Has anyone done the "SIDEWINDER"?

[tesgt350]

I believe it's in Oatman Arizona? 191 Turns in 8 Miles.

https://www.maturesolotraveler.com/post/the-sidewinder-is-one-twisted-road-on-route-66-in-arizona-usa

[Side-Oilers]

Never heard of the guy, but i've been to Oatman.  Old mining town turned quasi-tourist-trap. The population of feral donkeys is highly than humans.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

The 2 lane road through Oatman was Route 66 from when it opened until 1956 - 30 years. It was pretty much a dead town when 66 was designated having had a major fire a couple years before and the most of the mines closing. At the height of the depression LAPD sent officers to the borders to turn people back. It was called the "bum blockade". NO STATE RELIEF FOR NON RESIDENTS - my how times have changed.
Our Model A Club goes to Laughlin NV (if you liked Vegas in the 50-60s you'll love Laughlin). They do a poker run that ends in Oatman. You do have to time your arrival so you don't arrive while they have the only paved street through town shut down for their twice a day 20 minute show/gunfight.

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0261897,-114.3834472,3a,90y,353.94h,85.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTZad-Buxl3DmT5yNq9AhcA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?authuser=0&entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0404699,-114.3478414,13.89z?authuser=0&entry=ttu

[KR500]

I believe it's in Oatman Arizona? 191 Turns in 8 Miles.

https://www.maturesolotraveler.com/post/the-sidewinder-is-one-twisted-road-on-route-66-in-arizona-usa

Yes, Drove it in July 2017. It was a few days after the July 4th sidewalk egg fry in Oatman. It was 110+ that day. Fun drive, but would have been better in another vehicle ( F150 is not a corner carver). Plus the wife doesn't appreciate aggressive driving the twistes while she is in the passenger seat.  Yes more 4 legged ass than 2 in town.

[deathsled]

I believe it's in Oatman Arizona? 191 Turns in 8 Miles.

https://www.maturesolotraveler.com/post/the-sidewinder-is-one-twisted-road-on-route-66-in-arizona-usa

Never heard of the Sidewinder so thank you for posting.  It looks really worthwhile to visit especially with the Shelby Mustang.
Here is a short video I found on the road.  And yes, Side Oilers, donkeys identified in the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDXmPOPuBu8

[Side-Oilers]

I really love donkeys. They get a bad rap as being stupid, but they're smarter than horses. I owned several when I had my ranch, and they're almost as fun and loving as a dog, once you gain their trust. That takes a while. They're pranksters and you can see them almost laughing as you search for that glove or tool you just laid down in their pasture while fixing the fence...and that they hid. Smart animals.

For a Motor Trend road trip article in the mid '90s, we took the hottest new sport sedans on that Oatman road, and drove up and down it several times. The ancient pavement was in horrible shape then, and probably worse now.  Really tore up the tires.   

We stayed the night in Bullhead City (directly across the Colorado River from Laughlin) and at that time the town was such a grimy, low rent tourist area that one of my writers wrote in the article something like: "After a carousing good time in Laughlin, we crossed the River and entered Bullhead City, AZ. The only thing remarkable about Bullhead is that the entire city looks like a bag of fast food where the grease has soaked through."

Well, we all thought that was hilarious.  A week after the magazine hit the newsstand, I got a letter from the mayor of Bullhead. He didn't think it was a humorous as we did. I printed his letter, but we never took him up on his offer to "show us the good times in Bullhead." 

[deathsled]

Got inspired by the Sidewinder Road. Wrote this as a result.

Sidewinder Cemetery
By
Richard L. Elsliger © 2024

From the depths of cold darkness
Came the sign for eternal sleep
A land so foul and heartless
Forever placed where souls will keep

Death guards the locked Iron Gate
No soul dares tread beyond the realm
Long resigned to their grim fate
They dally beneath the witch elm

Coyote and sidewinder snake
Tread with grace over Death's dry ground
Happy lives did souls forsake
To this barren land without sound

Locked between heaven and hell
Dawn light breaks through a darkened sky
These restless souls Death must quell
Returned to their graves they must lie

And when the living drive past
The lonely cemetery road
If they knew they'd be aghast
At souls that haunt in their abode

[TA Coupe]

My corner carver Supercab,
Supercharged F150 Lightning. Ran in the 1995 Silverstate Classic open road race. Almost hit 150mph. I was supposed to run it at the Ferrari Virginia city hill climb one year but after keeping up with them on the fast drive up and even going to pass one of them until I was cut off, they had a  meeting and decided to make it a "car" only event so I couldn't set a faster time than some of the Ferrari's.

