Salt, Speed, and a Promise Kept: THE LEGENDARY DANNY THOMPSON Explains How He Went From Motocross to 448 MPH! The Son of Mickey Thompson Proves His Streamliners Potential and Find's His Own Limits.

The salt doesn’t care about your plans, your budget, or your last name—and that’s exactly why Danny Thompson keeps coming back. From a childhood ban on racing to a 448 mph average in Challenger 2, Danny walks us through the moments that shaped him: motocross grit, off‑road savvy, open‑wheel precision, and the quiet craft of fabrication that keeps fast ideas alive.

We get into the early hooks—Mustangs on the 10‑mile circle, a red hat in a lakester, and a Mustang flight that turned seven end‑over‑ends into a lesson on composure. Then the long game: resurrecting Mickey Thompson’s 1968 streamliner with almost no money, sending thousands of sponsor pitches, and learning, run by run, what Bonneville expects from a team. The details are raw and specific, from fire bottles fogging a visor at 400 mph to the split‑second choice to throttle through a yawing 450 mph return, securing a 448 average and settling a 48‑year family benchmark.

We also celebrate the culture that makes this place different. Records are targets, not trophies; rivals call to congratulate; and a seven‑cylinder hack can topple a Vesco mark by 34 mph before an A motor goes in for the next hunt. Danny shares why he retired and sold Challenger 2 to clear debts, how Ferguson’s streamliner rekindled the chase, and where the dream points now: a three‑part Stand on the Gas series to fund and frame a shot at 500 mph in a piston‑powered Challenger 3.

If Bonneville matters to you—its history, its people, and its fragile surface—this conversation is a map of what it takes to turn legacy into action. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves fast machines, and leave a review telling us: do you think a 500 mph piston car is within reach?

Transcript

Danny Thompson Sits Down

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Land Speed 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 action for land speed racing has made them legendary. And now, here's your host, the Bonneville Bell, the High Boy Honey, the stalled princess, Allison Volk Dean.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Today I have the legendary Danny Thompson. I've been trying to get you nailed down for a while, but I always want to do my podcast in person, so we got time to do it today. So that's great. So thank you so much. But yeah, let's go. Tell me, let's uh let's start from the beginning. Where how you got started into uh land speed racing or racing in general? Start at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Yeah, I think racing in general I started when I was like nine years old and raced when I was nine and ten. And then one of the kids in a race I was in got hurt, and my dad came over, he was running the lion's drag strip. He comes running over and he looks at me. I won the race. I'm there with a little trophy girl and I'm all smiling and everything. And he looked at the car and he sold it on the spot and told me, you will never ever race again. Wow. That was it. So then I didn't race again until I left the house when I was 18.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Wow. And coming from your dad, who has done a lot of racing, why do you think he did that?

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Well, um in so in those days, so now I'm not talking about how old I am, but back in the 50s and 60s, I mean, a lot of guys got killed. You know, cars were not nearly as safe as they are now. And his own driver, Dave McDonald, got killed at Indianapolis in 64. And so it was kind of like I don't I don't want him to get killed. My dad wanted me to be a lawyer, you know, and you can see how well that worked out.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Which is so funny coming from your dad since he was he was doing crazy things, you know, racing. So Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

I mean, Bonneville's what made my dad. I mean, he went 406.6 miles an hour in 1960 and was the fastest or first American, you know, over 400. Unfortunately, he only did it one way.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Yeah. You know, so so that was uh Was that an FIA attempt or was that just like a at a meeting?

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Do you know? I don't know how the FIA deal worked in those days. Uh I know, oh, what's uh what's the FIA FIIA guy's name? Oh yeah. Um anyway, it was his dad that did all all the timing for all the race stuff. Okay. Uh I guess I I guess Otto Crocker did the stuff for Speed Week and stuff, but Pirelli. And he did all the stuff for FIA. So um, yeah, so it will, I guess it would have been an FIA event. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

An FIA attempt.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

But the funny thing is, so he went 406.6. Now, 48 years later, I absolutely kicked his ass because I went 406.7. Nice, but I did it two ways.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

That's right. Oh, I love that. Okay, so he you wrecked, and he was he had had some experience. He was nervous about you, but you were determined to race.

Motorcycles, Off‑Road, And Open‑Wheel

SPEAKER_01 3:02

I was, I was, and and as soon as I left the house, I uh sold some some of the stuff that I got for my dad and and uh bought a motorcycle, started racing motorcycles, and and was fortunate enough to do okay and uh make the back of cycle news, like little teeny tiny, but no, you know, not not the front page and that stuff, little teeny tiny stuff in the back. And uh anyway, my somebody told my dad, hey, I see the kids been winning some races, and then that was it. I I get the dreaded phone call. Hey, what have you been doing? I've been working my ass off, you know. And it's no, what are you really doing? I says, uh, he said, You've been racing? I said, Then I knew I was had, right? So I said, Yeah, yeah, I've been racing. And he says, When's your next race? I said, Mammoth Mountain Moto this weekend, biggest race of the year. And he flew up and uh and I won the first one and crashed in the second one.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

So what kind of racing motorcycle racing was it?

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Motocross. Just motocross, outdoor. That was before supercross and that stuff, but outdoor motocross.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Yeah. So that's kind of what I think Dave Davidson did that too, isn't it when he he kind of did that motocross stuff as well. So yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Oh yeah, you're right. You're right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

Yeah, so you fast guys like to start with motorcycles. So, okay, so you you do motocross, but then do you transfer into any other type of racing?

