The unsung heroes of motorsports often operate just beyond the spotlight, their critical work making high-speed glory possible while ensuring competitors return safely. Monte Widdison stands as a perfect example – the tall, calm presence who's been the last person thousands of racers see before accelerating down Bonneville's Salt Flats.
For over 30 years, Monte has served as head starter for the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association, developing an approach to safety that racers credit with saving their lives. When Bob Dalton survived a 400+ mph crash, his first words to Monty were, "You saved my life," crediting the meticulous way Monty had tightened his safety belts. Similar testimonials from other survivors highlight how essential this final safety check truly is.
Beyond starting duties, Monte helped revolutionized course preparation techniques at Bonneville. He reveals the secrets of identifying the optimal salt surface (not bright white but a harder, grayish-opaque salt), creating perfectly straight courses using distant mountains as reference points, and preparing racers mentally for their runs. His insights into salt conditions and driving techniques provide rare, practical wisdom for anyone fascinated by land speed racing.
The stories Monte shares – from Bobby Unser initially resisting safety checks until Monte discovered his unlatched shoulder strap, to calming nervous racers with breathing exercises, to his adventures with temperamental course-dragging vehicles – paint a vivid picture of Bonneville's unique culture and challenges. They reveal how seemingly small details and procedures become life-critical when vehicles are exceeding speeds of 200 MPH plus.
Whether you're a land speed racing enthusiast, a motorsports fan, or simply curious about the extraordinary people behind extraordinary achievements, this conversation offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of those who make record speeds possible – one safety check, one mile of perfectly prepared salt at a time.
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Episode Transcript
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Introduction (00:01):
Welcome to Landspeed Legends, a podcast
talking to the men, the women,the legends that make land speed
racing great.
Discover the stories of theseordinary people whose passion
for land speed racing has madethem legendary.
And now here's your host theBonneville Belle, the high boy,
(00:23):
honey, the salt princess, alisonVolk-Dean.
Allison Volk Dean (00:29):
Okay, so today I have the legendary Monty
Witteson with us, and a lot ofyou may know him from being a
starter.
For how many years were you astarter?
Monte Widdison (00:40):
Well, let's see, it's been over 30 years.
Yeah, 30 years, I couldn't sayexactly.
Allison Volk Dean (00:46):
But Yep at the USFRA events that he would
was the head starter for theevent.
Right, correct, all right, well, how did you?
How did you originally getinvolved?
Did you?
Were you involved in otherracing before or how did you get
started in all this?
Monte Widdison (01:02):
I've always been a car enthusiast and when I was
in high school and college Iwas an athlete, so I didn't
really get involved in the carpart of it.
But once I graduated fromcollege I said I'm going to
start pursuing my interest incars.
(01:24):
So I was into old Mustangs iswhat got me started and I went
to a car show at the Salt Palaceand, lo and behold, the USFRA
had a booth there and I'd alwaysbeen interested in what was
going on at the Salt Flats, butI never really took the time to
(01:47):
go out there.
So when I went to the booth,Gary and Ellen were there and we
got talking and I found outabout the 130 mile an hour club.
So that's what really piqued myinterest to go out.
Allison Volk Dean (02:01):
Is it right?
After college you kind of wentto the Salt Flats, so yeah, so
there was a quick to go out, isit right?
Monte Widdison (02:06):
after college it kind of went to the soft spot,
so yeah, so there was a quick.
Yeah, it actually took a coupleof years before I got out there
.
But yeah, as a young boy I readarticles in Hot Rod magazine
and, of course, would see thearticles in the newspaper and
news stories on the television,so it had held my interest for
many years.
Allison Volk Dean (02:25):
It was in your ethos a little bit, but
yeah, finally got experience.
So how did you do when you wentout?
Monte Widdison (02:31):
Did you take your Mustang out the first time,
or I didn't have a Mustang atthat time Okay, because it was a
few years before I had a carthat I felt comfortable actually
taking on the salt.
This is kind of a funny story.
But I went out and of coursethey give you the rules and tell
(02:51):
you the procedures andeverything.
So I made my first run.
I had a.
It was a Lincoln Mark VII thatI had put a Mustang GT engine
and transmission in it, so itwas I called it my hot rod
Lincoln.
Anyway, I made the run.
I come back around and get mytiming slip and it said 116.
(03:12):
And I said your clocks arewrong and I don't remember who
was handing out the timing slips.
But their response was well,try it again.
So I went back out, made asecond run 116.
So I said, well, where's thehumble pie?
Introduction (03:30):
I'm ready to take a bite.
Monte Widdison (03:33):
And one of the old timers and I couldn't tell
you who it was, but he came overto my little pit area and he
said, hey, ask around and find atiming light.
And he said bump the timing afew degrees.
