Another record-breaking number of entrants at Bonneville for this year’s Speedweek combined to break 165 speed records and send 12 more racers into the 200 MPH Club.
Despite the last-minute relocation of the courses on the Bonneville Salt Flats and the elimination of a proposed third due to heavy rains the weeks before Speedweek started, 552 entrants — including both cars and bikes — made 2,133 runs over the six days. Ninety records fell to cars, while another 75 fell to bikes. The fastest of those records set this year belongs to Mike Nish, who drove the Chevrolet V-8-powered Nish Motorsports/Royal Purple No. 998 AA/FS streamliner to a speed of 377.715 mph.
Nish already belongs to the 200 MPH Club’s 300 MPH Chapter, but he was able to welcome to that exclusive fraternity one other racer: Don Ferguson III, who set a record of 300.943 mph in the XXO/FS class with his No. 75 streamliner, powered by a 320-cu.in. GMC six-cylinder engine with a Fontana head.
Of the bikes, the fastest record went to Scott Guthrie Racing, which pegged 250.135 mph in a 1,650cc-powered Hayabusa for a record in the MPS-BF class.
For full results, visit the Southern California Timing Association and Bonneville Nationals Web site at scta-bni.org. Next year’s Speedweek will take place the week of August 18.
(This post originally appeared in the August 23, 2007, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)