Land Speed Legends
Conversations with men & women who make land speed racing legendary!
Land Speed Legends
THE LEGENDARY WAYNE YURTIN: From BMX Beginnings to Breaking Speed Barriers at Bonneville, Wayne Goes from Restoring Corvettes to Racing Them and Gives a Newcomers Perspective to Land Speed Racing
Join us as Wayne Yurtin, the rising star of Bonneville's land speed racing scene, takes us on a thrilling journey fueled by his lifelong passion for speed and mechanics. From his BMX beginnings to mastering the racetrack with Formula Fords and Formula Mazdas, Wayne's story is one of relentless pursuit and love for racing. His early fascination with speed legends like the Blue Flame and Gary Gablich sowed the seeds for his ambitious feats at Bonneville. Hear how his transition from a successful software career to restoring classic cars, including the iconic 1963 split-window Corvette, led him to the National Corvette Restorer Society and eventually to the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Listeners will be captivated by Wayne's quest to break the 235 MPH barrier at both Bonneville and El Mirage, facing the unique challenges that come with land speed racing. Discover the critical role of wind tunnel testing in overcoming aerodynamic hurdles and the excitement of setting a new speed record while experiencing the camaraderie of the racing community. Wayne's journey is not just about speed; it's about the personal milestones and the sheer exhilaration of pushing the limits, promising an inspiring and spirited narrative for all speed enthusiasts.
Welcome to Landspeed Legends, a podcast talking to the men, the women, the legends that make land speed racing great. Discover the stories of these ordinary people whose passion for land speed racing has made them legendary. And now here's your host the Bonneville Belle, the High Boy, honey, the salt princess, alison Volk-Dean.
Allison Volk Dean:Kind of have to start, you know, in order to.
Wayne Yurtin:That's like everything Exactly.
Allison Volk Dean:And people, I think, get hung up with having it to be perfect in order to do something. It's like, oh, it's never going to be perfect. Getting married, having kids, whatever you know, like just do it Exactly you got to get started.
Allison Volk Dean:Okay, so today with me I have the legendary Wayne Yurton. He doesn't think he's legendary enough, to be honest, but he's kind of a newbie to Bonneville and um, but I think it's pretty legendary to say, hey, I want to do this thing and you get it done. So I think that is that kind of there's a lot of people that say they want to do it and it never happens. So I think seeing you as a new person coming out here is a great interview. I'll be a good, good interview for people to hear. Ok, so we were talking earlier and you were saying how you kind of started out. Racing really was in your BMX days. That's right. Younger, I don't know, were you a teenager early 20s?
Wayne Yurtin:No, I was geez.
Allison Volk Dean:I was probably seven years old, eight years old, okay you started BMXing and then you said you liked that over other sports because you liked the mechanics of it.
Wayne Yurtin:Yeah, so I mean, I played a lot of different sports and I loved and I I loved everything from golf to basketball and baseball. But for some reason, you know, it was like the mechanical aspect of BMX racing, the racing and the competitiveness. But I love the idea of just tearing your bike all down and you know grease and bearings and put it all back together and yeah it just. And then that always stuck with me and I probably did it until I was I don't know, maybe 16 or so stuck with me and I probably did it until I was, I don't know, maybe 16 or so.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, okay, cool. And then, um, that's I like that, because that's kind of just maybe that engineering mind of yours that is going to help you later on when you start racing here and maybe just like the beginning base for it all. So and then, um, so what did you do after that? You got into some other types of racing.
Wayne Yurtin:You were saying yeah, so I, you know, probably the next big step was my wife had gotten me a certificate for Bondurant driving school, you know, when I was in my I don't know, maybe my 30s or something like that, and so went out to Arizona, chandler, and did one of those classes and I was like, oh my gosh, I got to get into this. So you know, before you knew it, I took every class they'd offered. And then I got into racing Formula Fords, did some SCCA racing and moved on to Formula Mazdas and and I was working at Apple at the time and then and then from there I ended up starting a few software companies. So it was, you know, it was kind of like my side hobby. I mean, starting the companies was my real main focus. But yeah, I just I really enjoyed sort of the club racing.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, and so what was your? What would you say was your favorite type out of those ones?
