Land Speed Legends
Conversations with men & women who make land speed racing legendary!
Land Speed Legends
Land Speed Safety: The Starter's Eyes, Listen To THE LEGENDARY MONTE WIDDISON And His 30-Year Journey As Starter For The Utah Salt Flats Racing Association
The unsung heroes of motorsports often operate just beyond the spotlight, their critical work making high-speed glory possible while ensuring competitors return safely. Monte Widdison stands as a perfect example – the tall, calm presence who's been the last person thousands of racers see before accelerating down Bonneville's Salt Flats.
For over 30 years, Monte has served as head starter for the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association, developing an approach to safety that racers credit with saving their lives. When Bob Dalton survived a 400+ mph crash, his first words to Monty were, "You saved my life," crediting the meticulous way Monty had tightened his safety belts. Similar testimonials from other survivors highlight how essential this final safety check truly is.
Beyond starting duties, Monte helped revolutionized course preparation techniques at Bonneville. He reveals the secrets of identifying the optimal salt surface (not bright white but a harder, grayish-opaque salt), creating perfectly straight courses using distant mountains as reference points, and preparing racers mentally for their runs. His insights into salt conditions and driving techniques provide rare, practical wisdom for anyone fascinated by land speed racing.
The stories Monte shares – from Bobby Unser initially resisting safety checks until Monte discovered his unlatched shoulder strap, to calming nervous racers with breathing exercises, to his adventures with temperamental course-dragging vehicles – paint a vivid picture of Bonneville's unique culture and challenges. They reveal how seemingly small details and procedures become life-critical when vehicles are exceeding speeds of 200 MPH plus.
Whether you're a land speed racing enthusiast, a motorsports fan, or simply curious about the extraordinary people behind extraordinary achievements, this conversation offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of those who make record speeds possible – one safety check, one mile of perfectly prepared salt at a time.
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:Okay, so today I have the legendary Monty Witteson with us, and a lot of you may know him from being a starter. For how many years were you a starter?
Monte Widdison:Well, let's see, it's been over 30 years. Yeah, 30 years, I couldn't say exactly.
Allison Volk Dean:But Yep at the USFRA events that he would was the head starter for the event. Right, correct, all right, well, how did you? How did you originally get involved? Did you? Were you involved in other racing before or how did you get started in all this?
Monte Widdison:I've always been a car enthusiast and when I was in high school and college I was an athlete, so I didn't really get involved in the car part of it. But once I graduated from college I said I'm going to start pursuing my interest in cars. So I was into old Mustangs is what got me started and I went to a car show at the Salt Palace and, lo and behold, the USFRA had a booth there and I'd always been interested in what was going on at the Salt Flats, but I never really took the time to go out there. So when I went to the booth, Gary and Ellen were there and we got talking and I found out about the 130 mile an hour club. So that's what really piqued my interest to go out.
Allison Volk Dean:Is it right? After college you kind of went to the Salt Flats, so yeah, so there was a quick to go out, is it right?
Monte Widdison:after college it kind of went to the soft spot, so yeah, so there was a quick. Yeah, it actually took a couple of years before I got out there. But yeah, as a young boy I read articles in Hot Rod magazine and, of course, would see the articles in the newspaper and news stories on the television, so it had held my interest for many years.
Allison Volk Dean:It was in your ethos a little bit, but yeah, finally got experience. So how did you do when you went out?
Monte Widdison:Did you take your Mustang out the first time, or I didn't have a Mustang at that time Okay, because it was a few years before I had a car that I felt comfortable actually taking on the salt. This is kind of a funny story. But I went out and of course they give you the rules and tell you the procedures and everything. So I made my first run. I had a. It was a Lincoln Mark VII that I had put a Mustang GT engine and transmission in it, so it was I called it my hot rod Lincoln. Anyway, I made the run. I come back around and get my timing slip and it said 116. And I said your clocks are wrong and I don't remember who was handing out the timing slips. But their response was well, try it again. So I went back out, made a second run 116. So I said, well, where's the humble pie?
Introduction:I'm ready to take a bite.
Monte Widdison:And one of the old timers and I couldn't tell you who it was, but he came over to my little pit area and he said, hey, ask around and find a timing light. And he said bump the timing a few degrees. He says then drive out to the truck, stop by the interstate and put 50 pounds of pressure in all four tires. And he said try that. So I thought, well, what have I got to lose? So I tried that, went back out and it went 123. So then I got real excited and thought out and it went 123. So then I got real excited and thought, hey, this is pretty fun. So I went back to the pits and I took out the passenger front seat, I took out the rear seat, I opened the trunk and emptied everything out, went and made another run and it went 120. So it actually slowed me down.
Allison Volk Dean:So at that point I realized this is a game that really takes somebody that knows what they're doing to be successful at it yeah, or have the information from others, yeah, weight's a good thing out there sometimes, yes, well, um, what year was that that you were, that you kind of found out about USFRA?
Monte Widdison:That would have been the first time I went out. Would have been right around 1987, maybe 88.
Allison Volk Dean:Okay, and then you were racing a couple of years after that.
Monte Widdison:Yeah, I tried that. Well, actually I tried that once and then realized I don't have enough horsepower. Yeah, and so you're done. You were done with that. And they put me at the nine mile marker with another guy by the name of Jarl Bowles and we sat out there all day long and we saw one car through the binoculars and at that time our radio system didn't work very good. We could hear the timing tower, we could hear the timing tower, but they couldn't hear us. So they'd say nine mile, report in. So we would hold the radio up and go we're here, everything's good, and then pretty soon, nine mile, please check in. And all day long it was like that. They never did hear us. It was quite frustrating.
Allison Volk Dean:You guys could have been dead in that truck out there Exactly For a while. Well, okay, so that was your first year volunteering. They really want to make sure you want to volunteer.
Monte Widdison:Yes, and I kind of found out that that was pretty much standard procedure, that they would take new volunteers and put them out there and if they came back the following year, then it's like, hey, we've got somebody here that's actually interested.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, so you came back the following year.
