Bonneville in 1966

If you haven’t checked out Jeff Pierce’s personal images of Bonneville in the 6os yet, check them out now! His mother captured the racing action on the salt in color from 1963- 66 in a really beautiful way. It reminded me of Hot Rod Magazine photographer Eric Rickman’s images from the 1966 Speed Trials which I’ve added below. Ponder this: Rickman and Jeff’s mom took pictures of some of the same cars, around the exact same time, just from different angles. People have asked when the ‘golden age’ of hot rodding ended in America, the era that we base most of our cars on, and I usually say it started after the war and then all went to the dogs by 1967 or ’68: Detroit car designs got too much flair, hot rods often became show rods, and teenagers started lusting after Muscle cars instead of Deuce coupes. So let’s go back to 1966, to Bonneville, and enjoy some racing… It’s pretty crazy to think that 52 years later we are still enjoying these images.