Wayne Yurtin:It was probably the Formula Mazdas. It was super competitive and the cars were, you know, very, very equal.
Allison Volk Dean:Okay, so it was more like a driver's thing.
Wayne Yurtin:That's right. It came down to the driver.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, kind of like out here. Well, you know it's out here, it's both. But yeah, well, when you get in the 2 Club it's a driver's club, so hopefully we'll get you there soon. And then, so you were just, you were racing these cars, and then what? You started to decide to get into Bonneville. So what got you interested in Bonneville in the beginning? Were you always interested in it, or is it always in the back of your mind?
Wayne Yurtin:Or was it something that came up later in life? I think I was five or six years old and it was Gary Gablich, the Blue Flame, nice. I remember seeing that news story. My dad was watching. I'm like what is that? Where are they at, you know? And he's going over 600 miles an hour and I was like that is amazing, I've got it. You know, it was in the back of my mind all my life.
Allison Volk Dean:That's so cool.
Wayne Yurtin:So, yeah, kind of probably fast forward, you know way. You know, after several companies and everything, and I got really into C2 Corvettes, so I sort of retired from the software industry and, um, and I bought a 63 split window that needed complete restoration. So I got really into and just working on this car and and I decided, you know, I want this thing to be, you know, exactly original. So I got involved in NCRS, which is the National Corvette Restorer Society. You know, and these guys are super anal, these master judges go over your car, they comb over your car. You know every piece of it, from the bolt, you know the, the markings on the head bolts and you know what kind of platings on there and you know, do all the dates match up?
Wayne Yurtin:So and I sort of dug that, you know I was like how I want to make sure this car is all correct, oh cool. So I restored that 63 and um, and then a guy in our club said, um, hey, could you restore my 63? You know he liked what we did and, uh, me and my buddy had worked on it. So I said, yeah, we'll do yours. And then that kind of led to another guy in the club of the 66. And and then it sort of ended up uh, we started a company called C2 restorations, where that's all we do, we just restore those C2 Corvettes, which is the second generation.
Wayne Yurtin:And that's when I said you know, I'd really like to do something totally different, you know, away from NCRS, which is, you know, let's get into land speed racing with a C2 Corvette.
Allison Volk Dean:So, and that was you know the blue flame in the back of my mind, Gary Gabbard's coming through.
Wayne Yurtin:I want to do that with a Corvette.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, very cool. So so that just the idea kind of starts right there Like, oh, I'm going to, I'm going to race this out on the salt or land speed, actually, because you do El Mirage as well. Right, that's right, ok, yeah.
Wayne Yurtin:So this is probably around 2020,. I would say, and you know, I'm kind of a guy that does a lot of research before I jump into something, and so I started researching, you know, hey, so you know what are the rules for that and where do you do it? And then I found, oh, there's no Mirage and there's a Bonneville Okay, two locations here. Um, but Bonneville was always my, you know, it was always pulling me towards Bonneville, um, so, anyway, so I started doing a little bit more research and I ran across a gentleman named Vance Kirshner and, uh, and he works closely with the garage shop guys, it turns out and I saw that he was a CEO of a software company and that was sort of my background.
Wayne Yurtin:And so I reached out to him just to say, hey, yeah, this is kind of my vision, this is my background, this is what I want to do. And he said, oh, you got to come out to Bonneville and meet all of us, and I was planning to go out to Bonneville, and that was 2022 by then. Yeah, so I met, he met Vance, I also met Aaron Brown and a bunch of the garage shop guys, and we all started talking about this vision that I had and then I was so excited to watch racing that year. And about 30 minutes after we had all these long conversations is when that storm moved and that year there was no racing at all.
Allison Volk Dean:It canceled it. So did you get to come out before the storm at all and see anything, or no? I didn't, I did not. So did you get to come out before the storm at all, like and see anything or no?
Wayne Yurtin:I didn't, I did not, so I I had just arrived that day.
Allison Volk Dean:Okay.
Wayne Yurtin:And, but it's kind of funny. I mean that that next day, you know, we all thought, hey, maybe it will clear. So I spent the whole day just meeting people in parking lots, you know, in the nugget and everywhere and just, you know, just learning as much as I could.