He says then drive out to thetruck, stop by the interstate
and put 50 pounds of pressure inall four tires.
And he said try that.
(03:55):
So I thought, well, what have Igot to lose?
So I tried that, went back outand it went 123.
So then I got real excited andthought out and it went 123.
So then I got real excited andthought, hey, this is pretty fun
.
So I went back to the pits andI took out the passenger front
seat, I took out the rear seat,I opened the trunk and emptied
everything out, went and madeanother run and it went 120.
(04:20):
So it actually slowed me down.
Allison Volk Dean (04:23):
So at that point I realized this is a game
that really takes somebody thatknows what they're doing to be
successful at it yeah, or havethe information from others,
yeah, weight's a good thing outthere sometimes, yes, well, um,
what year was that that you were, that you kind of found out
(04:43):
about USFRA?
Monte Widdison (04:46):
That would have been the first time I went out.
Would have been right around1987, maybe 88.
Allison Volk Dean (04:54):
Okay, and then you were racing a couple of
years after that.
Monte Widdison (05:00):
Yeah, I tried that.
Well, actually I tried thatonce and then realized I don't
have enough horsepower.
Yeah, and so you're done.
You were done with that.
(05:21):
And they put me at the ninemile marker with another guy by
the name of Jarl Bowles and wesat out there all day long and
we saw one car through thebinoculars and at that time our
radio system didn't work verygood.
We could hear the timing tower,we could hear the timing tower,
(05:43):
but they couldn't hear us.
So they'd say nine mile, reportin.
So we would hold the radio upand go we're here, everything's
good, and then pretty soon, ninemile, please check in.
And all day long it was likethat.
They never did hear us.
It was quite frustrating.
Allison Volk Dean (06:00):
You guys could have been dead in that
truck out there Exactly For awhile.
Well, okay, so that was yourfirst year volunteering.
They really want to make sureyou want to volunteer.
Monte Widdison (06:10):
Yes, and I kind of found out that that was
pretty much standard procedure,that they would take new
volunteers and put them outthere and if they came back the
following year, then it's like,hey, we've got somebody here
that's actually interested.
Allison Volk Dean (06:28):
Yeah, so you came back the following year.
Monte Widdison (06:29):
Yeah, as a matter of fact, I came back the
next year and it was kind ofinteresting.
I didn't really get a chance tomeet a whole lot of people from
the club that first yearbecause I was so far out there
and we stayed there all day.
So by the time everything gotdone, most people were already
in town.
And anyway, come back the nextyear, and I was standing at
(06:54):
registration, uh, waiting forsomeone to tell me what to do.
I didn't really realize at thatpoint that they had already
been out there several daysgetting set up, so I just showed
up the first day of racing.
Anyway, as they're standingthere, or as I was standing
there, registration someone sayshey, uh, has anybody seen the
(07:18):
starter?
And of course they were talkingabout marty west.
And someone else remarkedsomething similar to this.
I saw him at the bar last night, but I don't know where he is
today, and so it was kind of amad panic.
Everybody goes, what are wegoing to do?
So I raised my hand and saidI'll do that.
(07:42):
I didn't have a clue what thatreally that job really entailed,
but the racers, bless theirhearts were absolutely fabulous
to me?
Allison Volk Dean (07:54):
Yeah, well, yeah, because they're relying on
you, too, to make sureeverything's clear.
And what does it consist of?
To be like a starter?
What does like what?
What do you all have to do?
What is the process?
Monte Widdison (08:08):
well, when a vehicle comes up to make a pass,
a run, the starter's job, ofcourse, is to communicate with
timing and give the timing, thetimer, the vehicle number and
then, once the course is clear,then the timer will, or the
starter will, send the vehiclenumber and then, once the course
is clear, then the timer will,or the starter will, send the
vehicle down the course.
But also in that process thejob entails you're the final
(08:34):
safety check.
So you reach in and you checkthe driver's belts.
I always check and make surethat the pins are out of the
fire bottles, that the pins areout of the parachute, that the
steering wheel's locked on good,and a lot of times you can
sense when the driver's nervous.
(08:56):
Now, with these modern helmets,all you can see is their eyes.
But even that will, you canjust sense what's going on in
there.
So I try to be real calm.
I don't raise my voice.
Sometimes I'll joke around abit.
I talk to them, I let them knowwhat I'm going to do.
(09:19):
I'm going to reach in, I'mgoing to check your belts and I
like to pull them as tight as Ican get them and then basically
just try to make sure they'reready to go, and then, when the
time is ready, I send them ontheir way.
Allison Volk Dean (09:35):
Yeah, you're a pretty calming force.
I would say when you're outthere, I've seen I don't think
I've ever.
Maybe I don't know, you'vestarted me maybe, but it is nice
when they when it.
