Bonneville Salt Flats Team 777

Speedweek with 777

2011-08-30T23:31:00.000-07:00

We wait at the 5 mile marker for Dennis to drive the 777 rear engine modified roadster through the final time traps. It can take quite a while waiting for each car to make a run.

Back at the pits the car gets worked on and friends visit. We go get lunch from the Red Flame to feed the crew. I brought the condiments, so we worked out a system to buy the burgers and bring them back to prepare them.

After the car drives through the 5 mile, we continue down the return road to about the 7 mile to help Dennis get out of the car. Bobby and Dawna are always right there as Dennis pull off of the course. They help him take off the helmet and neck restraint system and get out of the car. While we were at the end on this day, so many cars were running and pulling off right where we were.

Tuesday morning and in line to run again. The guys can't figure out why the car isn't going as fast as expected. There are lots of opinions!

In line to run on Tuesday 16th.

Mike makes a last check on things.

Finished the pass, still not pulling the speeds. They expected 280 mph, but only made 265 (not a bad speed).

Driver and owner are stumped.

Grant and Shannon!

Mike, Roy and Donnie.

Wednesday morning, going to give it one more try. Carl made new exhaust pipes from some tubing he got from the Kiwi racers in the pits next to ours. Waiting in the gas line.

No line on Wednesday, you can push on up just about anytime when you're ready.

The car went about 3 mph faster with the new exhaust, but still not good enough.

Pack it up and put it on the trailer.

Team picture with the auto timer. Shannon, Grant, Donnie, Mike, Carl F.,

Dennis, Pat, Roy, Bobby, Dawna and me.

Taaa-daaa!

Shannon and Dawna.

Back at the pits, Mike, Mikey and Art pose for a family snap-shot.

A young man who lived on Art's street as a younster, stopped by to show him his old car.

Perfect opportunity for Shannon to bring out her drawings of Art Chrisman. He was so gracious to take the time to sign everyone's art. And it was blazing hot at the time.

Art and Mike, buds!

The car was cleaned up and put on the trailer. The pits were torn down and packed away. Each vehicle headed downtown to the do-it-yourself car wash, to remove most of the salt from under the cars and trucks.

Wednesday evening was the Bonneville 200 MPH Club Banquet. It was the inaugural induction of the 400 MPH Chapter. There were 12 new inductees that had gone over 400 MPH. Al Teague was there to accept for himself and also for Bob Summers. Al with Roy and Art.

Roy with his two bestest buddies, Pat and Mike Kinne.

Pat introduced Art Chrisman as one of the original members of the 2-club.

We headed home on Thursday morning at 6 am.

We stopped for dinner at Peggy Sue's Diner.

No problems on the drive home, so that was a great day.

Kathy

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday

2011-08-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

Hello to all who are reading this blog post. Sorry I haven't been posting as often as I had hoped. The day starts early at 6 am. We eat, head out to the salt, racing starts. Before I know it, time for bed and start it all over again. This week has flown by and tomorrow is our last day here.

On Sunday a storm blew in. There was plenty of lightning in the hills, but it didn't bother us on the salt flats. By the time we drove back to the hotel, it started to pour rain and the lightning was striking very near in the hills behind the hotel.

The next morning, Monday, the salt was wet driving to the pits, but the race course was dry enough to run cars.

Here's Dennis getting out of the car after a run. This week has been a challenge for the 777 Team. The car first went 264, then the next run was 263, then the next run was 262.

On Sunday evening, they took 265 pounds of lead out of the car for Monday's run; still slower.

They changed the gears on Monday evening for Tuesday's run, did not go any faster.

Grant and Shannon, both are big helps. Grant's official job is lifting and reaching. Ha Ha.

Me with Dawna, we both try really hard to stay out of the sun.

On Sunday, Mike and Art Chrisman and friends drove up to Bonneville. They showed up to our pits on Monday afternoon. They will be attending the Bonneville 200 MPH Club banquet on Wednesday, then head home. We will also be going home on Thursday.