Allison Volk Dean:What did you think about that?
Wayne Yurtin:Oh, I was blown away. I was like, yeah, I'm definitely doing this.
Allison Volk Dean:You like the people and you're like this is this is cool, this is yeah, it's just like a small community.
Wayne Yurtin:It's. It's really it's got a good feel to it Good vibe, yeah, okay.
Wayne Yurtin:So then, uh, vance and a bunch of the garage shop guys and Aaron all met at SEMA, after that, 2022, bonneville, and by then I was kind of developing a plan. Hey, this is what I'm thinking. And honestly, in the beginning I thought you know what I can do this. But then when I came out here, I'm like, okay, I don't even know how to weld. I'm good with restoring original Corvettes, but you know, doing something like this, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to jump in. You know all in yeah.
Wayne Yurtin:So I was kind of like no, I need some assistance here. This is going to have to be something I'm going to have to find out to Charlotte where they're at. And um, yeah, we kind of developed the plan and we basically had the car built um for last year's Bonneville, so we had it in the nugget parking lot, you know in the back there, and um, by you guys, the two clubs right by us. And that's when I was like, hey, what's the two club?
Wayne Yurtin:man, I got to learn about this and I was already listening to your podcast by then. I remember I ran into you in the parking lot. Yeah, in fact, just like that. I mean, you know, you introduced me to your husband because he's got a Corvette.
Allison Volk Dean:He has an 84 Corvette Yep.
Wayne Yurtin:And he's in GT. I was in GT and I thought you know shit, he's kind of a competitor of mine. But yeah, he just like opened up about all of his ideas on Arrow and you know why he's got two parachutes. And I was like God, this is. And everyone was like that. Everyone just shares information. And yeah, I was, I was sold, yeah, but we didn't run the car last year. You know it was, it was kind of mushy, you know. I know some people did run, but you know the car had just been built.
Allison Volk Dean:It was your first year. I mean, I don't Don't blame you at all, that was not good condition.
Wayne Yurtin:I wanted to run it, something. You know, my dad was out here and my wife and my kids.
Allison Volk Dean:you know it's like, but we decided not to and so that's two Bonnevilles that you just basically hung out in the Nugget parking lot, that's right, and talking to people. But that was. It was still fun to have everybody hanging out and and I mean we wanted to be racing, you know, talking to people and kind of being able to just sit there and BS instead of having to wrench for a little bit. So I enjoyed it.
Wayne Yurtin:And what I did was, you know, we, you know, I looked at all the classes and the key driving thing for me is I wanted that Corvette to still look like a 65 Corvette. So that's why I went for the GT class at that time. So it was a 427 motor, so BGT and, um, we did put a front air dam on it just for safety. So we knew, you know, you're not going to be able to get a record with that, cause you can't have that in GT. But it was like you know, all these old timers and NCRS told me you know, 140 miles an hour that front end is going to come off the ground. Um, so I was like, should I better? I better do something about that. Um, so anyway, but we ran that car that October and November and I was like God, I kind of fell in love with El Mirage too. I was like, wow, this is really slick.
Wayne Yurtin:We all camp out there and had a good time, learned a lot about the car. Sure enough, I could only get it to about 170 there and it would just get super loose in the back. So after that season I said you know what? I'm going to move to modified GT, because I do want to. I got to get over 200 and this car is probably not going to be able to do it. So, and with modified GT, I can add a big wing in the back. I can add a full belly pan. I can. I can add a front air dam and it'll be legal.
Wayne Yurtin:So, uh, so that's what we did last winter and had the car already for the first El Mirage event in May. So I've done May, June. I was all set to do July. It was too hot so they canceled it with me oh, they did Wow. Yeah, and then I came here now.
Allison Volk Dean:You had a little green puck up your face. I know, these little things bite too. I felt one bite me. I was like oh my gosh.
Wayne Yurtin:This little green thing landed on my sunglasses.
Allison Volk Dean:I know you're like how did they get out here? Even, um, so, okay, so, but uh. So El Mirage, um, that's really where you first race. You get a race at then versus.
Wayne Yurtin:Bonneville.
Allison Volk Dean:Um and well, it sounds like you did. Well, Did you get a record at El Mirage, and well?
