Where the Rubber Meets the Salt

When Lee W. went to Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2000, he was only a spectator. While for years he had been involved in race driving, fabricating and/or mechanics for go-carts, midgets, sprint cars, dragsters, Trans Am, NASCAR, Formula One and even Indy cars, he had never gone for a world speed record. So he started building a nostalgic Gas Roadster class car to try and has never looked back. After all, his roadster doesn’t even have a rearview mirror. Although it is all hand built, the car looks like a ‘29 Model A roadster. It has a mild steel frame with dropped tube front axle. It has a solid rear axle (no springs for comfort) with NASCAR-type drum brakes. These rear brakes are only used at low speeds, with a drag chute acting as the main stopping power. At that time, he powered the roadster with a small-block Chevy engine with a Muncie Super T-10 four speed trans. After three years work, it was on the road, or salt, and Lee ran it for four years at Bonneville and qualified for a B license, good for speeds of 175-200 mph. This year he has dropped in a carbureted 300 CID flathead Ford (built by fellow Roamin Angel Richard C.) and plans to break the record of 153.603 mph for that category. There are faster cars there, using modern engines, bodies and suspension, but Lee is a purist. His PIP (Parts Is Parts) Racing (named by another Roamin Angel, the late Mike Zankich) is dedicated to honing the techniques of the early days of hot-rodding rather than just buying the latest “stuff.” It is what Lee calls the “purest form of American racing,” where you might say the rubber meets the salt.

Lee makes a timed run in his roadster. As he neared 200 mph, he described watching the mile cones whip past as “The Rush.” Painted on the side is C/GR, designating a gas roadster with a 306-372 CID overhead-valve engine. With the flathead in it, the car will be an XF/GR.

With the body off, it is easy to see the dropped axle (an axle that dips in the center to lower the car) and the Chevy engine that has been changed. Most of the work was done by Lee through his company, Lee’s Metalworks, but other Roamin Angels helped. Besides those already mentioned, Larry of C & L Enterprises and Bill Andre were of great assistance.

Lee, standing under the umbrella, stays in the shade as he awaits his turn for a run on the salt. A group of Roamin Angels known as the Bonneville Bad Boys are with him to help when needed. In fact, so many of the club are involved that Lee calls the car a “closet” project of the Roamin Angels.

Story by Ron C. ©2007