Bonneville Salt Flats

"Landspeed" Louise Ann Noeth

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781467105958
• eBook ISBN:
  9781439671573
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Astronaut John Glenn used Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats as a landmark from space, but on Earth, amateur motorsports devotees have used the blistering hot, flat land as a speed laboratory for more than a century. On August 22, 1949, the hot rodders joined the pageant of power with their handcrafted cars, trucks, and motorcycles for a one-time event but never stopped coming back, trying to go faster every run down the multi-mile course. All came looking for the answer to the same question: "How fast will it go?" Those efforts have made them the fastest people on the planet, reaching speeds in excess of 500 miles per hour. On the salt, people find the limits of their courage, learn what daring greatly is all about, and realize why a Bonneville Salt Flats speed record is an internationally respected pedigree. People who race on the salt flats become a family bound together by speed--a powerful force that erases ethnic, economic, political, and religious barriers. They are land speed racers. And this is their story.

One

ICE AGE TO TRAIN AGE TO SPEED AGE 1914

BIRTHING THE FASTEST PLACE ON EARTH

With no roads in 1914, speed had to hitchhike a ride from the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, which agreed to carry cars, racers, and 150 ticketed spectators 120 miles west from Salt Lake City to the deserted railroad siding at Salduro, 10 miles east of the Nevada state line. This single act launched a 100-year pageant of power on Utah’s unknown salt flats.

This vast, ancient, glistening white lake bed is so flat that the actual curvature of the Earth can be observed with the naked eye. Once covered by a trapped inland sea 135 miles wide by nearly 325 miles long, the minerals and salt layers left behind as the water evaporated created the world’s largest natural dynamometer, a test track of immense proportions.

Still easily seen today, three distinct shorelines of the ancient inland sea are etched into the hillsides. Temperatures climb above 110 degrees during the day and plunge below 50 degrees at night, all within a 24-hour period.

The sun ferociously beats down on the crystalline surface reflecting the rays back up to burn the skin under noses, ear lobes, armpits, and any unprotected body parts. Without eye protection, “salt blindness” is assured, because “bright” takes on new meaning here.

Racing impresario Ernie Moross brought a fleet of racing machines to Salt Lake City for an auto-racing exhibition on its fairgrounds’ half-mile oval dirt track. The jewel of the stable was the mighty 2.5-liter, 300-horsepower, record-setting “Blitzen Benz” No. 2, driven by “Terrible” Teddy Tetzlaff, a renowned lead foot of the day. He was joined by other notable hot shoes who drove a collection of thoroughbred racers. Advertisements in the local papers promised “a hair-raising, thrilling, soul-gripping speed contest. Bring your own watches and check up on the official timers.”

On his official speed run, Tetzlaff knocked out a record-beating speed of 142.85 miles per hour and, with it, ushered in an epochal chapter to auto racing.

News of Tetzlaff’s remarkable speeds on the salt beds soon spread throughout the racing community, sowing seeds of curiosity about the godforsaken western wasteland that gobbled up wheel spin and spat out speed.

Motor Age Magazine’s August 20, 1914, issue proclaimed: “Smooth as the proverbial billiard table and hard as a cement highway, it would not be surprising that soon salt-bed racing will completely displace beach racing.”

The Bonneville Salt Flats, where nothing grows except one’s imagination and mirages, was named after the longest-serving man in the US Army, Benjamin Louis Eulalie Bonneville. Pressure ridges, from less than an inch to more than a foot, form along the salty cracks each year after the water evaporates; they are scraped away to allow safe high-speed runs. The lines scored into the mountainside are ancient seashores. (Courtesy of Will Scott.)

Officials and spectators with stopwatches witnessed the first timed salt race—a record-setting 142.85 miles per hour in a flying half-mile. Tetzlaff drove the “Blitzen Benz,” heavily relying on riding mechanic Domenich Basso as they ripped across the flats in an area known at the time as the Salduro Salt Marsh, or Pan. Much of the Salduro racecourse was gone by 1920, having been plowed up and sold as common table salt and livestock salt licks. (Courtesy of Robert Rampton.)

Flagman Ernie Moross waves the finish toward the close of the inaugural speed event on the salt flats. Tetzlaff had instigated a challenge leveled at Billy “Coal Oil” Carlson and Wilbur D’Alene to have an impromptu match race with a passenger. Gov. William Spry, who could barely fit, climbed into Tetzlaff’s Maxwell. Odds are there was some “money where your mouth is” wagering involved. Seen on the right side of the frame, Tetzlaff and Spry take the flag followed by the Marmon. (Courtesy of the Utah State Historical Society.)

