Bonneville World Of Speed 2024

Witten by Kyle

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I have been attending the Bonneville Speed Week and Bonneville World Of Speed land speed racing events since 2010, the first year I ever participated in land speed racing. I’ve taken the past few years off while moving and settling into a new home and state, but went back to the salt flats this year to support my brother’s racing efforts! 

For the uninitiated, Street Muscle Magazine has a great article on the history of racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats you can check out Here. But if you can imagine racing it, you may see it on the salt.

This year my brother Tyler Malinky returned to the salt with his dual engine 1950 Triumph, the first time racing this bike on the salt since he wrecked it in 2021. Bee and I jumped in the truck and headed from Creede, Colorado to Wendover, Utah to meet the Lowbrow Customs race team.

As always, it was great to be back on the salt and with friends and family who have been attending and helping for years, even our friend Phill, came in from Australia to help crew. Making it even more of a family affair Tyler’s wife Julia, and his girls Darly and Virginia joined us on the salt!

Day one of racing, the bikes had already passed technical inspection and been fueled up, the morning started with the drivers meeting as it does every year, and we proceeded to the start line. It’s hard to explain how special it is to see the sunrise out on the salt. Not to mention the sound of hundreds of cars and motorcycles being fired up, and the smell of race gas and nitromethane in the air. 

Slowly but surely we moved further up in the line. Finally it was Tyler‘s turn to run and he had an absolutely beautiful takeoff, running the 3 mile course and exiting with a speed of 156.34 mph, enough to qualify for his class record of 151.175 mph!

You would think that this is time to celebrate, but nothing on the salt is easy. At Bonneville you have to exceed the current record, you then go into impound (you have a few hours to rest and inspect your vehicle but can not make major changes), and you then have to back the record up – Run again, taking the average of the two speeds. If the average speed is higher than the existing record, that is the new record for the class. 

Normally they do the backup runs in the morning, however they gave Tyler the option of running the same day. This is a shorter event, only 3-1/2 days not a full week like Speed Week, so Tyler decided to jump at the opportunity to run again.

Back at the starting line Tyler got into his race leathers and  fired the bike up, waiting for the signal for a clear course so he could start his run. Another great sounding take off, and I ran back to the truck to listen to his speed called out over the CB. I either missed it or they didn’t call it, so I headed back to impound to hear the good or bad news in person. It ended up being great news, his second run was 153.50 mph, making an average of the two runs 154.88 mph, a new world record in his class!

With a couple days of racing left the crew reset the bike and made further attempts to raise his new record speed, although we were not able to push the speed any higher. Besides the lines of other racers waiting to run there were delays for electrical issues with timing equipment on the track. This as they say is racing: Hurry up and wait;  Equipment issues; Sourcing parts or welders in the middle of a salt desert and far from any major city; mysteries to solve. In the end, Tyler left Bonneville with a new record, and a list of work to do to prepare for next year, the goal to raise his own record, and switch classes to try and capture the fuel record as well. 

It’s been several years since I’ve raced on the salt, but this whole experience lit a fire under my ass to pull the bike out of storage and begin working on it for next season. What they say is true, once the salt gets in your blood, you’ll never get rid of it!