El Mirage Season Opener

El Mirage dry lake is the home of hot rodding, and only an hour's drive from my shop. This is where it all began way back in the 1920's when guys would drive their modified Model T's from all over Los Angeles (mostly from Pasadena and other rural communities in the San Gabriel Valley) to the lake bed for all out top speed runs. Back then it was a very big deal if you could make 100 miles an hour. Today some of the top racers have hit 300, keep in mind this is a dirt surface, hard packed but dirt none the less.

This form of racing is totally amateur with no trophies, no prize money, few sponsors. It is done strictly for the love of going fast and the hope to get a class record. There's something honest about it.

I took some time away from my 18 hour days to try and remember why I love this stuff so much. I saw some friends, some very fast cars, and I was ready to return to work recharged. Here's a few highlights.

This is what the lake bed looks like up close and personal. It is very hard packed and flat for miles in all directions. The course is laid out over a few miles but the actual racing is done over 1.3 miles. Can you imagine trying to drive a 500 or 600 or 1000 horsepower car on this surface?

Here is the Tsukagawa/Kimura Harley Davidson racebike. It is based on a knucklehead harley motor with everything else built by Shinya Kimura. It is raced by Shinya, and he built a new motor for this season. The first runs this year were shakedown runs but he still went 105 on a 125 record. The bike is beautiful.

This is a 1955 Studebaker similar to mine, except this one is powered by a nitrous injected small block Chevy and it has gone over 200 here at El Mirage.

This belly tank racer was built by my friend Julio Hernandez, this is it's first full season of racing. Julio is a very talented builder from the San Diego area and a member of both the Bean Bandits and the San Diego Roadster club.

Julio's belly tank is powered by a flathead Ford V8 with an Ardun overhead valve conversion. This motor is also fuel injected, they went 160 and change but still sorting things out. This combination should be good for well over 200.

This 1934 Ford roadster was built by another friend of mine, John Beck. This car has gone 308 miles an hour at Bonneville and is easily the world's fastest roadster of any kind. It is immensely powerful and built to show quality standards.

This is the motor in Beck's roadster. It is just under 500 cubic inches, supercharged and running on nitromethane. This is basically a top fuel dragster motor which has been slightly detuned to run for the few miles that land speed racing requires. Still, it makes so much power that no dyno on earth can measure it's output. It is estimated to make 5000 (five thousand) horsepower. At this meet it went 251 miles an hour with the throttle at 25% open. This car is really incredible.

Here is a another interesting race car, featuring a hand formed aluminum body. It has a tiny motor, maybe 100 cubic inches, but has gone over 200 miles an hour.