Triumph and Tragedy Define an Emotional SCTA Speed Week on the Bonneville Salt Flats
Originally known as the Bonneville Nationals Speed Trials, the first land speed event organized by the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) on the Bonneville Salt Flats took place in 1949. The SCTA’s 77th annual Speed Week returned to Bonneville August 2-8, 2025, and welcomed more than 250 race teams from the United States and around the world. They all made the pilgrimage to Utah with the same goal: to try and set a record on the fabled Bonneville Salt Flats.
Speed Week means different things to different people. While an elite few are trying to set records over 400mph, others are trying to get into the prestigious 200mph Club, and some may be trying to break a 50mph record on their motorcycle.
Before racing got underway, the car show at the Nugget Casino in nearby Wendover unofficially kicked off SpeedWeek on Friday night as hundreds of hot rods filled the parking lot. The Nugget is the place to be each night if you want to see cool cars, make new friends, and reminisce about all of the day’s action.
Speed Week features a wide range of vehicles including roadsters, streamliners, trucks, hot rods and motorcycles that push the limits of man and machine during a grueling speed fest where horsepower and aerodynamics are put to the test on the “great white dyno.”
The Ferguson Racing team, with Danny Thompson at the wheel, set two records during this year’s Speed Week. After setting the C/Fuel Streamliner (FS) record at 370.756mph, they swapped engines and put in their 490c.i. Hemi with their sights set on the A/FS record of 379.606mph. After running 400.318mph on their first run, Thompson streaked across the five-mile marker, stopping the clocks at 411.948mph on his backup run with an exit speed of 421.943mph, the fastest unblown single-engine run ever. Thompson’s two runs averaged 406.133mph to achieve his goal and reset the A/FS record.
Thompson’s 421.943mph exit speed was the fastest recorded during the event, meaning his name would be etched into the Hot Rod Magazine Trophy for the first time, some 65 years after his legendary father, Mickey, who recorded top speed of the event in 1959 and 1960. The Hot Rod Magazine Trophy has been awarded to the fastest car during SpeedWeek since 1949.
But speed comes at a cost, financially, physically, emotionally and sometimes, tragically, at the ultimate price. Chris Raschke a deeply respected member of the land speed racing family and an industry icon with ARP, lost his life in a high-speed crash while at the wheel of the red, white, and blue Speed Demon 3 streamliner on Sunday afternoon.
Last year, Raschke became the 17th member of the 400mph Club with a run of 446.716mph and set the B/BFS record in the iconic gold Speed Demon at 432.274mph, which earned the team its 12th Hot Rod Magazine Trophy. Coming into SpeedWeek this year, the team had a goal to make a couple of check-out runs on the new car and then try to set the record in the E/BFS class, which was 348.150mph, but they never got the chance.
Following the fateful run, competition shut down for the day. With heavy hearts, racers returned to the salt on Monday morning and continued racing through Friday with Raschke and his family still on everyone’s mind.
After seven days, more than 1,200 runs had been made, and 89 records had been set. Eleven racers entered the prestigious 200mph Club in 2025, including Tom Bailey and Dave Schroeder, two of Drag Week’s fastest drivers. Bailey and Schroeder both set records in Keith and Tanya Turk’s 1980 Camaro using different engines and competing in different classes. Bailey set the record in the B/Classic Blown Gas Coupe class (CBGC) at 233.905mph utilizing a 417c.i. supercharged small-block Chevy. Then the team dropped in a 347c.i. small-block Chevy powerplant, and Schroeder upped the C/CBGC class record to 236.326mph.
England’s Geoff Stilwell also joined the 200mph Club while setting the record in the A/Blown Fuel Rear Engine Modified Roadster class (BFRMR) with a speed of 289.239mph. It took Nevada motorcyclist Jesse Brown nine years to get into the 200mph Club, but it was worth the wait. Brown’s record of 207.247mph was also the fastest run ever by a Buell.
The youngest driver to join the 200mph Club was Carson May, a 16-year-old stock car driver from Florida. Behind the wheel of a 1972 Datsun 240Z, May set a new record in the F/Blown Fuel Modified Sports class (BFMS) at 246.003mph. The record was previously held by his grandfather, Red Stauffer, at 231.142mph.
The final run of 2025 SpeedWeek saw Jay Meagher drive the Valley Fever F/Blown Fuel Streamliner (BFS) with a 3-liter turbocharged Toyota 2JZ inline six to a new record of 361.347mph with a jaw-dropping exit speed of 385.092mph, the fastest six-cylinder speed in history. 
With its roots dating back to the earliest days of hot rodding, land speed racing is considered by many to be the last pure form of racing. Here, speed has no boundaries. The salt flats are hallowed ground, and people return to Bonneville year after year to chase their dreams. No points, no trophy, no paycheck. Just a racer and their team trying to outrun the record book.
Enjoy the gallery from the amazing work of Marc Gewertz.
