History Dick Beith's 50th Anniversary Return to Bonneville

Slightly O/T for the H.A.M.B. ... but I figured it was worth posting ...


In 1960, Land Speed Racer (& founder of E-T Mags) **** Beith took his humble little 1958
Volkswagen Beetle powered by a mildly modified 36 HP engine and set a cl*** land speed record
on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Equipped with a homemade dual carburetor system, ****'s '58 streaked across the salt to a top
speed of 80.874 MPH ... with a two-way average record of 77.107 MPH ... becoming the
World's First VW to set a speed record!

1960: **** & his record setting VW at the entrance to the famed Bonneville Salt Flats (image from the **** Beith archive)​

In 1961, **** returned to the salt with his VW ... and set a new record @ 101.296 MPH!:

​

 

To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of his 1960 accomplishment, **** is planning a return
to Bonneville during the USFRA's World of Speed event (Sept. 15-18, 2010) to compete in the
36 HP Challenge and attempt to double his original record speed.

This time the VW will be a heavily modified 1968 Beetle competing in the H/BFC Compe***ion
Coupe category and running on the longer three mile compe***ion course.

The top of the Beetle has been severely chopped while an axle beam narrowed 19 inches will
allow the body to taper to a point following the Beetle hood lines providing a streamlined effect.

all construction images from Beith archive​

The engine will be a 1450cc 36 HP motor fitted with an Eaton supercharger, fuel injection and intercooled. Cylinder heads will be stock 36 HP heads highly modified by **** and similar to
those that took his Pepco 36 HP supercharged lakester to a 129 mile per hour top speed in
1963, an unlimited 36 HP record that still stands today as the fastest speed ever recorded for
a vehicle powered by the mighty little motor.

 

Awesome, thank's for sharing

 

Thanks for posting Hemi32, I had been getting some e-mails from Burly of this car . I was always wanting to see somebody tuck the wheels in on the front. They almost tuck themselves in on the back. I guess he has to use the stock wheelbase? Its going to be wild! Every little bit helps with the 36 horse .I hope he does good and make us VW guys proud.

 

WOW.....nice history, looks like a fun project, I'll be look'n for the VW at speed on the salt. GOOD LUCK! cw.

 

Thanks HEMI 32, to cool. Back in high school (1972) we had a VW club. I had a 58, 60 and 61. HaHa I never thought to take it to Bonneville Salt Flats! We thought we were cool just swapping out engines and luring girls into the back seat. Slim

 

Glad to see this "O/T" thread is still up!

Here's a little more **** Beith LSR history ...

In 1964, Mr. Beith ran a little H cl*** streamliner at Bonneville:

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Powered by a 44ci Mercury Outboard engine, ****'s #90 'liner ran 141.50 MPH.

 

Beith's #901 'liner currently resides in Dennis Varni's collection:

Speed Nymph Garage 2006 photo from www.zoomie.com


Speed Nymph Garage 2008 photo by Dave Molloy (@A32Flathead)​

 

WOW! That's pretty cool! I learned the hard way,that Bugs want to lift the rearend at speeds over 100mph! Many of the guys running when I raced my VW drilled 2" holes in their rear fenders and some even the back of the front fenders....Mine started to lift at one of the Bug-ins at OCIR,on the top end,and I about **** my pants!!!! Never ran it on a track again.

 

My life would not be the same if not for **** Beith. My favorite wheels in the world are his ET-III,s . This info about him is really cool. I hope he kicks **** on the salt !!!!

 

Go ****!

I remember when he was showing me pictures of him after he rolled his streamliner at over 200 miles an hour... (may have been faster).

It rolled on the salt like a pencil... he said there were marks on his gl***es where his eyeballs actually touched them. Pretty graphic pics that only a speed demon would take pride in sharing!

Sam

 

Kan Kustom ... The ET-III's are definitely a great looking wheel:

photo by Dave Mann (@Roadsters.com)


Tom Prufer's famous "Cop Shop Coupe" (owned by @Chuck R) rolls on E-T Mags!!!​

 

That's one sick Coupe!!!!!

 

Bad Bob ... Yep! ... it's one of my favorite Hot Rods from the '80s ... and I'm pretty sure it doesn't start to lift the rear-end at speeds over 100 mph!