There's something comfortingabout the starter when they come
in and check everything andmake sure that you're OK and
safe and not that it's not nervewracking.
You're ready to go off the line.
But yeah, there is.
(09:55):
There is kind of an art to it.
I would say, just like how youwere explaining it.
How long did you do that for?
Monte Widdison (10:03):
Well, geez, I'm still doing it.
Allison Volk Dean (10:05):
Oh, you are still.
Are you still a head starter?
Monte Widdison (10:08):
Yes, oh, okay, yes.
Allison Volk Dean (10:09):
Okay, okay, you started back in like the
late 80s.
Monte Widdison (10:13):
Yeah, and you just after that encounter.
Yeah, it's been my job eversince.
Allison Volk Dean (10:18):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (10:20):
One of the things that happened.
You remember Mike Cook?
Yeah, he came out.
He had a Thunderbird that hewas running as a competition
coupe so it had the engine setback, so he was actually sitting
in the car in what would havebeen the backseat backseat area
(10:42):
anyway, yeah.
So I kind of climbed inside thecar and as I'm checking his
belts, he grabbed ahold of myshirt and he pulled me right up
to his helmet and he said hey,he says I really appreciate the
fact that you're checking all mysafety gear, he said, but I
want to know what the course islike.
Are there any soft spots, spots?
(11:03):
Is one lane better than theother?
You know what's going on and atthat point I realized, hmm, I
should be doing course prep sothat I understand what's going
on out on the track.
So that's when I took on thejob of actually doing the course
prep as well okay, and so you,that was you your two main
(11:27):
things.
Allison Volk Dean (11:27):
You're in charge actually doing the course
prep as well.
Okay, and so that was your twomain things you were charged
with, because course prep's alot.
Yeah, that is a lot.
So what do you look for whenyou're doing course prep?
Like what is some of the thingsthat you think about?
Monte Widdison (11:36):
Well, it's kind of interesting.
In the last few years theyleave the survey markers in the
salt year round.
So once I go out there thetrack is pretty much already
laid out.
But there were years that therewere no survey markers, so I
(11:57):
would have to drive around andpick out what I thought was good
salt.
Now this is where your dadcomes in, because you know your
dad has that little pick hammerthat he would carry around with
him.
And he still has it.
Yeah, and he would.
He would knock that into thesalt and he could tell where the
(12:20):
best salt was by what thehammer did to it.
So I kind of learned that trickfrom him.
I don't have a hammer, but Ican look at the salt, because
when you look at it you're notlooking for the bright white
salt.
What you want is kind of agrayish, opaque looking salt,
(12:43):
because that's the stuff.
Allison Volk Dean (12:44):
That's really hard, okay I know exactly what
that color, you know what itlooks like, but okay, I didn't
know that either, though I thinkmy dad would pass some of that
knowledge on to me.
But um, okay, that'sinteresting.
So that's what you would lookfor.
Is that grayish opaque salt?
Okay?
Monte Widdison (13:01):
now here's another interesting thing.
You go out there and there's nosurvey markers.
You've got to lay out astraight line.
So, the first few times I triedthat.
It was extremely difficultbecause you would start dragging
and then, before you knew it,you were off by several degrees.
(13:22):
So what I figured out was Iwould lay cones out, but I would
put the second cone down first.
Allison Volk Dean (13:32):
Okay.
Monte Widdison (13:32):
Now I'll explain how that works.
Okay, you put the second conedown.
Then you come back towards thestart line and you pick a point
out on the horizon.
Now, usually this is floatingmountain, so you pick a point
there and then you line up yourthe cone you just laid down with
the point on the mountain.
(13:53):
Then you put your first conethere and then you can sight
down those cones.
Right.
And then you go back around andyou look back towards the start
line and you can lay eightmiles worth of almost perfectly
straight cones that way?
Allison Volk Dean (14:11):
So okay, so cones are.
You can just see some peoplelay cones.
That does exactly what you'resaying, like it just starts to
curve.
You're like where is this going?
That's really interesting.
So you just kind of learn thatAre you an engineer.
Is that what you're saying?
Monte Widdison (14:25):
No, but my dad was in the road construction
business.
So I learned what smoothing uh,gravel and asphalt was all
about.
Allison Volk Dean (14:35):
Yeah so.
Monte Widdison (14:35):
I think that has really Just prepping you for
the salt.
It has really helped me.
Allison Volk Dean (14:39):
Yeah, that's cool.
So, what else do you look for?
Um on the salt.
Monte Widdison (14:46):
Anything?
Yeah, that's cool.
So what else do you look for onthe salt?
Anything else that you're?
Yeah, you know, in years pastwe didn't have to worry so much
about what visitors to the saltwere doing or tourists, let's
say.
