The truck looks great!!! Sounds good too!!!

Keep us posted.

hawkeye5766 wrote:

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Got in 2 passes. Bent a valve( broken spring) parts coming in air and hope to have back up tomorrow. Broke the truck but still a blast!!

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 Got some pics that Jim sent. 

2 passes at 134 before it broke. Here's hoping for more after it is fixed .

Islander wrote:
Will be looking forward to your results and stories from the road. Speed Week is on my to do list.

Boy...do I have some stories!!!! Some good...some bad....some sad. Find it amazing what can happen in 4 days.This may take a bit of reading.

The flight to Bonneville

Got to sleep about 12:01 am on friday morning and was up at 2:30am to leave by 3:00 am. Had to pick up a couple of guys on the way to the airport and be there by 4:00 am for our flight. Got in and booked on the flight by 5:00 and was sitting on the plane to take off at 5:30. Seems the plane had a problem with a sensor and we sat on it untill 7:00 am. Was then told the flight was a no-go. My bud phone Delta(our carrier) and re booked a flight to Salt lake city. Re booked flight was from Vic-Seatle-Salt Lake through West Jet. Went to the West Jet counter to get new tickets. West jet agent(was awsume) told us they(Delta) had re booked us but only on the first leg(Vic-Van) and the flight to Salt lake was now full!! Agent at Westjet found us a way to get to Salt lake,but wouldn't get in untill 10:30,which was still ok because the rental car agent I had lined up was open intil midnight. So it was Vic-Van-LA- Salt Lake on the new booking. We left Vic about 11:00 then to Van with a 2hr lay over then to LA. Arrived in LA about 5:20 and our connecting flight was at 5:45. LA is a huge airport...so when we got off my bud asked an attendant where do we board the next plane. She told him it was at the wicket beside whehere we got off(15' away) and was boarding in the next 15 minutes. Plane got delayed once then twice then for a 3rd time....seems the captain didn't show up for work!!! Finally at 9:30 the flight was cancelled!!!! They put us up for the night at a Best Western...but I was at my boiling point!!!! Waited for a shuttle bus outside for 1/2 an hour and finally got to our room at 10:30 pm. We were starving and thirsty!! Was an old Best Western from the 70's(could tell from the decor) Dinner and a couple of beer and off to bed by midnight. Up at 5am to catch buss back to airport! Arrived at airport to find out they still didn't have a pilot for our flight!!!!!!!!!! Was delayed for another 1hr....then they found a pilot that could stand upright.....so I guess it was a go!!no Landed in Salt lake about 11:30,rented a car that I had pre booked(although we were late) and booted it to the flats!! My bud John picked us up from their campsite and we made it in time to watch Terry do the first run in the truck by 15 min. O ya...Think we went through security and customs about 6 times because of all the BS!!



Punch line.........my first time ever flying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!









The Bad



Well........seems we broke the truck....not the record!! Boys got in 2 runs before we noticed something was off. On the second run Ian thought the torque converter went into lock up...she dropped about 600 RPM. At the end of the run (3 mile mark) we flashed up the truck to load in the trailer and she didn't sound right(hard to tell with open exhaust!). Got her back to the camp site and the next morning we decided to tear her apart. Didn't bend the push rod so we figure the spring broke first. Bit of a ding in the piston valve relief but we were able to clean it up. Ordered parts for the next day..but was a sunday and we thought might not show up till tues...sure enough..no parts till tues and the 3 of us that had flown down were heading home that day!!! On a good note it gave us time to tour around and cruise through the pits. Saw Big Red flash up 15 min before it went out and broke the record,they even gave us free t shirts while we were standing there! Have a vid and will see if my son can post for me. Some pics of before and after we broke.cry Looking forward to next year!!!!!

The sad

Got back to the camp site sat evening and all of a sudden the 1st responders were all over the camp site across from us. Heard that the fellow(mid 70's i think) had passed out at the drivers meeting the day before. Never met him but knew he drove a bike on the flats. Was a sad time in our camp(don't think he made it)....but we all thought.....we'll take it over an old age home and not knowing who your kids are. Enjoy what your doing and have fun with it.

Ahhh road trips eh Jim! They are great if you are not on a timeline! Flying is definitely faster, however you sometimes spend a lot of time pacing in an airport. I too spent about eight hours in Salt Lake this spring, it seems that Salt Lake is the east/west turnaround point for pilots and if one or the other is delayed, you are delayed, and the bigs storms in the east at the time did their part to delay flights. My eight hours were nothing compared to two gear heads that were doing work at the new Tesla plant, I think they had about 48 hours of trying to get home to Michigan and they just seemed to be getting further from home when we last saw them in Seattle!

I think I would like to make the time to road trip it down one day, must be some sights along the way.

Looks like you and the crew had fun even if you didnt quite reach your goal, as you said, next year.

Lots of people have made the pilgrimage for many years, your comment about the sad, is kinda how life should be, better to pass on doing something you love vs staring at four walls or political debates! 

Thanks for the stories.

We made the most bad ass cars of 2018...#6 when you scroll through.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/g22757244/cars-bonneville-speed-week-2018/