the opportunity to go.

Lee munro’s First run on the Indian.

This spins out at 138 MPH but gives you just an idea of what is going on inside a cage.

Well, this is how 435 MPH looks and feels, bumpy and squirley as hell.

Here is another angle from the cockpit.

89 Year Old grandpa has a go in the coupe, spins out but what a great experience for the chap.

Last Run for speed week, watch until the end as some great camera angles, loved the last bit filmed from the rear.

Spin out, sure gets Gnarly out there.

Double Indian Scout engine Motorcycle.

Lee Munro on the long course gets to 186 MPH

Here we are with a Thruxton R having a go on the salt.

So there you go, a fun time, if you can ever make it to the Salt Flats, just once, you will then totally get the experience that we did and watch History happen right in front of your very eyes.

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It is something I shall never forget, Speed week was always a place I wanted to visit to watch Hot Rods and Motorcycles Race and now that empty box has a huge Tick through it.

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Thanks for following my 2 day Bonneville Blog, many people let me know that they enjoyed the write up and I hope that just looking at the photos made you at least smile today.

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This Brings a close to this chapter but thats not the end, as for me I am so lucky to live in Southern California, as there is a dry lake there called El Mirage thats 90 minutes from me, and will be venturing out there next month, but a fond farewell to Speed week as I now get it and hopefully one day you can get out to this infamous Lake Bed in Bonneville, Utah.

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Join the SCTA and be a part of this great organisation, as well as help Save the Salt too.

http://www.scta-bni.org/

I might see you at El Mirage sometime, if you see me, come and say hello, always great to meet like minded people.

http://www.scta-bni.org/el-mirage.html

Thank you to ALL you Racers, the Teams and their hard working crew, the whole S.C.T.A org, the Bonneville Nationals inc and of course the people I met from my Old boss in Australia and my mate Shug & Ruby May, for getting there and breaking a record, what an awesome deal.

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Hot Rodding started right here and thanks to people like you, it continues to grow and prosper with all your help and participation. Thanks for reading.

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Bonneville Land Speed Racing is a unique sport that consists of very determined people who drive hot rods, roadsters, belly tankers, lakesters, motorcycles, streamliners, and even diesel trucks to "shoot the salt" in a simple quest to have their name added to the list of many record holders. Many years ago, the Bonneville Nationals Inc. (BNI) was formed. It's main focus would be to produce the annual "Bonneville Speed Week". The BNI hosts a spectacular week of racing each year in August, which is the highlight event of the LSR season. Speed Week consists of six days of racing (Sat - Fri), weather and conditions permitting. Entrants come from all over the world to participate in the week long event. Spectators are allowed to walk through the pits, view the vehicles, and talk to the drivers and crew members. Public parking is south of the pit area, on the west side of the race track, outside the cones. Be sure to bring a hat, dark glasses, sunscreen and shade from the sun. Don't forget a camera with lots of film/memory/tapes, because you will want to remember everything you see and hear. Binoculars are also a great idea since the race vehicles are at least 1/4 mile away as they travel down the course. The salt flats are located approximately 88 miles west of Salt Lake City, UT on I-80. The spectacular scenery and racing conditions at Bonneville make it one of the most popular areas in the world for speed. The colors, excitement, people and smells are some of the reasons we race addicts return to the salt, year after year. Better known as "Salt Fever". CATCH IT!

 

 


MY Hot Rod Heroes

There is so many Iconic Builders, designers and owners or creators of Vintage Hot Rodding, it would take so many volumes to fill, but I am going to do a few of my own personal favourites of Hot Rod Royalty that inspired me when I was a kid and, 9000 miles away on a little Island you call Great Britain.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on Hot Rodding magazines in the UK in the late 1970’s and, living nearby all the old ww2 Bomber and Fighter Airfields, I felt a strange Euphora over WW2 American planes, Post war Belly tanks and of course Hot Rods.

I had my own 1932 Three window coupe in England and lived the American lifestyle and yearned to make that crossing to the United States and actually live my Dream, and here I am and live it every day.

So, one of my Early influences to this crazy Hot Rod fraternity was this Bloke- Dick Scritchfield.

