Deteriorating conditions and wet weather at the Bonneville Salt Flats (BSF) forced the Southern California Timing Association/Bonneville Nationals Inc. to cancel Speed Week. The event organizers were unable to identify more than 2¼ miles of salt suitable for a safe course. Speed Week began in 1949 and is the largest annual racing event held at the BSF, with hundreds of teams racing every type of vehicle, from hot rods, roadsters and belly tankers to motorcycles, lakesters and streamliners. The event was also cancelled in 2014 due to rain, which marked the first cancellation since the ’90s.
Law and Order is an update of some of the most recent federal and state legislative and regulatory issues that could potentially impact the automotive specialty-equipment industry. These include issues affecting small-business owners and their employees.
An estimated 2,000 tons of salt were successfully deposited on the mud surface at the end of the access road to the Bonneville Salt Flats. It was graded and then dried to a hard concrete-like racing surface. Although modest in scope, the project demonstrates that it should be possible to deposit dry salt in targeted areas so as to help preserve our national treasure—the site where land-speed records have been set over the past 100 years.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has issued a draft “Environmental Assessment” (EA) regarding requirements for replenishing salt to the Bonneville Salt Flats (BSF) when potash is mined on adjoining lands.
SEMA has joined a number of prominent organizations to form the “Save the Salt” Coalition to protect the Bonneville Salt Flats (BSF) from continued deterioration due to salt brine removal from potash mining. SEMA and the Coalition are working with government officials, mine operators and others to develop a permanent program to replenish the salt.
