Anyone here run the Salt Flats

[pandamarie]

Looking for a few people to talk to that have run the Salt Flats. When the Daytona clone is finished and tested around here I would like to take it to Bonneville salt flats to see what it will do.
Progress has been put on hold for now while I collect more parts like Gear Vendors OD, a cage from Chris Alston and rear suspension from Outlaw racing, At sema I will get the wheels on order, going with a 19x13 for the rear and 18x8 up front, dont know if anyone has seen the wheel blanks but that is what I plan on running. Have the engine built just have to finish up the MPEFI setup and get a bigger Throttle body.

[learical1]

I know Redbird ran my old SuperBird (440 Max Wedge heads, I believe) up to 199 MPH at Bonneville.

[Budnicks]

I have watched & went with some people but never ran, it looked like fun though...

[C5X DAYTONA]

Jim Lindsley's daughter is on this site.  I can't remember her name or ID on this.   Her dad ran a HEMI Superbird pretty much from when it was new till 1990ish.    Vernon Judy lives down the road from me.  He ran his 440 Daytona with a Hemi in it for a few years in the mid-late 80s.   I know his top speed was just over 210.

[Redbird]

I did it for a number of years. It is about as much fun as you can have and really a great experience. I can't imagine not having done it.

Over the years it has also gotten much more expensive. If you go to the landracing.com site you can learn a tremendous amount. Another suggestion is joining the SCTA and buying a rule book. Many people go to one of the events before they start building their car just to see what they need.

The tire combination you are looking at would certainly be different than what is commonly used. You might want to re-think that before you invest your first dollar.

When I went I bought and installed a Alston kit like you mentioned. I don't think that would work anymore. I believe you need a much more substantial bar structure around the driver. The amount folks now spend for engines is substantial. It is not that you can not have fun with a engine you put together in your garage, which is what I did. Just realize others have an unlimited budget.

Build what you want and certainly build something you want to race. It is no fun racing something you don't want and don't like. In fact at that point why do it. If you look at the rule book you can see that there are a lot better cars to start with than a winged car, especially $/mile per hour, unless you are totally bucks up. At this point in time every baby boomer car person who didn't go there when they were young sees Bonneville as something on the Bucket list, so bring your wallet.

It also has a underlying sense of danger. As I got older, the more I thought about it, my ability to to build a car that was safe was somewhat limited. I saw a number of cars wrecked. Some that I had admired for years when they flipped seemed really poorly put together. Today when you see whole cars designed for stress with calculations for each member you can appreciate the engineering. Building a car in a 2 car garage, though admirable, relies on a bit of guesswork.

Have fun, be safe, keep your nose clean-as Less Bowman used to say.  

[Redbird]

As I remember, my total investment for the first year at Bonneville was less than $ 8000. That included a numbers matching Superbird, $ 1000 for tires, a funny car firesuit, parachute, roll cage, Halon fire system, travel, and silk screened shirts we baked the ink dry in the kitchen oven.

[pandamarie]

Some cool stuff guys. Wasnt the car called Flyrod that Jim Lindsley drove. The tires I am putting on the car now are just for street driving. I will look for some proper salt flat tires when I get to that point.
It will be fun to try it and see just how fast it will go in street trim, Then I will have to see what I can afford to try and get in the 200mph club.

[Aero426]

Some cool stuff guys. Wasnt the car called Flyrod that Jim Lindsley drove.

Lindsley's Superbird and Jim Frederick's Fly Rod are two different cars.   Both cars are shown at the link below...

http://www.superbirdclub.com/bonneville.html

[Budnicks]

Some cool stuff guys. Wasnt the car called Flyrod that Jim Lindsley drove.

Lindsley's Superbird and Jim Frederick's Fly Rod are two different cars.   Both cars are shown at the link below...

http://www.superbirdclub.com/bonneville.html

Very cool site thanks for sharing it with us...