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Yeah, then after that I did uh I did a couple years of uh well, so my dad wouldn't let me race and won't let me race, but then he steered me into off-road racing because he thought it was a lot safer. He was the promoter, it's he owned score, and so I started racing with him. But I could only navigate co-drive. So he got to drive, and I got to tell him where to go. And that went on and on for a long time. And and eventually I got pissed off and left, you know, because I mean I didn't get to drive. That's all I wanted my whole life. All I wanted to do was drive Indianapolis, Indianapolis 500, that's all I wanted to do. And uh, and that was not happening as far as he was concerned. But then we went from there, we went to Formula Atlantic, and we won a championship in Formula Atlantic, and then Super V and Witch's Road Race stuff, and won uh one, I guess second, we finished second in the championship there. So, and then did a few pro races like Long Beach Grand Prix and that stuff in the you know minor formula classes. So yeah, and yeah, sprint cars. I drove sprint cars for a while. So uh a little bit of everything.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Yes, probably why you're a great driver, a little bit of everything, got a lot of experience and perspective on stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Probably still stupid enough to still be doing it, you know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

So, how long did you do that for? Like till what year?

Mentors, Mustangs, And Early Bonneville

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Wow. Um, I'm so bad on years. So I raced motorcycles for a few years, like 18, 19, 20 years old, and then raced with my dad, I think, for probably five or six years, mid-20s. And then uh when I left, when I finally got mad enough to not he yeah, I should re- regress a little bit here because he did finally let me drive the off-road cars. Okay, and uh then usually only when they were already broke, two hours. Okay, you can drive the next lap, you know, something like race. Didn't matter. But I I was gonna win the race from being a lap down. I didn't care. I drove the wheels off that thing. So Mint 400 and Baja and stuff. And so I drove with you know with him a few times in there, and then I think probably when I went to uh ooh, I left him and I went to work for my first indie car team and I started building indie cars as a fabricator. Yeah. And uh because that's what I am by trade as a fabricator. And then that's when I started getting into the formula racing because I bought a crash car, and by that time I knew how to fix them because I was doing building, I went to work from indie cars in 78, I guess, and then went to work for Danny Angaias, who was uh like my dad was Danny Angaius' mentor, and then Danny Angaias was my mentor. Great story. So yeah, in 1969, we were running the uh three Mustangs here at Bonneville on the 10 mile circle. So all out there was a 10 mile circle, and uh so it was for Ford, and it was the introduction of the Mach 1 Mustang for 69. This was in 68, and so I got to come up and I got to work, but I couldn't ride in the cars, I couldn't sit in the cars or anything. So after about a week, my dad said, Okay, he says, You can make a lap with Danny on Gaius driving. So, oh well, that's better than nothing. So we get in there, I'm sitting on the floor, right? And we take off in the 10-mile circle, and we go about a mile, and Gaius pulls over. Not really pull over, you're just on the track, right? And I said, What's going on? He says, Let's change. So I got to get in the car and he rode the seat and we zipped all the way around to almost one mile before we got back, and then we changed again. So it was like now that was bad because that just gave me the taste. That gave me the courage, you know. So but yeah, so I mean it was always like that. You know, you didn't want to he'd come to formula races and he'd watch, but he didn't help, you know. Yeah. I had Joe McPherson buy me a set of tires one day and uh right in front of my dad. I I sat on the pole with bad tires, and I needed tires for the race. And Jeff and uh Joe McPherson says, Go over to the good year booth, tell him that you need four tires, and he says, and I'll pay for it. That was a little zinger to your dad. I went out and beat his kid. That probably wasn't the greatest thing. I don't know. And you know what? It's so cool doing this interview with you here because your family is so involved in Save the Salt and Bonneville and so many classes, and you got a red hat on. Yeah. I mean, and it's like those guys are changing motors in the car right now. I mean, this is this is it.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Yeah, no, that's why I love doing interviews out here because uh it's hard to catch people, you know, because they're busy, but yeah, it's great. You just hear cars going down the line and people working, and it's loud, but it worked.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Yeah, they're taking the engine that we ran today, and uh we ran it as a seven-cylinder.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

So it was a V eight when we got the B record, it was 421 inches. Now Don Ferguson wanted to make a C motor. So he took one rod and one piston out of it and plugged up the cylinder, and we run we're running on seven cylinders. Wow. So it was a V7. That's true. And that's what we got the record with today's day. Yeah. That's awesome. Now they're taking that out and we're putting an A motor in to see if we can make it go faster.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

And your record was what did you what was your record?

SPEAKER_01 9:18

So it was 335 uh Vesco record, and we went 370.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

So we put almost 35 miles an hour on it. So that was cool.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Yeah, that is cool. So uh what about um I just to go back a little bit, like coming out. Did you come out with your dad when he would come out here?

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Not when I was little. I I went to El Mirage, not El Mirage, but uh, where did he run the one next to El Mirage?