 

 

THE DICK SCRITCHFIELD ERA
Dick Scritchfield has had a long and illustrious career in hot rodding. Yes, that’s right–career, being involved most of his adult life, both as professional (speed shop owner, the first NHRA Regional Rep, and Safety Safari participant, Associate Editor of Car Craft, and Advertising Manger at Rod & Custom), just to name a few, all the while actively participating as a hobbyist as well.

In 1944, as a lad of 14 living in Missouri, Dick purchased his first car, a ’29 Model A coupe, and was granted a valid driver’s license. Other cars would follow, with his first Deuce (a Sport Coupe) acquired in Washington, D.C., while he was stationed there as a drummer in the Navy, which he joined in 1948 (Dick is still a percussion instrument kind of guy). Dick went on to be stationed in Puerto Rico, where he cruised in another Deuce, this time a five-window, which was the only hot rod on the island. As Dick was one of those “hot rodders,” he was asked by the base brass to organize a drag race to keep the sports car guys (both enlisted and locals) from racing on the streets, where there had unfortunately been a few fatalities. Can you imagine for a moment that it was the sports car boys who were the ones they were trying to get off the streets? Dick eagerly complied, then promptly kicked some serious sporty car butt with his fender-free and channeled Deuce coupe. It was also while in Puerto Rico that Dick became a partner in a garage where he honed his bodyworking and painting skills during off-duty hours. He would later return to the island after his tour of duty, where he and his partner imported speed equipment from the States and performed engine swaps. However, as he was already an NHRA rep by this time, he returned to his new rodding career Stateside, moving to SoCal in ’56 to work at NHRA headquarters. One day Dick chanced to see a great looking yellow Deuce highboy roadster for sale in a gas station and acquired same forthwith. Now if you guessed it was Bob McGee’s roadster, you’re correct.

 

 

If the roadster had been both daily driver and race car to Bob, Dick added yet another element–movie and TV star. The “B” movie producers were always on the lookout for prop cars that screamed “HOT ROD!” and were willing to pay good money to rodders who wished to supplement their incomes by renting them to the studios, as evidenced by Norm Grabowski, Tommy Ivo, and numerous others. This concept wasn’t lost on seminal L.A. Roadsters member Dick, and soon the Deuce was involved in all kinds of socially inappropriate automotive hijinks on the silver screen. Dick, Tex Smith, Tony LaMesa, and other roadster owners decided a club dedicated to topless motoring would not only be fun, but give owners of such cars a responsible, public image as well. So, on one fateful Spring day in 1957 (A Sunday afternoon to be exact) the first formative meeting was held at Weiand Equipment Co., where Dick was voted President, and awarded membership card number one! His roadster went on to appear in such flicks as Hot Rod Gang, Hot Rod Rock, and other, more forgettable films as well. The now Scritchfield roadster (he owned it for some three and a half decades, 1956-90), also appeared on movie posters and lobby cards, album covers, and in many magazine how-to articles as well, making it one of the most visible public representations of the hot rod esthetic of its day. It also appeared on television shows like Dragnet, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Real McCoys, 77 Sunset Strip, and of all things, The Lawrence Welk Show, serving as a hot rod stage prop for the Lennon Sisters, which showed rodding’s more acceptable side to the “Geritol Generation.”

Over the years the ’32 was subject to many mechanical changes (flathead exchanged for 283 Chevy small-block, etc.) and cosmetic changes (first non experimental Metalflake paint job in 1960, which was the subject for a breakthrough article in Hot Rod, inspiring a young Jerry Weesner to do likewise with his own set of wheels, a ’48 Ford convertible). Dick would then build, with Dave Carpenter’s help, a 350cid small-block Chevy that would carry the roadster to a two-way average of 167.212 mph at Bonneville in 1971, with full street equipment. He not only set a record (C/STR) that would stand for a number of years, but the car was given the enviable title of The World’s Fastest Street Roadster as well. In a recent conversation with Dick (who now resides in Hawaii), he disclosed that he would drive the roadster on the street equipped just as it had run on the slat, so the title was both legitimate and well earned. And by the way, those over-the-frame headers that Dick ran and nobody could ever quite seem to identify, were Sanderson Chevy marine items turned upside down.