But nowadays they go out thereand they have their big bonfires
and their camps and everythingelse.
So we try to find a place wherethey haven't disturbed the salt
(15:07):
too much.
And yeah, I have to say thatsocial media has not done the
racers any favors as far as whatthe salt has to endure now from
people that go out to spenddonuts.
Allison Volk Dean (15:24):
Yeah, well, you think that the BLM might put
a sign out and be like, hey,there's an international race
course right here.
Maybe just, you know, justeducate them a little bit.
But no, not even.
Monte Widdison (15:38):
And the funny thing is or the interesting part
about that is is that, ofcourse, the racetrack is the
smoothest part out there.
So even while I'm out theredragging, people will come right
behind me and start spinningdonuts right in the middle of
the racetrack.
Allison Volk Dean (15:52):
Right, but if you didn't know, you wouldn't
know, like you wouldn't knowwhat you were doing what that's
about.
And so, like I can't, I can'tblame them too much, because
they just don't know.
Monte Widdison (16:01):
Now, if you knew and were doing it, then know
that's something else but yeah,and I try to keep that in mind,
I I don't get too upset, but Ido.
Allison Volk Dean (16:10):
I will try to chase them down and say hey, um
, please go somewhere else, goover here yeah, I bet you, the
majority of the time they'relike yeah, oh, sorry you know,
but I'm sure there's a few thataren't that way.
But that's life, that'severything I going to say.
Think about what else would berequired for prep track, but is
like okay.
So when you're telling somebodywhere you think the good salt
(16:31):
is like what is it exactly thatyou're telling them Like, what
are they looking for, I mean,besides big potholes?
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (16:39):
If there is a pothole or a real soft spot,
I'll say, okay, down about amile and three quarter.
It's on the left-hand side andit's about 10 feet inside from
the line, so I try to give thema pretty good indication of
where that is.
So I'll say hey, just excuse me, stay right of center until you
(17:04):
get down to about a mile andthree quarter, and then you're
free to move wherever you wantto.
On the track, Of course, thevehicles kind of move around on
their own anyway.
Allison Volk Dean (17:15):
Yeah, they dance with you, and our
motorcycles, I would imagine,are looking for different things
.
Then Are you like to conveyinto a motorcycle something
different than to a race cardriver?
Monte Widdison (17:26):
yeah, with motorcycles, wind is a big issue
, so sometimes we'll have a windcheck and then I can report to
them what the wind speeds areand what direction it's coming
from.
And I usually try to tell thepeople on motorcycles to stay
towards the outer edges of thetrack, because most of the cars
(17:49):
tend to run right down thecenter, so that's kind of where
the track starts to get chewedup a little bit more.
But they can stay eight or 10feet off the side of the track
and it's a lot smoother for them.
Allison Volk Dean (18:05):
Yeah, and then what about some of the fast
cars?
What is something that you'retelling them or looking for,
like you know, any of thespecial lane cars?
Monte Widdison (18:15):
Yeah, most of those drivers well all of them
really have so much experiencethat I don't really tell them a
whole lot unless they ask.
If they ask me then I'll say,hey, I suggest you stay here or
move over there, but otherwise Ijust kind of let them do their
(18:39):
thing.
The reason I say that isbecause when the meet starts we
always let all the drivers andcrew people take a run or take a
drive down the track in theirown vehicles.
That way they get a chance tolook and see what the track and
the course looks like.
Allison Volk Dean (18:58):
Yeah, and that's.
I think that's always a smartthing to go see what it looks
like, and that's.
I think that's always a smartthing to go see what it looks
like.
So that's pretty much what youhave done for the USFRA, for the
, since the Hades is prep trackand and that's a lot prep track
and the head starter and you'rein charge of the other starters.
Are you in charge of like,making sure, like the line lanes
(19:19):
and all of that kind of stuffwhen you're, when you're.
Monte Widdison (19:22):
Not so much.
Okay, I'm so busy right at thestarting line.
We always have a couple ofpeople that are our line
wranglers if you will.
So they're the ones that tellthem, hey, it's time to get in
the car and get suited up andready to go, and they keep the
lines moving and keep everythingorganized Because I just don't
(19:45):
have time to mess with that.
Allison Volk Dean (19:47):
Yeah, you're focused on the drivers and
safety.
Well, what have been some ofyour more interesting like do
you interesting stories?
Well, first of all, what is oneof your favorite cars to watch,
to get ready for and watch go?
Monte Widdison (20:02):
You know I actually love all of them to get
ready for and watch go.
You know I actually love all ofthem.
Yeah, I mean, I realize thatthis is not the greatest
spectator sport in the world,but for me, interacting with the
crew members and the driversand I know enough about cars I
(20:30):
can appreciate the work that'sgone in to getting there
building these vehicles.