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Uh BlackRock or maybe the Oh right there. No.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

No, it was right there next to El Mirage on on part of the Air Force Base there. That's way f the first day that he ran Challenger won. Okay. And I got to go out there with that. For that one. You know, I was little. And you know, but I mean I was always I was always in his shop and you know, the shop was behind the house because my dad worked as a uh a pressman at the LA Times, printing papers. Oh and that's what he did at night. And then uh that way he could, you know, work at night and make money. But in the daytime, like my mom would pull an engine out for him, and uh during during you know, when my dad was working, and then he'd come home and then he would, you know, fix whatever he had to do, do a valve job or whatever, and then she would put him back in. And another really cool thing about that is so my mom was with my dad in 1960 when he went 400. Uh-huh. Right. And she was with us when we went 400. Oh, in 16, 17, 17.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

There's like all these little connections with your dad and your and your 400 record. That's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Kid mom being there and everything. You know, it gives me the chills. Yeah. And she, I mean, last time she was here. So another quick story. So keep going. So she uh she's up here, or she's coming up, and that's the year that we ran 448 on the average. And three weeks before we're coming, she has a stroke. Oh, wow. And so I I told her, I said, look, mom, I said I got enough stuff to worry about with all the people got and all this stuff and threats that we're getting, all that. I don't I don't want you to come. You know, I don't want to have to worry about you too. And I'll that'll take, you know, that'll distract me. And she said, I'll tell you what, son, she said, I do what I want to do when I want to do it, and I'm coming to Bonneville, and you're gonna like it.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

I like that. Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

And she was here.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

I like I like your mom. I think I'd get along with her.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

In a wheelchair, she was here.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

That's awesome. She wanted to see you.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

It's cool.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

So what did she think about that? Like when you broke the record.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

She was so stoked. She was just she she was in that wheelchair, but she stood up.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

That's so cool. So you the first did was the first time you kind of really came to Baudeville's when you're doing that Mustang? Yeah.

Crashes, Calm Minds, And 448 MPH

SPEAKER_01 11:50

That was okay. Yep, that would have been yeah, 1968. So and I spent, you know, some time up here. I'd come once before when I was younger than that, but I don't really much remember. Yeah. And uh then my dad and I came back in that must have been about 72, and we were gonna try to do the big circle again, and we're gonna do it with uh Audi, Porsche Audi. And uh so we came up here and did a survey and everything, but there wasn't enough salt. Just in that difference in five or seven years, all that stuff over there, you know, it wouldn't it wouldn't hold up. So we didn't end up doing that.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

So what year was that that you were gonna do it?

SPEAKER_01 12:27

That probably would have been about 70 in the mid-70s sometime, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

So yeah, and it was it was you.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

It was already gone. So but it used to be at least it was white then.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

I know, no kidding, right? All the gray, it's grayish now. Well, when you uh um you were you racing, you went to India, then you went to Indy, then you went to For what did you say, F4?

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Was that the Formula uh Atlantic, which is the same as F2. Oh F2. Super V, which is the same as Formula F three. Okay. So but but the Indy car stuff I just I only worked there. I didn't get to ever. I got to drive the car from the pits, from the garage area to the pits on the tow rope. But that's as close as I got.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Who did you work for? What to mean? Danny on Gaius. Oh, that's who he worked. That was what I think. Interscope racing. All right, that yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

And he was uh well, like I said, he drove for he drove for my dad. He came over from Hawaii, raced motorcycles, then drove for my dad in uh dragsters and funny cars, and then then he had a little bit of uh road race stuff just real quickly. But yeah, then he uh went back to drag racing and then came full circle. And I mean he was he was the killer. That guy he was he was a bad man in anything he drove. Oh, that's cool. That so and you learned a lot from him. When I got to when I went to work for him, I mean I would be like we were at it it run Indianapolis on the last last week in a May, and then the next week I would be in LaMalle, France for the 24 hour, and three weeks later we'd be in Japan at another race. And so I did that that year I did 56 events in in 52 weeks, right? I mean, that was including testing, but all over the world. You're never home. Yeah, so it was that was never home.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

That's fun though.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

I was gone months. Yeah, I was young.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Yeah, yeah, you can do that.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Yeah, you could go, you could go party all night, all day. Yeah, well, pretty much.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Yeah, so okay, so then when did did you do anything in between that and when you came to Bonneville with with racing ways?

SPEAKER_01 14:24

No, I I I kept uh I went back to off-road racing because my dad paved the way for that to happen. Because I what happened, I had an indie car ride and or indie car test with Toyota, and uh it was all set up, ready to go. And then the about four days before the test, the guy called me and said, not gonna happen. Can't do it. And so then it was kind of like, mm, what am I gonna do now? And from there I uh went I got back into the off-road deal. And that's when we did all the stadium racing. Like we ran, you know, it's in uh Salt Lake City there it was at Eccles Stadium.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Yeah, Rice Eccles Stadium. Yeah, Rice Eccles.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

So we raced there, and then you know, we'd race Denver and LA Coliseum and uh Anaheim Stadium and you know, all over. So I did that. I drove for the Chevrolet factory for I think seven years. And so I own so I owned my own team and then uh prepared cars, you know, for my team. It was me. We had a two-car team for a while. So and that was that was some exciting racing. It was so much fun. I don't know if you ever saw one of those. Yeah, but they were it was yeah, it was serious.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

That does look like fun now.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

It was fun, it was so much fun. The way my dad laid the whole series out is like he did uh he looked up an attention span. The average person's attention is like eight to ten minutes. So he laid it out so all the races were eight to ten minutes. Wow. So you do an eight to ten minute race, and you could get up and get a a beer or a hot dog and a coke, and and the kids could come and you know everybody could sit in the stadium and be comfortable. And uh that's smart.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

That's like a prom he's a real promoter, is what he was. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah, extraordinary. So but so so we did that, and and you would have eighteen separate races in a three-hour period, and you know, then you could go home. And but we did that all over and and I drove for the Chevrolet, like I said, for that long, and then then I drove for Ford for maybe another year. And uh and then I had to go back and take over the the company which was failing going into bankruptcy. So I I went in and tried to save it and I couldn't. So then that's when the whole stadium race thing went away.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

So in the company, are you talking about the stadium racing company or like the tires? The stadium okay, okay.

