Bonneville day one: Monday. Maryville, Mo to Ogallala, NE Got up and at it early on monday, after a long night of packing and trying to sleep. 4:47 AM starting milage, 16904. made it to the interstate and headed north. my goal was to make it to valley, NE before it got hot. at 7am I made it to my buddy Erik's shop, it was already 71 degrees, and getting warmer. Erik didn't show up till 8:30ish. Once Tom sr and @tdog made it to Erik's, we loaded some of our stuff into Tom's trailer, we could leave off and head for Marquette, NE. we got there in time to have a front row parking spot by @383deuce shop. we noticed that Erik's shock mount had broken, and dennis let him use his torch to weld the arm up. we used the metal sheet to protect the brake line from the torch. It lasted about 100 feet. so we zip tied the link up to his wishbone and headed out. we decided to take hwy 30 rather than hopping on the interstate, going through small towns and lots of farm land. We made it to Cozad, when my car didn't want to start after getting gas. the switch didn't want to turn at first, then it would turn but wasn't giving power through to the coil while cranking. with some fiddling, I got it to start and then we drove to north platte, where we stopped at the local O'reilys. with the new switch installed, we were ready to hit the road again. we made tracks for the dinner meetup with the rolling bones crew in Paxton. we made it in time to have a nice meal. The rest of the guys had hotel rooms in paxton, but we had to get rooms in the next town over, in Ogallala. We stayed at the Lazy K Motel. it was a super weird experience, but a cool old hotel. in relative comfort, we hit the sack. 460+ miles down. .
Day two: Ogallala to Rock Springs. After an interesting night stay (and a cold shower, long story) we awoke the next morning, sunburned and ready to go. I uncovered the car, and went out to get a picture of the sign in the daylight. Tom's truck was acting up, and right after he took off, it died at the truck stop outside of town. sooo.... we played diesel mechanics, and went to the parts store for a filter. after some tinkering and bleeding (fuel not blood) we had tom on his way, and Erik and I continued on our adventure.. taking the interstate for an exit or two. it didn't last long as we got the call that tom had lost a trailer tire. we decided to check the tire store in big springs, to see if tom needed to go back to ogallala or keep heading west. the nice store owner told us nobody in town would have any 15" tires but was happy to let us poke around his cool shop, originally the train depot, then a feed store in the 60's, then finally becoming a tire shop. it wasn't the only cool building in town as we soon discovered. this (as we later found out) was originally a tractor dealership. it was a beautiful building, and we couldn't help but think about how cool of a shop it would make. when we wandered around back, we discovered this super cool freight elevator. wait. why does a one story building have a freight elevator? Because it had a FULL BASEMENT under the 2 foot thick concrete floors! after drooling for awhile, we had to head out. and we decided to hit hwy 30 the rest of the way to pine bluff. we hit some delays for construction, and erik got a lesson in asphalt paving. but eventually we made it to pine bluff, and decided before we got onto the interstate, we should jet down. Erik also aired his tires back up after airing down a bit at the last stop, trying to chase a dribbling tire that was capping our speed to around 80 mph. unfortunately, I didn't have the right jets, and it didn't like the jet size I chose, so at the next exit, we pulled over and I changed back to the .66 jets. while stopped, this lady and her kid stopped, and asked a ton of questions about our cars. once we were dialed back in, we made the rest of the way to Cheyenne and got to look around a bit. we also met up with some friends and got a short tour (special thanks to tom) we also got use of a drill for a minute at a local shop, and drilled out my jets (to 1/16 or a .625 jet) We also talked our way into getting Erik's shock arm welded up while in Cheyenne (it held the rest of the trip) after a meal, we hit the road again at about 4:30, headed for our hotel stop in Rock Springs, a mere 258 miles away.. you know you've been driving for awhile when 80mph feels like you're sitting on your couch. we hit some more road construction, and saw a hell of a beautiful sunset. right before we got to rock springs, I was playing with Erik on the highway, and allegedly blew by him doing about 110. when we stopped at the hotel a few minutes later, I found this on my driver side tire... that could have gone very bad. luckily, we had a spare front rim/tire, but it was a 5.50 16, so it looked a little goofy. still a goofy tire is better than a blown tire, so I ran on it the rest of the trip. we hit the sack in a half built hotel, another 430+ miles down. .
Not to jinx it but this might be the least eventful trip in the car yet lol. - I know you’re home already so I don’t feel bad saying it out loud haha
Not to ruin the suspense, but you've already seen the worst of the problems. what a bunch of morons. .
