You've probably seen enough Bonneville pics by now, and I'm no photographer, but I wanted to share my trip experience as I followed Keith & Vern Tardel and company to the Flats to make some history. I really wanted to take my roadster to Bonne this year, but its been having some suspension issues, and I was working on a tight timeline for getting home. So I dropped my pride, realized how lucky I was just to attend this year, and settled on taking my boring-yet-reliable pick up truck. 5 AM, Thursday- I followed Phil's 35 Roadster out of Oakland and on to the highway where we met up with Tardel guys at the Hwy 80 Truck Scales at the crack of dawn. A mix of roadsters, coupes, a 40 sedan delivery, and the infamous Tardel/McKenzie XF/BFMR 1927 Roadster in a trailer. What was new? A French flathead block motor running on the salt for the first time ever. SF Flatheads is now the sole distributor of these motors, and they put up the money to run the team this year. The SCTA doesn't recognize this motor yet, so it was running just for time- and hopefully to persude a new class to be born someday... We rolled North and branched off to Highway 50 where we met up with Alburn and Sacto guys for a nice breakfast- More killer cars and trucks for the convoy. This was quite a group now! And on the road we went, Austin Nevada bound: I won't post Alviso Roadster BBQ pics, as you've seen enough already, but what a great time in a great town; This is the old west, my friend! There were bottles laying on the side of the road that had been there longer than Alaska has been a state! Jerry and crew hosted with a tasty dinner, and we talked till the sun went down- About 60 or so folks in a mellow, fun night of fun. The next morning most of the cars lined up for photos in town. Check out the Austin Garage in the background. CRUSTY! Friday morning it was off to Eureka, Nevada for some breakfast at the Owl Club- We overwhelmed the sole waitress as 40 people all sat down at the same time. Cool sign out front too: Back on 50 and heading for Ely, we had to pull off the highway for a semi hauling a huge water tank at 60 miles per hour-- It was like a two story house rushing past you! Further up the road, Ely had a local car show going on in the park and we stopped to check it out. I saw an old truck there that looked sort of familiar: As we made our way East, I saw something large and white in the distance... SALT! We set up camp at 'the bend in the road' and had a nice casino dinner that night-- The next day would be in the pits with Tardel boys. Saturday Morning, 7 AM. After driving through the lake and the 1/4 mile of holes in the salt, I made my way to the spot and helped with setting up tents and equipment. Keith, Ron and Jack began prepping the motor for its first run of the day. After cruising the rest of the pits and meeting many fellow HAMBrs like Scarry Larry, Ben D, Denise, ChevyGirlRox, and Bob K, I made my way to the starting line in time to see the Hop Up gang prepare for their first run. This is a beautifully finished car running a 2 carb banger motor with a Winfield head. Mild Mitch Allen at the helm, and a matching panel push truck following. What a cool team! A lack of power made for an uneventful day. They later discovered the front carb wasn't opening, and once that was fixed, the car returned Sunday to hit a class record of 120 miles per hour and into impound to prep to lock that speed in the next day. New record for the V4F GMR: 119.604 mph!! Back to SF Flatheads/ Verns camp... Even with a premature shut down on Saturday, the Tardel car reached 160 at the 2 mile mark-- Not bad, but not the full potential. Sundays run would have to play it out on the entire 3 mile "short" course. Would the fuel burning, blown Frenchy Flattie be up to the task? At the line, SCTA old timers recognized a senior member of the Tardel team- None other than Ed "Bing" Binggeli of Bings Speed Shop fame- Now 84 years young and working on the motor like a master. Off and running, the Tardel car started slowing down after the one mile mark: Uh Oh- the Transmission broke. Perhaps this new motor was more than the gearbox could take? I think somewhere in Texas, Ryans transmission has broke the night before-- Perhaps it was fate! Anyway, it signaled the end of Bonneville 07 racing for the team, although I have a feeling this new flathead block will be back next year. A few crew shots on the salt, including this one with Bing, Vern, and Elle- They even let me get in a few. With race hopes dashed, and pressing matters at home, it was off for California on Monday. I missed the HAMB photo on Saturday (and Sunday) as I was helping out the team at the starting line, and I missed the Hop Up Hot Dog gathering Tuesday, as I know they had quite a celebration. Still what a great Speed Week! Thanks for letting me share, and see you next year...
Great story and pictures, sorry to hear about the broke gearbox but looks like you still had a pretty good time. Gary
Thanks for the pictures. Great story. Ryans is just going to have to learn he can't dog that 39 box like the 38 coupe. Had my share of tranny troubles this spring too.
cool story jay. One question though, some earlier pics have cars sloughing thru brine, was there an alternate route or ? TP
It was the wierdest thing-- The "salt lake" brine was only as you entered the lake bed off the asphalt road- it was only for a few hundred feet and then you drove another mile or so on rutted but drier salt ground, and then another 2 or 3 miles on smooth salt ground to the race course. I also noticed that the brine was muddy in the morning, and more watery as it got hotter in the afternoon-- Crazy. I spent about 4 or 5 hours getting salt out of every imaginable crevis under my truck-- Hope I got it all!
You probably didn't,.... I've been under my truck 4 times now with a hose, and everytime, I keep finding more!!! Thanks for posting the story. Bummer about the trans.
Jay, Put a sprinkler with the water moving back and forth on low pressure and leave it under your car for a couple of hours and moving it around every now and then. Make sure that you don't do this in your yard, the salt will kill the grass. Chris Nelson Kansas
great story, I wish I could have met more Hambers I didnt meet a single one oh actaully briefly met eyeball saw sodbuster drive by, my wife still remembers him from hooking her up with bandaid a few years back. I saw BigOlds but no Denise around it at the time. Saw Tom H but I probaly just look like another young punk to him what a great modified though I love it, saw scarylarry and his absoultly beautiful roadster but didnt introduce myself because well dont know why its kind of gay to introduce yourself as saltflataddict from the hamb anyways that roadster was tits. Bob K sorry I didnt run into you this year saw your car though all over town.
I was there getting sunburned again, across from Shug, Irene, and Kiwi Steve. Irene set new records in two classes with the four banger roadster. Tom Branch set a new record in his four banger torpedomobile.
Jay- your not a photog?...could have fooled me. Great photos. Thanks for the story. Oh ya, and about getting the salt out. Six months after running BV last year, I pulled into the parking lot at work and a big chuck of salt about the size of a fist fell onto the ground... couldn't believe it .... I had washed, scrubed and salt-x'ed and the truck had been in the rain... you'll NEVER get all of it out and you'll never forget about your trip, your truck will remind you. Keven
Jay thanks for all those pics... I was super stoked to get to finally meet Vern. It was awesome; a buddy and I were sitting near a car wondering about a part and he came walking by, not knowing who he was I asked hey do you happen to know what "this is?" 45 minutes later, we had a PhD. worth of information on the part and introduced ourselves... as we stammered away saying to ourselves... "That was theee Vern Tardel" we were blown away with his humility and unostentatious attitude. Thanks for the pics...
Funny, that is the way my pops and I met Vern in 01'.........and we still can't beleive his "down home" approach to life and flatheads. Chris Nelson Kansas
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