Monte Widdison:Yeah, as a matter of fact, I came back the next year and it was kind of interesting. I didn't really get a chance to meet a whole lot of people from the club that first year because I was so far out there and we stayed there all day. So by the time everything got done, most people were already in town. And anyway, come back the next year, and I was standing at registration, uh, waiting for someone to tell me what to do. I didn't really realize at that point that they had already been out there several days getting set up, so I just showed up the first day of racing. Anyway, as they're standing there, or as I was standing there, registration someone says hey, uh, has anybody seen the starter? And of course they were talking about marty west. And someone else remarked something similar to this. I saw him at the bar last night, but I don't know where he is today, and so it was kind of a mad panic. Everybody goes, what are we going to do? So I raised my hand and said I'll do that.
Monte Widdison:I didn't have a clue what that really that job really entailed, but the racers, bless their hearts were absolutely fabulous to me?
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, well, yeah, because they're relying on you, too, to make sure everything's clear. And what does it consist of? To be like a starter? What does like what? What do you all have to do? What is the process?
Monte Widdison:well, when a vehicle comes up to make a pass, a run, the starter's job, of course, is to communicate with timing and give the timing, the timer, the vehicle number and then, once the course is clear, then the timer will, or the starter will, send the vehicle number and then, once the course is clear, then the timer will, or the starter will, send the vehicle down the course. But also in that process the job entails you're the final safety check. So you reach in and you check the driver's belts. I always check and make sure that the pins are out of the fire bottles, that the pins are out of the parachute, that the steering wheel's locked on good, and a lot of times you can sense when the driver's nervous.
Monte Widdison:Now, with these modern helmets, all you can see is their eyes. But even that will, you can just sense what's going on in there. So I try to be real calm. I don't raise my voice. Sometimes I'll joke around a bit. I talk to them, I let them know what I'm going to do. I'm going to reach in, I'm going to check your belts and I like to pull them as tight as I can get them and then basically just try to make sure they're ready to go, and then, when the time is ready, I send them on their way.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, you're a pretty calming force. I would say when you're out there, I've seen I don't think I've ever. Maybe I don't know, you've started me maybe, but it is nice when they when it. There's something comforting about the starter when they come in and check everything and make sure that you're OK and safe and not that it's not nerve wracking. You're ready to go off the line. But yeah, there is. There is kind of an art to it. I would say, just like how you were explaining it. How long did you do that for?
Monte Widdison:Well, geez, I'm still doing it.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh, you are still. Are you still a head starter?
Monte Widdison:Yes, oh, okay, yes.
Allison Volk Dean:Okay, okay, you started back in like the late 80s.
Monte Widdison:Yeah, and you just after that encounter. Yeah, it's been my job ever since.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah.
Monte Widdison:One of the things that happened. You remember Mike Cook? Yeah, he came out. He had a Thunderbird that he was running as a competition coupe so it had the engine set back, so he was actually sitting in the car in what would have been the backseat backseat area anyway, yeah.
Monte Widdison:So I kind of climbed inside the car and as I'm checking his belts, he grabbed ahold of my shirt and he pulled me right up to his helmet and he said hey, he says I really appreciate the fact that you're checking all my safety gear, he said, but I want to know what the course is like. Are there any soft spots, spots? Is one lane better than the other? You know what's going on and at that point I realized, hmm, I should be doing course prep so that I understand what's going on out on the track. So that's when I took on the job of actually doing the course prep as well okay, and so you, that was you your two main things.
Allison Volk Dean:You're in charge actually doing the course prep as well. Okay, and so that was your two main things you were charged with, because course prep's a lot. Yeah, that is a lot. So what do you look for when you're doing course prep? Like what is some of the things that you think about?
Monte Widdison:Well, it's kind of interesting. In the last few years they leave the survey markers in the salt year round. So once I go out there the track is pretty much already laid out. But there were years that there were no survey markers, so I would have to drive around and pick out what I thought was good salt. Now this is where your dad comes in, because you know your dad has that little pick hammer that he would carry around with him.
Monte Widdison:And he still has it. Yeah, and he would. He would knock that into the salt and he could tell where the best salt was by what the hammer did to it. So I kind of learned that trick from him. I don't have a hammer, but I can look at the salt, because when you look at it you're not looking for the bright white salt. What you want is kind of a grayish, opaque looking salt, because that's the stuff.
Allison Volk Dean:That's really hard, okay I know exactly what that color, you know what it looks like, but okay, I didn't know that either, though I think my dad would pass some of that knowledge on to me. But um, okay, that's interesting. So that's what you would look for. Is that grayish opaque salt? Okay?
Monte Widdison:now here's another interesting thing. You go out there and there's no survey markers. You've got to lay out a straight line. So, the first few times I tried that. It was extremely difficult because you would start dragging and then, before you knew it, you were off by several degrees. So what I figured out was I would lay cones out, but I would put the second cone down first.
Allison Volk Dean:Okay.
Monte Widdison:Now I'll explain how that works. Okay, you put the second cone down. Then you come back towards the start line and you pick a point out on the horizon. Now, usually this is floating mountain, so you pick a point there and then you line up your the cone you just laid down with the point on the mountain. Then you put your first cone there and then you can sight down those cones.
Monte Widdison:Right. And then you go back around and you look back towards the start line and you can lay eight miles worth of almost perfectly straight cones that way?
Allison Volk Dean:So okay, so cones are. You can just see some people lay cones. That does exactly what you're saying, like it just starts to curve. You're like where is this going? That's really interesting. So you just kind of learn that Are you an engineer. Is that what you're saying?
Monte Widdison:No, but my dad was in the road construction business. So I learned what smoothing uh, gravel and asphalt was all about.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah so.
Monte Widdison:I think that has really Just prepping you for the salt. It has really helped me.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, that's cool. So, what else do you look for? Um on the salt.