The Western Pacific Railroad was, for many years, the only safe way to cross the salt beds. For the inaugural 1914 event, the rail line transported everything to the Salduro Station, a deserted train stop with a small station house and a telegraph shed. (Courtesy of the Lee Wendelboe family.)

King of the West Coast drivers “Terrible” Teddy Tetzlaff, with arms folded, was already the holder of innumerable course speed records. Here, he stands next to Utah governor William Spry, still living the dream with his goggles on. Leaning on the “Blitzen Benz” tire is riding mechanic Domenich Basso, who probably wishes all the press would go home so he can back to working on the car. (Courtesy of the Utah State Historical Society.)

“Terrible” Teddy Tetzlaff drove this 1910 behemoth designed by Victor Hémery and built by Benz & Cie in Mannheim, Germany. The Benz-type RE four-cylinder engine displaced 1,312 cubic inches and gulped a mix of gasoline and ether. The eyeball-shaking, 110.2-inch wheelbase held the narrow 52-inch track with 34.4-by-4-inch-wide front tires and 36.8-by-5-inch white rubber rears. Illustrator Robert Rampton’s quest for quality took 22 years of one improved drawing upon another to incorporate every verifiable structural detail. Doubtlessly the most accurate depiction of the chain-driven beast is what appeared on the salt in August 1914. At the time, it was the fastest thing on earth. (Courtesy of Robert Rampton.)

On the salt, factory team driver Billy “Coal Oil” Carlson drove one of Detroit’s Maxwell Motor Company’s three factory team racers designed and build in 1914 by Ray Harroun that used a company four-cylinder, 445-cubic-inch engine. The trio was painted black, and No. 3 ran on gasoline, while No. 25 and No. 32 drank kerosene go juice. The wheelbase was 106.3 inches on a 55-inch track. The front tires were 33 inches by 4.5 inches, and the rears were 34 inches by 4.5 inches. Although appearing identical, each racer was constructed slightly different. Illustrator Robert Rampton relied heavily on period magazine articles for technical data. Note how the artist met the big challenge to illustrate the Maxwell’s black paint job by using a mix of black and dark gray line colors to retain details. (Courtesy of Robert Rampton.)

Built in 1913 by Nyberg Motor Works in Anderson, Indiana, this racer was designed by Harry Endicott, who chose a four-cylinder gasoline Rutenber 180-cubic-inch engine. The 100-inch wheelbase, together with a 55-inch track, is supported by tires (front and rear) that are 4 inches by 34 inches. Named “The Little Red Devil” by Endicott, it was renamed the “Endicott Special” by owner Ernie Morass when Endicott, his partner, died in an auto accident. Driven on the salt by Rudy Goetz, the car had unusual yet elegant Frayer wire wheels. Note the three filling ports: fuel behind the driver’s seat, oil on the cowl in the middle, and water replenished by removing the radiator Motometer in front. (Courtesy of Robert Rampton.)

Driven by Wilbur D’Alene, the Marmon was fitted with a four-cylinder, 496-cubic-inch gasoline engine. The yellow and black racer’s 116-inch wheelbase has a 56-inch track with 4-inch-wide tires that are 34 inches in diameter all around. D’Alene became the first professional American Automobile Association (AAA)–licensed driver to pilot a purpose-built race car over a measured and timed course on the flats. Introduced in 1909, the Marmon model 32 chassis was wildly popular. Marmon’s chief engineer, Ray Harroun, also made the versatile chassis the cornerstone of the company’s successful racing program, building a fleet of capable racing machines on the platform. Fortunately, the most famous model, the Wasp, the 1911 Indianapolis 500 ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Ice Age to Train Age to Speed Age, 1914: Birthing the Fastest Place on Earth
• 2. Monster Cars of the Gentlemen Racer, 1915–1948: The British Invade . . . Again!
• 3. Boys, Toys, and Noise, 1940–1960: Amateur Motorsports Rise to Worldwide Distinction
• 4. The Jet Age: Axial Flow Blows Off the Reciprocators
• 5. Women in Helmets and the Record Books: Speed and Courage Are Genderless
• 6. Drag Racing Drain, 1961–1983: The Need for Speed Goes Closer to Home
• 7. Passing the Wrenches, Helmets, and Records, 1984–1997: The Next Generation Grasps for Glory
• 8. Motorcyclists Make Their Mark: How Fast Will It Go?
• 9. Have Power, Need Salt, 1998: The Shrinking Speedway
• Bibliography
• About the Organizations