I
Article By: Chris Callen
Photos By: Scooter Grubb, Chris & Heather Callen
t’s been six years since I stepped foot on the salt flats of Bonneville, long years. Years that have kept me away from people that had become my second family. For the seven years that I made the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trails part of my annual trek, I have had the privilege of watching children of my friends grow up, records be broken, experienced the loss of friends and have shared that with the family I made at Bonneville. All of this makes the Salt Flats an extraordinary place, makes the people special and in the end worth the trip to one of the most remote parts of these United States. Although in spite of the things I have mentioned in this small introduction, you are not likely to see major news networks there, there are no historians on hand to record the giant steps made in innovation of the twowheeled combustion vehicle, there will
10 December ‘18
- CYCLE SOURCE MAGAZINE
be no scholars waiting to debate the achievements of these warrior poets who follow a path without a map. No, this may be one of the most pure and metaphysical connections between man and machine left in the world today, and finally, I was back! Since my last trip to the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trails, there had been some changes. Namely the ownership of the event and the name. This mattered little in the end as the track workers, team members and general attendees were much the same as I had left them. Some a little greyer, some a little more celebrated for their new records, but for the most part intact. Since I had never had the time to make it to Bonneville early, I was stoked to roll into Wendover Nevada days before the gate opened. I always wondered what it was like to be early. Well, it
happens that there isn’t really much reason to be there early. I mean, don’t get me wrong, seeing the hangar of the famous Enola Gay, the Air Force base that has been restored that trained men and women of that era, was awesome, but that was about one day’s worth of entertainment. No big deal, we filled our days by accomplishing one of my long-time goals; camping on the salt flats. We set up our mobile command center right on the corner of the road that leads to the boat ramp. We not only achieved that but managed to do an episode of ShopTalk live from the Salt. Within a few days, other familiar faces started to pour into this sleepy little gambling town and all of a sudden, we had more than just Wendover Willy as our neighbor. On that live broadcast alone, we were joined by old friends Santa