Monte Widdison:Anything? Yeah, that's cool. So what else do you look for on the salt? Anything else that you're? Yeah, you know, in years past we didn't have to worry so much about what visitors to the salt were doing or tourists, let's say. But nowadays they go out there and they have their big bonfires and their camps and everything else. So we try to find a place where they haven't disturbed the salt too much. And yeah, I have to say that social media has not done the racers any favors as far as what the salt has to endure now from people that go out to spend donuts.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, well, you think that the BLM might put a sign out and be like, hey, there's an international race course right here. Maybe just, you know, just educate them a little bit. But no, not even.
Monte Widdison:And the funny thing is or the interesting part about that is is that, of course, the racetrack is the smoothest part out there. So even while I'm out there dragging, people will come right behind me and start spinning donuts right in the middle of the racetrack.
Allison Volk Dean:Right, but if you didn't know, you wouldn't know, like you wouldn't know what you were doing what that's about. And so, like I can't, I can't blame them too much, because they just don't know.
Monte Widdison:Now, if you knew and were doing it, then know that's something else but yeah, and I try to keep that in mind, I I don't get too upset, but I do.
Allison Volk Dean:I will try to chase them down and say hey, um, please go somewhere else, go over here yeah, I bet you, the majority of the time they're like yeah, oh, sorry you know, but I'm sure there's a few that aren't that way. But that's life, that's everything I going to say. Think about what else would be required for prep track, but is like okay. So when you're telling somebody where you think the good salt is like what is it exactly that you're telling them Like, what are they looking for, I mean, besides big potholes? Yeah.
Monte Widdison:If there is a pothole or a real soft spot, I'll say, okay, down about a mile and three quarter. It's on the left-hand side and it's about 10 feet inside from the line, so I try to give them a pretty good indication of where that is. So I'll say hey, just excuse me, stay right of center until you get down to about a mile and three quarter, and then you're free to move wherever you want to. On the track, Of course, the vehicles kind of move around on their own anyway.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, they dance with you, and our motorcycles, I would imagine, are looking for different things. Then Are you like to convey into a motorcycle something different than to a race car driver?
Monte Widdison:yeah, with motorcycles, wind is a big issue, so sometimes we'll have a wind check and then I can report to them what the wind speeds are and what direction it's coming from. And I usually try to tell the people on motorcycles to stay towards the outer edges of the track, because most of the cars tend to run right down the center, so that's kind of where the track starts to get chewed up a little bit more. But they can stay eight or 10 feet off the side of the track and it's a lot smoother for them.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, and then what about some of the fast cars? What is something that you're telling them or looking for, like you know, any of the special lane cars?
Monte Widdison:Yeah, most of those drivers well all of them really have so much experience that I don't really tell them a whole lot unless they ask. If they ask me then I'll say, hey, I suggest you stay here or move over there, but otherwise I just kind of let them do their thing. The reason I say that is because when the meet starts we always let all the drivers and crew people take a run or take a drive down the track in their own vehicles. That way they get a chance to look and see what the track and the course looks like.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, and that's. I think that's always a smart thing to go see what it looks like, and that's. I think that's always a smart thing to go see what it looks like. So that's pretty much what you have done for the USFRA, for the, since the Hades is prep track and and that's a lot prep track and the head starter and you're in charge of the other starters. Are you in charge of like, making sure, like the line lanes and all of that kind of stuff when you're, when you're.
Monte Widdison:Not so much. Okay, I'm so busy right at the starting line. We always have a couple of people that are our line wranglers if you will. So they're the ones that tell them, hey, it's time to get in the car and get suited up and ready to go, and they keep the lines moving and keep everything organized Because I just don't have time to mess with that.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, you're focused on the drivers and safety. Well, what have been some of your more interesting like do you interesting stories? Well, first of all, what is one of your favorite cars to watch, to get ready for and watch go?
Monte Widdison:You know I actually love all of them to get ready for and watch go. You know I actually love all of them. Yeah, I mean, I realize that this is not the greatest spectator sport in the world, but for me, interacting with the crew members and the drivers and I know enough about cars I can appreciate the work that's gone in to getting there building these vehicles. And so that for me that's the big thrill, just being there and being part of it, or maybe any memorable runs that were that you can really, you know that really stick out.
Monte Widdison:Well, we'll back up a little bit here, because I I finally did build a car that I thought would make it into the 130 club. I got ahold of a little. Uh well, it was a Ford Thunderbird 1990 and it came from the factory with a 3.8 liter V6 with a belt-driven supercharger on it. Ford called them the Thunderbird Super Coupe. So I got this car and I actually put a full roll cage in it, because at the time the record in production, supercharged, was only about 160, 170 something. So I thought, hey, that's probably within reach. So I took the car out there and I thought, well, I'm going to run it into 130 and then the 150, and then we'll see where it goes from there. So I ran it into 130 and it went 139.
Allison Volk Dean:So that put me into the 130 club.
Monte Widdison:And then I um, I cheated a little bit, I went on a run and I went the full five miles. I still catch heck for that, but anyway, um, the car actually went 172 miles an hour. Oh wow. But to back up a little bit, the first year I went out there with it. As I was in the pits, I see this tractor-trailer pull in and it said Ford Motorsports Dearborn, michigan on the side.
Monte Widdison:And I said to myself I know for sure, when they open that rear gate, that they're going to pull out a Thunderbird Super Coupe. And sure enough they did. And I thought, well, that record now is going to be way out of reach. And yeah, they bumped the record to over 200. They went like 208. And I may not be exact with these numbers, but anyway, at that point I realized, well, I'm 30 miles an hour and about $100,000 short.
Allison Volk Dean:Hey, sometimes I remember when that JCB Diesel Streamliner came out and the one guy got, he got the record first like the little homegrown. I can't even remember what class it was, but yeah, there was a guy in that same class that was with that streamliner and he so he set the record first and then they they bumped it.
Monte Widdison:Okay, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean:So and they were like kind of going, you know and yeah, so sometimes that's a beautiful thing too.
Monte Widdison:Well, yeah, and here's, here's one of the serendipitous events that happened to me. When they came out the guys I'm talking about the guys from Ford they came out with that Thunderbird. They saw my car and I had painted this Thunderbird yellow. So they came over and said we never made any yellow Thunderbirds. Where did you get that? And I said, well, I painted it myself. Hello, thunderbirds, where did you get that? And I said, well, I painted it myself.
