Thursday, September 16, 2010

Ree Greenwood, fast and friendly!

Thursday morning, 9/16/10

We wake up early and Oli wants to have a picture on the salt flats. We pack the car and head for the Bonneville Salt Flats Racetrack. We take the exit and there’s a State Park with trailers and tent campers. Oli considers taking the picture there, but decides to keep on driving. We stop at a tent and say ‘Hi’ to the nice greeters and explain what we’re doing in a DeLorean Time Machine when asked, and are given a couple of pass pins and directions to follow the cones. It’s more than a mile to the raceway, but we figure we might as well take a look. We stop where there are a lot of cars waiting in line. Everyone is so nice, they suggest that we go to the pit area and talk to the organizers. We meet Ellen and she calls Jim. They have been involved with the races since inception in 1976. Jim says that we should get inspected and IF we pass, we can race. Not really race, but rather time test, -so we race time! There's a special section called the 130 Club. It's for regular cars to have fun, and the goal is to get to 130mph. From a dead start you have one mile to drive as fast as you can. Kenny, who Oli met at the hotel the night before, inspects the car; he’s the one that suggested we “check out the races.” The car passes -with Kenny looking the other way on a couple of items. Fortunately, we have our fire extinguisher, which is required. The only thing holding us back is a helmet for Oli. Can’t race without one. As we are heading for the line up area a guy on a 4 wheeler stops us to say hey. He asks if we are racing and Oli replies that we want to, but must find a helmet to borrow. The guy just hands him his! "Here use this one!" and then escorts us to the line up. The guy’s name is Dalton and he is a real good guy. We start to prep the car; no loose items allowed, -and we’ve got lots. So I start packing and realize that we are in the sun and we’re going to burn. Ahead of us are 4 ladies and a Mustang. I ask if anyone has sun block and am offered some. While we are protecting our ears, 'Ree Greenwood', one of the ladies, starts talking with us. We do a basic intro and then she asks if we’d ever raced before? No. Well, she had and she was ready to give us some great advice. Ree loaned us her compressor to inflate the tires. 'Less contact with the surface, the better,' she says. Helps us empty the passenger foot well. Laughs as Oli tapes an 88 on the car using some electrical tape. That’s our registration number! He slips on some long jeans over his shorts and puts on a long sleeve shirt (both are requirements to participate.) And before you know it, Oli is racing. I hand a camera off to Dalton and run for the start line. Oli’s off before I’m really ready. But I shoot as he blasts down the salt flats. Dalton rides me out to meet Oli and Oli’s asking if he can go again? Yes, Yes! I say and head back for the line up. Oli got up to 88 and was lucky for that much because of him being squashed in the car wearing a helmet. He has to sit slouched as it is. He's bummed, because he shifted from 2nd to 5th accidentally. So he’s ready for the second run. Getting advice from Ree. We empty the bonnet of everything. Ree has brought her Meata that she raced earlier and we use it as a storage car. She is so nice, all the while she’s been telling folks about our mission. Much of the donations that day is thanks to her! Oli is racing again. I’m better prepared and there are 3 professional photographers catching the moment. They just walked up and offered. Okay! Oli is off and gone. Dalton is waiting to ride me over to Oli when he comes back. I wave Oli on to the photographers who’ve set up lights for a shoot. Great pics are taken and we are grinning from ear to ear. Ree has stuck with us and brought our belongings and sign and even suggest taking our shoes off to walk barefoot on the salt. All this fun and a foot treatment too. Life is good.

Oli’s second run is timed at 99.9 and he is happy!! We're allowed 5 runs total, but time is short, and we've got to get to Danville for the next event.

We finish up with Oli doing an interview and we pack up as the photographers take Ree’s pic in her sweet Meata!

We head back to the pit so we can say thank you and good-bye. Jim is there and I give him a great big hug. This was more fun than we could ever have imagined. We’d seen the movie, 'World's Fastest Indian,' starring Anthony Hopkins. It’s an amazing movie that had been filmed right there on the salt flats, and with many of the club's members. And Oli just raced time on the very same! The gang says goodbye and hopes we'll be back, now that we've 'had a taste of the salt!' What an unexpected adventure!

Now we are off to California. I keep trying to help, but I am still not confidant driving the D. At least I can give Oli a break, short one but it’s a break and we are still moving.

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