Reviving Challenger 2 On A Budget

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Yeah, yep. By that time we didn't have too much to do with the tires. Okay. So um uh yeah, so yeah, it was the stadium stuff. So and it went away, and then I think Valerie and I uh we lost everything we had. Oh, uh everything cars, house, everything. So um when it went bankrupt. So then we uh we had it to Colorado, and then we lived there the last 28 years.

SPEAKER_03 16:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

So and did uh did way something weighted for all architectural work. Yeah copper sinks and copper countertops and stainless steel stairs and um you know, stuff like that for these real exotic tellurite houses. For the fancy people. For the fancy people. It didn't pay well.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

So you sp you started building the challenger too though, didn't you, when you were in Colorado?

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Yep. Well, the I had the car up there and it sat there in my shop and it was 76 steps to walk around it, and I must have put a hundred miles walking back and forth. But trying to say, you know, I want to run this car really bad, but but we didn't have any money, you know, is so because we lost everything that we had, and we're trying to build back. I was doing a lot of crash testing. Um my dad invented those water-filled plastic barriers that you see on the side of the road, and like in construction zones. And then he invented them, and then I went on and got them patented and got federal and state approval. And I think I did I think I did 32 crash tests. So there's a wall here, and I got to come in at 20 degrees at 45 miles an hour and hit that wall without swerving or anything because they got high-speed cameras watching it to show the worthiness of this barrier and how well it doesn't deflect back into oncoming traffic and stuff. So yeah, I did those all over. I did them in Germany and Japan and uh yeah, I did them everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

Do you feel like you got beat up doing that?

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Like was it I was just a crash test done because nothing's changed, you know.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

So you did that for a while and then you started, and then when when did you come back out to Bonneville?

SPEAKER_01 18:32

So I came up and uh actually it was funny because I came up in uh with Jim Travis. Okay, right, and uh then I met Ferguson and what it be would that be? I don't know. 99 or somewhere back in there, and Ferguson let me drive his Lakster. And uh but I knit that didn't get anywhere. We'd left the line and something broke, so I didn't get to, but it kind of set the set the hook. Yeah, you know, and so then got the bug that Travis was running the pumpkin seed that blew, you know, and that was a car that my dad ran. That was a car. It was a pumpkin seed. Yeah, and that was a car that my dad ran. Bill Burk Bill Burke had it first, and then my dad ran it, and he ran it with a Ford in it, and then it was just in storage, and my dad went to uh San Garo High School, so I took and donated the car to San Garo High School to their uh mechanics department, which was auto shop, uh welding, and body shop and the engine type deal. Yeah. So anyway, donated to them. I said, so it was three schools. One could do body, one could do engine, one could do chassis. And I thought that would be a great thing. Yeah, you know, because my dad gave these scholarships away um to to try to keep people involved in the in the industry. Yeah, the sport. And anyway, they never did anything with it. So uh after like 15 years, I gave the car to Jim Travis. And then Travis rebuilt it, stretched it a foot, and then He ran it a couple of times and his kid ran it a couple of times and then he said, Do you want to drive it? And I said, Well, yeah. And that's when I came up here and that's when that's when the hook got set deep. And so and we got a couple records with that thing, and then that that went on. Then like another four or five years after that, I drove a Mustang up here for Brent Hike, and we became the world's fastest production-based Mustang. I think we went to 58 or something.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

So did you get your red hat and that?

SPEAKER_01 20:27

I did.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

You did in the Mustang.

First Runs, Hard Lessons, And 419

SPEAKER_01 20:28

No, I got my red hat in the pumpkin seat.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

In the pumpkin seat, okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

And then went to the Mustang.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

And then three or four years later we built another Mustang. Because what Brent Heike wanted to do is emulate what my dad did with the Mustangs in 1968, because he had a red one, a yellow one, and a blue one. Okay. And each one of them ran in different classes. They him and Ungaya set over 300 records up here. Wow. That summer. So so Brent wanted to do that. So we came run the blue one and we went 258. Then we did, I forget, we got rained out the next year. Then anyway, we built another one and that one flew. Right. So coming through, coming through the four, 264 miles an hour, well over the record, and it took off. And it went straight up, 25 feet in the air. Then it flew 1,100 feet through the air, rolled seven times. The hood went through the five at 246. And I was upside down, and the thing flipped back on its wheels. Oh wow. So that was my that was my second real Bonneville experience. So now the hook got even set deeper. I want more of that.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

Oh my goodness. I've got most people like, oh, I don't know about this.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

That was it.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

Well was the light crashing like that.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

You know, and all the off-road racing that we did, the stadium racing. I mean, I've been like upside down 10 or 12 times in a day testing because those things were so on the edge, and you were pushing it and pushing it and pushing it. And so it was like that thing was flying through the air and it was upside down. There's some really good video on it, and uh um I it's on my Facebook page, I think.