Monte Widdison:So anyway, I got to be pretty chummy with these guys as the event went on and after about a month, after the event was over, the UPS truck pulled up to my place and unloaded this huge box and it said Ford Motor Company Dearborn, michigan. So I thought what the heck is this? So I opened it up and inside they had sent me a new supercharger. They sent a new set of fuel injectors, a new fuel pump, and they had custom programmed a processor and said here, plug this in and see how it goes. So that's how the car actually went. 172 is with all this stuff that they had sent to me, no charge, of course.
Monte Widdison:How cool is that it was really quite the deal. So I took my timing slip and made a photocopy and I took a picture of the car and then I wrote a real nice thank you note.
Allison Volk Dean:So you know thanks for this.
Monte Widdison:The car really worked well.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh yeah, I bet you, they love getting that, slip you know what. I'm saying yeah.
Monte Widdison:And, as a matter of fact, a couple of years after that, as I was on the starting line, some spectator come up and said, hey, do you own the yellow Thunderbird? And I said yeah. And he says I was in the engineering building at Ford just last week and there's this plaque on the wall, a picture of your car and the thank you note and everything so yeah, so they put it up in the in the building.
Allison Volk Dean:You're legendary at the Ford building in Dearborn, michigan. That's cool, that's a really cool story, so, um, so it's, that's. That's kind of where you stopped racing then at that point was you're just like ah yeah.
Monte Widdison:Yeah, I realized I just didn't have the budget to to do what I would have liked to do. But being involved, being around it has satisfied my desires you need for speed.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh yeah, no, it's just such a great. I'm sure all motor sports are this way, but it's just a great sport. It's a great family oriented I don't know, kind of thing.
Monte Widdison:I have to say that some of my dearest friends are people I've met in the salt flats group. Um, it's just been amazing.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, absolutely amazing so, um, back to some. Some memorable runs were. Let's see, can you think of any ones that were like you're like, wow, that was cool, or anything that sticks out to you about those some?
Monte Widdison:of those starts. I'll tell you a couple of fun experiences. Okay, Several years back, Bobby Unser showed up and he was driving a little modified Roadster that belonged to a friend of his. I'm sorry.
Allison Volk Dean:I don't remember. No, I remember that yeah.
Monte Widdison:Yeah Well, anyway, when they brought the car up to the start line the push truck had kind of bumped the car. So the car coasted up to the actual start line but the crew truck push truck was back a little ways. So I walked up to the car. Of course I I knew who he was. So I said I'm going to reach in and check your belts and he said no, you're not.
Allison Volk Dean:I said with all due respect, I need to check your belts or I can't let you run.
Monte Widdison:He says, no, I'll say it one more time. I check your belts or I will have to push you out of line. So kind of grumbling says, okay, so I reached in. The first thing I always do is I grab a hold of the shoulder straps and I just give him a good tug. So I grabbed his shoulder straps and the right shoulder strap came up they hadn't latched it. And the right shoulder strap came up, they hadn't latched it. So he's like, oh my gosh, get my crew guys up here.
Monte Widdison:Well, at that point they were actually walking up towards the car. I said, well, I can take care of this for you. So I unbuckled everything and as I'm in the process of buckling it all back together, the crew guys are like what's going on? I said, well, there was a problem here with the shoulder strap. Anyway, we got him all latched back together and as I'm pulling the belts, he says, oh, be careful. He says my back is so bad from all my car crashes. He says I just can't have the belts real, real tight. And I said, well, I appreciate that. You let me know when I snug them down to the point where you know it's not too much.
Monte Widdison:So anyway, we got him all tugged up and he took off, and now he's just making his licensing passes at this point and if I recall, they actually may have waived one of his first passes or something. You know, I don't think they made him do the 125. Anyway, when they came back to make their second licensing pass, as they pushed the car up, he just raised his arms up like this and says okay, check me out.
Allison Volk Dean:He got. He got the memo.
Monte Widdison:And he you know, his objective was to get into the two club and they were successful.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, what year was that? I wonder. If it was like the. I remember anyways. Yeah, that's funny. That, yeah, I mean there's definitely. I mean I've heard stories of people loosening afterwards. That didn't end well, and so listen to your starter make sure. Don't give him any trouble.
Monte Widdison:You know, john Hanson used to be the manager at the Pepper Mill and some of the other casinos out there. He was trying to get into the two club and they were running a little Honda I can't remember if it was a Civic or what, anyway, they were running a Honda. And when he came up to the line I could just see he was just nervous, as could be. So I said, john, close your eyes. So he closes his eyes and I said, okay, now inhale as deeply as you can, I said, and then let it out real slow. And we did that twice. Then, when he opened his eyes, I could see his demeanor had he'd really calmed down, and he reminds me of that almost every time I see him.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, because you could really start working yourself, get in your head and start working yourself into a frenzy real quick and then but yeah, I could see how that would definitely just kind of bring you, center you, back to where you're at. Oh, I know John, I love John.
Introduction:He's a great guy.
Monte Widdison:Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean:And then what about some of the more well-known race like racers out there that you've dealt with, you know the Vesco's and the Nish's and I know I'm going to forget people, but Nolan White and, oh, come on. Al Teak.
Monte Widdison:Yeah, that's the name I was trying to think of. It's tough to get old.
Introduction:I know, trust me Wow.
Allison Volk Dean:My brain still like just clicks out. I don't know what it is.
Monte Widdison:I'll tell you another story here. If you remember the Chet Herbert car, the first time I started that vehicle or was the starter when that vehicle came up, clayton was driving and I remember thinking to myself why are they putting an 18-year-old kid in this car? Well, anyway, you know, it's a four-engine streamliner. So when they pushed the truck up.
