I was a Track worker that day. I was manning the dirt road at the top of the hill before the finish. Gottlieb's Camaro came by way over 200mph. You could here the air sound as the car approached from a mile away but no engine sound until it passed by and I was shooting photographs right on the edge of the road. I was helping Pratt Cole that day. I have his entire in car camera footage from the 1990 Silver State Classic in the Rain when he won it. Gottlieb was not at the 1990 race. Pratt got sideways in the rain at 170mph. Makes your stomach knot up when you watch it. If I can figure it out I will post that footage. It is a VHS tape though.
We participated in the 1990 event which was chaired by Roger Ward. Our little 87 Porsche 944 Turbo averaged 148.5 and the event was run professionally. Roll bar, 5Pt seat belts, fire extinguisher, suites, gloves and a big smile. Still have the Porsche!!
I still have this on VHS! Watched it so many times as a kid I’m amazed I didn’t wear it out back then. No idea if it’s still playable after all this time, but it’s great to be able to watch on here. Thanks for the upload!
Found this video a few years after I got involved with this. Worked the last big straight before the Hiko narrows from the hill roadside that many of the shots came from. My friend and I worked together there from 90 till 2000 for Ken , I continued until last year when I was asked to send off from pre grid. Sadly Jean's death was the first of several here at the event. Also met Steve Waldman who became president of Silver State Classic Challenge. He was a good friend to me until his death. Miss you my friend. Race on all from then. Many of them have passed away. Got to know many over the years I have been there.
And sure enough…I bought a 69 with a measley 600hp 540bbc. Come my bday in august it should be around 700hp. Thx a lot Big Red! I still have the hot rod mag with it on the front right there beside the throne!!
Me and Tempa Feagin will be at the May 2022 event, I have new continental extreme sport tires,, They are very important, All the best full race safety, To Honor folks who wreck and such ! 100 % and to keep us safe ! 120mph class S10 chevy hot rod, # 288.. See ya guys there
I remember the article in "Autoweek" and it concurs with statements below referring to the Ferrari driver debating the speed rating on the tires. Some people don't realize in racing you put tremendous stress on all parts of the car. Everything must be gone over! I know a guy who tracked his car for 8yrs and a simple tie rod failed and destroyed his car! Thankfully he is okay but one should never 2nd guess anything on their car.
Some newer muscle cars couldn't make the full Silver State Challenge race distance. If a stock Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat can kill around 1.5 gallons of fuel per minute. With a 20 gallon tank it would be out of gas in around 13-14 minutes. The Mustang GT500 is a gas guzzler on the track also and both are heavy weights. Any car finishing in under 34 minutes hitting 190MPH plus was really impressive for 1989.
Yeah, I was a little skeptical of Mr. Holdner's claims as well. I think he may have been downplaying his mods a little. Believe it or not, the tape on the front end probably helped quite a bit, I mean, sure, it probably didn't get to 160 MPH quick, but it eventually did. That said, Richard Holdner has a RU-vid channel here and is always dyno testing different engine combos, not just typical LS, SBC or SBF stuff either. He's no stranger to making power.
that 1984 Corvette of Weerasuria (yes I needed to pause the clip when he was introduced to get his name right :) is one mean machine ! a 355 with a 13:1 compression ratio making 600 hp naturally aspirated, truly a testament to that engine architecture, this power dwarfs anybody else in the field except for Big Red of course. nothing needs to be said about that car, accomplished racing event heritage, the family has owned and raced it for well over 30 years now breaking their own records. as crazy as 220 mph sounded back in '89, let alone for a 1969 stock bodies Camaro, they have pushed the car above 250 mph in more recent days. absolutely mind blowing incredible !
Oh, wow! I knew some of these guys would quote Steve McQueen.....and the fellow in the end quotes McQueen from Le Mans right in the end. So much for originality.......
Bartchi had stock, came with the car, Goodyear Tires on his Testarossa that day. They had a debate about whether he should change them out. Bartchi's thinking was they came stock on the car so they should go as fast as the car can go. We elected to put on a set of General racing DOT tires. General was the only tire manufacterer that said "put'em on, they'll be fine". Everyone else we contacted asked us not to use their tires for that race. Interesting I thought at the time.
@@thelasthallow, Yes they had speed rated tires in the 80's. 1982 I started to work for a small local independent Tire dealer. We were a B.F. Goodrich dealer. That's where I was first introduced to working with tires and the fact they had speed ratings. Your ordinary passenger car tires carried an SR rating up to 112 mph, Then you had HR up to 130 mph and VR 160 mph. The ZR's came out in the later 80's made by Goodyear and other manufacturers also. The thing is back in the early 70's John Greenwood campaigned his stars and strip Corvette powered by an L88 on BFG radial T/A street tires running speeds of 200+ before switching back to race tires. If you remember the 88 based Callaway Corvette the Sledgehammer that set a world record was a twin turbo small block that went 254.76 mph on a set of special made Goodyear tires that GM asked Goodyear to make that looked just like the factory Eagle tires on the factory cars right down to the tread design. These tires were good for 300 mph and reportedly cost them a million dollars to make. Reeves Callaway drove the car long distance to the track and put on the special Goodyear tires. Then John Lingenfelter set the record driving the car and they put the stock tires back on and drove the car home again. Corvette got ZR rated Goodyear tires in 1988 on the Z51 & Z52 and Callaway Twin turbo cars. They used the 17 wheels new for that year. Back in 84 with introduction of the C4 Corvette they got the new specially designed Goodyear VR rated Gator backs on 16 wheels. There is safety margins built into the tires they install on high performance and standard passenger tires. Heat is a tire killer. Tires fail when they are over loaded and especially when run with less than proper inflation. That's why so many high performance cars come with low pressure warning systems from the factory. Also many now equip cars with run flats also. Here is a link I hope will help answer any other questions. www.thoughtco.com/tire-speed-ratings-explained-3234475
I've been a big red fan since 1988, at silver state, we were just kids back then too stupid to be scared of 200+ immortals we were then now 150 fast enough let alone 215 and you don't think thats a difference but its a huge difference do 120 for ten miles and bring it back to double nickel you feel like you can get out and walk faster, speed is deceptive on a long haul I hate to say you get used to it but you get used to it, The Texas big bend run is the best ask R.J. that run can put the butterflies to the brake pedal red is legendary 🙌
Its sad but i figured you'd put RACING TIRES on for a RACE that has you hitting speeds of up to 180+!!!Well...at least she got to drive the car there to the race...even though it was the last race eva for her....She said it herself tho...it's like FLYING.....kinda creepy