[tan top]

    awesome stuff   

would love to hear some storys  , pitty there are no old time   video  of daytonas & superbirds running tha salt
remember reading about Flyrod  years ago

[C5X DAYTONA]

   awesome stuff   

would love to hear some storys  , pitty there are no old time   video  of daytonas & superbirds running tha salt
remember reading about Flyrod  years ago

I have tons of video of Vernon Judy and Jim Lindsley.   I don't have any of Redbird or Fredrick's Fly Rod.  Just pit footage and photographs on them.     It's all on VHS.   I did copy all of Vernon Judy's videos as he lived just down the road from me.     It's mostly Vernon's Daytona with great in car and outside footage.   I also have some footage from a helicopter.   I have an awesome one of Lindsley's Hemi bird going into 4th gear and he never lets off the gas.  Man that sounds awesome.   I think that day he went 221 too  but wasn't able to back it up the next morning for a record.  I was 16 then and Redbird was there.   I was in their pit for a while when they were having a priming issue with the oil pump.   Redbird would know the exact speeds.  But I know I am close.  1 or 2 mph off maybe. 

[tan top]

   awesome stuff   

would love to hear some storys  , pitty there are no old time   video  of daytonas & superbirds running tha salt
remember reading about Flyrod  years ago

I have tons of video of Vernon Judy and Jim Lindsley.   I don't have any of Redbird or Fredrick's Fly Rod.  Just pit footage and photographs on them.     It's all on VHS.   I did copy all of Vernon Judy's videos as he lived just down the road from me.     It's mostly Vernon's Daytona with great in car and outside footage.   I also have some footage from a helicopter.   I have an awesome one of Lindsley's Hemi bird going into 4th gear and he never lets off the gas.  Man that sounds awesome.   I think that day he went 221 too  but wasn't able to back it up the next morning for a record.  I was 16 then and Redbird was there.   I was in their pit for a while when they were having a priming issue with the oil pump.   Redbird would know the exact speeds.  But I know I am close.  1 or 2 mph off maybe. 

  wow bet that was  awesome to watch  !!
the sound !! yeah i bet ,getting goose bumps just reading it 

if you ever get a chance to convert any of it   to  DVD etc some time  would love to see it !!     

thanks for sharing some of the storys !!

[held1823]

who ran this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0KLincOq4I&feature=related

[Redbird]

Right now I am under the belief that Jim and Larry Lindsley, and Woody Walcher both had winged cars at Bonneville for Speedweek 1970 Aug 23-29. Attached is a picture from landracing.com of Woody's car.

The AeroWarriors.com web site has a section in the table of contents " At the Bonneville Salt Flats with Bobby Isaac and Harry Hyde". In that section there is a video of the Hyde/Isaac car racing at Bonneville. Bobby Isaac is going on the oval track there but the actual look of being in a winged car there is how it is, the hood shaking and things moving quickly. Speedweek is a straight course. What the video doesn't capture is how the car is moving up and down over bumps and imperfections in the course and the sense of looseness of the salt at times. It also can't give the feeling of being strapped in and the actual sounds in the car and the quiet at the end of the run.

[Redbird]

Up until 1990 or so there was just one race course that both the long course and short course cars went on (now there are separate long and short courses and the time in line is an hour or so).The lines were long, you typically spent 4 or 5 hours pushing your car 30 feet at a time until you finally got a chance to run at the beginning of the week. You spent a lot of time talking with your friends.

[nascarxx29]

This book mentions salt flat records might be some vintage pictures
http://www.thehemi.com/news.php?id=20091222-1

[Redbird]

After a run you'd go and get a timing slip from the SCTA trailer. You spend a lot of time in the pits. Some of my best memories are sitting in the pits at the end of the day with Fredericks and Sykes waiting for Al Teague or Gale Banks' cars to run. The sunrises are spectacular and so are the sunsets.

[C5X DAYTONA]

Right now I am under the belief that Jim and Larry Lindsley, and Woody Walcher both had winged cars at Bonneville for Speedweek 1970 Aug 23-29. Attached is a picture from landracing.com of Woody's car.

The AeroWarriors.com web site has a section in the table of contents " At the Bonneville Salt Flats with Bobby Isaac and Harry Hyde". In that section there is a video of the Hyde/Isaac car racing at Bonneville. Bobby Isaac is going on the oval track there but the actual look of being in a winged car there is how it is, the hood shaking and things moving quickly. Speedweek is a straight course. What the video doesn't capture is how the car is moving up and down over bumps and imperfections in the course and the sense of looseness of the salt at times. It also can't give the feeling of being strapped in and the actual sounds in the car and the quiet at the end of the run.

