History 1961 Bonneville National Speed Trials ... PICS !!!

Quite a find indeed. I'm deep into it now and blown away. What an archive!!
Thanks Hemi32!

 

Sorry ... those sixty-five pics were all they had from the '61 Speed Week event.

There are literally hundreds more Bonneville Salt Flats related photos in "The Salt Lake Tribune Negative Collection" archive ... including (but not limited to):

• 1947: John Cobb on the salt.
• 1948: John Cobb on the salt.
  
• 1949: Ab Jenkins' "The Mormon Meteor" being removed from the Utah State Capitol.
• 1960: Art Arfons' (Allison-powered) "Anteater" on the salt.
• 1960: Dr. Nathan Ostich's (J-47 jet-powered) "Flying Caduceus" on the salt.
• 1960: Mickey Thompson's "Challenger I" on the salt.
  
• 1962: Art Arfons' (J-47 jet-powered) "Cyclops" on the salt.
• 1962: Dr. Nathan Ostich's (J-47 jet-powered) "Flying Caduceus" on the salt.
• 1962: Mickey Thompson's Pontiac Super Duty Catalina on the salt.
• 1962: Summers Bros. "Polywog" on the salt.
• 1963: Craig Breedlove (J-47 jet-powered) "Spirit Of America" on the salt.
  
• 1963: Dr. Nathan Ostich's (J-47 jet-powered) "Flying Caduceus" on the salt.
• 1964: Art Arfons' (J-79 jet-powered) "Green Monster" on the salt.
  
• 1964: Craig Breedlove (J-47 jet-powered) "Spirit Of America" on the salt.
• 1965: Craig Breedlove (J-79 jet-powered) "Spirit Of America - Sonic 1" on the salt.
• 1966: Art Arfons' (J-79 jet-powered) "Green Monster" record attempts / crash (+ hospital photos).

Unfortunately, the majority of those pics are pretty off-topic for a Traditional Hot Rod discussion forum ... but perhaps I'll pick some of the more HAMB-friendly photos and post them in a their own thread(s) ... stay tuned!

 

The fellow in the Autolite T shirt is genius engine builder Demar Ray. He built the blown morris in the Eel.

 

Great pics, thanks

 

Thanx... all that should keep the historians busy. Gary

 

Fabulous history lesson.

 

Well Done..

 

What a great collection of professionally shot material! Thanks.

 

FANTASTIC pics !!! Thank You !!!

 

Remarkable photos!

 

Nice pics ,thanks for sharing!!

 

Tremendous stuff ! This is exactly why I always come back to check what's new, hoping to find gems like these. Thanks for posting.

 

Driver, Joe Locosto, working on the Belmont Sanchez Studebaker.

 

Dean -

I knew the gentleman pictured in the two photos wasn't Belmont "Beach Ball" Sanchez ... but wasn't sure if it was Mr. Callahan, Mr. Cagle, or Mr. Locosto.

Thanks for positively identifying him as Joe ... I've updated the caption under those pics accordingly.

Please know that the sharing of your vast Bonneville knowledge & memories here on the H.A.M.B. is always greatly appreciated!

 

Young men running cars on the salt. Don't see much of that these days.

 

Nolan White in his Glaspar bodied sports racing car. The first outing for this car was at the last El Mirage meet of '61. It was a stock Glaspar open roadster configuration. With the blown SBC Nolan blew Jack Lufkin's record away at 172 mph on his first and only run that day. Nolan showed up with the body in this coupe form at Bonneville. The Glaspar was never a great looking design, and Nolan's crude glass work didn't help it any. He later narrowed the car about 18" and ran well over 200 in it. Sanitary it wasn't. The engine sat in a right to left angle so Nolan had room for his legs which were squeezed against the transmission. It scared the crap out of anyone who saw it, and it would never get by inspection today. The engine in this car was also used in the Dean & White altered roadster at the drags.

 

thanks for sharing. Very cool!

 

Wow! What a find, pure gold! What a collection of gorgeous machinery. Thanks Todd, you hit the HAMB bullseye again.
I love some of the artwork, too.

 

Say what? How the hell do you get the power to the wheels? I tell you Dean, your generation was an innovative bunch!

 

thanks for taking to the time to post.....really cool stuff !

 

U-joints! Like I said, that car was scary!!

 

GREAT PICS !!!

 

UPDATE: I've updated some of the captions ... but still don't have a positive identification of the vehicles in posts #1, #5, #9, & #20 ... any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

That lakester is Carl Borgh's. Prior to the tank Carl bought the Spurgin '25 Chev roadster and installed a GMC 6 later turned it into the rear engined modified roadster. Carl's son Kent is a member, I can't remember his username.

 

Not sure who owned this coupe in 1961 but Jack Spencer built it in 1953-54

 

Jamie -

Thank you!

Funny thing is ... I actually had a color pic of CW Borgh's Belly Tank saved in my photo archive:

​

... It just never occurred to me that they were the same Lakester ... probably because my pea brain assumed that the Salt Lake Tribune B&W photos were of a yellow car ... vice a white one.

FYI ... Kent is @34potvin here on the H.A.M.B.

 

So cool to see ....Thanks

 

great stuff, especially the stuff on Nolan, I'll send those pictures to his kid. thanks for posting them

 

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing.