THE IMPERFECT STORM

BONNEVILLE SPEED WEEK 2022 WAS OVER BEFORE IT STARTED

- TONY THACKER

I woke up early Saturday morning and thought, "It's raining. It's raining in my room." And it was. Water was gushing out of the light fixtures. "That's not normal, I thought. I threw back the shades, and sure enough, rain was bouncing hard off the roof of the hotel. It didn't look good.

Fellow Brit Geoff Stilwell's 7707 land speed team assembled in the hotel lobby and contemplated the news that the Salt Flats were closed for the day. We had arrived midday Friday after a troubled 700-mile drive up from Geoff's race shop in Pomona, California. A wheel came off the trailer in Jean, Nevada, and despite a "quick-n-easy" fix, we had more problems in Las Vegas, resulting in a careful, painfully slow 60-mph drive up through the beautiful Great Basin. The weather forecast was mostly sunny, in the mid-90s, with a slight chance of rain on Friday. Slight chance...

This would be Geoff's first time on the salt since setting an A/Blown Fuel Rear-Engine Modified Roadster record in 2018 at 258.569 mph. Unfortunately, when Geoff went to get his red hat, the only tangible reward for setting a record, he was told, "You don't get the red hat."

"What? No hat?" Geoff replied.

"No, you have to reach a minimum arbitrarily set by the Bonneyille 200 MPH Club."

"What's the minimum?"

"290."

"But I could go 300 mph and get a blue hat?"

"Yes. You could," was the indifferent response.