Speedweek 2008 - Team 777

THIS IS AN EXTREMELY LARGE BLOG - IT WILL TAKE SOME TIME TO UPLOAD ALL THE WAY - YOU MAY NOT HEAR SOUND ON THE VIDEO AT FIRST - TRY IT AGAIN AFTER IT HAS UPLOADED...

Hi - I'm Kathy. I'm on the race team 777. We race at the Bonneville Salt Flats during Speedweek. We race for times and records, not against any other cars. I'm creating this blog for my daughter, Shannon, who's living in New Zealand for a year, so she can see our escapades. It is also for our friends who cannot join us on our adventure. Enjoy!

I have a new digital camera that takes photos and also video. I will be putting both on this blog. The quality of the video isn't the best, but it's able to be uploaded to the internet easily. The pictures are high quality, so if you click on a picture, you will see it enlarged, but remember to use the Back Arrow to get back to the site.

We left our homes in Southern California at 4 am on Sunday, August 17th, and met for breakfast in Victorville at 5 am. Our goal is to be on the Bonneville Salt Flats by 4:30 pm to put the race car in the tech inspection line, and also set-up our pits.

The drive to Wendover and the Bonneville Salt Flats....


More barren land, and the Dixie Chicks, ya!


We got to Ash Springs around noon, bought some lunch, hit the road and ate in our trucks.


The drive to Wendover is interesting. You go for long stretches with nothing but empty land, then there will be a small town. These rocks are one of the interesting landmarks on the journey.


We made it to the salt. Carl and I stopped at the Peppermill Hotel first to get everyone's rooms. Actually we got our rooms all next together and right down the hall from the Casino. Perfect.


Tech Inspection - We're in the Tech Line on Sunday. Racing starts tomorrow morning.

Team 777 - Ready to race

The inspection process. The car is inspected...

The driver is inspected....


Roy on the right, Kenny on the left. We passed!!!

Roy fills out the necessary paperwork.

Me.


Then we take the car to our pits which happens to be about a mile and a half from the inspection area.


We have lot's of visitors... Here are some hot rods that drove all the way from Illinois.


Here's Ed's car, he drove from Mesquite, NV.


Shannon - this one's for you, from your friends, Dave and Ed.


A view of the pit area.


Hi Shannon from your friends and family.


Monday - we're in line for our first run.


Pouring ice into the cooling system.

The umbrella keeps the driver's seat cool. It's about 97 degrees out.

There's a metal box where they put ice and water and it has a hose that goes to the driver and into a port in his helmet, to keep his head cool.

Nice job Kenny and Mike. Dennis made the first pass on Monday with a 221 mph speed.


We stopped by Garth Hogan's pit later in the day. He and Andrea brought their race car all the way from New Zealand, along with many other cars and hundreds of Kiwi's. They ended up with a record.


On Tuesday we put the car back in line for another run.


Preparing for the second run.


Ready to run on Tuesday. Warming up the car. It stays on the trailer until we're about 20 cars back.


Remember, you can click on the photos to see details. Then use the Back Arrow to get back to this site.

Here I am with Carl.

Pat warms the car. Kenny keep the sun off of him.


Dennis ran a 247 MPH speed on Tuesday. The car had much more to give, but it was basically a test run. I don't have pictures or digital video of the runs. I used my video camera for those and I will make a DVD of the event to show at our Team gathering later in the year.

Kenny - before the sunburn

Roy's new nick-name.... get it??

The goal of this meet for us is to put another Bonneville 200 MPH Club decal next to a name, specifically "Dennis McNeil's".


John Reid and his wife Flick from New Zealand.

This car is a replica of Art Chrisman's #25 Racecar.
John and Flick came to visit our pit and was telling us about the Kiwi team who built this car and was going for a record. After John left, Art drove up. Carl and I put him in our car and took him to see the car. Art had heard about it, but had never seen it.


Art was very impressed with how much it looked like his. The team members took off their shirts so Art could sign them. We stayed there in their pits until everyone got their hats and shirts signed. Art loves that stuff and was thrilled to see the car and meet the folks.


The car ended up setting a record.

Art Chrisman

They put all the body panels on for us to get a good picture.

Art Chrisman, John Reid, Dave Alexander


A couple of short videos of Art with the car. Sorry about the wind noise, my small camera does not have a wind buffer on it.


Art and Dave..


Our primary goal is to go fast. Our secondary goal is to do some serious partying! We stayed at the Peppermill Hotel and Casino. The decor is heavy neon lights. It's like a funhouse and you can't find your way out.