 

To backtrack just a scoach, in 1964 Scritch had it made, sharing a bachelor pad with fellow L.A. Roadsters’ member Sam Conrad, had a garage full of roadsters and parts, and a new position with his then employer, the Auto Club, where he had been transferred to the Claims Division. When our boy was introduced to his new secretary, one Marian Wilson, that was it–love at first sight! So what did our young couple drive on their honeymoon? If you guessed the Deuce, you’re still in the ballpark.

 

 

When Scritch finally retired to Hawaii around a decade ago, Marian restricted him to only taking some half-dozen vehicles with him. So, with all kinds of motorized transport to choose from, including a Deuce Phaeton he built while at Car Craft (and which he still regularly drives), the roadster was put on the block, as Hawaii still had those pesky fender laws (which varies from island to island), which had caused Bob McGee to sell the roadster all those many years before as well.

 

 

An Icon and always will be.

Photos taken from Internet from Rod & Custom, HAMB and google, please let us know any other credits so we can show the people who took these wonderful shots.

 

Bonneville’s Speed Week is Cancelled for Second year

SPEED WEEK 2015

HAS BEEN CANCELLED

​    The SCTA President/Race Director Bill Lattin & the BNI Chairman Roy Creel spent this morning (July 20th) on the salt. The most they could find was 2 1/4 miles of salt suitable for a safe race course. The rest of the salt flats
are either wet or wet and muddy. If the wet salt gets
dry, future events could be possible.

The Nugget will be refunding for reservations for one week

BNI Membership Form.

Racers at Bonneville Salt Flats Pepper Potash Firm With Complaints

WENDOVER, Utah—Are the Bonneville Salt Flats turning into the Bonneville Mud Flats?

Hot rodders who race on them think they are. The expanse of whiteness—hard, flat and fast—has shrunk, they say. The crystalline surface that smashers of land-speed records have made their hallowed ground for nearly a century seems slushy and thin.

The culprit, the hot rodders are convinced, is potash. The potash here is potassium chloride, a kind of salt. It is used in fertilizer, gunpowder and lethal injections.

Just south of the salt crust, across Interstate 80, there’s a single potash mine. The mine sucks brine from under the flats, extracts the tiny percentage of potash, and lets the rest dry out into waste heaps of table salt. So much salt has been removed, the racers believe, that the crust itself is disappearing.

“See our tire tracks?” Larry Volk was saying one windy July day. Mr. Volk, a 70-year-old hot rodder, is chairman of a group called Save the Salt. He had eased his Ford F-150 onto the flats in search of a course for Speed Week, where hundreds of vehicles of different sorts strain to go as fast as they can. This year’s events are to begin Aug. 13.

The tire tracks were light gray, the color of wet wallboard. “That’s mud,” said Mr. Volk. He got out and jabbed at the goop with a screwdriver. “All we want,” he said, “is the salt they take off put back on.”

South of I-80, the excavators of Intrepid Potash Inc., were digging at a moonscape of canals and man-made lakes. Its 48 workers ship 100,000 tons of potash a year at $500 a ton. From their side of the road, the salt crust’s plight doesn’t look so cut and dried.

Speed thrills, but to potash miners, potash thrills, too. “It supports life on Earth,” said Hugh Harvey, an Intrepid executive spending a day at the mine. He placed a potash granule on the tip of his tongue and grinned. “It lights up the mouth,” he said.

Intrepid hardly sells any of its salt waste. At $15 a ton, it isn’t worth the trouble. “To be perceived as helpful,” as Mr. Harvey puts it, the mine already pipes tons of it back onto the flats. The rest of the salt, standing in the rain, will dissolve back into the flats, Mr. Harvey says, in a few hundred years.

 

 

 

That isn’t fast enough for the hot rodders. They want the mine to pump a lot more salt a lot faster, and they want the owner of the salt flats—the federal government—to mandate it, now and forever.

After years of delay blamed on budgets, the Bureau of Land Management is soon to decide—possibly before Speed Week starts—and won’t say a thing yet. But two of the BLM’s geologists—who took the flats’ most up-to-date measurements—have just retired. Their calculations have left them asking the bed-rock question: Has the salt, in fact, been shrinking—or hasn’t it?

 

“What’s normal?” said Bill White, 68. He was standing on a berm in the warm wind, looking over the salt with his fellow geologist, Jim Kohler, who is 65. Said Mr. Kohler, “What’s back to normal?”