Tomorrow is Wednesday. The guys made new exhaust pipes for the car to see if that may help with speed. I'll let you know how that goes.

I'm going to sleep.

Gentlemen Start Your Engines

2011-08-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday is the first day of racing, after the driver's meeting.

We put the car in line for a pass.

Carolyn, Pat, Dennis, Me... Carolyn and her beau, Don and 4 of their friends, flew to Wendover in Don's airplane. They landed at 10 am. Carl and I picked them up in our cars and dropped them at the starting line. Then I headed to the 5 mile marker to watch and video Dennis making a run.

The first attempt was a turn out. The second run was 264 mph. Dawna helps Dennis remove his helmet after the run.

It was a good run, sort of a shake down of sorts, as the motor was completely rebuilt.

One of the nicest looking cars on the salt, I'm not prejudiced.

We ended the day at 6:30, and fully beat!

Tomorrow we will run the car first thing. Having fun!

First Days on the Salt

2011-08-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

Drove to Bonneville on Wednesday. No major problems, just a few pull-overs.

Thursday morning we were on the salt by 7 AM.

Set up the pit area and headed directly to Tech Inspection.

Shannon and Kenny Hoover getting reacquainted in the tech line.

Dennis and the car passed inspection.

The 777 with its new windshield and cockpit.

Back to the pits and fire up the car.

Evening socializing in Roy's Room, fully stocked bar

sponsored by Sherry Kinne. Thank you Sherry!!!!

Drinks and snacks enjoyed after a long day in the sun.

Friday night cruise in at the Wendover Nugget.

Saturday we start running the car down the long course. Results to follow.

Getting Ready for Speedweek 2011

2011-07-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! The car is being readied for Bonneville.

Roy is just used to being ready months in advance so this year

is sort of delayed, but everything is being done

and will be ready in time.

While the motor is on the dyno at the engine builders,

the car takes a quick trip next door to Squeak's Metalworks,

for some custom alterations.

Squeak, Roy, Sal and Cruz.

Roy (and I) get started installing the bellhousing and transmission.

We did it!

On Saturday, July 16th, the 777 Team put the engine

into the car.

Some drove from the Valley to Santa Ana, during Carmagedeon!

Made fastest time.

I was doing my Full-Bore assembly and packing work.

I had to use this saw that blew sparks all over. I didn't have an apron to cover

my nylon blouse and feet, so I found a surfboard cover.

It did the job.

The following Saturday, July 23rd, was fire-up day.

A happy driver should be going fast, very soon.

Julian Alvarez stopped by with his car. The original Creighton Hunter

roadster. Creighton put these eyes on the car and Dean Moon

asked if he could copy them for some stickers. The rest is history.

Almost ready to go.

The Team, Pat, Dennis, Roy, Mike and Donnie.

Speedweek 2010 Team 777

2010-08-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

If you have the time, I have the pictures. At the end of this blog is a 13 minute YouTube video of our trip to Bonneville. You can click on the pictures to make them larger, then click again for really large ones.
Approaching the Bonneville Salt Flats off in the distance. Carl and I drove up on Friday, the rest of the team arrived on Wednesday evening so they could get a pit area and tech the car.

Saturday morning, dad's old streamliner is now the Spectre Liner, owned by Amir Rosenbaum. It's a fast car.

The Kinne Brothers, Mike and Pat.

After Pat's first pass, Saturday, 260 mph.

Pat made 2 more passes, the last one was a half-spin at 263 mph just before the 5 mile marker, pulled the chute and the car straightened right out. I saw it with my own eyes and was very impressed with his quick response. Not many people have driven backwards at 263 mph.

Carl with the "Fastest Woman at the Salt Flats", Tanis Hammond. She set a new record at 323 mph.

This is the Hammond Lakester.

