But racers say it is difficult to find a space long enough to reach record speeds like they did many years ago. The Salt Flats has a special ground that keeps car tires cool at high speeds and provides a perfect surface for racing. And the area of the Salt Flats has shrunk to about half of its largest size in 1994. In the last 60 years, the ground has become thinner by about one-third. Those who love the area are demanding changes to save it. The area has served as a place for racers to set land speed world records and for filmmakers to make movies like Independence Day and The World’s Fastest Indian.īut the ground of the area is growing thinner and thinner. The area is so flat that on some days, people say they can see the curvature of the Earth. We're here to help.The Bonneville Salt Flats is a famous area of white salt crystals in the American state of Utah.

These days, the main Bonneville event is called Speed Week and the volume of SCTA car classes is staggering, and quite confounding to the ever-growing volume of first-time racers and spectators. (Oddly, we've found that vintage issues of HOT ROD rarely, if ever, provide details about the various classes within any of the race coverage, be it Bonneville, the drags, Pikes Peak, or even NASCAR). At that first Bonneville Nationals hosted by the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), the racing classes were very simple: there was Streamliner, Lakester, Roadster, Modified Roadster, Coupe, and Modified Coupe. The location was famous worldwide, thanks to the land-speed-racing battles of Brits Sir Malcomb Campbell (the first to 300 mph at Bonneville in 1935), George Eyston, and John Cobb, and American racer (and one-time mayor of Salt Lake City) Ab Jenkins. In 1949, HOT ROD helped create the Bonneville National Speed Trials for hot rodders.

Salt flats racing