We drove out onto the salt flat, slowly crunching our way toward the line of brightly colored objects about a mile off. As we approached the line the objects began to differentiate themselves: cars, trucks, motorhomes, motorcycles, trailers and people took shape. Most of the vehicles were lined up in two lines that stretched for about a quarter mile each and terminated a couple hundred yards apart.
We parked, administered sunscreen and headed toward the nearest lineup. Davide and Karin seemed slightly giddy, like they were not quite convinced that they were actually standing on the same salt that had borne Burt Munro, Malcolm Campbell and Craig Breedlove. The weather was amazing- warm but not too hot, with heavy clouds that cut the brutal reflection off the salt and made for dramatic photo backdrops.
The speedways at Bonneville are usually two black lines on the salt that start very near each other but head slightly apart as they get further away; they would form a 'V' if you looked down from a plane. One track is longer (five miles I think) for high speed runs and the other is shorter, for the slower (like under 150MPH or so) runs. I say 'usually' because when the salt is just right the organizers sometimes add a third track a few miles away. There were only two tracks this time out.