Day three: Rock Springs, Wyoming to Tooele, Utah Before we left Rock springs, we helped our buddy Alex hunt down a ignition problem, and took it easy heading out. we hit road construction a few more times... But after a stop at Little America, to check the lugs on my "new" front wheel/tire, Erik had some trouble getting back on the interstate, and his fuel pressure gauge told the tale, no fuel pressure. we looped back around and surveyed the situation at hand. We decided to try replacing the fuel filter, and after bleeding the air out of the system it seemed like it was fixed. so we hopped back on the road and made tracks. about 10 miles past Evanston, we stopped at a neat old water tower to walk around and take a leak. Unfortunately, when we went to leave, it became obvious that Erik's fuel pressure situation was NOT fixed. luckily, there was an abandoned garage right next to the water tower, and we took full advantage of the shade and the concrete floor. it was well covered in graffiti. we pretty quickly diagnosed the dead fuel pump. we also made the unfortunate discovery, that the extra fuel pump Erik packed, was in fact a junk used one. we still tried to make it work. but when we failed to do anything other than make a fuel fountain and then properly ruin both fuel pumps, we called the Evanston O'reilys to see if they had a fuel pump in stock. they did, and I was soon on my way. after a stop at the parts store and an Ace hardware for the barb fittings and hose clamps, I was back to Erik in our new home-away-from-home. once installed we were back on the road. we rolled into Salt lake city about 3pm, and it was HOT. after a stop at in-N-out for a burger and a shake, we made our way to @-Brent- shop, where we took a catnap under his shade tree while we waited for him to get off work. once there, we got to finally see his coupe in person. Its just a cool in person, as it is on his thread HERE It doesn't get any better than a chrome 36 dash. his shop is also really neat. but soon enough, we needed to hit the road. so after a quick stop to wal-mart and a gas station, we made our way to Tooele. finally we made it to our stop for the night, The Villa Motel. its a really neat place, that's been in the same family since 1946 when it was built. we rolled the cars around and took some picture while talking to the manager, who was the daughter of the original owners. Erik and Tom had stayed there the year before, and we were sad to hear her siblings were pushing for the sale of the motel. we settled into our room, another 250-ish miles closer to the salt. .
A great travelogue. It's great that you have such fine shops that help you get back on the road. A broken fuel pump would mean the end of the road for us, unless you have a working one with you. I'm excited to see how it goes. Greetings Harald
Good stuff. When you’re a thousand miles from home you get creative. people talk noise about speedway all the time but the amount of guys I’ve seen sleeping in their hot rod under an awning waiting for their over night parts to show up to the gas station/ hotel they sent them to is not a small number lol. Running with a buddy sure helps the whole thing that’s for sure. any idea what happened with your tire? I’m assuming old tire, 80+ mph for a 1,000 miles in a shot with 95+ deg temps it just gave up
I'd think FOD. Looks like something like a small chunk of tubing caught just right and cored out a hole. It might have been a defect in the tire where that was all one part of the rubber that didn't stick to the rest, but the almost perfect circle kind of says no.
I wont rule out something hitting the tire and initiating the tear, but the way it broke on the edge of a tread line, and the cleanliness of the cut leads me to think the rubber just separated. its about a 60 year old tire, they do that sometimes. 110+ speeds and 100+ degree heat don't help though. .
Day 4. Tooele to the Salt. we woke up, and got on our way to Grantsville, to Justin Linares shop, for a breakfast meetup. he has a bunch of neat hot rods and racecars. we met up with the other guys from omaha, @rob lee , his son Alex and friend Jaden. We looked around Justin's shop, and I found my happy place. eventually we decided to head out to avoid driving in the afternoon heat. if you've been on this trip, you know "the tree of life" is a welcome sign you are getting close. and soon, we roll onto the salt. and again, we were soon joined by rob and alex. needless to say I have a pretty cool background on my computer now. I also picked up a sticker. We worked our way up from the bend, and made camp on the hill. the view from my tent wasn't bad. We then went into the Lee's hotel to grill out for dinner, and hung out before heading to the nugget. it was a hopping place, even though it was only thursday night. got to meet @ironandsteele in person and see his coupe. also got to meet Harrison in person and see his little T bucket. I'll spare you the evening monologue, because baby, we made it to the salt! .
I saw your car in a short flick from a couple of Aussie's driving their coupe to the salt. Running with the Bones guys I believe
Showing up and having you sleeping in your car parked under a tree in the yard seems the most on brand way @-Brent- could have ever met you lol
It was so hot that day, it was over 100*. We were all a wreck from being outside all day. After the shade tree, we chilled in the AC and had some laughs. Good dudes.
