![]() ![]() The annual Speed Week race in late summer is the largest annual racing event, drawing hundreds of teams and filling restaurants and hotel rooms in the nearby border cities of Wendover, Utah, and West Wendover, Nevada, with spectators and pit crews. The feat was later depicted in the 2005 Anthony Hopkins movie The World’s Fastest Indian – also filmed at the flats. It’s also where New Zealand racer Burt Munro set speed records on his modified bike, including a 1967 record of 183.58 mph, which still stands today. It’s where David Abbott “Ab” Jenkins set an endurance record in 1940 with his vehicle, the Mormon Meteor. ![]() ![]() The flats, composed almost entirely of common table salt, have also attracted racers for more than 100 years with the hope that the hard, smooth track will help them beat the clock. The white, treeless landscape rimmed by purple mountains has served as a backdrop for films like Independence Day, countless car commercials, TV shows and photo shoots. “The main international racetrack used to be 13 miles in length,” said Stuart Gosswein with Save the Salt, a group of race aficionados that has raised the alarm. A car drives across the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. ![]()
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