SPEAKER_03 22:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Or and or on my website, which is Thompson LSR. Okay. Let's be racing.com. And uh it shows slow motion, the sixth to seventh rolls. I'm flipping switches off while it's still rolling through the air.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

You're like that's like how Tom Birkland is kind of too. Like he can just really like be calm and figure like at all the things he's thinking. I'm like, oh my goodness, I wouldn't be doing that.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Oh, yeah, I know, I know. Well, it's funny how how fast the mind works in 2018. So we did our down run and we went 446. Uh-huh. Right. So I'm going, okay. Now on the return run, we went 450 for 448 average, right? But on the 450 run, it's going through the four, about four and a third, right between these mountains right here, and a wind gust caught us, and the thing went dead sideways. So I'm looking at that mountain over there. Yes. Not floating mountain.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

And it did that. Then it went back the other way. Now I'm looking at Salt Lake City, and then it came back. And it on the third time, when it came back, it came back, it started coming back way slower. And I thought, if I pick the throttle up, I can drive out of this. Right. Which is which is dumb, right? Because all Bonneville people know when you get in trouble, you pull the parachute. It separates the center of pressure from the center of gravity, and it gives us car stability when it's in yaw. Yeah. And it and it's like, we've been working on this thing for eight or nine, ten years, and we're not coming back. There is absolutely no more money. I promise, Valerie, that's it, we're done. And uh, so it's like, do you give all that up or do you lag it? And I don't know how you're thinking about that at that, but yeah, it was legit.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

That's so cool. There's all that going through your head during that time. So that was with the the Challenger 2. So um let's talk about like maybe how that started that project. What what happened to get you going on that? Because you you got in the club. What what year did you get the two clubs?

SPEAKER_01 24:02

I think two maybe 2003. Yeah, 2003. Yeah. Okay. I think that's about right in True.

Sponsorship Hustle And Community

SPEAKER_02 24:09

That's the year I got in. That's a good year to get in. It was a good year. All the cool people were in there. Betty Birklin got in that year. Oh, really? Yeah. I love her. I know. Yeah, cool. Oh, I didn't know that. That's awesome. Um, and so you what you got in 2003 in the Channel Club, and then are you like, I'm gonna build it.

Retiring C2 And Preserving History

SPEAKER_01 24:28

So I think from there we went, you know, then I did the other things with the Mustang and all that stuff. And then um we're sitting at home, and yeah, I when my son was born, and that's when we had gone bankrupt and moved moved up to Colorado, nobody could bother us there. 10 miles down a dirt road. And you know, find me. Yeah, exactly. 8,000 feet, snow and skiing. Yeah, that's right. So it was uh and and I just kept working on it. And you know, Valerie and I kept talking about it. I said, I really want to do this. I really want to see if that car will go 400 miles an hour. Because my dad tested somewhere around 300, 350 with it, uh, but no, you know, never, never made a good run. Because in 68, when he built that car, uh that's when we were doing the Mustang stuff, and then uh it rained when they were getting ready to run the Streamliner, and so we got rained out for that year, and then in 69, Ford said, no, we're not going. Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler all quit racing in 69. So that win on Sunday sell on Monday deal went out the door. So that car went into a trailer and my dad went on to, you know, all the other things that it did. So that car sat and sat, and then in 1988, my dad came to me and he said, I'm gonna run my streamliner. I said, That's bitching, you know. Good on you. I said, if you need some help, I'll come help you. And you know, I was still uh doing the indie car stuff and all that stuff then. And uh then he says, No, but I want you to drive it. And I went, Wow, what I mean it makes the hair in my arm stand up. Yeah and uh I said, Well, yeah. So so we got together and we figured out what we're gonna start to figure out what we're gonna do for motors, got the car out of moff balls, and I mean it'd been setting for 18 years or something. And uh so we talked about it, and then it was less like a month later, uh two months later that my dad got killed. Yeah, you know, so then it was kind of like, man, this was gonna finally be a father-son project. I I don't want to do it without him, you know. Yeah, I want it to be that. And then after another however many years it was, a lot, it was like, I wonder if that car would really do what he set out to do, you know, and it was like, mmm, mmm, and finally it was, you know what? We gotta do this, and moved from Colorado back down, left my shop up in Colorado, came back down to California, brought the car down, didn't have any money, but just started working on it a little bit of a little bit, and then, you know, finally got a little bit of money, and we could buy a set of wheels for the dollies to push it around on. And and then uh Frankie, the one of the guys back there, the big guy, he was the first one to come to work for him. I worked on a about a year and a half by myself with you know with nothing. And then finally I got a little bit of money, and uh Frankie came to work, and then things thoroughly started happening because he's an ace fabricator, really, really good. And that's why we got him over here too now. Yeah. But so Frankie and I started working on it, and then we hired one more guy, and um then RC, who was the guy leaning over the engine right there, he uh he was right down the street, and they were all kind of watching us do it. And anyway, he came and he did the motors, him and Jerry Darien and a guy named Craig uh Johnson. But so he got involved in doing the motors, so we got some uh Brad Anderson blocks and heads, and so that started going, and it was just slowly, slowly putting little components together. It took eight years. Yeah, you know, and and uh but f you know, finally got it running, and it was uh we took it to El Mirage and we ran during the middle of the week about 160 and you know, figured out that we know nothing about land speed racing, nothing about trailers or any of this stuff. And so then we we did that and then we got it and we brought it out here to uh USFRA testing tune. And uh we you know, it kind of passed tech, kind of didn't pass tech. And but anyway, we got to run and the thing uh in the three mile we ran 319 miles an hour. You know, so then then we came back. Now now we're pumped, right? Yeah But we still don't know what we're doing. You know, you don't know the right trailer, you don't know where the right parts, don't have the right tent. Yeah, you know, it it's all of those things that make Bonneville what it is, but you don't know till you don't know. Yeah, and so and slowly, and then we so then we came for Speed Week, got rained out, and it's oh man. And then six weeks later we came to USFRA World of Speed. Right, world of speed? Yeah, world of speed. And uh and then we came up here and then we ran they said, Well, we're gonna put you on a limit and you can't run too fast, and but we did. And uh I think we ran so our very first five-mile pass we ran 392 miles an hour. Whoa! Two miles an hour under the record in our class.