 

Likin' the idea of a combined VW- Banger meet. Thanks Hemi32. A cool bug, and thanks folks, dig the low- displacement vintage lakes area of the sport, a lot.

 

**** Beith changed my life, too. He was the Student teacher in metal shop at Santa Clara High School, mentored me in sand casting aluminum. (made a small fortune at San Jose Tech bootlegging gas pedals later!)

 

Let me fix that for ya


one of my favorite Hot Rods EVER

 

very cool...

 

Found a few more pics of Beith's Bonneville VWs on them thar "Interwebs" ...

... a B&W photo of his '58 Beetle on the salt in 1960:

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... a couple of B&W photos of **** repairing his supercharged 36hp VW engine on the salt in 1961:

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... color photos of his VW-powered Belly Tank on the salt (circa 1963):

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... and a cellphone pic of his '68 Beetle taken in April 2010:

image by Tom Simon​

 

Wow--this is good stuff !

 

I love the vw stuff. still own one today. GO MAN GO!

 

That aint OT...really cool man.

 

Coincidentally, ****s former company, E-T Mags, is also 50 years old. Now run by Scott, the son of ****s high school industrial arts instructor, who mentored **** thru univerisity to get his teaching credential. ****went on to teach industrial arts and they were life long friends and mentors to each other and to me.

scott

 

We were one of ****s first distributors for his new E.T. wheels when he first started E.T.,,The uni-lug was the first multi-fit and sure helped on inventory..now most wheels are multi-fit. **** is one of the nicest guys I ever met.I wish him well at the salt...

 

Bonneville still has the most interesting stuff of any modern day racing endeavor.Thanks for all these neat posts.

 

Now that's just plain cool.

 

The Beith's got the car to Bonneville for this week's USFRA World of Speed / 35 HP Challenge event:

image by Ray S. Therat (@ChevyAsylum)​

However, **** won't be making any runs ... they simply ran out of time ... and never got a chance to fire the engine before heading to Wendover.

With the exception of sorting out the (blown, inter-cooled, & fuel injected) engine, the car is pretty much finished ... so they'll most likely have the car inspected by the USFRA / SCTA officials.

 

Here's a few more pics taken @ the 2010 USFRA World of Speed:

images from the USFRA website (saltflats.com)








images by Blaine Beith​

... and an interview with **** Beith on the salt in 2010:

​

 

Scott, I special ordered a pair of non-chrome ET mags for my 56 Vette back in 62/63 after seeing ****s #65 lakester at Bonneville. Later, the gas station and tire store where I worked, Five Points self serve in Norwalk, became an ET dealer just about the time the first all cast 4 spoke ET came on the market.

I just met **** this year at Bonneville, fifty years after the fact and I agree, he is quite the good guy.

Burly

 

Hot VW's magazine editor and photographer, R.K. Smith, will be coming to Utah this September to cover VW events at this years World of Speed being held on the Bonneville Salt Flats. The activities begin officially on Tuesday the 13th with VW racing beginning on Wednesday the 14th. Racing will continue through Saturday the 17th but most racing has concluded by Friday afternoon.



**** Beith and his 2011 36hp Challange VW by Burly Burlile

In addition to Hot VW's joining the VW Bonneville racers, a well known Samba moderator from Europe will be on the salt on Thursday and Friday as well as Tony Moore from Wolfsburg West, who will be joining the event to oversee the $1000.00 contingency award he has made available to 36hp Challenge racers running his new Okrasa style 36hp dual port heads.

If you can arrange to join us between Wednesday, Thursday or Friday (Sept 14th to 16th), please contact me for details and so we can put you on our mailing list to receive event updates. If you would like to put a club cruise together to motor out to Bonneville, that would even be better. Free camping without facilities is available at Roads Bend, just a couple of miles from the salt and limited rooms are still available in Wendover.

I hope many of you can join us on this first occasion of Hot VW's visit to Utah. At present, over thirty VW's have indicated they will be on the salt to race, including Big Block VW air cooleds(1600cc and above), watercooled VW's(up to 158 miles per hour-a radical turbo Golf) and 36hp VW's competing in the 36hp Challenge.

It is going to be a fun VW event and we hope you will make it out to support the Volkswagen racers. Information can be found at the following links:

www.saltflats.com General Salt Flats information

www.burlyb.com 36hp Challenge specifics


Till then, may the Speed be with you.......................



Burly Burlile