Dawna and Bobby, they are there at the end of the run and tow the race car off to the return road.

Monday, Dennis is the driver.

Going to run on the combo course, which is the center course and times to the 3 mile and to the 5 mile. The long course is not good any longer and cars are spinning out much too often.

Roy and his life long buddy Pat.

Roy and his goofy looking daughter, Kathy.

Roy and eldest son, Carl.

Waiting at the 5 mile on the combo course. It provided a great view of the mountains.

Monday, Dennis drove on the combo course, pulled the chute at the 4 mile.

Tuesday morning's drive to the salt flats, passing the Intrepid plant, AKA the Killer of the Bonneville Salt Flats. They mine all the salt away for potash.

Sunrise at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Our crew watching record runs from our pit area which happens to be right on the 4 mile. Cars are at a fast pace going through here, it is also the place where all the spins happen.

My "Photo of the Event".

Mike working on the car for the next run.

Carl, practicing for the X-Games.

Back on the long course on Tuesday, they moved the course.

In line to run on Tuesday.

Me and Jimmy Shine. He broke a couple of records this week in the Jesel roadster.

Steve Davis and Carl O.

Roy waiting to run.

Team Picture!!! Dennis qualified for a record at 274 mph.

Wednesday morning in impound at 5:45 AM.

Carl, Jim Miller and Pat.

Warming up the car for a record run.

Carl and I and the sunrise, photo taken by Tanis Hammond.

Carl is helping the sun to rise.

Pulling out to drive up to the starting line.

Warming the car for the record run.

Driver - Dennis

Pressure ridges.

After the run........

Not good, broke the motor.

Time to clean up the car and pack it up and go home on Thursday.

This is a 13 minute video of our race week. There's no video of the runs as I use a different camera for those, and cannot put them up on Youtube.

Until next year...

Signing off, Kathy and Team 777

Fire Up Day - Speedweek Ready

2010-07-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

The team met up at the Full-Bore shop to fire up the roadster and to test out the nitrous system.

This is a video of the day, around 8 minutes long, so pour yourself a cocktail and have a look.

Pat will drive first off in the gas class. Then, Dennis will get in and Nitrous will be used.

Mike brought a car for Roy to get around in, but his legs were too long.

We'll follow up after Speedweek with pictures.

A Visit to So-Cal to see the E Rod '55 Chevy

2010-03-19T17:52:00.000-07:00

Carl and I were invited to join the Cal Rods Car Club members along with local press to have lunch with the gang at So-Cal Speed Shop.

It was the debut of the E-Rod crate engine package by GM Performance. One of these motors is in the So-Cal roadster.

Carl and Pete in front of the '55 Chevy, the first ever E-ROD hot rod.

The weather could not have been any better.

From what I learned you will be able to purchase a high-performance, emissions-compliant engine and transmission right out of the crate and drop in into your hot rod and you will meet all the emissions requirements for specialty-constructed vehicles.

This '55 Chevy was first shown at the 2009 SEMA Show.

Carl, me and Pete. Posers!

I asked Pete if he would fire up his roadster so that I could hear the motor. Sounds good to me!

That's it for a Friday afternoon in warm and beautiful Southern California.

Kathy

Bonneville Speedweek 2009

2009-08-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Team 777 2009 Speedweek blog. To see the pictures up close, just click on one, then use the back arrow to go back to the blog.

This is our pit area at the 4-mile marker so we can see the cars running at top speeds. It also happened to be where all the cars were spinning out.

Lots of hot rods on the salt this year.

Here I am pretending to be holding up the mountain.

Preparing the car for the first run.

The Driver's meeting on Saturday morning.

Ed Stoiber's 34 roadster.

Roy (dad) and me.

Shannon at the restaurant in our hotel.

Driver - Dennis McNeil

The Bucket Gang, Alan Miller, Carl, Dave McClelland, Roy, Herm Petersen, and Steve Gibbs.

In line to make a run.