SPEAKER_02 29:09

You're like, this is gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

This is good, and and then, oh, and this is the other thing. So because you learn so much at Bonneville. So we went through the lights, 392 miles an hour, like 400 exit, right? And pulled a parachute, and all of a sudden I can't see. Can't see nothing. It's just water, right? And it's just all over the visor and all the squirting me. I'm going, we don't, these are dry blocks. There is no water in the blocks. You know, and you're trying to think of it's happening. Yeah, and I've only been, you know, whatever it was before. Uh 264 is as fast as I've been. Now I'm almost 400 or am going 400 shutdown, and I'm going, what's happening? What's happening? So I flip my visor up. Well, the firebottles went off, and the fire bottles go right straight in my eyes.

SPEAKER_03 29:56

Oh, yes.

Records, Rivalry, And Respect

SPEAKER_01 29:57

I can't see anything. So I'm thinking, where am I? Am I at the five? Oh no, I was after the five because I pulled a parachute. Am I at the six, the seven? Am I into the mud? And I finally said, I can't see. And so I just turned off. And um, anyway, I turned off and everything worked out okay. And we put uh so we put fire bottles in it and and put all that in the next day and we went 419. What what year was this? So that would have been 14, 2014. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

But what's so cool about that is that you didn't have a lot to start with, and you just started plugging. I mean, I think that's people think that you're coming out here, you're gonna go in a forum on our car, and you just have all this funding and you're gonna, you know, but you just sat there and plugged away at it. I mean, that's how my dad races too. Like you just plug away, find, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

That's Bonneville in general. Yeah. You know, that's how well your dad did that. Yeah, for years and years, and multiple generations of all you kids and all that stuff. I mean, and that's what I mean. We came without this, and we came without parts, came without spare tire for the trailer. I mean, yeah, and all of those things you learn. And then, oh, well, I gotta buy that tent next year, and oh, I gotta have six cases of oil instead of two cases of oil, and and it's uh uh it's so pitching. I mean, it's like I I I can't even explain this to people that to this place that people don't know. It just like and the first time I drove out here towing my dad's car behind my truck, and it was like, oh and you know, thing was our car became the people's car. It's like we had no money, and I mean, no money, you know, and and it was like people kept there was this big circle of people watching because who's gonna this crazy, this crazy kid, not a kid anymore, by that time I was what, 48 years old or something, and but he's gonna try to take a 48-year-old or 40-year-old car when we first started and try to go 400. Who's he kidding? You know, and so you're talking to sponsors, they're going, You want us to sponsor a car that's 40 years old, and you think you're gonna get publicity and all that stuff. And so it was all and it was all different things. And I th I sent out over 3,000 sponsorship proposals to everybody, the car companies, everybody.

SPEAKER_02 32:12

I mean I bet most of them wish now that they would have taken me up on it.

El Mirage Hats And Hard Luck

SPEAKER_01 32:16

So here's one, right? So um it's like all the car companies, all those people that you normally go to are saying no. So I'm going, what can I do out of the box? Right. So I go, hmm. I'm now 50 something years old, 60 something years old, whatever it was. I'm gonna go to depends. And why would you go to depins? Well, I'm gonna go to depends because I'm gonna try to go 450 miles an hour, and if this thing scares the shit out of me, I want to diaperone, right? So I make this big proposal and all this stuff, and I take it to depends. It took me like three months to get into them. I take it to depends, and this lady is saying, Well, why do you think you would be good for our product? I says, I'm right in the middle of your demographics, right? Right in the middle, and I'm trying to go 450 miles an hour. And if this thing scares the shit out of me, I want one of your diapers. And and it was like dead silence on the other end of the phone. And I thought, this is the most brilliant pitch that anybody has ever put forward in the world of trying to sell sponsorship. And then she said no.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Oh, you're like, dang it.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

But but it was, you know, you're trying everything to, you know, to get the money to do this. And yeah, it eventually came together.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

Yeah, no, I I think that's a great story because I I mean, I didn't really know that. And that you had to really work hard and it wasn't it wasn't just given to you, and you you I think I think it's inspiring to people who are trying to maybe somebody who wants to come out here that just doesn't think it's it's just out of the limits. Like it's never gonna happen. And you just do it. Start doing that.

