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ing. We stayed the night in Salt Lake
and the next day drove west, skirting
the bottom edge of the Great Salt Lake
and then up straight to the edge of the
Bonneville Salt Flats.
Bonneville is an almost surreal
place. The road heads out due west,
disappearing over the horizon. You see
the road, the railroad tracks and the
power lines; they all just seemed to
run on forever. We were on a mission,
we were going to see cars run faster
than anything we had ever seen and
we were going to check that off of the
bucket list, even before the idea of a
bucket list existed.
You drive until you see the moun-
tains near Wendover, and then you
take the exit until you get to the end
of the paved road. You enter through
the gate and drive out onto what ap-
pears to be the cleanest, brightest
snow you have ever seen and it ex-
tends for miles. We drove out and
parked the car, walked around the pits
and watched the cars make their runs.
The sun was relentless, reflecting off
of the salt and giving you a sunburn in
areas you never thought possible. If
you wear shorts it reflects up your legs
and burns them. It reflected under my
nose and burned it as red as
Rudolph’s. It was relentless and in-
escapable. The only defenses were
sunblock and a large hat.
We saw so many cars, some fa-
mous and some not so famous, and we
drove around for a few hours.We even-
tually drove down the return road and
back. The speed limit on the return
road was posted 25 mph and I will
admit that in late in the afternoon we
did exactly that speed, plus another
100. It was so strange – we were driv-
ing at over 120 mph and it felt like
you could open the door and just step
out of the car. There is nothing nearby
to gauge as reference.
We slept that night in a tent near
the turn in the road, right outside of
Wendover. It had been way over 100
degrees that day and I decided to sleep
outside the two man pup tent we were
using. I learned that the desert can get
hot, but it doesn’t hold the heat and
after about 5 or 6 hours it was in the
low 40s and breezy. Teeth chattering
and sunburned, I crawled into the tent
and tried to sleep. After a few days we
left and headed to Southern Califor-
nia. Dave had to get back to work and
flew home. I had some other things I
wanted to see and places I wanted to
go. One of them was Disneyland and I
drove to Anaheim to find it. I parked
outside and went into the park, spent
a lot of money, and learned what an
“E” ticket was. I had a great time.
I spent the night at a no-name
hotel nearby and the next day I awoke
to find I was a victim of theft. That’s
right – someone had stolen something
off the car: the hood pins. During my
ownership that was the only thing I
ever had stolen off the car. I headed
east out of LA and took the old Route
66 and saw the sights: a large meteor
crater inWinslow, bright red clay cliffs
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Summer 2016 73
Bonneville Salt Flats, 1972. Experiences like this are unforgettable.