Monte Widdison:The car wasn't pointed exactly straight down the course. It was off about 10, 12 degrees. It was actually pointed more towards the pits. Well, to start this thing, they had a pickup truck that had, I don't know, maybe eight 12-volt batteries all wired together and then a big industrial plug that came off those batteries and plugged into the side of the car. So what they would do is crank the car to get oil pressure and then they would come back and prime all the injectors and then crank it again and then flip the, the mag switch and away they would go well anyway.
Monte Widdison:So clayton gets in the car and I I get him all buckled in. Well, they have a fresh air supplied system with pressurized air, so when he closes the visor on his helmet he sounded just like Darth Vader. As he's breathing, you can hear it go. It was really kind of strange because I hadn't seen that before. Well, anyway, Clayton's dad says okay, push the clutch pedal in and we're going to crank the engines. So I can actually hear the linkage functioning.
Monte Widdison:So he pushes the clutch in and they start to crank and his dad says when we get oil pressure, just give me a thumbs up. So sure enough, clayton gives him the thumbs up. Now, of course, at this point the canopy's down.
Introduction:Yeah, they're ready to rock and roll. Yeah, they're ready to go.
Monte Widdison:So he had just a little squirt bottle that he would squirt all the injectors and he said, all right, let's crank it again. So, as they crank it the minute it well, it cranked for maybe two or three seconds and the car fired and the throttle went wide open. And when that happened I don't know if they didn't have the clutches adjusted properly, but that car just took off. Oh, my goodness, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean:Was it a push-off car, though, or did it just it could actually take off on its own, but anyway, it just took off.
Monte Widdison:It tore the battery cable out and we're all standing there like what?
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah that's a pretty wild start Then.
Monte Widdison:I realized he's not even on course. He was headed directly to the pits and for me it was mad panic.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh yeah.
Monte Widdison:So I get on the radio and I said I don't know if anybody can even hear me, but that car is headed straight for the pits, heads up, yeah Well, anyway, he got down maybe a mile and a half and the car slowly turned and got back on course.
Introduction:Oh, wow.
Monte Widdison:And I remember thinking that's why they have an 18-year-old in there. Nobody else would get in that car.
Allison Volk Dean:Now, this is just my interpretation. Your personal assessment, yeah.
Monte Widdison:Yes, yes, well, I found out later. Dennis was the rover back then and when he caught up to Clayton after the run he said, clayton, what happened? And Clayton says well, they had the exhaust would come up through the top of the car. And he said the fumes billowed out of the exhaust so much that he could only see just right between the exhaust pipes. And he said I had to finally let off the throttle and realized, hey, I'm off course. So, to his credit, he was able to figure out where he was exactly and get back on the track.
Allison Volk Dean:Especially if you're not I don't mean if you're not really aware out there of where everything's at, you could easily just get lost.
Monte Widdison:So after that I had a whole new respect for that car and for him, because I thought you know he really knows what he's doing here.
Allison Volk Dean:I'll give him a break on this one.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, that's. I can't remember if this is a USFRA meet, but one time we were at the starting line and all this guy had these like track running pants I cannot remember which meet this was but had like these track running pants on, like those that I don't know, that thin material, and he all of a sudden, like you could just see the pants go, and they were gone Like, but it was alcohol, you know, like you couldn't, like you're, like you seem dancing, and then you're like what is going on? And he's just right there on the starting line, his pants went up.
Monte Widdison:Did they actually catch fire, oh?
Allison Volk Dean:yeah, like the pants were gone. I mean it wasn't like the whole thing burned off, but it was definitely. And you could tell he was confused at first. You can't see, you know like it's. But yeah, that was. There's some interesting things that happened on the starting line.
Monte Widdison:Yeah, it's kind of. It's kind of crazy because things happen and then you can't remember what year was that.
Allison Volk Dean:What meet. Yeah because for a while and they do the test and tune, but that used to be a full July meet. Yeah, it always seems like it was two or three days. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, they were just like two day meets is all.
Monte Widdison:Yeah, it always seems like it was two or three days. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, they were just like two-day meets is all.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, and then I don't know, there's lots of cars that you've probably seen go by. You got to give me some other ones here. You've seen everything.
Monte Widdison:You know most of them are. There's no drama involved. They make a safe run and you're on to the next vehicle and, as a matter of fact, that's one of the parts that's kind of hard for me to deal with, because I'm so focused on what's going on. When a vehicle leaves the start line, I'll look down, course and watch them until they get down about a mile course and watch them until they get down about a mile and then at that point, I turn around and my focus is completely on the next vehicle.
Monte Widdison:And of course they don't report the speeds or times over the main communication radio, so a lot of times I have no idea how fast they went on, and if something does happen then of course I'll hear that on my radio. The car spun, they turned out early or something like that. But otherwise my focus keeps changing you know from this vehicle to that vehicle.
Allison Volk Dean:But all your focus is going there?
Monte Widdison:What are you looking at?
Allison Volk Dean:when you're watching them take off, like, are you just making sure that they're out of the way?
Monte Widdison:The first course steward is down at a mile and a half. So if they turn out before the mile a lot of times it's hard for them to see. So I like to watch and just make sure that if there's a problem I can report it.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah.
Monte Widdison:Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, I think it'd be fun to be a starter. It'd be fascinating just to see everybody. But I'd have a hard time just focusing on one thing. You'd be surprised, you'd be surprised, you'd be surprised.
Monte Widdison:Just this last year, one of the guys with one of the old vintage circle track cars came up and when I reached in to check his belts I pulled on the lap belt and it came up and he goes. What did you do? And I says I don't know, but here's the end of the belt that should be attached to the chassis.
Monte Widdison:Oh, shoot yeah I come to find out the bolt had worked loose, and so when I tugged on it it came off. So anyway, they got that fixed. But it's a job that I take very seriously. I've had more than a couple of experiences when Bob Dalton crashed and he was doing over 400 miles an hour.
Monte Widdison:Now, normally I do not go to crash sites, I want nothing to do with that, but it was the last run of the meet and when I heard that he was out of the car, and okay, I drove down there and he was, he was sitting. I think he was actually sitting on the car talking on his phone, oh yeah. So anyway, once he got off the phone, I went up to him. The first words out of his mouth were you saved my life. Now, those words, I mean, I realize it wasn't me. Yeah, all I did was check the belts and I told him.