Pat and Mike Kinne, top crew personnel.

Posing the car for proper photographs.

Roy and his race car.

Ready to go racing.

This is Butch.

Chico from Mooneyes ran just before our car.

Terry Nish's Streamliner

Dennis ready to run.

Mooneyes pushing off.

Pat and the starter guy.

Ready to push off.

In line - Kuhl, Fats and Carl visiting friends.

The most spectacular skies at the Salt Flats.

What a trio??

Art Chrisman and Mark Brinker. Mark recently purchased and is restoring the car that put Art into the Bonneville 200 MPH Club, the Beast III by Chet Hebert.

Behind our hotel, some cool cars.

Getting in line to race.

Seth Hammond's car

Dennis after qualifying for a record, went 271 MPH.

Umbrella girl, Shannon, in the impound area.

Impound.

Art and Me.

Shannon.

Kenny Hoover.

Bobby, Dennis, Carl and Kenny.

Dennis and his dad, Donnie.

Record run morning at 6 am. Shannon and I.

Shannon and Carl.

Video after the record run.

Dennis after the record run, 275 MPH

Dennis and Roy.

Timing slip from first leg, 271 MPH at the 5 mile

Timing slip from the record run, 275 MPH in the 5 mile.

2009 Bonneville Preparation

2009-07-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, July 11th, team 777 gathered to fire up the race car and do final preparations and plans for Bonneville.

Video of the shop.

Inside the shop.

Engines at Art's shop.

Cammer motor - not for sale!

Adding water.

Fire-up the race car.

Full-Bore has moved

2008-11-25T09:40:00.000-08:00

For those who may check this blog once in a while, Full-Bore Roy has moved his shop and is now right next door to Art Chrisman.

The race car 777 is complete torn down at this time, Art is working on the motor. We'll keep a blog going on the rebuilding when it starts.

Kiwi News

2008-08-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

Greg Stokes of Hot Rod Magazine - New Zealand sent me this newspaper article about the records set at Speedweek with the Alexander Special/Chrisman Dragster Clone.
You can click on the picture to read up close.

More pictures

2008-08-27T17:53:00.000-07:00

Thank you everyone for sending more pictures for our blog.

This shot was send to us by Pete C.

The next three are brought to you by John Hellmuth.
Good shot in line to run.

Waiting in impound.

OOOPPPPSS! Looks like a hole.

The next 8 pictures are from our new friends from France. Serge, Oscar and Pascal.

They were with us when we got the record.

Here is the only shot of the actual run. WooHoo!

Thank you for sending these picture. They're great.

They had friends running from France, who happened to set 4 records. Congratulations!

Speedweek 2008 - Team 777

2008-08-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

THIS IS AN EXTREMELY LARGE BLOG - IT WILL TAKE SOME TIME TO UPLOAD ALL THE WAY - YOU MAY NOT HEAR SOUND ON THE VIDEO AT FIRST - TRY IT AGAIN AFTER IT HAS UPLOADED...

Hi - I'm Kathy. I'm on the race team 777. We race at the Bonneville Salt Flats during Speedweek. We race for times and records, not against any other cars. I'm creating this blog for my daughter, Shannon, who's living in New Zealand for a year, so she can see our escapades. It is also for our friends who cannot join us on our adventure. Enjoy!

I have a new digital camera that takes photos and also video. I will be putting both on this blog. The quality of the video isn't the best, but it's able to be uploaded to the internet easily. The pictures are high quality, so if you click on a picture, you will see it enlarged, but remember to use the Back Arrow to get back to the site.

We left our homes in Southern California at 4 am on Sunday, August 17th, and met for breakfast in Victorville at 5 am. Our goal is to be on the Bonneville Salt Flats by 4:30 pm to put the race car in the tech inspection line, and also set-up our pits.

The drive to Wendover and the Bonneville Salt Flats....

More barren land, and the Dixie Chicks, ya!

