Went out the flats early this AM. I stopped at the
starting line for a few pictures. I then drove to the pit area , and found Art
and company working on the car to correct the things that were found at the the
previous day’s technical Inspection. The only other thing that happened was one
of the bottles in the Fire Bottle System was accidentally discharged. Brendan had to get another bottle to
replace the one that had
discharged. They also had to get new
lines and fittings for the new bottle.
After this was done they were ready for their first run of the
meet. It was getting late in the day
when they took the car to pre-staging.
Well, they were too late in getting the car to the pre-staging area and
had to wait until the next morning to run.
Brendan also served as crew chief of the whole operation. I was impressed by the way that Brendan sat
the whole crew down for a meeting in the pit area, and told everyone what their
responsibilities were when the car was on 
the starting line, and on the return
road at the end of the run. He
emphasized the importance of everybody focusing on their duties during these
times. Yes, it is time to get serious
now. And now is not the time to have
missed steps in the operation.
Today the editor of Hot Rod magazine came around to the area where Art and company were pitted. He took pictures of the car. Maybe it will be in an upcoming issue of Hot Rod Magazine when they do their Bonneville Feature.
SPEED WEEK 2004/DAY THREE – AUGUST 16th, 2004
I
got out to the access road early this morning.
A traffic jam is starting to form now.
Last night strong winds had picked up out on the Salt, and had made a
mess of the timing equipment, and a few other things. 
Due to the winds, it looks like things are starting about two
hours late this morning The record
return runs have to be made first this morning. When a vehicle has exceeded the existing speed record for it’s
respective class, on their qualifying run, they are sent directly to the
impound area. The cars will stay in the
impound overnight until the next morning.
That is when all the record return runs are made. Then the speeds from both runs are averaged
out to see if they have broken the existing speed record for their class. They are done with the record returns runs
now, and Art is getting closer to making his first run. The line 
on the short course seems to be
moving fast now. I am now sitting in
Brendan’s Suburban and see a few raindrops on the windshield. It was just a few drops. Art is at the starting line now. He is ready to make his first licensing run
(125 to 150 MPH). He has now completed
his first run at 130 MPH. He completed
his run at 11:50 A.M., Mountain Time and is now ready for the second stage of
his licensing run.
I’ve
often wondered about the people who ride these motorcycles at speeds of to
200 MPH plus on the Salt. I guess I
will just have to keep on wondering.
.jpg)
Now
back to Art’s first run. The car ran
and handled fine and the parachute opened like it was supposed to. Then it was back to the pit area to check
the car out. I rode out to the return
road with the crew at the completion of Art’s run. I was impressed with the way the whole crew performed their
duties not only on
the return road but at the starting line also. Very professional. The car was checked out back in the pit area after the run and
everything was good on it. They are now
getting ready to take the car to pre-staging for Art’s second licensing run
(150 to 175 MPH). When they got to
pre-staging, the courses were not running at all. The ambulance had been called to the pit area for an
emergency. It is getting late now and
officials have decided to shut down for the rest of the day. Art is going to have to wait until tomorrow
for his second run. And such is
Bonneville.
I
watched the expressions on the faces of all the crew members after the
.jpg)
completion of Art’s first run. I see a
lot of years of hard work, dedication, late nights with missed dinners and no
dinners. And all of those one step
forward, two steps back kinds of days.
I am very happy for them that all of this came together today. It has always been in my thoughts and my
experiences that all good things in life never do come easy. I have now learned that Bruce Geisler and
Gary Vails Studebaker only made it a few hundred yards down the long course
before it suffered engine failure. This
is the third year in a row that this has happened to them. It seems like the Salt gremlins were out to
get them again.
The
Steens and Herbert Streamliner with four Rodeck big block Chevys all in a
row
ran 272 MPH. And this with shutting the
motors off at the one mile.