Monte Widdison:I said, bob, that's your chassis builder yeah that's you and the guys that do all this stuff. And he said no. He says I've never had anybody pull those belts as tight as you did. He said when that car went over I didn't budge oh, wow so, and I've had that happen more than once.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh yeah, that was a gnarly crash. I was like he. I was like, oh my gosh, bob's dead. I really thought he was. I mean, I was like there's just no way that you know you're hey. Lisa had to talk him into going to the hospital just to make sure everything like nothing was damaged. He didn't even want to go do that.
Monte Widdison:In fact, dennis was telling me that they put him in the ambulance and then the ambulance just sat there and then, all of a sudden, the rear doors opened and Bob jumps out.
Allison Volk Dean:And he's like I'm not going in the ambulance. That's an expensive ride I'm not taking that.
Monte Widdison:But then I saw him at Speed Week this year and again the first thing out of his mouth is you saved my life.
Allison Volk Dean:That's awesome.
Monte Widdison:And then Lee Cilio. When he crashed, we went up to the hospital to visit him and when we walked in the hospital room, same conversation.
Allison Volk Dean:Man.
Monte Widdison:So I mean, I like to joke around and have fun, but I take that job very seriously.
Allison Volk Dean:Those were both two very gnarly crashes. I think that same year Lee crashed was, oh my gosh, the black car. I have to think about it now. He was like from back East, from Pennsylvania.
Introduction:What is?
Monte Widdison:that the Carbonite Yep.
Allison Volk Dean:The Carbonite. His wife stayed with us too while he was in the hospital, like just stayed in our house Cause we had a separate entrance, it was easy for her to get to the. We were right by, you know, close to the U.
Introduction:Okay.
Allison Volk Dean:But yeah, he, but yeah, he crashed that year too. That was kind of a yeah. Yeah that was a tough year, yeah, but yeah, those are some. Bob and Lee are some of my favorites, so I'm glad you saved their lives. So yeah, but yeah, that's. I mean, that's some great stories. What would you like? What kind of advice would you give to somebody who I'm sure you see a lot of newbies out there first runs, or maybe just you know more green than others?
Monte Widdison:What is some advice that you would give people that maybe are coming out for the first time or second time on things that you see out there, what you do, yeah, uh, you know, originally they we used to run all the 130 and 150 cars on the main course. So those people, um, you know they're not seasoned yeah land speed racers. So I would always tell them put your arms down on your legs and hold the steering wheel on the bottom and let the car move.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah.
Monte Widdison:If it decides to move left or right, don't really try to correct it, just let it do what it's going to do, because normally it may move a few feet but it'll come back, and that seems to have worked pretty well. Of course, now they have their own course, so I don't really get to do much with them anymore.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, that's good advice, but that was always kind of.
Monte Widdison:My advice to them is just let the vehicle do what it's going to do.
Allison Volk Dean:I would say that you kind of dance with it. Yeah, like the roadsters move more than a feet. Yeah, they like to go both, both ends of the course they they like to hop around a little bit. Um, yeah, that's. That's really good advice, though, because if you fight it, yeah it's, you got to kind of just let it, you know, move across the course most of the most of the new drivers.
Monte Widdison:I try to give them a similar, similar advice. You know, just kind of take it easy, let the, let the vehicle do what it will and come back safe.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, and, and that's for your like, 130, 150 club members that you're saying that and even some of the rookie LSR people.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, yeah, no, because that you know. You just come out there and sometimes you know people have been doing it for a long time. Just assume people that are new know a lot and they don't, and it's okay. They're out here doing it like that's what. When people say, no, I'm not legend, I'm like, well, you're out there doing the thing that you you're pursuing, the thing that you love or you like or that you're interested in, you know, and that's that's what makes it, you know, special you know, I one of the other things, things that we haven't talked about yet I've served as the club vice president.
Monte Widdison:I call it the club.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah.
Monte Widdison:But the association. I served as vice president for 26 years and it's been just a lot of fun to be involved in some of the decision making and everything you know the club business as such. So I served under Gary Allen he was the president when I became vice president and then Jim Berkdahl and then Dennis, so that's been a whole great experience for me as well.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, and you can get involved if you know, if you're in the Utah area, the Utah South Flats or SCTA there's. Scta is a little bit more complicated. You have to join a club and all that.
Monte Widdison:But, but USFRA, if you're in this area, man, it's really easy to get plugged in if you want to if it's something you want to do Exactly do exactly and and it's a way to be involved in racing without having to spend all that money yeah, and you know, and everybody's needed.
Allison Volk Dean:You know we need starters just as much as you need racers and and I think it's you know the support is super important to have and you're the last person people see before they head down there and that's a lot, that's asking a lot out of you. But you have this. You know just that calm. I think you're right, that's really key. It takes a special person, if you think about it. I mean I'm thinking, like, think about Nick Arias, like he's more of a calm chill.
Monte Widdison:You know the starter, you know you probably have to have a certain you can't be like that intense person out there doing it. Yeah, you can't, you can't start yelling and screaming at people, because that just doesn't work.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah.
Monte Widdison:I don't know if you remember when the group from Australia came with the Austin Healy. When the group from Australia came with the Austin Healy and one of the people that they had brought with them it was a gal she came up and kind of grabbed my arm and she says you know? She says I've been involved in motorsports for many, many years. She says I've never seen anybody like you before. She said the way you handle things up here and conduct yourself, she says I'm just blown away by what goes on.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah Well, and there's intense moments too. You know it's intense as the crew or the driver being up there that close and you know you're trying to get pushed up and buckled in on time and things started and so it is nice to have that calming presence. And if nobody knows what you look like, you're tall, I mean, how tall are you?
Monte Widdison:Six seven.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, so you're like kind of a gentle giant type, but that's. Yeah, I can see how it's very calming to people.
Monte Widdison:The job has suited me quite well, yeah. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. You found your niche. Yes, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean:Well, great. So now you're doing this, you're still doing it. Then I don't know where I must have got bad information, probably from my dad.