The flats have been around since Lake Bonneville dried up 14,000 years ago. The first speed record, set in 1914 by Teddy Tetzlaff in his Blitzen Benz, was followed by the first potash mine in 1917, a response to German gunpowder superiority in World War I.

 

Potash mining took off in the 1930s, hot rodding in 1949. The two coexisted until the 1960s, when the racers say they began having trouble finding a 13-mile straightaway of hard, thick salt.

Experts confirmed it. In 1988, the BLM, which is part of the Interior Department, said the crust was shrinking by 1% a year. In 1989, Save the Salt was formed. In 1997, after years of campaigning, it persuaded the potash miners to voluntarily put some salt back.

At the time, Reilly Chemical Inc. owned the mine. For five years, Reilly pumped brine under I-80 and onto the crust. Intrepid bought Reilly in 2004. While Mr. Harvey says it doubted the effectiveness of the pumping, Intrepid kept it up, just not so fast. In all, it reckons, the mine has dumped 8.2 million tons of salt onto the flats—enough to fill 81,176 hoppers in a train 911 miles long.

What happened? Not much.

 

Checking the old measurements, the geologists found errors. They recalibrated the old figures and matched them with their own new ones. It turned out that the flats hadn’t changed in 16 years. The crust was as thick in 2004—two feet, more or less—after years of pumping, as it was in 1988, after decades of mining.

 

As for the area of the flats, it fluctuates with rainfall, but its raceable surface still covered about 35 square miles.

The big surprise was that the brine pumped from the potash mine had no effect at all. It barely added to the salt’s thickness or expanse. It dribbled right through the crust and into the desert’s aquifer—a sea no amount of pumping will ever fill up.

 

 

“We just gather facts,” says Mr. White.

The racers don’t buy it. They’re certain the salt has gone mucky since Intrepid slowed down its pumps.

If the BLM won’t force the mine to keep pumping, they say they’ll go to Congress and the courts. They haven’t brought in any outside geologists, but they have brought in a lawyer, Russ Deane, to argue their case. “There’s a history of abuse on the flats,” he says.

The BLM’s retired geologists blame the weather. In dry years, they have noticed, race reports call the salt fast; in wet years, it’s slow.

Mr. Kohler and Mr. White were rolling over the flats in their Ford Explorer, leaving gray tire tracks. What about that mud? Doesn’t it mean that the crust has thinned to nothing?

“That’s a misconception,” said Mr. Kohler.

 

 

Mr. White stopped the car. Mr. Kohler got out, crouched and scraped at the ooze with a pick. “It’s not mud,” he said. “It’s surface gypsum, windblown and waterborne.” The damp gypsum was merely coating the crust’s surface. Mr. Kohler hacked into it with his pick, and a chunk of hard salt flew up.

“That’s the crust,” said Mr. White. “About two-feet thick here. I’m skeptical that’s ever going to disappear.”

Mr. Kohler stood and shaded his eyes in the glare. “Is this place doomed?” he said. “I don’t think so. The activities out here—mining or racing—won’t change it much. These salt flats will still have a salt crust. And they’ll still be flat.”

 

Last week, we reported that the 2015 Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats was in danger of canceling due to the poor conditions of the salt surface after recent heavy rains. Over the weekend, Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) visited the site to scope out a usable race course for Speed Week. According to a source that is close with SCTA, 260 out of 338 Speed Week entries voted on a web survey that they would continue to race this year if a single three mile short course could be used. Unfortunately, with input from the Bureau of Land Management, the poor salt conditions lead SCTA to cancel the 2015 Speed Week. On SCTA’s Facebook page, they stated that, “The SCTA President/Race Director Bill Lattin & the BNI Chairman spent this morning (July 20th) on the salt. The most they could find was 2 1/4 miles of salt suitable for a safe race course. The rest of the salt flats are either wet or wet and muddy. If the wet salt gets dry, future events could be possible.” HOT ROD spoke to Bill Lattin, who told us that, “Going towards the big end of the big miles, it gets really rough. And before that, it’s too wet; a bunch of people are getting stuck.”