Yupp! ran with those guys a bit over the weekend, gave both Willie (the videographer) and Mal (owner of the 401 coupe) rides in the roadster. haha we were laying on the grass! it was perfect. your tire/rim saved the trip, that's for sure. made me less worried at least. .
Good eye! When I swapped the key switch in north platte, It required me to pull the dash off, and the wire pulled out of the crimped eyelet on the back of the tach. I made a new wire for it, I just never got around to pulling the dash back out to put it in. It'll get fixed soon now that its home. .
Day 5, Salty. I started Friday morning off pretty slow, Erik was out helping with tech inspection on the salt, so I slept in. After breakfast with the other Omaha guys, I went the the local tire shop and attempted to buy a tube for Erik's motorcycle. once that was deemed impossible, I went to the grocery store and bought stuff to make sandwiches. And while out there, I had to get a shot next to wendover will. On the way back out to the salt, I noticed a little tub following me, and recognized it from social media. After talking with Jason for awhile, we noticed Harrison's T looking lonely, so we took the photo opportunity. Jason had to try my roadster on for size. And to cap off necessary photos, I got a photo with the entry sign. We made it back out to the nugget, and had another hotel cookout. Tomorrow: racing. .
Awesome, don't know them well, but Mal helped me out this year getting a model A boot lid down south & I'm met some of the Mislead Youth lot, grouse people!
Day 6, Hot Rod Hooligans. Jason had joined our camp the night before, which made for an even cooler campsite to wake up too. We met up with the Lee boys, and made the trip over to the Wendover Airport/Museum After a climb up the control tower to see the lay of the land, and shoot pictures, we got to go into the hangar and see some airplanes. As cool as the planes were, the hangar was equally fascinating. After a few more stops around the base, we took some group photos. We split off and made our way back to the salt. and we found the Hop Up weenie roast. We set up at the 2 1/4 mile marker and watched a few people spin out then we took a loop through the pits. One of our favorite cars to watch (and HEAR) was this third gen firebird with a ... wait for it... 2 liter, 400+ hp, 5 cylinder, 2 STROKE! It had a homemade block and cylinder head, with modified cylinders from an Artic Cat snowmobile! they set a record at just over 200 mph. We went and visited @cornfieldcustoms pit and hung out for a bit before heading into town for dinner and another show at the nugget. Erik sent me this shot from earlier in the day, when we were making our way onto the salt. A fun day with no real timeline, just going whatever way felt right. .
Day 7, Craters and dents. The day started much the same, we set up our viewing station at the 1 mile marker, and watched people head down the track. I eventually made my way down to @mctim64 pit, and was chatting it up with the crew when we heard speed demon take flight. I looked over to the track just in time to see it hit the ground and disintegrate. As I stared in disbelief, a black dot moving across the horizon caught my eye. TIRE! We took off yelling at the top of our lungs, trying to get everyone's attention, as it bore down on the pits. It hit a C4 vette in the first row of pits, launched over his push truck, and into the aisle. I winced as it spun by me, straight for where my car was parked. luckily (for me) it continued its arch and hit the middle of Tim's truck door. After putting a hell of a dent in Tim's door, it wobbled over to my car, bounced against the front tire and fell directly in front of my car. Fortunately Tim was good humored about it soon after we would find out that Chris passed away. with that wreck racing stopped for the day. we headed back to camp, and along the way I caught this photo of Alex Lee, on his bike, followed by his truck, being driven by our buddy Jaden We had plans for the night, so once back at camp we loaded up our bikes, and headed out into the desert. Erik and I rode double on his 1962 allstate two stroke motorcycle. Tom followed on his honda We did alot of stopping to reset course, and the last mile we practically walked the bikes in. It was a rough path in, but we finally got where we were headed, right before dusk. "where is that" I hear you say.. its really hard to get a picture of, but it was a bomb crater, 6' deep, and 50' wide. We believe it may have been an ASM-A-1 Tarzon Bomb they were testing. regardless, we had boy scout Erik light a fire to have our hot dogs and s'mores on. once the fire died out, we settled into our cover for the night, a tarp strung between the two bikes. @tdog brought a tent, me and eric roughed it in the open air. It was a calm night, perfect for sleeping in nature. .
Ok, fun times and all, but am I seeing you having swapped your hole in one tire back onto the car so you looked cool bombing around the salt instead of a misfit 16 inch tire with no hole? LOL
The Jalopy Journal