We got to Ash Springs around noon, bought some lunch, hit the road and ate in our trucks.

The drive to Wendover is interesting. You go for long stretches with nothing but empty land, then there will be a small town. These rocks are one of the interesting landmarks on the journey.

We made it to the salt. Carl and I stopped at the Peppermill Hotel first to get everyone's rooms. Actually we got our rooms all next together and right down the hall from the Casino. Perfect.

Tech Inspection - We're in the Tech Line on Sunday. Racing starts tomorrow morning.

Team 777 - Ready to race

The inspection process. The car is inspected...

The driver is inspected....

Roy on the right, Kenny on the left. We passed!!!

Roy fills out the necessary paperwork.

Me.

Then we take the car to our pits which happens to be about a mile and a half from the inspection area.

We have lot's of visitors... Here are some hot rods that drove all the way from Illinois.

Here's Ed's car, he drove from Mesquite, NV.

Shannon - this one's for you, from your friends, Dave and Ed.

A view of the pit area.

Hi Shannon from your friends and family.

Monday - we're in line for our first run.

Pouring ice into the cooling system.

The umbrella keeps the driver's seat cool. It's about 97 degrees out.

There's a metal box where they put ice and water and it has a hose that goes to the driver and into a port in his helmet, to keep his head cool.

Nice job Kenny and Mike. Dennis made the first pass on Monday with a 221 mph speed.

We stopped by Garth Hogan's pit later in the day. He and Andrea brought their race car all the way from New Zealand, along with many other cars and hundreds of Kiwi's. They ended up with a record.

On Tuesday we put the car back in line for another run.

Preparing for the second run.

Ready to run on Tuesday. Warming up the car. It stays on the trailer until we're about 20 cars back.

Remember, you can click on the photos to see details. Then use the Back Arrow to get back to this site.

Here I am with Carl.

Pat warms the car. Kenny keep the sun off of him.

Dennis ran a 247 MPH speed on Tuesday. The car had much more to give, but it was basically a test run. I don't have pictures or digital video of the runs. I used my video camera for those and I will make a DVD of the event to show at our Team gathering later in the year.

Kenny - before the sunburn

Roy's new nick-name.... get it??

The goal of this meet for us is to put another Bonneville 200 MPH Club decal next to a name, specifically "Dennis McNeil's".

John Reid and his wife Flick from New Zealand.

This car is a replica of Art Chrisman's #25 Racecar.
John and Flick came to visit our pit and was telling us about the Kiwi team who built this car and was going for a record. After John left, Art drove up. Carl and I put him in our car and took him to see the car. Art had heard about it, but had never seen it.

Art was very impressed with how much it looked like his. The team members took off their shirts so Art could sign them. We stayed there in their pits until everyone got their hats and shirts signed. Art loves that stuff and was thrilled to see the car and meet the folks.

The car ended up setting a record.

Art Chrisman

They put all the body panels on for us to get a good picture.

Art Chrisman, John Reid, Dave Alexander

A couple of short videos of Art with the car. Sorry about the wind noise, my small camera does not have a wind buffer on it.

Art and Dave..

Our primary goal is to go fast. Our secondary goal is to do some serious partying! We stayed at the Peppermill Hotel and Casino. The decor is heavy neon lights. It's like a funhouse and you can't find your way out.

We've had some extremely funny evenings at the CoCo Palms restaurant, with Shannon, Kristen and some of the old team members who have dropped off.

My brother, Carl, borrowed my reading glasses and they just happen to match his shirt.

Wednesday morning and we're in line to make our record attempt run. The gas tank is emptied, then filled by the official fuel guy, then sealed up so you can't cheat and put some go-faster-potion inside.
I'm visiting with Jon Meyer.

We all just hang out in line and visit. It can take hours waiting for a run.

That's Art in the blue shirt... he's Roy's engine man and trusted adviser.

Driver - Dennis McNeil is in the shorts with his back to the camera. He will suit up when we're about 20 cars back from the start line.

