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Show & tA-v.'- 6At&b mgh H, SALT FLAT NEWS, OCTOBER, 1970 10 Sports Flame. Falters; ReeoM i The flickering Blue Flame is back out on the salt again, this time a colder and more k attempt which spread closer to two. unpredictable salt, after a scheduled Blue Flame and its crew encountered problems after reaching speeds of about four hundred and forty miles per hour. A backfire, unbeknown to its builders, damaged a section of the rocket engine. Therein lies the heartache. one-wee- The engine, a very uncomplicated looking, milk can type structure about four feet long, was torn down at the Western Garage and its innards taken to Salt Lake City for repairs and heli-ar- c welding. The car had .already passed its scheduled date for runs leading up to the assault on the world land speed record of six hundred miles an hour 1 held by Craig Breedlove. More heartaches. When the f t engine returned, crew members from Reaction Dynamics, engineers of the car, toiled under lights in the garage and on the salt to prepare the car for dawns racing light. The thirty eight foot car still was not operating at efficiency. It was decided to stop, rework the engine again and return October 5th to try -- again. For Gary Gabelich, a former test astronaut chosen to drive the Flame, it was seemingly endless series of wait and more wait. The various missile-lik- e technicians responsible for fueling, wheel bearings, lubrication and the like could also do little but wait. The second attempt could be more favorable. Much had been learned about the fickle salt during the first scheduled launching. Only the weather may prove a dark horde. i 1 1 Oar 1 1 t Where Are You? When Roy Palmer and Vem Madsen leave their American Oil station in Wendover on the run, its usually to run elsewhere. On a race trade. With car 27. 1! t t i Car 27 is rightly called THE car to watch on the Canadian- -' American Modified Racing Association (CAMRA) circuit. Its also a storybook tale of men who wanted to race. I I f f f At the end of a profitable summer in Wendover, Palmer and Madsen put their earnings into an already successful CAMRA carcar 27. It was a venture perviously only dreamed of. For Verns brother. Bill Madsen, it was also the fulfillment of a dream. He was to be the driver. '6 V thirty-seven-year-o- ld Billy, a former sprint car driver, had 'been in radng for thirteen years. He never had the money to drive the high powered machines against which he competed each year. Suddenly, here was the finely detailed, blue and orange, Chevy powered champion for him to drive. -- The car, smallest in engine displacement in the CAMRA circuit, won the Copper Cup Classic in Salt Lake City in 1969, then went on to win at Calgary, Edmonton and the Minnesota State Fair, where it averaged and ten miles an hour and hit one hundred and forty-fiv- e miles per hour on the half-mil- e track. Billy had tc adjust to the new car and the new circuit. But he did it quickly enough to break the records at the Salt Lake Fairgrounds Speedway set by the previous championship driver, Norm Ellafson of Spokane, Washington. Billy went on to become rookie of the year for CAMRA and is ranked ninth overall this year. Although the machine is normally filled with giant trophies and cash awards on the. way back from a race, the team also After buying the car, the team of went on to win the Gem State 100 at Boise and CAMRA Championships at Spokane and on to tour Monroe and Evergreen, Washington, Fresno and San Jose. After winning nearly every race in which they participated, car 27 spun out on the forty-nint- h crowd lap to a home-tow- n at the Salt Lake speedway and lost a race they wanted badly to Fleeting Island: GHirage Come True one-hundr- ed Madsen-Palmer-Mads- en win. 'Die cars 318 cubic inch engine has been completely rebuilt, its alcohol iqjection check- ed, brakes replaced in short, completely readied for its next encounter this month at Phoenix on a banked oval track. Car 27, nicknamed the Little Giant, will not be a dark horse to competitors. finds recognition from the grandstands. At the end of its last Salt Lake City race, young fans presented the team with scale models of car 27 and its tow car with the tiniest details reI think we liked produced. that better than winning the said Vern. big trophy, By R. N. Goldberger The end of the world, a ruddy-lookin- g racer comments as his arm sweeps across the vast Bonneville Speedway straight- away of salt to where the horizon can only he defined as a purple, silently shimmering mountain. For all practical purposes, that purple mountain is the end of the world, since it is nearly impossible to get there by car or on foot. Who else but an errant dreamer or a racer intoxicated with space would even attempt such a journey? The dreamer would have little difficulty, whereas the racer would make it only a few miles beyond the end of the straightaway, NEWS iloff photo. Workmen, laboring into the night under spotlights in a local garage, install seal on the Blue Flame engine after backfire caused damage. which is twelve miles long, and then find himself carried into a very muddy hangover with seventeen miles still to go. would be aimed for Floating Island, referred to as the purple mountain or the end of the world, located forty miles northefast of Wendover. Floating Island, rising like a strange moon floating in a milky sky, is the common horizon of every racer who sets out either to break a record or his neck. In the latter part of the Nineteenth Century, workmen building the Western Pacific Railroad through the Great Salt Lake desert noticed a strange mountain to the north that seemed to float on a cushion of air. There was some speculation at first that the alcohol obtained in these parts did strange things to a man. However, even the noticed the phenomhence the name Floating enon; Island. He rs non-drinke- A story is told that Craig Breedlove was once asked if he ever visited that chunk of shimmering rock he always rushes for in his attempts at speed records. Breedlove allegedly replied, Only my dreams know for sure. Deputy Carter received a report of a car being stolen from Wendover. The car was located the next day at Wells, Nevada. But before Carter could locate the owner to tell him the car had been found, the vehicle was stolen again from Wells. The Lady Lions had a rummage sale, which they termed a huge success. ISLAND A MOUNTAIN Floating Island is part of the Silver Island Mountains, although separated by a gap of five miles. Most of the mountains in the t f i i Great Salt Lake Desert were once islands in Lake Bonneville that existed eons ago. hundred feet Rising thirty-fiv- e above the wide mud flats, Floating Island is bounded by sand dunes on her westfhfnks, while remnants of the' Donner Partys adventure in Utah grace her east bench. Geologists have found minor fault zones where the five-migap exists between Floating Island and the mainland, and feel an. earthquake many years ago may be a partial answer to this apparent drift. It is possible to travel the area in a Jeep fitted with extra wide tires in exceptionally dry weather; otherwise special equipment is required. The only friend this desolate mountain has, besides the sun, are the test pilots of Hill Air Force Base, who use Floating Island as a reference point in 'their maneuvers over the Hill Test Range. , 1! I I ? t t le I S NEWS staff photo g CAMRA car No. 27 and hold Vern Madsen, left, and Roy Palmer pose in front of and car race it tow races. used Both models were made by fans to the to models of pickup truck at race Salt Lake after and presented Fairgrounds Speedway. front-runnin- y i At Ely, a ten steer team roping event was held at the fairgroudns September 26th and 27th. It was sponsored by the W. P. Roping Club. State Line Garage Your Chevrolet Dealer New & Used Cars Appliances Service All Cars ClavjasaEii Sales and Service Phone 665-236- 8 Wendover, Utah ?:- -. - |
