How's the weather around Wendover?

The last I heard, which was weeks ago, was that it was unusually wet.

Now that summer's on its way, do you guys see a nice dry Bonneville by August?

I certainly hope so. Let me know what the salt flats condition is.

--Matt

 

This came from Hop Up -- B'ville could use a little of that global warming

 

It's been a wet spring. Generally one to two days of rain a week.

 

That liquid currently covering the salt flats is just protecting the race track and keeping it safe for some fast runs in August. That is what I keep telling myself as we start getting the car ready to run.

 

Flew over a week ago; looked awful damp!

 

shitty. My truck driver just came back from there and he said it was raining something fierce. The weather around here lately is crap, I think its the end of the world and we are headed for floods locally. No really may not be the end but its been raining sooooo much here that our water levels are at an all time high with lots of snow still to melt. meaning floods... So I would say that its not looking good, but we can all pray because I am there already..

 

Thanks for the reports, fellas.

 

A regular participant at Bonneville assured me today that the water level is completly normal this time of year and racing in August is a go. I'll see you guys there.

 

Ah .. did he say, "How Deep?"
When the water starts lapping up the sides of I 80, that means it's REAL DAMP.

The next problem is; WILL THERE BE ENOUGH SALT ON THE SURFACE??

 

He told me that the water is the means of getting the salt back to the surface.

 

read this, It is a little bit of helpful info
http://www.saltflats.com/save the salt.html

 

You'll notice that Intrepid Industries now has the mining rights to the salt.
From the update (above) it appears they will cooperate with the Save the Salt committee to continue replacing brine on the track.

When I started annoucing at Bonneville in 1968, the salt came right up to the shoulders of I 80. Last year you had to drive in almost a mile to get to solid salt.

If the rain and runoff has been very high, (and the water level on the salt is high) all that water has to evaporate before Aug. And that doesn't take into account normal rain fall that is still to come. (May and June)

It would not be the first time the trials were cancelled. But everyone cross your fingers; it has looked bad (wet) right up to a week away from Speed Week.

 

This was just posted on the Land Racing e-mail ring by Wester Potter.

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Just what we DIDN'T need on the salt.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1,1249,600137936,00.html

Tooele (Two-willa) is the County Seat for Tooele County ... the salt
flats are in Tooele County and the racers pay permit fees to the
County. There's 85 miles of desert and mountains between the salt
flats and Tooele City but we had a dump of rain from Sunday evening to
Monday afternoon over the whole area. The wide area along I-80 was the
hardest hit. Draper, a city between Salt Lake and Provo received over
2" of rain, many other reporting areas received at least an inch.
Snowbird ski area (up Little Cottonwood canyon east of Draper) shut
down their lifts because they couldn't keep up with necessary grooming
of the new snow it hit so hard and fast. They are only operating on
weekends between now and July 4th. (Think about it ... lift served
skiing on the 4th of July!) I think the drought of the last six-seven
years is over.

The Great Salt Lake is experiencing the third greatest rise in depth
that has ever been recorded according to my friend Dr. Wally Gwynn,
who is an expert on the lake. Since last December the lake has risen
over three feet in depth and now we are in the middle of the spring
runoff season from snow melt. Much of the runoff ends up in the Great
Salt Lake or the Colorado River. Lake Powell, which is in that
Colorado River drainage, is up over 21 feet so far. That may mean you
people in Southern California will be able to flush this year. Arizona
will apparently benefit the most because of water rights but Lake Mead
should start to fill up too. River rafting permits between Powell and
Mead are being cancelled because of the high water and people who have
planned those raft trips for a year or more are angry.

Wes

 

Yep. it sucks. and there is more rain today thru Sat. morning. Its not looking good for us who plan on going. I bet we will be snowboadring on the 4th of July again, its fuckin rad, but I would give it up for some dry salt..

 

Damn, if this weather continues; we might just have a NO GO year.
Pray to the sun gods; it's about the only solution left!