We've had some extremely funny evenings at the CoCo Palms restaurant, with Shannon, Kristen and some of the old team members who have dropped off.


My brother, Carl, borrowed my reading glasses and they just happen to match his shirt.


Wednesday morning and we're in line to make our record attempt run. The gas tank is emptied, then filled by the official fuel guy, then sealed up so you can't cheat and put some go-faster-potion inside.
I'm visiting with Jon Meyer.

We all just hang out in line and visit. It can take hours waiting for a run.

That's Art in the blue shirt... he's Roy's engine man and trusted adviser.


Driver - Dennis McNeil is in the shorts with his back to the camera. He will suit up when we're about 20 cars back from the start line.

Nice car.

At the starting line (I took this picture off of another blog)

The run was a success. 267 MPH speed. We headed directly to impound. Once in impound, you check in, then have 4 hours to work on your car, to prepare it for the back-up run in the morning at 7 am. This is a new class, so the SCTA record was open, but the Bonneville 200 MPH Club minimum is 255. Our driver Dennis wants to get into "The Club". He made a good solid run and the speed of the next run will be averaged and hopefully be over 255 mph.

Roy - the creative designer - welded up some posts to create an awning for the trailer - just in case we went to impound. Positive thinking!

Dennis McNeill - a happy guy.

We just happened to park next to the Kiwi car in the impound area, so Art posed in front of the car.

Wayne Jesel got a record and into the Bonneville 200 MPH Club also.

On Wednesday evening we attended the Bonneville 200 MPH Club Banquet. Wayne was inducted that evening. Roy and Pat are on the 2-Club board and more than half of our team members are members of the club.
Our table consisted of Pat, Mike, Carl F., Donnie, Dennis, Kenny, Me, Carl O., Tall Carl, Art and Roy.
Here's Art, having a great time.


Art Chrisman, Jerry Kugel, Roy Fjastad.

Art, Roy and Pat Kinne

Pat, Mike Kinne, Kenny Hoover and Carl Fjastad

Carl, Donnie McNeil and Dennis McNeil

This is the official Geezer table. Jim Deist, Louie Senter, Nick Arias, Fred Gorke, Jack Lufkin and Ed (Isky) Iskenderian.


Here's a video clip of the banquet room.


It's Thursday, Record Run Day. We arrived at the salt at 5:30 am. They start running records at 7 am.


Success! Dennis got the Record and into the Club. 265 mph, so the record is 266 mph.

They had to take off the body panels after the run, a rod broke a hole through the oil pan.

Notice the 3 men in the above picture dressed in white.... Well, Carl and I picked up 3 French spectators in the pits, just before our run. Serge, Pascal and Oscar. Just delightful people. They were sort of lost, just arriving to the salt flats after flying directly to LAX from Paris, renting a motorhome, stopping in Las Vegas and driving to the Bonneville Salt Flats. We sure enjoyed their company and trying to explain Speedweek when we are speaking different languages. Actually Oscar was pretty good at speaking English, we all got along just fine. My brother, Carl, had them in stitches laughing, which was pretty funny because they didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Something about "Thank you for the Statue of Liberty"...

After the run, still at the 6 or 7 mile.


The Handshake. Congratulations!


Team Photo after the Record Run.


We had one hour to get to the final Tech Inspection to get the run certified.

Dennis and Carl.

Dennis and Art.

Dennis, Art, Roy.


The 2-Club sticker next to Dennis' name.


During the inspection, The Discovery Channel was filming the final inspection process with Dan Warner. After they interviewed Dennis.


Dennis McNeil being inducted into the Bonneville 200 MPH Club. 8/21/08

The official strip-tease.
Then donning the new club shirt.

Wearing of the club hat and shirt.

Below, Mike Kinne, Pat Kinne, Larry Volk, Dan Warner, Dennis McNeil, Roy Fjastad, Carl Olson, Kenny Hoover.

Larry, Dan, Dennis, Roy.

Same people, plus me - Kathy Olson.


Our Team!


Back at the pits, all loaded up and ready to leave the salt for the long drive home on Friday.

This sums it up.....

Easy!

Dennis' official club photo.


The Timing Slips. click on picture to enlarge.


Thursday evening - Celebration party in Roy's Room.



A Toast to Success...


For some reason, Carl arrived in his chonies.???
Some kind of joke between him and Kenny.


Kenny got really burned this trip. Ouch!

Photo of the salt

That's all there is. It took about 2 days to put this blog together, I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a comment if you like, and forward it to your friends.

Kathy