"What'll she do?" Since man first drove an automobile or motorcycle, the need to find the limits of speed have driven racers to speed trials from the beaches of Florida, the dry lake beds of California and the Salt Flats of Utah. The first speed attempts at Bonneville were for bicycles before the turn of the century. For over a hundred years drivers and crews spend all year building their cars and motorcycles for the annual attack on the salt. Bonneville Speed Week is in many ways unchanged, with every type of vehicle from 400 mph streamliners to motorized bar stools and ancient Deuce coupes. If it can move under its own power, there is a class to run it in. This is the last great grassroots motorsport with none of the mega million dollar teams and sponsors. It's a gathering of gearheads of every age and from every town and country you can imagine. This is a unique event that needs to be experienced by every enthusiast at least once. A growing number of spectators drive their hot rods across country to experience the salt. Much like the Grand Canyon, words and pictures can't convey the sound of a car running at full throttle for over four miles as it disappears over the horizon followed by a plume of salt. The very nature of this event makes the cars, drivers and crews accessible like no other motorsports event. At night a short drive into Wendover is like a scene from American Grafitti as the streets and parking lots fill up with classic hot rods and muscle cars. As a photographer, the unique light and sky at the salt flats are an amazing setting for photographs. It is an addictive experience. Once you visit speed week, it's hard not to return. The racers talk about "salt fever". It is a real phenomenon. It only subsides a bit between events, and then, the afflicted return for their annual treatment. There doesn't seem to be a cure, but why try. I'd recommend a case of the salt fever for every gearhead.
Hope your travels are safe. Michael
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