Monte Widdison:I'm still planning on being there. Yeah, because I opted not to rerun for vice president this year. Oh, maybe that's what he was thinking, because it's time for some younger members to get involved in the decision making and move the club forward, because the rest of us are kind of getting up there.
Allison Volk Dean:No, I think it's a good little mix. You guys got going on right now so it's been, it's been good yeah good, well, is there anything else that you would be that we haven't talked about, or anything else that you'd want to?
Monte Widdison:um, yeah, my daughter got into the 130 club.
Allison Volk Dean:I did not know that.
Monte Widdison:Yes, this would have been back in about 2003 or 4, I think yeah I had a mustang and uh, so we got her into the club. It was really kind of fun because everybody out there was treating her like a rock star. Because they go you're Monty's daughter.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Monte Widdison:Oh, that's fun. Now, she hasn't really shown a lot of interest in this sort of thing, but she enjoyed that and of course, it was a thrill for me to be able to help her do that.
Allison Volk Dean:Well, that 130 club and 150 club is just such a great little thing that USFRA has got going and it brings and there's a lot of people that come in and start land speed racing or get like you get hooked up into volunteering, that start kind of there and it's, it really is fun. So, and the 130 club is probably the easiest. Well, it is the easiest to do because you just have to make a few. You just have to wear a helmet, right, or do you have to have a few? You?
Monte Widdison:just have to wear a helmet, right, or do you have to have a fire suit? No, no fire suit, but you have to have a helmet and, uh, a roll bar oh, you have to have a roll bar in the 130.
Allison Volk Dean:Okay, okay, and then it gets a little bit more technical with the 150.
Monte Widdison:A few more things are added for safety 150. Then you have to have the five point harness yeah a few other things, but anyway, that has proven to really be quite popular because it gives people a chance to experience racing a car on the salt flats without, yeah, breaking the bank, basically or if it's something you're like, I think I might want to do this.
Allison Volk Dean:It's a great way to just kind of start getting involved in something and it's fun. I'm sure it's fun because it's not I mean, sometimes the the racing that's on the smaller level, I guess that's maybe not going for the big records or it's. It seems like it can be a lot of fun because that pressure is kind of taken away of yeah you know, we have three days to do this and we have.
Monte Widdison:I'm like yeah, one of the other things that I've always enjoyed is, you know, ron Christensen does the radio broadcast and he's the only person that is actually allowed to stay on the salt flats overnight.
Allison Volk Dean:No, I did not know that until this year.
Monte Widdison:And I'm not sure how he actually worked that out, but he sleeps in his car.
Allison Volk Dean:I know I was blown away, I was like the whole week and he's like yep, I was like, well, that sounds awful, but he doesn't seem to mind at all. Oh heavens, no he loves it.
Monte Widdison:He does, and so what we've done the last several years is I'll stay out there late, sometimes till midnight and we just look at the stars.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh, I bet you it's amazing yeah tell stories and solve the world's problems. Oh yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
Monte Widdison:He and I have really enjoyed our visits out there.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, ron is a very knowledgeable guy. I did an interview with him too. Yeah, I didn't know any of that about too. So and his, he, yeah, I didn't know any of that about him and I was like, oh, that's so cool. You lived out here, you saw these, you know big time cars, you know the famous, famous ones that got everybody interested coming out and yeah.
Monte Widdison:His memory is a lot better than mine, so he's got a lot more stories than I do.
Allison Volk Dean:I have a bad memory. I just tell myself I live in the moment and that's why. I don't remember anything.
Monte Widdison:You know, it's been kind of fun. I, when I was first being the starter, um, I kind of let some of the pressure get to me a little bit, especially towards the end of the day when you've got 20 cars still in line and there's only 10 minutes left before we're going to shut down. So everybody's going. Well, can't I run? Please let me run. And originally I would have to go back and just tell everybody sorry, we're done for the day.
Monte Widdison:And so I was complaining about it one night and to some of the other club members. Well, anyway, the next day I show up and they had made a little cardboard like a suit of armor with duct tape and they'd made a target on it. Because I said I feel like I'm the one that has to take all the heat at the end of the day telling everybody just put this on.
Monte Widdison:Yeah, so they and I actually wore it for a little bit, just you know yeah to have some fun. But nowadays I don't worry so much about that. I've been doing it long enough that people kind of respect the position.
Allison Volk Dean:Well, and the knowledge and the you know, the wisdom that you have on, say, I really want to learn how to drag, how to prep you better, like books on tape.
Monte Widdison:Yeah, the majority of them will last less than a day.
Monte Widdison:By about the time we break for lunch, it's like um, I got some other things I need to do not feeling so good and I when you, when you are in the course prep mode, we typically have two trucks, so one truck will follow the other, but you stagger it so we can get twice as much work done. And one guy he would constantly just get right behind me. And we have CB radio so we can talk back and forth. So I'd have to get on the radio and say, hey, move over, you're following my exact track. So he'd move over.
Allison Volk Dean:And then a couple minutes later he'd be right behind me, and then another guy. You should have followed him. You could have just gone.
Monte Widdison:whichever, way he wasn't going. Another guy as we were going down, he made almost a 90 degree turn. It's like hey, where are you going? He says oh, I thought the track was over here. It's like no, just follow me.
Allison Volk Dean:I know what I'm doing Listen to me. Oh yeah, yeah. Dragging yeah is not for the weak of heart. It's definitely a long day.
Monte Widdison:Yeah, I mean, if you're, we typically try to get eight to nine miles and the truck goes about eight to 10 miles an hour. So it takes an hour to go from one end to the other and you turn around and do it again and you do that for, yeah, you do that for 12 or 14 hours.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah.
Monte Widdison:There's takes a special personality to be able to do it. So the last several years Jason Masservi's been my helper and he and I got it down to a science.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh that's good.
