Like most HOT ROD readers, my first and initially only exposure to land-speed racing was through the pages of the magazine when I was a young teen. My generation read about people such as Al Teague and Barry Kaplan in the prose of HOT ROD’s Ol’ Dad, Gray Baskerville. He drew a mental picture of the glories of racing for top mph upon Southern California’s hard-packed silt dry lakes and he turned the Bonneville Salt Flats into the center point of all that was important in the gearhead world. I bought it in. I was incredibly fortunate to have made my first trip to Speed Week at Bonneville with Baskerville in 1992 as a fresh HOT ROD editorial staffer, and he was there when I first visited El Mirage a year later. The dream of heritage-style land-speed racing stuck with me.
By early 2001 when I was the editor of Rod & Custom magazine, HOT ROD staffer Will Handzel introduced me to Keith Turk who was informally doing PR for the East Coast Timing Association, which operated a standing-mile series of land-speed races in Moultrie, Georgia, and then Maxton, North Carolina. Keith set me up with a ride in Brett and Regan Yates’ roadster at Maxton, and later on, I had another ride in a former NASCAR car owned by Bob Gribble. Keith bought a Camaro that had raced at Moultrie and Maxton. He brought the Camaro to Bonneville in 2001, blew up a 302 Chevy, and suckered me into helping him change the engine. By summer 2001, I had become the editor of HOT ROD, and it’d be a couple of years before I ran into Keith again, though I kept swindling rides from other people. I think it was 2003 when I did my first 200-mph pass at Bonneville in Bob Gribble’s former NASCAR race car.
This story is from the August 2021 edition of Hot Rod.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 2021 edition of Hot Rod.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Making Connections
Project T-top Coupe: We install a Terminator X Max for big power.
LET IT BREATHE!
Project X’s new ZZ632 big-block needed to breathe, and this do-ityourself stainless exhaust kit was just the ticket to make it happen.
TUNING OPTIMIZED
VARIABLES WITHIN FUEL-INJECTOR CONSTRUCTION CAN LEAD TO POOR ENGINE OPERATION. HERE'S HOW TO TUNE YOUR FUEL INJECTORS.
Re-Flange It!
We check out the fab skills needed to run a flat hood on a 1970 Mustang with a very unique and too-tall engine.
THE TRIBUTE FOR THE WIN
Ron Capps wins the NHRA U.S. Nationals driving a Don Prudhomme-Hot Wheels tribute Funny Car.
So Close
Following a nearly flawless performance, a pít lane penalty kept the C8.R off the top of the podium in the IMSA Sportscar Weekend.
A RADICAL SHIFT
When you're a teenager and the police know you by name, it's not usually because of your volunteer work or class-topping GPA. Not at all. That was especially true for Jeff Kainz when he was behind the wheel of his 1975 Camaro. In the '80s, while cruising his hometown in North Dakota, his buddies with police scanners often heard the police tell one another: \"Kainz is out on Main Street.\"
WILD MASH-UP
Built to long-haul the 2023 HOT ROD Power Tour, this 1984 Monte Carlo’s facade hides a performance secret!
6 TIMER!
Tom Bailey captures his 6th HOT ROD Drag Week Unlimited/Overall title with his Sick Seconds 1.0 Camaro.
JIM MCFARLAND'S INFLUENCE WENT WAY BEYOND HOT ROD MAGAZINE.
Jim McFarland, the multitalented, multifaceted Texan who enjoyed several careers in the automotive performance industry, passed away in October 2023 at the age of 88.