Wayne Yurtin:it sounds like you did well. Did you get a record at El Mirage? I am so close. So the minimum for modified GT out there no one's got a record yet and so it's 200.0. Yeah, and it's only a mile and a third, so you got to really get on it, oh yeah.
Wayne Yurtin:And so I've been just floating around 198. So you know 197.9, 198.2, 197.9. So I'm really close. So yeah, after that, after that June event, we kind of put our heads together, you know, kind of working closely with the carburetor builder and the engine builder and everything and timing and carb jets. So we thought in July we're like I think we got this. And then you know the event didn't happen, but we're all set for September. So in three weeks from now I'm going back to El Mirage. If it doesn't happen, then I'm going back, whether it does happen or it doesn't happen.
Allison Volk Dean:I'm going back every other El Mirage. I'm getting that record one way or another. I'm going to try at least so. Did you learn any lessons on your car or in racing in general at those at those El Mirage meets?
Wayne Yurtin:Yeah, the one thing when I was doing road racing is you know I do these, you know three or four track days before a race and so you know, you just spend the whole day just lapping and lapping and lapping and it's always amazing to see your lap times like that first couple hours when you get that first track day to the last lap of a race, and it's just amazing the improvement you make over three or four days. And that's hard in land speed racing, cause, yeah, I, yeah, I don't just come out here, you know and and do a bunch of runs, right, it's so, you know. I think back to it just with all the El Mirage races and now Bonneville. I mean, what have I made? 20 passes or something you know, so it's not a lot. Um, so I do. I feel like I'm learning a ton every time. So, yeah and um, uh, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean:Did you make any adjustments on your car after those those meets at El Mirage for out here.
Wayne Yurtin:Yeah, and and yeah, I should. I should have mentioned that. So what we did was when that car was so loose, when it was set up for GT. After that last November race in El Mirage, we took the car to the wind tunnel in Charlotte area A2 wind tunnel and, man, we learned a ton. So we found out that at that speed that I was at that 172, 174, when it was getting really loose, it had over 500 pounds of lift in the back, just the way that body is shaped and it also had quite a bit of lift in the front, even with that you know sort of you know small air dam that we had.
Wayne Yurtin:So from that, yeah, we actually, you know, built that wing with all that information, that front air dam, took it back several times to the A2 wind tunnel and now we're, you know, over 500 pounds of downforce instead of lift in the back and, uh, and also I can't remember what number was, but you know, obviously, yeah, a bunch of downforce in the front as well. Now, so that's good, um, so, yeah, so there's. So, you know, with all that learning, um, we do make small tweaks and adjustments here and there, you know, on on shocks and the wing adjustments and stuff the wicker in the back, and so we keep messing with that stuff and got a great you know a great team here that just you know. These guys have done this stuff a lot, so I wouldn't be this far without these guys.
Allison Volk Dean:It sure looks like they know what they're doing, at least in terms of, like, getting a pit set up. It's a really nice pit area. I think my kid was stealing your guys' Wi-Fi yesterday. Oh, that's funny.
Wayne Yurtin:I know.
Allison Volk Dean:He's like you can log on to this Wi-Fi. I was like, okay, startling, so you come to Bonneville, you finally get a race. What do you think about it? Like, what is your first run down the? You don't have to license up, right? I?
Wayne Yurtin:did. Oh, you did Okay. Yeah, so okay.
Allison Volk Dean:So let's hear what you did this week.
Wayne Yurtin:Yeah, so so my first pass had to be under 150, you know, which is kind of hard because I'm used to really being on this car, you know hard. And at El Mirage, like I said, I mean it's a drag race, only a mile and a third, um, so I think that was honestly probably my hardest pass that I did this week. Was that under one 50. I'm like, wait, am I going to be in third gear at what?
Allison Volk Dean:It's hard to go slow.
Wayne Yurtin:Um, but yeah, so that was, that was cool, that was easy and it's kind of fun, you know, taking it all in Right, and I had to do the rookie orientation and stuff, so, um, but no, that was all good. And then, um, um, um, um, yeah, just kind of walking through all the different levels and stuff, um, I did have a little misstep, uh, when I got to the point where I had to go 175 to 200. I went a little too fast, so, um, I got my hand slapped shame, shame.
