Hello, everyone. As you might know -- Nancy and I are at the Bonneville Salt Flats to provide internet coverage to the Top Speed Shootout that's going on this week. While many folks are already members of the landracing.com Forum, lots of you aren't. If you follow this link you'll go to the topic where all of the reports and photos are posted. If you can;t just click on the link -- copy and paste it into your web browser.  It'll take you to the beginning of the many pages -- you're welcome to read your way through - or to click to the newest posts.

http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php/topic,8645.0.html

Also -- lots of the photos we're taking are right in the Forum, but here's a link to our Photobucket album for the Shootout. You can see all of what we've taken here:

http://s263.photobucket.com/albums/ii147/SeldomSeenSlim/Top%20Speed%20Shootout%202010/

Ditto the above -- if you can't just click and follow the link - copy and paste it.

And enjoy the fun. Here we are, only part way through the first day, and already we've got one new world speed record -- about 370 miles per hour, with one run of that two-way average being over 413 miles per hour. That's really picking 'em up and putting 'em down!

Enjoy the site!

The SCTA & BNI will present World Finals 2010 at the Bonneville Salt Flats October 5 - 9.  Tech is on the 5th, with racing beginning Wednesday morning and ending Saturday afternoon.  Pre-registration ended the 24th of September, but racers may still register at the event.

World Finals, in case you don't know, is another event which allows racers who set records to get their name published in the next edition of the rulebook.  The other events are the World of Speed and Speedweek.  In fact - if you set a record at WoS or SW and that record is eclipsed at WF -- the new record, not yours, is the one that'll show up in the new book, due out in spring of 2011.

World Finals features cooler weather and smaller attendance.  The weather is usually nice, although rainouts do happen kinda frequently.  The smaller attendance results in much shorter waiting lines in both qualifying runs and in impound (if you're fortunate enough to get there).  While Speedweek had about 500 entries and World of Speed about 160 -- Finals usually features only about 100.  It's a fun event, though (well, all of them are fun) because the smaller group allows more personal interaction -- and the lodging rates are certainly low.  However -- the Wendover area celebrates the deer hunting season by offering special "Deer Widows Weekend" packages, entertainment, and promotions on the same weekend as WF which might lead to difficulty in finding a room.

Nancy and I will be at WF, doing our regular volunteer jobs and running a bike just for fun.  We hope you'll be there, too, whether for all-out record chasing, test and tune, or just for the fun of visiting and running at Bonneville once more this year.  See you on the Salt!

Here's a copy of a note I got from the Gear Grinder's club secretary, who forwarded it form Don Ferguson III. I think it's pretty clear -- that if we want to protect our ability to race at El Mirage -- and everyplace -- then we should pull together and keep ourselves in compliance with the rules of commonsense and the B L M.

"From: Fergs57 (at) aol.com

Subj: Sept. El Mirage


Those of you that aren't aware, Shortly after the Lucerne Valley incident, Pat Riley has been working with the BLM to try and get some insight on what kind of changes they will be making towards organized racing events on BLM land. Pat has done a great job at showing how proactive SCTA has been toward spectator safety. I have been informed that our race this Sunday 9 BLM representatives will at El Mirage to study how the SCTA handles spectator safety. I'm asking all of you to help in making this Sunday's race as smooth as possible from a safety point. I really need all volunteers to have official placards on their vehicles along with their work shirts and orange hats so everybody is clearly visible. Please keep an eye on speeding in the pits and on the return roads. If anybody sees anything that needs to be addressed use the CB or the FM and follow through until it gets handled. The outcome of this weekends events will most defiantly have an affect on how the BLM will handle SCTA permits in the future.
Thank you all for your help and support!
D3"

Forgive my typing -- we're bouncing along Interstate 70 westbound in Ohio, heading for Bonneville, World of Speed, and the Shootout. The home page article needs a freshening - so here it is.

If you haven't been paying attention - the stories about the salt being wet are evidently false. As of Friday (yesterday) the reports said things are dry and good -- and ought to be great for racing during the next two weeks.

We'll be arriving in Wendover this Monday night and going to the salt Tuesday morning for setup, inspection, and the beginning of the U S F R A meet for the year. If you have a few minutes -- check out the Forum topics and see what's going on, who's going to compete this year.

We'll see you on the salt!