Monte Widdison:Yeah, he's been good help, Makes it easy, real good help.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, that's good, that's interesting about. Yeah, it's probably hard to find good help sometimes with some of it I know I've dragged the track before. It was like one year I think I did it. I was like, yeah, that doesn't sound so much fun anymore. I wanted to. It was, I think they had stick, the ones had stick chefs and I wanted to practice using you know, doing a stick. Anyways, I was probably 16, excited just to drive anything, or you know yeah in fact.
Monte Widdison:In fact, when I first started doing it, we had a couple of old trucks that we had gotten from the state of Utah, trucks that they had worn out and they were worn out.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah.
Monte Widdison:So one of them, the gear. It would just pop out of gear so you'd have to drive it continuously, holding the gear shift. Yeah, and some of them they had a cable throttle so you could set the throttle and then you didn't have to keep your foot on the gas pedal, and so sometimes I would actually get out and walk alongside the truck because you don't have to sit for so long it's like man, I need to get up and walk around, but those trucks were so worn out, exhaust leaks, no air conditioning, and I was glad to get rid of those when we finally started.
Monte Widdison:Oh yeah, well, first of all we started renting U-Hauls, and that's a whole other story there.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh yeah, they don't appreciate you taking them up at the salt and tracking.
Monte Widdison:I am blacklisted from renting from U-Haul.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh that's so funny Like oh, monty Witteson no.
Monte Widdison:Exactly what happened was first we would rent them in Salt Lake and drive them out. Now they worked really well, but the disadvantage was there's no room in the cab to keep your cooler or your food or anything, so I'd have to carry my cooler in the back in the cargo box in the cargo box.
Monte Widdison:So if you ever wanted to eat or drink something, you'd have to stop and get out, walk around the back, raise the door and get your food out. Well, anyway, back when Mike Cook was having his shootout each year I'm getting ahead of myself here. Anyway, mike Crawford, who owned the parts store in Wendover. He got a U-Haul franchise. So now we didn't have to rent them in Salt Lake, we could actually rent them from him, and the deal was made that he would rent them to us and then he would charge us $200 per vehicle to wash them and clean them after we were done. Well, one year I went out. We'd made arrangements to get the truck from him. I went out, but Mike was out of town. So he said look, I'll leave the key on top of the tire. Blah, blah, blah.
Monte Widdison:Well, when I get out there I could tell the truck had been used. It was all covered in salt. And come to find out my cook had been using it. Well, they had been using it when the salt was really wet and they were driving the truck up and down the track to try and evaporate some of that water by splashing it out. Well, that wet salt water got up on top of the engine, the transmission. Well, anyway, I get the truck and go out there and the first day, about three-fourths of the way through the day, the truck quits. It's like hmm. So I called Mike, crawford, said hey, this truck quit running. So he comes out, we open the hood and the whole thing is just the engine compartment is just packed with salt. You couldn't hardly see the engine and what had happened is the salt had gotten into the bearing on the fan belt tensioner and it had seized up and the fan belt broke. And then, of course, the bad truck takes it back to his place, but he didn't clean it.
Monte Widdison:So what he ended up doing was sending it to the Salt Lake shop and said hey, there's something wrong with this truck.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah.
Monte Widdison:Now, I didn't know any of this at the time. Of course they get it and look at it and it's like holy cow. They get it and look at it and it's like holy cow. I guess it actually sat at Mike's shop for a few weeks so the salt had dried out and was just hard as a rock Well, they get it in Salt Lake and it had ruined the brakes. It had the transmission, the engine, the truck was. They declared it a total loss. So they sent pictures of all this damage to me and then said hey, we are claiming this on your car insurance Because you know they would ask me for my personal car insurance when I'd rent the truck, because I was renting it in my name, not under the Salt Flats, because we knew, you know if they see oh, salt Flats.
Introduction:Racing.
Monte Widdison:Association Anyway. So they declared the truck a total loss. So I wrote a letter to my insurance company and said hey, here's the situation, here's what happened. And so they denied the claim to U-Haul, and so U-Haul then they just kind of gave up, but they put you on the list. Yes, I'm on a blacklist.
Allison Volk Dean:I hope you gave Mike a hard time about that when you saw him be like, hey, you got me blacklisted, we did we did so.
Monte Widdison:Then we gave up on the U-Hauls and we just rent from Rugged Rental and that has worked out really well because they're four-door diesel pickups and you can carry your cooler and have your food and drinks all right there in the truck, and air conditioning and the whole works.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh I drove in one of those original ones, the UDOT ones. It was uncomfortable and hot.
Introduction:The radio didn't work. In one of them, you're like, oh my gosh, and it wasn't work.
Allison Volk Dean:and one of them you're like oh my gosh, and it wasn't like at the time, you know, when there was, you had to get your like cd walk man to take with you to listen to music. Oh man, that was. But there's a lot I I think that's good to see, like all the work that everybody's doing for people to understand how important the volunteers are and to make sure you think a volunteer, because there's a lot, even if it's something you know at the nine mile, somebody's got to do it in order to run that race and that's not fun work either to go to that nine mile and wait out there all day.
Allison Volk Dean:And so and they're, they're, they're doing it. So I think that's a good reminder to everyone about you know 12 hours to prep a course. I mean, no, that's so. That's a good reminder to everyone about you know 12 hours to prep a course. I mean that's so long of doing that and so, yeah, it's really important and it's really time consuming and it's not. You're not really getting paid. I mean you're a volunteer, you get, you know, lunches and whatnot, but yeah, you do it for the love. Yeah.
Monte Widdison:You do it for the love.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, you do it for the love, yeah, and I think that's all the volunteers out there doing it for the love of, even if they're not racers some of them are, some of them aren't Even if they're not on a crew, it's, you know, makes the world go round. Yeah, sure, yeah Well, I appreciate you coming out and doing this interview with me. I think there was a lot of information there that we don't get on a lot of other interviews, right In terms of how things work and what to look for and yeah, so that was really great. I appreciate it.
Monte Widdison:It was my pleasure.
Introduction:All right, thanks so much Thanks for listening to Land Speed Legends. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. In the meantime, keep up with the show on Facebook and Instagram under Landspeed Legends. Until next time.