And so that for me that's thebig thrill, just being there and
being part of it, or maybe anymemorable runs that were that
you can really, you know thatreally stick out.
Well, we'll back up a little bithere, because I I finally did
build a car that I thought wouldmake it into the 130 club.
(20:55):
I got ahold of a little.
Uh well, it was a FordThunderbird 1990 and it came
from the factory with a 3.8liter V6 with a belt-driven
supercharger on it.
Ford called them theThunderbird Super Coupe.
So I got this car and Iactually put a full roll cage in
(21:17):
it, because at the time therecord in production,
supercharged, was only about 160, 170 something.
So I thought, hey, that'sprobably within reach.
So I took the car out there andI thought, well, I'm going to
(21:37):
run it into 130 and then the 150, and then we'll see where it
goes from there.
So I ran it into 130 and itwent 139.
Allison Volk Dean (21:48):
So that put me into the 130 club.
Monte Widdison (21:51):
And then I um, I cheated a little bit, I went on
a run and I went the full fivemiles.
I still catch heck for that,but anyway, um, the car actually
went 172 miles an hour.
Oh wow.
But to back up a little bit,the first year I went out there
(22:14):
with it.
As I was in the pits, I seethis tractor-trailer pull in and
it said Ford MotorsportsDearborn, michigan on the side.
And I said to myself I know forsure, when they open that rear
gate, that they're going to pullout a Thunderbird Super Coupe.
And sure enough they did.
And I thought, well, thatrecord now is going to be way
(22:37):
out of reach.
And yeah, they bumped therecord to over 200.
They went like 208.
And I may not be exact withthese numbers, but anyway, at
that point I realized, well, I'm30 miles an hour and about
$100,000 short.
Allison Volk Dean (22:59):
Hey, sometimes I remember when that
JCB Diesel Streamliner came outand the one guy got, he got the
record first like the littlehomegrown.
I can't even remember whatclass it was, but yeah, there
was a guy in that same classthat was with that streamliner
and he so he set the recordfirst and then they they bumped
it.
Monte Widdison (23:17):
Okay, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (23:18):
So and they were like kind of going, you
know and yeah, so sometimesthat's a beautiful thing too.
Monte Widdison (23:24):
Well, yeah, and here's, here's one of the
serendipitous events thathappened to me.
When they came out the guys I'mtalking about the guys from
Ford they came out with thatThunderbird.
They saw my car and I hadpainted this Thunderbird yellow.
So they came over and said wenever made any yellow
(23:45):
Thunderbirds.
Where did you get that?
And I said, well, I painted itmyself.
Hello, thunderbirds, where didyou get that?
And I said, well, I painted itmyself.
So anyway, I got to be prettychummy with these guys as the
event went on and after about amonth, after the event was over,
the UPS truck pulled up to myplace and unloaded this huge box
(24:07):
and it said Ford Motor CompanyDearborn, michigan.
So I thought what the heck isthis?
So I opened it up and insidethey had sent me a new
supercharger.
They sent a new set of fuelinjectors, a new fuel pump, and
they had custom programmed aprocessor and said here, plug
(24:28):
this in and see how it goes.
So that's how the car actuallywent.
172 is with all this stuff thatthey had sent to me, no charge,
of course.
How cool is that it was reallyquite the deal.
So I took my timing slip andmade a photocopy and I took a
(24:49):
picture of the car and then Iwrote a real nice thank you note
.
Allison Volk Dean (24:53):
So you know thanks for this.
Monte Widdison (24:55):
The car really worked well.
Allison Volk Dean (24:56):
Oh yeah, I bet you, they love getting that,
slip you know what.
I'm saying yeah.
Monte Widdison (24:59):
And, as a matter of fact, a couple of years
after that, as I was on thestarting line, some spectator
come up and said, hey, do youown the yellow Thunderbird?
And I said yeah.
And he says I was in theengineering building at Ford
just last week and there's thisplaque on the wall, a picture of
your car and the thank you noteand everything so yeah, so they
(25:20):
put it up in the in thebuilding.
Allison Volk Dean (25:23):
You're legendary at the Ford building
in Dearborn, michigan.
That's cool, that's a reallycool story, so, um, so it's,
that's.
That's kind of where youstopped racing then at that
point was you're just like ahyeah.
Monte Widdison (25:38):
Yeah, I realized I just didn't have the budget
to to do what I would have likedto do.
But being involved, beingaround it has satisfied my
desires you need for speed.
Allison Volk Dean (25:56):
Oh yeah, no, it's just such a great.
I'm sure all motor sports arethis way, but it's just a great
sport.
It's a great family oriented Idon't know, kind of thing.
Monte Widdison (26:08):
I have to say that some of my dearest friends
are people I've met in the saltflats group.