Nice car.

At the starting line (I took this picture off of another blog)

The run was a success. 267 MPH speed. We headed directly to impound. Once in impound, you check in, then have 4 hours to work on your car, to prepare it for the back-up run in the morning at 7 am. This is a new class, so the SCTA record was open, but the Bonneville 200 MPH Club minimum is 255. Our driver Dennis wants to get into "The Club". He made a good solid run and the speed of the next run will be averaged and hopefully be over 255 mph.

Roy - the creative designer - welded up some posts to create an awning for the trailer - just in case we went to impound. Positive thinking!

Dennis McNeill - a happy guy.

We just happened to park next to the Kiwi car in the impound area, so Art posed in front of the car.

Wayne Jesel got a record and into the Bonneville 200 MPH Club also.

On Wednesday evening we attended the Bonneville 200 MPH Club Banquet. Wayne was inducted that evening. Roy and Pat are on the 2-Club board and more than half of our team members are members of the club.
Our table consisted of Pat, Mike, Carl F., Donnie, Dennis, Kenny, Me, Carl O., Tall Carl, Art and Roy.
Here's Art, having a great time.

Art Chrisman, Jerry Kugel, Roy Fjastad.

Art, Roy and Pat Kinne

Pat, Mike Kinne, Kenny Hoover and Carl Fjastad

Carl, Donnie McNeil and Dennis McNeil

This is the official Geezer table. Jim Deist, Louie Senter, Nick Arias, Fred Gorke, Jack Lufkin and Ed (Isky) Iskenderian.

Here's a video clip of the banquet room.

It's Thursday, Record Run Day. We arrived at the salt at 5:30 am. They start running records at 7 am.

Success! Dennis got the Record and into the Club. 265 mph, so the record is 266 mph.

They had to take off the body panels after the run, a rod broke a hole through the oil pan.

Notice the 3 men in the above picture dressed in white.... Well, Carl and I picked up 3 French spectators in the pits, just before our run. Serge, Pascal and Oscar. Just delightful people. They were sort of lost, just arriving to the salt flats after flying directly to LAX from Paris, renting a motorhome, stopping in Las Vegas and driving to the Bonneville Salt Flats. We sure enjoyed their company and trying to explain Speedweek when we are speaking different languages. Actually Oscar was pretty good at speaking English, we all got along just fine. My brother, Carl, had them in stitches laughing, which was pretty funny because they didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Something about "Thank you for the Statue of Liberty"...

After the run, still at the 6 or 7 mile.

The Handshake. Congratulations!

Team Photo after the Record Run.

We had one hour to get to the final Tech Inspection to get the run certified.

Dennis and Carl.

Dennis and Art.

Dennis, Art, Roy.

The 2-Club sticker next to Dennis' name.

During the inspection, The Discovery Channel was filming the final inspection process with Dan Warner. After they interviewed Dennis.

Dennis McNeil being inducted into the Bonneville 200 MPH Club. 8/21/08

The official strip-tease.
Then donning the new club shirt.

Wearing of the club hat and shirt.

Below, Mike Kinne, Pat Kinne, Larry Volk, Dan Warner, Dennis McNeil, Roy Fjastad, Carl Olson, Kenny Hoover.

Larry, Dan, Dennis, Roy.

Same people, plus me - Kathy Olson.

Our Team!

Back at the pits, all loaded up and ready to leave the salt for the long drive home on Friday.

This sums it up.....

Easy!

Dennis' official club photo.

The Timing Slips. click on picture to enlarge.

Thursday evening - Celebration party in Roy's Room.

A Toast to Success...

For some reason, Carl arrived in his chonies.???
Some kind of joke between him and Kenny.

Kenny got really burned this trip. Ouch!

Photo of the salt

That's all there is. It took about 2 days to put this blog together, I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a comment if you like, and forward it to your friends.

Kathy