    Roy

[deathsled]

My corner carver Supercab,
Supercharged F150 Lightning. Ran in the 1995 Silverstate Classic open road race. Almost hit 150mph. I was supposed to run it at the Ferrari Virginia city hill climb one year but after keeping up with them on the fast drive up and even going to pass one of them until I was cut off, they had a  meeting and decided to make it a "car" only event so I couldn't set a faster time than some of the Ferrari's.

    Roy

I was interested in running the Silverstate Classic in the lowest category.  I think it was 95 mph per hour as the average speed.  But I understand it is very tricky to maintain as close to your designated speed without going over.  The closest wins I think  Looking at their site now it looks like the speeds for beginners start at 95 mph for the touring class.  It would be fun to take the Boss 302 to the event.  But one needs to have very precise timing instruments on board and likely a navigator for timing.

[Side-Oilers]

Richard, another cool poem. Although I expected to see an Oatman donkey reference in it. 

I competed in the Silverstate (1992) and it was a lot of fun. (I was in the 160 mph class and wrote a Motor Trend article about it.) I have no idea what it's like these days, but back then it was a pretty loosely structured event. For several years in a row, Panteras had the bad luck, crashing at high speeds. At least one event was red-flagged completely, due to crashes.

I've driven very fast across desert roads for literally decades, and the main thing to be aware of is the big dips in the road from the road builders following the undulations of the desert floor. But, what's a minor whoop-dee-doo at 70 mph becomes a holy sh!t we're-gettin-big-air event at 170 mph.

Oh, and it thunderstormed when I raced, and there was a flash flood, and I recall John Hennessey hitting a big vulture at about 170 mph. I was one minute behind him and saw the feathers still flying as I sped past the scene of the impact. John's Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 ingested the big bird in its left headlight bucket. Amazing the impact/damage at those speeds, into a 30 pound bird. John said he saw the bird look up from his roadkill lunch, then it went back to eating for a second, then looked up again, and John was less than 100 feet away. The vulture, accustomed to 60-70 mph traffic (this was in the 55 mph days) had miscalculated, then frantically took off, but only gained enough altitude to coincide with the 3000 GT's headlight.   

I'm amazed that the state of NV continues to allow the event to take place. (What's in it for them?)  So, if you want to do it, get out there. It'd be a fun ride in your Boss 302, or anything quick.  Yes, it helps to have a great navigator and timing gear, but that's only if you're trying to win. Just run it for fun and it'll be a lot less money and stress.  Even in the 95 mph class, you could drive 155 mph for a while, then slow down to 35 mph for the same amount of time and it'd average out to 95 mph...right? (Although that's probably been tried and the organizers/cops wouldn't like it much.)   

[deathsled]

Hi Van, thanks for reading said poem.  Your times driving in the desert sound magical and mystical.  You should put your experiences down to paper and create a book if you haven't done so already.  I could not imagine driving 170 mph on my own.  The fastest I ever drove behind the wheel was 125 in my 89 Saleen Mustang along a part of Route 66 a very long time ago.  At high speeds anything can happen and that "anything" is most often bad, never good.  I had a blowout of one of my Firestone tires in that Saleen when I was in Toronto driving along Birchmount Road at about 25 mph.  That was a couple years after my Route 66 experiment.  Had said blowout happened on Route 66 it more likely than not, would have spelled my doom.  So I am much more cautious these days.  I could handle 95 mph class on the Silverstate but would not venture beyond that.  Regardless of my worthless hide, it would be heartbreaking to ruin the Boss 302.  Even moreso if the Hertz were to fall victim to an accident.  I think there are minimum and maximum speed limits during each class (except the unlimited) so that it makes it more challenging to meet the target speed.  Great story about the vulture and how it sized up the danger before reacting, unfortunately too late!

Richard