Wayne Yurtin:I had to redo that pass, which it was totally my fault. Um, but yeah, but then, uh, but then when I was allowed to open it up, uh, I went. What did I do? I went to 11 at the two and a quarter I believe it was and did did 220 between the three and the four.
Allison Volk Dean:OK, cool.
Wayne Yurtin:And the record was 202. Oh yeah, so that qualified me for a record. So you smashed that that's pretty good, and did you?
Allison Volk Dean:get the record.
Wayne Yurtin:I did.
Allison Volk Dean:So you came. Did you do your return run at the night or did you wait till the next?
Wayne Yurtin:I went until the next morning. Yeah, so the car went into impound.
Allison Volk Dean:I like it yeah.
Wayne Yurtin:And it was. It was awesome to do it first thing in the morning, yeah, and everyone's like oh yeah, there's this whole parade that take. I'm like there it is. What's the deal with that?
Allison Volk Dean:Oh, it's so fun. I'm glad you oh the parade yeah.
Wayne Yurtin:I mean it was, so we were first in line. So, as it turns out, I was the first one down the track. Yeah, I mean it was. It was so awesome, and so on that one I did 226 at that same three to four mile. But I decided, you know, I'm just going to keep, I'm just going to stay on. I want to run the whole five miles this time and see what the car will do. So between the four and five it was two, 28. Oh wow. So that was pretty cool.
Wayne Yurtin:But but the average with that you know, between three and four was two 23.
Allison Volk Dean:So that's where you got your record three and four, so you ended up on a two. Oh two, there you go. That's a man that knows his record.
Wayne Yurtin:He knows the points.
Allison Volk Dean:I don't believe you have a record, unless you know that Um, what um. So when the record was two, oh2? Yeah, okay, so you did good, that's a good. Now, what is the club minimum on that record?
Wayne Yurtin:235 is the club minimum? Okay To get my red hat.
Allison Volk Dean:So everyone knows and I think I might have explained this before on here but there's SCTA has its own records and if somebody, if it's open, just whatever it is, is a record and you can always get those. But the Bonneville 200 mile an hour club has its own records and its own minimums. Especially for new classes is what they'll have a minimum on, and you know they use a formula to get them and and it really what it is is just to preserve the integrity of the club. So not just anybody. You know you can't. We have minimums, so you can't just come and take a, you know a like, let's say, a fuel streamliner, and just go over 200. There's no challenge in that, right.
Wayne Yurtin:Right.
Allison Volk Dean:And so we just like to make it not impossible. But you know, it's the Red Hat. Something of an accomplishment.
Wayne Yurtin:Right, right. No, it makes sense, and we, you know, we were just talking last night. Of course, this is after several beers, so I'm not sure exactly what we're talking about, but we've got some ideas right. How can I get this car to 235? Because I do want that red hat. Yes, absolutely it's not going to happen this Bonneville.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah.
Wayne Yurtin:I'm done, we put it in the box. We're going to take Del Mirage, but we definitely have some ideas for next year.
Allison Volk Dean:I think that's good. To take your time too. I think that's smart and wise. There's not this. You know, you drudge to get it done. So, what did you? So you put it in the box, but what did you learn? What are the things that you're thinking about doing to get that 235?
Wayne Yurtin:Well, a couple of things. So a couple of things come to mind. So one is you know, after yesterday afternoon we had a photo shot, or a photo shoot with the Steelet guys. They were out here because they're a sponsor with Aaron, and it was really funny. I had the helmet on the car and and I say, hey, you know, before you take that shot, let me, let me peel off the sticker which was the rookie sticker, and that's that's when it kind of hit me. I was like, oh my God, I just got a record and I'm peeling off my rookie sticker that I got today. I mean, you know, I was like this is pretty cool.
Allison Volk Dean:I was like man, this is very cool, this is pretty slick.
Wayne Yurtin:Um and so so, yeah, so, record wise, um, we've got a couple ideas for, um, some motor enhancements. You know, when I, when I had this motor built um, it was a gentleman named Jeff Collins, so he's built tons of NASCAR motors and he works with the garage shop a bunch, but you know, but he told me he said, hey, you know, he's like weighing this things, it's, you want performance?