SPEAKER_01 33:52

It's not whether whether it's uh one of them motorcycles on course three going 50 miles an hour, right? There's no difference between that and the course one guys. I mean, it's all relative in whatever it is. You know, if it's a hundred miles, I mean you put a hundred miles an hour on a 50cc motorcycle, that's like going 400, you know.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

You're still working your ass off to get there. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Yeah, you tried everything and you know, wedged everything. And so anyway, I'm still doing that.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

So now you you you retired the challenger too.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

We retired the challenger too. I I told my wife, you know, that was it, that one year, that when we got the record. And uh so we sold it and uh we sold it at auction. It didn't bring very much money, but it brought enough money for me to pay all the bills that I accumulated.

SPEAKER_03 34:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Because you're supposed to know better at my age to not borrow money. Right. You know, but anyway, we sold it.

SPEAKER_02 34:42

You wanted to go racing that. Oh, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

Sold it, paid everybody off, you know, and and so that was all.

SPEAKER_02 34:47

Who did you sell it to?

SPEAKER_01 34:48

I sold it to this guy up in San Francisco, and unfortunately it's in a private museum and it's sitting up there where nobody sees it. And um, yeah, I'd love people to see it, you know. And for a while though, it sat in Portland at a museum in Portland, next to Challenger One. And then we moved both of them down to Daytona Beach in the day in the museum at the Speedway, and they sat next to each other before I sold it. So they got to uh they got to co-mingle, which was pretty cool. Because it's so funny, the 400 mile an hour stuff. I mean, you look at different cars um, you know, that go that fast. Yeah, and my dad's car was six foot wide and only twenty feet long with four motors in it. Summers Brothers was real narrow with four motors but long and skinny. And then uh, you know, the other cars are so much different in how they look, but there isn't a a a definite this is what you got to go to 400. So there's lots of ideas, and it's only up to you and the people that you work with on what you can do.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

Well, yeah, you're kind of and it is neat to see the different ideas people have and the the imagination that there's some creativity here.

New TV Series And C3 Dreams

SPEAKER_01 35:59

Well that's cool because you might think you might look at somebody's car and they're driving it by and you're going, that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life. That absolutely will not work. It cannot work. But that guy came up with that particular combination, and he thinks it's gonna work, and he put the effort into bringing up here. So, I mean, come on. Yeah, you know, bring it.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

Ah, cool. Yeah, I love it. And so now you're racing the Ferguson's car, and it is what is this, what class did you just got it a record, and uh what was the class?

SPEAKER_01 36:32

So it was C I shouldn't know this. C yeah, C fuel streamliner, and we got that today, and we bumped the existing a Vesco record that I think I think they got 20 years ago. Uh-huh. And so it went we went we bumped at 34 miles an hour, too.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Oh, it's Ronnie's, it's Ronnie's record. Is it Ronnie's record? I think so.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

Well, Rick called me today. He called me yesterday and congratulated me on qualifying, and then he called the day and said, congratulations on the record. So I thought that was pretty cool. Rick's a great guy. You know what I mean? He's a great guy. Yeah. And and for him to congratulate, but that's what this place is about. It's not about saving records. You know, it's about beating them.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

Yeah. You only you only hold them for a little while.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

That's it. That's and that's how it should be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

And that's cool. Like he called that's another thing about it, is just like that the fact that he'd call you and say, Congratulations that you got that record. It's that's the people that make Sponneville.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

That's the people that make Spawnaville. That kind of idea that we all want everybody to go fast and get records and well, and it's like how much, I mean, the Vesco family's been, you know, very invested into Bonneville. And as your family certainly has been, and in the the effort that your dad has put forth, you know, for save the salt and stuff. I mean, that's people that want to still see it happen, you know, and that have been here long enough to see how it's gone away. Right. You know, I mean, it's sad. It's it's sad up here.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

It's sad. You know. I was depressed after I came out here on Wednesday and went home for a little bit for Thursday to come back on Friday. And I was kind of depressed on Thursday. I was like, bum, but you know what? We're gonna make it happen. We're gonna do something. We're gonna try at least. I don't know what to do, but we're gonna try.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

So well, I mean, it used to be white from the gas station out.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

You know, right. Now it's brown. It's it's dusty coming out here.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

And they tell us the salt trust hasn't diminished. Like they tell us that. I'm like, so it's hard, but we're we'll get some eyes on it, I think, is what's gonna help.

SPEAKER_01 38:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, your your new efforts and stuff that that's well, not new efforts because you guys have been doing it for a long time. But yeah, it's that's that's that's impressive right there.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

So Yeah, we'll see what we'll see what happens. Uh hopefully I'm positive.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

The Bonneville bill is put in.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Yeah, you gotta get ready. I feel a little spicy about things. Yeah, perfect.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 38:40

So this car, how how is it how is it running the course, this course versus like other courses?

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Um so I've only driven it here and at El Mirage and I mean other oh you oh you so you've never driven this car before.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

No, no, I drive.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Yeah, I uh I'll take that back. So I drove it in 2021 and we got the B record at 385. And then last year we came up here, and as Bonneville can be mean, very mean, we never even made it to the five.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

You get those oh really? What happened?

Engine Swaps And Next Targets

SPEAKER_01 39:10

We broke we broke everything there was to break. If it could be broken, it it was us and and we got it. So you which we were very discouraged because we ran we ran two events here last year. We ran uh World Finals and Speed Week and and had that had failure. So anyway, we went back and you know, Don worked on it and got it worked out, and then we went to El Mirage and I had to go take a I had to be a rookie at El Mirage. So it was it was pretty funny because uh I was in the had to do the rookie meeting and I wore my 400 mile an hour cat and my black hat.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

Everybody's like, What the hell is he doing here?