Um, it's just been amazing.
Allison Volk Dean (26:18):
Yeah, absolutely amazing so, um, back
to some.
Some memorable runs were.
Let's see, can you think of anyones that were like you're like
, wow, that was cool, oranything that sticks out to you
about those some?
Monte Widdison (26:33):
of those starts.
I'll tell you a couple of funexperiences.
Okay, Several years back, BobbyUnser showed up and he was
driving a little modifiedRoadster that belonged to a
friend of his.
I'm sorry.
Allison Volk Dean (26:48):
I don't remember.
No, I remember that yeah.
Monte Widdison (26:50):
Yeah Well, anyway, when they brought the
car up to the start line thepush truck had kind of bumped
the car.
So the car coasted up to theactual start line but the crew
truck push truck was back alittle ways.
So I walked up to the car.
Of course I I knew who he was.
(27:22):
So I said I'm going to reach inand check your belts and he
said no, you're not.
Allison Volk Dean (27:24):
I said with all due respect, I need to check
your belts or I can't let yourun.
Monte Widdison (27:26):
He says, no, I'll say it one more time.
I check your belts or I willhave to push you out of line.
So kind of grumbling says, okay, so I reached in.
The first thing I always do isI grab a hold of the shoulder
straps and I just give him agood tug.
So I grabbed his shoulderstraps and the right shoulder
(27:46):
strap came up they hadn'tlatched it.
And the right shoulder strapcame up, they hadn't latched it.
So he's like, oh my gosh, getmy crew guys up here.
Well, at that point they wereactually walking up towards the
car.
I said, well, I can take careof this for you.
So I unbuckled everything andas I'm in the process of
buckling it all back together,the crew guys are like what's
(28:07):
going on?
I said, well, there was aproblem here with the shoulder
strap.
Anyway, we got him all latchedback together and as I'm pulling
the belts, he says, oh, becareful.
He says my back is so bad fromall my car crashes.
He says I just can't have thebelts real, real tight.
And I said, well, I appreciatethat.
(28:29):
You let me know when I snugthem down to the point where you
know it's not too much.
So anyway, we got him all tuggedup and he took off, and now
he's just making his licensingpasses at this point and if I
recall, they actually may havewaived one of his first passes
(28:56):
or something.
You know, I don't think theymade him do the 125.
Anyway, when they came back tomake their second licensing pass
, as they pushed the car up, hejust raised his arms up like
this and says okay, check me out.
Allison Volk Dean (29:10):
He got.
He got the memo.
Monte Widdison (29:13):
And he you know, his objective was to get into
the two club and they weresuccessful.
Allison Volk Dean (29:19):
Yeah, what year was that?
I wonder.
If it was like the.
I remember anyways.
Yeah, that's funny.
That, yeah, I mean there'sdefinitely.
I mean I've heard stories ofpeople loosening afterwards.
That didn't end well, and solisten to your starter make sure
.
Don't give him any trouble.
Monte Widdison (29:39):
You know, john Hanson used to be the manager at
the Pepper Mill and some of theother casinos out there.
He was trying to get into thetwo club and they were running a
little Honda I can't rememberif it was a Civic or what,
anyway, they were running aHonda.
(30:00):
And when he came up to the lineI could just see he was just
nervous, as could be.
So I said, john, close youreyes.
So he closes his eyes and Isaid, okay, now inhale as deeply
as you can, I said, and thenlet it out real slow.
And we did that twice.
(30:21):
Then, when he opened his eyes,I could see his demeanor had
he'd really calmed down, and hereminds me of that almost every
time I see him.
Allison Volk Dean (30:31):
Yeah, because you could really start working
yourself, get in your head andstart working yourself into a
frenzy real quick and then butyeah, I could see how that would
definitely just kind of bringyou, center you, back to where
you're at.
Oh, I know John, I love John.
Introduction (30:45):
He's a great guy.
Monte Widdison (30:46):
Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (30:46):
And then what about some of the more
well-known race like racers outthere that you've dealt with,
you know the Vesco's and theNish's and I know I'm going to
forget people, but Nolan Whiteand, oh, come on.
(31:19):
Al Teak.
Monte Widdison (31:20):
Yeah, that's the name I was trying to think of.
It's tough to get old.
Introduction (31:25):
I know, trust me Wow.
Allison Volk Dean (31:27):
My brain still like just clicks out.
I don't know what it is.
Monte Widdison (31:32):
I'll tell you another story here.
If you remember the ChetHerbert car, the first time I
started that vehicle or was thestarter when that vehicle came
up, clayton was driving and Iremember thinking to myself why
are they putting an 18-year-oldkid in this car?
(31:56):
Well, anyway, you know, it's afour-engine streamliner.
So when they pushed the truckup.
