Event Coverage 1964 Bonneville Speed Week photo's

GREAT PIX! Some classic salt racers and famous drivers. 1964 was probably the last year for the Redhead until they brought it out to shoot "World's Fastest Indian".... My vote for most beautiful salt racer of all time - not a flat panel on the whole thing.

 

Holy shit, wow, thanks!

 

Absolutely awesome !
What fantastic, and such clear photos.
Thanks for sharing.

 

Love the pictures man what a time to be alive


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Some of the BEST PICTURES I`ve ever seen of these cars. I`ve saved all of them on my computer. Thanks for sharing them. Your mother had a gift for photography, those pictures are priceless.

 

Thanks to ya mother
great history

 

Thank you for sharing and welcome!

 

thank you for the awesome pictures thumbs up

 

Just WOW!!! The quality and clarity in these pics is outstanding. Thank you for sharing them

 

Redhead was in impound in '71, running a flathead at that time. I'd have to dig into my archives for the numbers and any further appearances. I don't happen to remember it being there on my second trip out in '72. One of the all time beauty's for sure, continues to inspire me and others here on the right coast.

Ed

 

Great pics, they bring back a lot of good memories.

Thanks for posting.

 

Great photos. Thank you so much.

 

wow awesome

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1964 was probably the last year for the Redhead.

Ed Harding ran the Red Head after 64 and put himself in the 200 MPH club in it ARDUN Merc I believe in the 70's I believe. Jim Latin owns it now but he and Elmo Gillette campaigned after Ed and put both of them in the club too, that was in the 80's. I think Elmo used his 260" Ford (last model for that time, not a flat head) he ran in his blue Falcon Ranchero.
At one time had a Chrysler in it and went near 300 if not over.

 

So you would be Jeff, and your mom is Della Mae, correct?

 

After Bob McGrath sold the Red Head, Jack Lufkin wound up with the custom built overdrive unit in his Kurtis sports racer. That OD went 300 in two cars.

 

Stunning. Outstanding. Thank you for sharing!

 

Lots of good into in HAMB country....

 

thank you for this.

 

The yellow lakester number 502 with the sharks mouth was built by Ralph Lynde. Ralph was good friends with the Markley Brothers and their tank and Ralph's had many similarities. I think 1964 was the first time it ran at Bonneville.. The tank belongs to a friend of mine and I last drove the tank in 2000 at Bonneville. The workmanship on the tank was superb. It now sits quietly in a corner of my friends shop.

 

Nick Smith of HRW and Bonneville forwarded this thread to me. Gotta love the pictures and memories, but seeing Ak miller in these always brings a tear to my eye and a pain in my heart. Al Miller was such an iconic man and racer, and his passing was a loss to the entire auto community. He truly loved Bonneville, but also loved all kinds of racing. I asked him one time why he liked Pikes Peak so much. He said it was because "I like to slide". I asked if he had a preference in which direction to hang it out. He answered "yep, to the left or to the right"... and there I sat with the hook hang'n out. This picture was taken by a friend that I vintage raced with , and was never published. Look close at the guys standing, and see if you can figure out who they are.....

 

Those are so f'n cool!!! Thanks for sharing.

 

Hi Dean. Yes I'm Jeff and Della was my mom. When I was at racing events with Ak people knew me as Jeff Miller. Ak tried to adopt me when I was about 5 years old but my biological father wouldn't do it so my legal name has always been Jeff Pierce.
I remember one year at Bonneville you had that blue stretched Honda 90. I thought that was the coolest thing there. I also had my Honda 90 there and Ak and I would ride in the hills behind the motel after we came in from the salt. Lots of fun. I know my mother took some photo's of your bike but I can't find them.
I got a couple more years of Bonneville photo's I'm going to post.

 

Pikes Peak was his favorite and he was one of the best I have seen on the mountain. I saw a lot of different drivers through the years we were there and Ak and Bobby Unser were some of the best I've seen. Ak would let me ride up to the starting areas in the morning. He'd race race up even though I didn't have any seat belts or a helmet but he was so smooth I never got scared. Mom never knew...

 

Jeff, do you remember during the summer of '65 hanging out with my little brother Jim at Ak's shop? Dad and Ak were thrashing on dad's '65 Mustang getting it ready for Speed Week. Jim was maybe 8 years old, but he went with dad everyday over to Ak's.

The last time I saw you at Ak's you were working on a Pantera, I think you were getting it ready for paint.

 

I don't remember clearly. I remember the car and your dad came over a lot. I have a couple pictures from Bonneville 1966 that I think was your dad's Mustang. Did he own L&L Screw Machine? Ak is driving it in one of the pictures. I also have pictures in Ak's pit with me and another kid that I wondering if it might be Jim. I'll try to get those posted in the next couple days.

I did own a white Pantera that I painted black and turbocharged it but I painted it at friends paint shop. I bet you probably saw my Manta Mirage kit car that I was building at Ak's turbo shop. It was in there a long time. Here's a pic of them.

 

I've very much enjoyed this thread so far. Thank you @jpierce for posting the great old Bonneville photos and welcome to the HAMB!

 

Yes, our family owned L&L. Here's a shot of dad's '65. He broke the record Ak set in E/Production in '64.

 

This shot is from '65. Ak and Big Stan Johnson with the White Tortilla. Ak used one of Ford's 221 cu in V8's this time to go for the F/Production record. Stan was working for Ak at the time, and did the engine swap, so Ak let him drive.

 

Awesome pictures, the scenery looks the the same but the cars have changed. They could land airplanes on the salt back then. The salt was the best it has been in years this year. Is that a photo of Wendover sure has changed a lot over the years, no car show at the Nugget back then. Thanks for posting