Event Coverage Vintage Bonneville Footage

Thanks Boss!

 

Though things at Bonneville have changed,,, still not much different from 1951 to 2013... Guys drilling holes and others dropping cones. And since it is so hot might as well just wear just chinos and a white t shirt.. now that has changed.

 

Well, I enjoyed it. Thanks.

 

Cool stuff. It's cool to see the roots of what is there today. You don't get to see someone fix things with masking tape these days, or run down the course in a hard hat and sun glasses. If I could go back in time, of all the things you could choose to do and see, I would go to Bonneville. Hands down.

 

I wonder what the cost of a roll of masking tape was in those days. Must have been miles used at each event.

DW

 

Very cool.

 

Ryan -

Great vintage Bonneville footage!

As I watched the first video, I was overcome by a feeling of Déjà vu ... sure enough ... checkout:

* yeahRight's 50's (?) Bonneville footage thread

* sodbuster's post in the Tom Cobbs: Part 1 Blog/thread

 

Salt Speed Good - Thanks

 

Great video! with a few shots of the Tom Cobb Eng. special and the Howards Cams Crosly. There was a great Article in the Jan.'13 issue about the Hot Rod Deluxe about the Cobbs Eng. car.

 

Great stuff! Was watching some vintage footage recently of the golden rod and the challenger one-looking forward to going there someday!

 

Excellent footage, both in quality and content. These will get plenty of play on my computers.

 

Pretty cool footage...when's the last time you saw gas in a glass jug?

 

Thanks for the link, great footage. Lee

 

Very good footage of the 3rd. B-ville Time Trials!
Yes thanks have changed BUT still the same if that makes sense?
Thanks Ryan

 

Thanks Ryan, hope all is well with the family. Hope the medical issues were not too serious. Enjoyed the videos, Carp

 

interesting that mud showed up on the drill. Maybe it wasn't all 3 feet deep then (?).

 

What were they using to make the black stripe? Seems like it would take a lot of it.

 

Used motor oil

 

Crude oil. I think a few years ago the tree huggers made them stop and now they use orange cones.

 

Great footage from the early years.

 

notice how "thin" everybody was back then.....thanks boss........

 

I dont really have a lot of regrets in life, but not going to Bonneville earlier in life is up there. As teens we were driving to events in California from up here in Washington State and for some reason it never occurred to us to hit the Salt Flats even though we read about em in Hot Rod every year.

Instead of only been going for the last ten years it would have been the last 35 ... and im sure I would have loved every minute of it =)

Thanks for the vids!

 

One thing that is interesting to me is the different perspective of the racers then. They didn't have the technology to have all the safety measures they have today. I can imagine what it must have felt like trying everything you can think of to squeeze another 5 mph out of your flathead powered roadster. Running 130mph, foot pushing through the floorboard, not concerned with safety but rather completely overcome with the adrenaline and desire to go just a little bit faster....

Now days it seems the perspective has changed in many of the classes. There's so much money in it now. They are running so fast now, and have so much power, that they have to be more concerned about safety. They have so many safety mechanisms in place (I'm not knocking that part) that while they're running down the track they have to be focused on the safety precautions as much as the speed.

I remember as a kid going down Little Cottonwood canyon in Utah (snowbird ski resort) on my skateboard. I was tucked down as low and lean as I could get. I was topped out. I was doing anything I could think of to go just a little bit faster.... I think that is what bonneville would have been like in the early days. What a rush. Now it's more like riding a rocket ship and hoping the stars line up and you have a good run.

I would be interested to hear what the current drivers' thoughts are about the different perspectives between the early days and now.

That said, there's still no place like it on earth and I will be at speedweek every year until the day I die.

 

Seems like everyone was younger then . . . . .

 

Great video footage of the early years.

 

wow those were kool, i swear that is logans streamliner in the first one!!

 

Awesome footage to see. I hope to make it out there one day when my car is finished. Not only is it awesome to see guys building cars these days that look like they could fit right in this film, I also think its funny seeing how fashion is kind of pulling lots of ideas from this time period.

 

Great stuff!!

 

That first video might be the best "old time" video I've seen. I see where the Rolling Bones got their ideas...they are spot on.