Allison Volk Dean:or you want longevity.
Wayne Yurtin:So you know, he's like you know and I told him. I said I don't want to be swapping motors every three or four months. I mean, I don't want to be swapping motors every three or four months. I don't have that kind of budget right. So I'm like no, I do want a motor that's going to last me a while. So of course now I'm calling him like Jeff, I need a little horsepower man. So this thing's only got around 720 horsepower for a B-class motor.
Wayne Yurtin:And I know, like you know, shane is telling me that for his D motor he's got about 700 horsepower.
Wayne Yurtin:So we could definitely push this thing way more. So anyway, yeah, so we got a few ideas. And also on the aero, you know I have probably the. It looks slick, the C2 body style, 65 Corvette looks awesome, gorgeous, but it was not very aero. General Motors didn't even have a wind tunnel back in 65. Oh yeah. So you know, I look at some of these cars that are running to my class where I, like a 2000 Corvette had the 202 record. I mean, what is that? That's, like you know, 35 years newer than mine, right? So obviously there's a lot more aero in those, those kinds of body styles. So we got to find some other ways to help us work on your aero package there.
Wayne Yurtin:Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean:OK, do you have any ideas that you're thinking of for that?
Wayne Yurtin:Yeah, a couple, but we got to keep them a little secret. You're not willing to?
Allison Volk Dean:divulge. That's okay, that's fair that is fair. So what would you say to people that, well, before we go there, hold on, let me think. What other future plans besides that, besides just the next year, do you have future plans about Bonneville? Are you thinking about any other type of cars, or are you going to just stick to this or what you're thinking.
Wayne Yurtin:No, I love the C2 Corvette body styles.
Allison Volk Dean:So I'm sticking with this car.
Wayne Yurtin:We may you know, who knows, I may mess around with different engine classes, okay, but I think I'll stick with the modified GT. And then 65 Corvette Cool, yeah, yeah, I'm pretty.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, it's a beautiful Corvette, so people will see the pictures when I put them on social. But it's gorgeous, thanks, thanks. Well, and you were in tech after you got your record and you're like, oh, how am I going to get the salt off this car? And I was like that's what everyone was thinking when you brought this car out, because it's just so, it's just cherry.
Wayne Yurtin:It's just gorgeous.
Allison Volk Dean:We haven't taken the belly pans off yet I know it's just caked with salt in there.
Wayne Yurtin:I mean, it scares me. I mean, when I restore Corvettes, you know, back to original, we look at some of these East coast cars and we get Midwest cars and it's like, oh my God, the rust is so bad. So, yeah, we're going to do a full. You know disinfection.
Allison Volk Dean:Wise. Well, what would you say to people that are coming out to Bonneville or thinking about, like you know, maybe like as a newbie? What would you say to land speed racers or people that want to be land speed racers? Land speed racers or people?
Wayne Yurtin:that want to be land speed racers. Yeah, my biggest thing would be just, you know, get out here and experience it, even if you're not racing, just get out here and experience it and then just jump in, you know, because you know I could have jumped in just, you know, build a car, me and my buddy, just get this thing built and come out here and you know, yeah, maybe you're not going to grab a record right off the bat or anything like that, but you know, get out here, run it, get some experience. Yeah, you get, you just got to jump in and do it and some advice.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, you get plenty of advice.
Wayne Yurtin:Tons of advice. I mean it's it's hilarious that you know we're sitting in the pits and I get all these guys come. Hey, you know you're, you're.
Allison Volk Dean:You need to slam the front of that car a lot and then other guys are like you can ask 10 different people and you get 10 different answers on the on what you're looking for, and he's like you just kind of have to do go with your gut and and see if that works. Yeah, yeah.
Wayne Yurtin:And we're, you know, we'll probably, you know, do some incremental tweaks too, I mean, just like this whole wing design. I mean this is the first time we ever ran it, so we'll probably now take all this data, everything that we've learned, and and go back to the wind tunnel and in the winter, over the winter, yeah. And, yeah, maybe make some subtle things there too.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, cool. Was there anything else that you wanted to talk about?
Wayne Yurtin:No, I think that's good.
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