Talladega Goes to Bonneville

We have posted several times here about Team Member Mike Callahan’s high speed runs at Bonneville. He drives his Spoiler II there, makes his runs on the salt, and drives back home in Ohio! It is truly a remarkable achievement he has repeated several times. I am sure the Blue Oval Aero Cars have been used successfully by others at Bonneville over the years.

Hagerty News recently ran an article on non-Team Member, Larry Wilson’s efforts to break 230 MPH in a real deal Talladega. I encourage you to follow the provided link to read the entire article by Brandan Gillogly at the Hagerty Media Site. All of the photos posted in this article are also by Brandan!

Larry’s car was reborn from a real Talladega that was missing its engine, transmission, and a large portion of the body due to rust. Today, it isn’t lapping Daytona asphalt but rather running straight down Bonneville salt.

As I stated before, it is a real Talladega converted to a Bonneville racer. Some readers here may cringe at that but not me. There are a good number of driver quality Talladega’s out there and a growing number of Concours restorations. Ford did not design the Talladega for either of these uses, they designed and built a race car. It’s my opinion that as long as we have a substantial quantity of original and restored “Big T’s” that mild modifications and race cars are encouraged.

Be honest, when you attend a Talladega Spoiler Family Reunion or Aero Car Event don’t most of you spend more time looking at the race cars and modified cars? Just my humble opinion, what do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comment section towards the bottom of this page. Let’s hear what you think.