It Begins: The Road To 2018 Bonneville Speed Week

For the first time in a long time, it looks like all the planets are aligned for a spectacular Speed Week at Bonneville. After a couple of rainouts and crappy salt for a last couple of years, the word from the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) is improving salt conditions.

The result is a longer, smoother course, and even tracks 2,3, and 4 appear to be set for breaking records.

I’ve had Bonneville as No. 1 on my bucket list for a long time — I mean a REALLY long time — at age 48, I’m finally getting my chance to stand on the great white hot rod mecca. I’m traveling with a group of eight other friends, some who are veterans and some who are salt virgins like myself.

I’ve read all the warnings, how-tos, don’t dos, remember-tos and everything else and hope I am prepared to step out on the hallowed ground in the morning. I’m going on 24 hours with no sleep, but still I can’t sleep!

We took a guided tour of Kindig It Design this afternoon by Dave Kindig himself. Sorry folks, we weren’t allowed to take any pictures in the shop as just about every car in the shop will be debuted at SEMA — like at least 10 of them! By the way, I can say what you see on the show is the real Dave Kindig, he is just as nice as you think he would be, and KevDog is just as funny as you’d expect

After we left the shop it was on to Walmart to stock up on supplies and head to Wendover, Nevada, the closest place to stay near the salt flats. There is no rest for the weary though, we threw our bags in the room, grabbed a bite to eat, and ran down the road to snap a photo of the big cowboy, then on to the Nugget to check out the hot rods.

Full disclosure — I didn’t know we were heading to the Nugget, so you are looking at cell phone pictures, but I will be there tomorrow night with my good gear. Hopefully, I can get some better shots, but I really wanted to get these out to you guys before I pass out for the night.

Check back to this post throughout the weekend as I plan to update it nightly. Also, I will try to do several Facebook Live posts, so if you haven’t already, go over and like the Rod Authority Facebook and make sure to set your notifications to alert you’re pinged when we go live.

I’m hoping to have some behind the scenes stuff in a very special pit stall — the fastest piston-powered car in the world — the one and only Speed Demon driven by George Poteet. George will be running for some really unique records this weekend and I’m sure he will be first on the salt Saturday morning, so don’t forget to check Facebook and check back with us often, this will be a wild and wooly weekend!

Until then, enjoy the photos and we’ll be back with an update soon.

 

Here are some sites from Saturday on the salt and more photos from the Saturday night cruise-in from the Nugget! NOW UPDATED WITH PHOTOS FROM SUNDAY and MONDAY!