 

While we were expecting the announcement on July 22, conditions were bad enough to warrant a quick decision by SCTA. While the 2015 Speed Week has been cancelled, Lattin confirmed that SCTA is still planning to run the World Finals race from September 29 to October 2, 2015. Racers are disappointed, but are looking towards the positives. Andy Leach from Cal Customs was going to bring out a brand new build, a ’34 Chevy stretched to run Comp Coupe and powered by a 427 LS. He says, “We’re a little bummed, but it does give us more time to prep the car for the World Finals.” Steve Watt of Maxwell Industries, where the Speed Demon Team streamliner is being built, was disappointed at the news but not disheartened. “It will give us plenty of time for next year.” The team was going to work down to the wire to get the Speed Demon Team streamliner to Bonneville to defend the HOT ROD trophy no matter what kind of track the SCTA was able to prep for Speed Week. With the event cancelled Watt is focusing on getting test runs of the new streamliner, which is considerably lighter and has new data acquisition capability. Stay tuned to HOT ROD News for future Bonneville Salt Flats racing news. While you mule on today’s Speed Week news, take a throwback to Roadkill Episode 20, where Freiburger and Finnegan rebuild a land speed racing 1981 Camaro, and attempt to run at the 2013 Speed Week with the then-new Chevy ramp truck! This early Roadkill episode is true to the name when things don’t go as planned on the salt flats.

Antique Nationals 45th Meeting on June 28th FONTANA

At the end of June I am going to be riding with the 59 Club up to Fontana to watch all the great Vintage Hot rods and motorcycles take a run up on the Quarter mile and this show is one of the best of the year, especially for a spectator as you get close to everything. But here you can even enter your machine if it fits into their requirements.

This show has been going for years and i have not missed one, it is fun packed and always something new to see, a great time to also meet up with friends and chin wag about whats been going on etc.

I know you will like watching Hot Rods line up and race, as well as gassers and some Vintage Model A’s with 4 Bangers, it sure is a treat.

They may be slow by todays standards but great to watch and more hopped up than stock.

 

 

The sound of the Flatheads, the smell of Race gas and the Camaraderie is second to none in this type of event.

You never know what will be there ad for us to turn up in numbers will be a fun day for sure as there is plenty of places to park etc and is sure to be a brilliant day to watch the racing and to talk to like minded people.

 

 

It is not to be missed just for the Nostalgia alone and I am looking forward to walking around the pitts and checking everything out there.

Watching crazy built Altereds is amazing to see and hear as their Motors scream the 1/4 and smell the Nitro as they perge at the line.

Marky from the Shifter ran his Purple people Eater and that was super to watch it launch off the line.

I have known Marky 15 years and watched him create this when i was with them and at Anthony Castaneda’s shop back in the day and so great to watch this Altered Roar down the tarmac, spitting fume and fury all over the place, a fantastic show just for this ride alone.

He flew off the line a couple of years ago and had everyone a gasp, but last year he had a solid run and it sounded like Thunder.

Even watching fun old Whizzer style Push Bikes try for a 28 second pass is hilarious and I am sure you will agree?

 

 

So if you like to watch Vintage racing at its very best, head on out to Fontana for the Antique nationals on the 28Th of June or ride out with us from Anaheim, you will thank us later after you have seen all that goes on there.

You never know what you may see there, its different every event.

 

So – Don’t miss the 45th running of the Antique Nationals – the original nostalgia drag race.

The Antique Nationals is the original nostalgia drag race. Racing is open to any 1954 or earlier type vehicle (Ford Trucks OK thru 1956). Race cars must pass tech inspection which requires seat belts and helmets in all cars. Open cars running 13.99 or quicker must have an NHRA approved roll bar/arm restraints.

Auto Club Dragway
9300 Cherry Avenue
Fontana, CA 92335
Phone: 909-429-5060
Email: dragway@autoclubspeedway.com
You can meet up with us at Aleas’ cafe in Anaheim and ride with us to the event, be great to see and meet you, my contact is 714-598-8392 or email me at carpy@carpyscaferacers.com and you can check it out on www.meetup.com and look for.

Carpy’s Cafe Racer Meetups – 59 Club OC

We will be at Alea cafe in the Morning for the ride out, the 59 Club O.C. welcomes you all to ride with us.

 

Alea cafe is located at:

3371 E Miraloma Ave
Anaheim, California
(714) 993-5198