Despite growing up at a time when excursions to the salt flats of Bonneville and El Mirage were chronicled in Hot Rod and the other magazines we picked up when two quarters rubbed together in our jeans, the actual experience remained elusive. Occasional drives across interminable I-80 gave a brief hint of it, a chance to pull up at a rest stop and feel the texture of the medium, but not the sights, sounds and smells.
When Barrett-Jackson arrived in Reno in 2013 during Bonneville Speed Week it created a small window of opportunity. With a couple of days before the Monterey action got hot and heavy, Speed Week at Bonneville was just 350 miles out and back.
The actual experience proved more than … Pictures and more
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A cold wind blows across the pit area, kicking up silt; blanketing the track in the sweet aromas of racing fuel, barbecue and burnt rubber. In the distance, you can hear fighter planes buzzing into Nellis, and a lone rumble of a race car comes to a sudden halt. “Quiet Time.” is announced over the PA, conjuring up moans and groans from race fans and drivers. But this is as good of a moment as any to reflect:
The Fastest Street Cars in America came to race this weekend, and World Records were handed down … More
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Nürburgring Nordscheleife time is 7:08.679 for the Nissan GT-R NISMO.
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Danica Patrick climbs behind the wheel of a rental Kia and pulls into traffic. She doesn’t drive fast so much as faster than is necessary given the circumstances. She gets just close enough to be too close to the car in front of her, and then inches closer still. There is too much traffic to really open this car up … and not enough car that it would be worth opening up anyway. When she steps on the gas, it makes a noise like she stepped on a sick kitten.
I ride shotgun. Joe Crowley, her p.r. man from Stewart-Haas Racing, sits in back with Elizabeth Driscoll, the head of GoDaddy p.r. We’re going to Yogurtology, a self-serve frozen yogurt place not far from … More
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