That is a shot of the K&W Block Seal Daytona that Gary Nichols drove in late 69.    Jim Lindsley used to say there was a guy out here with a wing car that ran before me.   It was a 440 Daytona with a Hemi in it.  He said they put in 2.76 gears and went 199mph.    Gary Nichols lives about 1 hour from me and has tons of pictures of this event on the salt.  His has his time slips too.  I saw them and took pictures.  My pictures were blurry..   GRRRR   He said after he ran the car it went back to Michigan.  I actually have the rear wheels and tires in that shot.  

[Redbird]

I believe the 1970 record book shows the KW car going 182.18 MPH, I got that from J.D. Tone. I was told Nichols and Cheverton had a roadster from 1972 on with the same entry name, perhaps that went faster. Though it could have moved I don't believe the Daytona was in or was from Michigan. I believe it was originally a green 440 car that had a Hemi installed. I have the serial #.

[C5X DAYTONA]

Is that the same car?   What happened to it?  Is that a bird in the back ground?    Gary did ask if I knew where it was.    Yes,  they ran a roadster for many years after the Daytona.    Gary said the roadster had the HEMI 4 speed trans from the Propane X car in it for a while mounted to a 400ci Chevy engine.  I did purchase that trans from him and it is now back in the Propane X Hemi 500..    Gary said they prepped the car to go to Bonniville for K&W.   Gary did say after the event the car went back to K&W as the car was owned by K&W.  But I have no idea where it really went.  Just that is what he told me.   He never saw it again he said.   He carrys his photo album with him in his tow truck.   Many pictures and his time slips.   I will have to dig them up.  They are not on a disc.  I have his times slips photographed.   What a cool guy too.  I have both rear wheels and tires from that day.   Gary said these are the same tires but I am not sure.  They say Firestone on them.  He pointed out that the Daytona had an open 2.76 rear gear and that is why one tire is wore though the center.

[Redbird]

Yes, that is the same car. Yes that is a Superbird in the background. The pictures were taken a long time ago, late 1980's. I have a fair number of pictures of the Daytona showing the chute mounts in the trunk, interior. Everything was moved years ago, but it is all there.

[C5X DAYTONA]

Yes, that is the same car. Yes that is a Superbird in the background. The pictures were taken a long time ago, late 1980's. I have a fair number of pictures of the Daytona showing the chute mounts in the trunk, interior. Everything was moved years ago, but it is all there.

I just emailed Jim Radke your pictures.    I knew years ago he was asking if anyone knew anything about the car after Bonneville.   I don't ever remember Vernon Judy saying anything about it.    I know Jim Lindsley did say there was another Daytona there in 70?    Did that Daytona run in 69?   I went to email you but don't have your email address.  Mine is posted.  Is the car still around?   Can you give some details about where these are taken and all that good stuff.  Also the last 6 on the vin.  I would like to look it up in the books.   

[Redbird]

I can't imagine that Vern would have known anything about the K & W car. It just wasn't in his time out there. I don't believe it ran in 1969. I think it was 1970 only. I believe it also raced up Pikes Peak in 1971. K & W of Whittier Calif. had several great business cards. My favorite is a drawing of the #83 Daytona on a circle track. The owner is around but he realizes what the car is and doesn't want to sell it. I e-mailed him last week. I won't give you the serial # info. I'll talk to the owner this week. I know he won't be held up like Dean Quimby was for Vern's old engine.

Attached engine shot from Landracing.com from 1970.

[C5X DAYTONA]

Gary Nichols was also in Whittier at the time.   He is now in Borrego Springs.   We lived in Cerritos.  The next town to the West.   That picture of the rusty Daytona and the bird in the back ground reminds me of a trip about 10 years ago.  I was driving through Vail Co in a red clone Daytona and I met a guy named John Quinn from Arvada CO.  He said he had a good friend in Grand Junction with a burnt bird and a burnt Daytona.  Are these the same cars?   

[C5X DAYTONA]

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