SPEAKER_01 39:43

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 39:44

But everybody has to do it, that's everybody had to do it, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

And and then I made a mistake and I got I had to go to the principal's office and you know all that stuff. And then in May I got in the dirty two club.

SPEAKER_02 39:54

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

I didn't know got in in this car, ran two not and I mean

SPEAKER_02 40:00

That's I know Bonneville's like kind of the bigger club, but uh that's not a easy club to get into.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

No, it's pretty sweet. That's pretty sweet. So I got I got my red hat, my blue hat, and my black hat and my maroon. Maroon hat.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

What what did you get your blue hat in? In in the blue hat in Ferguson's car.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

So but I went from a red hat to a black hat. I skipped blue.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

You skipped the blue.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

And then came back and got it in his car.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

Oh, that's cool. You have all of them. What a stud.

SPEAKER_01 40:28

Oh. Oh God. Just an old man still smiling.

SPEAKER_02 40:31

Yeah, you're doing what you love.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Yeah. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 40:34

Well, is there anything else in the future that you're that you're looking to work on?

SPEAKER_01 40:38

Well, we're working on a three-part television series. We just got through with part one. Part one has a lot of the focus and car and Bonneville in it. It's all about Bonneville. Yeah. And then part two will be it's called Stand on the Gas.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

And uh part one, two, and three. And that was my dad's favorite saying. He would always say that. Like, if I mean, if if you were going to work on this, stand on the gas, you know, it was like whole ass, you know. Yeah. And so that was the name of everything. Yeah, like at the company, one of the big companies that he had, uh, they had the Stand on the Gas Award for the you know best employee and stuff like that. So this will be Stand on the Gas and and three three-part episode, three three half-hour shows. Um the first one we just finished I say we, they're doing it. Yeah. But uh sponsored by Mobile Oil. And uh so the first one's it's in it's in, but it hasn't been color corrected and they haven't voice overed it yet. Uh-huh. And that'll be Ferguson and Bonneville last year, and then then it'll go into my dad and Challenger one and me coming into the picture, and then the last part of it'll be Challenger Two and getting the records. So cool. Yeah. So and then well and kind of the purpose of it all is to try to promote some more money. Yeah. Because I would very much like to build another car.

SPEAKER_02 41:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

And go go for that big number.

SPEAKER_02 41:53

Build a string liner. Yeah. What number are we talking? Five. Really?

SPEAKER_01 41:57

Yeah. 500 mile an hour. It's not been done, not in a piston car.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

No.

SPEAKER_01 42:01

You know, so uh whether I can do that, I mean I'm 75, uh going on 18. But I mean, so if we can get the money, but but I can't do it the way we did last time with no with no money and you know, begging us my guys, you know, not working for two or three weeks because I couldn't pay them and that kind of stuff. It's we'll have to we have to get the money, and hopefully this television series will enlighten enough people. Yes, you know, that we can find some some money and do it. So oh good.

SPEAKER_02 42:29

I hope it does. It sounds it sounds rad. It's a show.

SPEAKER_01 42:32

It should be good. I mean, we know what we want to do for a car and that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 42:36

So do you know like what what are you what would you call this next car? You gonna call it Challenger 3?

SPEAKER_01 42:41

Challenger three. Nice. Yep, C three.

SPEAKER_02 42:44

Yeah, blue, it's gonna be blue.

SPEAKER_01 42:45

Oh of course it's gonna be blue. I'm almost a trader right now, right, drive with a red car.

SPEAKER_02 42:50

Yeah, that's yeah, that's not good. I but you're doing good in the red car, so yeah, you're doing really good.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

And and thanks to Ferguson, I mean, yeah, this whole group is it's they're so much fun to work with. Yeah. You know, so they're everybody's always got a good attitude, and you know, there's no uh sour pusses around or you can't.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

No, that makes that makes a big difference. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Yeah, go go away. You don't want to be convinced.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

Yeah, exactly. And so what's the record you're going? They're they're changing the engine right now.

SPEAKER_01 43:16

What is the record that so I think the A record is 279.

SPEAKER_02 43:21

Okay, so they're putting the A motor in it.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:23

They're putting an A motor in it. Is that an A motor in it?

SPEAKER_01 43:25

Yeah, so that's 279, yeah. So we've been 285 with the B motor. Okay. So the car's capable. If we if we have the right combination and the driver doesn't do anything dumb, you know, that we can hopefully I don't think you would. The stuff that you think maybe I should be thinking about driving.

SPEAKER_02 43:41

Thank you so much. This has been so great to talk to you. And I've been trying to get to talk to you, and I just always wanted to do it in person. So I appreciate your time. I know you're busy with getting to race, and it's it's a lot, but I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 43:54

Thank you. It's it's a pleasure to be on here. I mean, I listen to all your podcasts, and uh I just they're they're on my way to work, you know. That's uh on my way to work. On way my way to Ferguson. You need a baby, so it can't be work, can't be caught work. But yeah, well, thank you so much, and and I enjoyed it and and your family and is inspirational and the and the work that you guys are doing on Save the Soul is uh very inspirational and very needed. Yeah. So thank you.

Thanks And Closing Notes

SPEAKER_00 44:17

I appreciate it. All right, cheers. 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.