I'am back from Bonneville. After a week of operating on about four hours sleep it's nice to be home. Now all I have to do is catch up with the two weeks of work I didn't do.

I played hookie on Tuesday after we finished certifying the record cars for that day. Over the next few hours I shot about 600 photo, some good, some ok. With a quick edit I pulled out a few for this issue and added a little story for each.

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Chico Kodama from Mooneyes U.S.A. had nothing but trouble at Bonneville in '09 chaseing after the record he set in Class F Blown Fuel Modified Roadster in '08 at 193.847 mph. He had eight runs for the week and spun three times, ran in the 190's once, in the 192's twice but fell short of qualifing for the record. Back story on the car: A couple of years back I went down to Moon to do a pre-inspecton the car when Chico was building it. It's cool to see a car in the build stage early on and can catch any problems, especially in the safety area, before the car is finished as any re-do is easier at the early stages of construction. At the time Chico was planning to use the engine out of Freddie Larsen's Mooneyes liner. When the car came through inspection the first time it sailed right through so there's something to the pre inspects. In '08 he got the class record with Fred's engine in the car. Viva La Mooneyes.

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Long time saltster Tim Rochlitzer brought his True Radius Bending Special back to Bonneville in '09. The car was chaseing the Kelly-Hall Class E Gas Lakester record of 236.431 mph. A shakedown run on Wednesday recorded a 216.165 mph run. Two more runs the same day resulted in 229.559 mph and 229.507 mph laps. The next day the car ran three times, they were 228.093 mph, 228.533 mph and a turnout before the two mile. On Thursday they were back for more with a 232.920 mph and a 231.146 but still to slow. Maybe next year. The shot was taken on Wednesday with Tim by the door and Crew Chief Matt Williams adjusting the brakes. Behind is the box of Mark Lingua. Back Story: Over the last couple of months Tim has kindly lent the AHRF some of his old shots from the '50's and '60's. It's guys like Tim that are the backbone of lakes racing. A cool story is when Al Teague was building his famous Lakester/Streamliner Tim did all the tube bending at his shop in Santa Barbara and sent them a few at a time back to Al. For the last decade or two Tim's been running the car in the shot. He also is the proud owner of the old Summers Brothers Poliwog streamliner. Go Tim!

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The talk of the meet in '09 was the new Maro Special of Bobby Moore out of Tulsa, OK. This Class A Blown Fuel Streamliner was powered by a 498" Chrysler Hemi and put together by fabrication wizzard Tom Hanna. The complicated car did a couple of slow runs and revealed some problems but will be back and gunning for the Al Teague record of 409.986 mph. Back story: Bobby has driven Vette's at the salt for ages. The first time I met him was around '97 at B-ville when our Alfa was running in the same class. Lee Kennedy had just set the record at 252 in the Alfa and it was my turn to drive it. We pulled up in line and just happened to be behind Bill Ward's Opel and Bobby's Vette. Ward had set the record then Bobby got it. Lee always the diplomat blurted out, had it, got it, took it as he pointed to the three cars in line. Everyone had a big laugh.

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Last year Wayne Jesel came to Bonneville with his Dodge Ram Pickup wraped with a who's who of pictures to celebrate the 60th running of Speedweek. The AHRF helped with the names and Hot Rod Magazine supplied the pix. This year, '09, they were back to run in Class A Blown Modified Pickup and grab the 173.840 mph record and that they did. On Sunday the car did a shakedown run at 106.608 mph. It turned around and did another lap at 206.573 mph. Both these runs were on the short course and the second run was way over the record. They opted not to go to impound. On Sunday on the long course the truck ran 239.322 mph and this time they went to impound. The next morning a backup run of 243.595 mph garnered the team a new record of 241.458 mph. That's only a 67.618 mph bump on the old record and it got Wayne's brother Dan in the 200 MPH Club. But that's not the end. On Tuesday Jimmy Barton got in the car and did a shakedown at 213.912 mph. He followed that up with another run at 262.342 mph and went to impound. The next morning he came back at 261.894 mph for a two way at 262.118 mph and joined the 2-Club. The record had been bumped 88.272 mph in just a few days. On Friday morning running in Class B Modified Pickup Dale Cherry joined the 2-Club with combined laps of 219.094. That afternoon Robert Hustler jumped in and bumped the record to 221.330 mph. That equals one truck, two classes, 4 records and 4 red hats. Not bad for a weeks work. Back story: Last year Diesel pickups were getting out of hand with exhause pipes sticking out of the top of the bed. A rule change was voted in to eliminate this. In about February Wayne came out to the coast and attended one of our Sidewinders meetings and immediately made a bee-line for me. The first thing out of his mouth was "You just cost me $10,000 dollars to rebuild my truck". He then cracked a smile and said just kidding. This year while we were doing the cert for his last driver he walked up and gave me one of the team T-shirts. Man is that cool. Thanks, Wayne.

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The last couple of years some really cool spectator cars have been showing up at the salt. I couldn't resist this one stationed behind a cone. Rods just look so great splattered with salt.

Now for a little of the old days.

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Fellow Sidewinder Phil Dally passed along this shot of Ab Jenkins driving a tractor on the salt back in 1935. It's amazing what a little advertiseing money will do to sane men.

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I forget if it was Phil or Stuart Harnick who gave me this un-identified shot again taken at Bonneville in 1935. It shows Frank and Rose doing a little spectateing in front of the AAA hospitality trailer. That's probably their Model A parked in the background. Note the Model T rear axles use as tent stakes.