The car wasn't pointed exactlystraight down the course.
It was off about 10, 12 degrees.
It was actually pointed moretowards the pits.
Well, to start this thing, theyhad a pickup truck that had, I
(32:22):
don't know, maybe eight 12-voltbatteries all wired together and
then a big industrial plug thatcame off those batteries and
plugged into the side of the car.
So what they would do is crankthe car to get oil pressure and
then they would come back andprime all the injectors and then
(32:45):
crank it again and then flipthe, the mag switch and away
they would go well anyway.
So clayton gets in the car and II get him all buckled in.
Well, they have a fresh airsupplied system with pressurized
air, so when he closes thevisor on his helmet he sounded
(33:08):
just like Darth Vader.
As he's breathing, you can hearit go.
It was really kind of strangebecause I hadn't seen that
before.
Well, anyway, Clayton's dadsays okay, push the clutch pedal
in and we're going to crank theengines.
So I can actually hear thelinkage functioning.
(33:33):
So he pushes the clutch in andthey start to crank and his dad
says when we get oil pressure,just give me a thumbs up.
So sure enough, clayton giveshim the thumbs up.
Now, of course, at this pointthe canopy's down.
Introduction (33:48):
Yeah, they're ready to rock and roll.
Yeah, they're ready to go.
Monte Widdison (33:56):
So he had just a little squirt bottle that he
would squirt all the injectorsand he said, all right, let's
crank it again.
So, as they crank it the minuteit well, it cranked for maybe
two or three seconds and the carfired and the throttle went
wide open.
And when that happened I don'tknow if they didn't have the
clutches adjusted properly, butthat car just took off.
(34:19):
Oh, my goodness, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (34:21):
Was it a push-off car, though, or did it
just it could actually take offon its own, but anyway, it just
took off.
Monte Widdison (34:28):
It tore the battery cable out and we're all
standing there like what?
Allison Volk Dean (34:34):
Yeah that's a pretty wild start Then.
Monte Widdison (34:36):
I realized he's not even on course.
He was headed directly to thepits and for me it was mad panic
.
Allison Volk Dean (34:45):
Oh yeah.
Monte Widdison (34:46):
So I get on the radio and I said I don't know if
anybody can even hear me, butthat car is headed straight for
the pits, heads up, yeah Well,anyway, he got down maybe a mile
and a half and the car slowlyturned and got back on course.
Introduction (35:05):
Oh, wow.
Monte Widdison (35:06):
And I remember thinking that's why they have an
18-year-old in there.
Nobody else would get in thatcar.
Allison Volk Dean (35:14):
Now, this is just my interpretation.
Your personal assessment, yeah.
Monte Widdison (35:18):
Yes, yes, well, I found out later.
Dennis was the rover back thenand when he caught up to Clayton
after the run he said, clayton,what happened?
And Clayton says well, they hadthe exhaust would come up
through the top of the car.
And he said the fumes billowedout of the exhaust so much that
(35:43):
he could only see just rightbetween the exhaust pipes.
And he said I had to finallylet off the throttle and
realized, hey, I'm off course.
So, to his credit, he was ableto figure out where he was
exactly and get back on thetrack.
Allison Volk Dean (36:01):
Especially if you're not I don't mean if
you're not really aware outthere of where everything's at,
you could easily just get lost.
Monte Widdison (36:09):
So after that I had a whole new respect for that
car and for him, because Ithought you know he really knows
what he's doing here.
Allison Volk Dean (36:16):
I'll give him a break on this one.
Yeah, that's.
I can't remember if this is aUSFRA meet, but one time we were
at the starting line and allthis guy had these like track
running pants I cannot rememberwhich meet this was but had like
these track running pants on,like those that I don't know,
that thin material, and he allof a sudden, like you could just
(36:40):
see the pants go, and they weregone Like, but it was alcohol,
you know, like you couldn't,like you're, like you seem
dancing, and then you're likewhat is going on?
And he's just right there onthe starting line, his pants
went up.
Monte Widdison (36:53):
Did they actually catch fire, oh?
Allison Volk Dean (36:54):
yeah, like the pants were gone.
I mean it wasn't like the wholething burned off, but it was
definitely.
And you could tell he wasconfused at first.
You can't see, you know likeit's.
But yeah, that was.
There's some interesting thingsthat happened on the starting
line.
Monte Widdison (37:11):
Yeah, it's kind of.
It's kind of crazy becausethings happen and then you can't
remember what year was that.
Allison Volk Dean (37:17):
What meet.
Yeah because for a while andthey do the test and tune, but
that used to be a full July meet.
Yeah, it always seems like itwas two or three days.
Yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, they were just like twoday meets is all.
Monte Widdison (37:30):
Yeah, it always seems like it was two or three
days.
Yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, they were just liketwo-day meets is all.
Allison Volk Dean (37:35):
Yeah, and then I don't know, there's lots
of cars that you've probablyseen go by.
You got to give me some otherones here.
You've seen everything.
Monte Widdison (37:45):
You know most of them are.
There's no drama involved.
They make a safe run and you'reon to the next vehicle and, as
a matter of fact, that's one ofthe parts that's kind of hard
for me to deal with, because I'mso focused on what's going on.
When a vehicle leaves the startline, I'll look down, course
(38:06):
and watch them until they getdown about a mile course and
watch them until they get downabout a mile and then at that
point, I turn around and myfocus is completely on the next
vehicle.
And of course they don't reportthe speeds or times over the
main communication radio, so alot of times I have no idea how
(38:29):
fast they went on, and ifsomething does happen then of
course I'll hear that on myradio.
The car spun, they turned outearly or something like that.
But otherwise my focus keepschanging you know from this
vehicle to that vehicle.
Allison Volk Dean (38:49):
But all your focus is going there?
Monte Widdison (38:51):
What are you looking at?
Allison Volk Dean (38:52):
when you're watching them take off, like,
are you just making sure thatthey're out of the way?
Monte Widdison (38:59):
The first course steward is down at a mile and a
half.
So if they turn out before themile a lot of times it's hard
for them to see.
So I like to watch and justmake sure that if there's a
problem I can report it.
Allison Volk Dean (39:12):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (39:13):
Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (39:15):
Yeah, I think it'd be fun to be a starter.
It'd be fascinating just to seeeverybody.
But I'd have a hard time justfocusing on one thing.
You'd be surprised, you'd besurprised, you'd be surprised.
Monte Widdison (39:28):
Just this last year, one of the guys with one
of the old vintage circle trackcars came up and when I reached
in to check his belts I pulledon the lap belt and it came up
and he goes.
What did you do?
And I says I don't know, buthere's the end of the belt that
(39:54):
should be attached to thechassis.
Oh, shoot yeah I come to findout the bolt had worked loose,
and so when I tugged on it itcame off.
So anyway, they got that fixed.
But it's a job that I take veryseriously.
I've had more than a couple ofexperiences when Bob Dalton
(40:17):
crashed and he was doing over400 miles an hour.
Now, normally I do not go tocrash sites, I want nothing to
do with that, but it was thelast run of the meet and when I
heard that he was out of the car, and okay, I drove down there
(40:39):
and he was, he was sitting.
I think he was actually sittingon the car talking on his phone
, oh yeah.
So anyway, once he got off thephone, I went up to him.
The first words out of hismouth were you saved my life.
Now, those words, I mean, Irealize it wasn't me.
(41:05):
Yeah, all I did was check thebelts and I told him.
I said, bob, that's your chassisbuilder yeah that's you and the
guys that do all this stuff.
And he said no.
He says I've never had anybodypull those belts as tight as you
did.
He said when that car went overI didn't budge oh, wow so, and
(41:29):
I've had that happen more thanonce.
Allison Volk Dean (41:32):
Oh yeah, that was a gnarly crash.
I was like he.
I was like, oh my gosh, bob'sdead.
I really thought he was.
I mean, I was like there's justno way that you know you're hey
.
Lisa had to talk him into goingto the hospital just to make
sure everything like nothing wasdamaged.
He didn't even want to go dothat.
Monte Widdison (41:51):
In fact, dennis was telling me that they put him
in the ambulance and then theambulance just sat there and
then, all of a sudden, the reardoors opened and Bob jumps out.
Allison Volk Dean (41:59):
And he's like I'm not going in the ambulance.
That's an expensive ride I'mnot taking that.
Monte Widdison (42:04):
But then I saw him at Speed Week this year and
again the first thing out of hismouth is you saved my life.
Allison Volk Dean (42:12):
That's awesome.
Monte Widdison (42:13):
And then Lee Cilio.
When he crashed, we went up tothe hospital to visit him and
when we walked in the hospitalroom, same conversation.
Allison Volk Dean (42:25):
Man.
Monte Widdison (42:26):
So I mean, I like to joke around and have fun
, but I take that job veryseriously.
Allison Volk Dean (42:34):
Those were both two very gnarly crashes.
I think that same year Leecrashed was, oh my gosh, the
black car.
I have to think about it now.
He was like from back East,from Pennsylvania.
Introduction (42:51):
What is?
Monte Widdison (42:52):
that the Carbonite Yep.
Allison Volk Dean (42:54):
The Carbonite .
His wife stayed with us toowhile he was in the hospital,
like just stayed in our houseCause we had a separate entrance
, it was easy for her to get tothe.
We were right by, you know,close to the U.
Introduction (43:05):
Okay.
Allison Volk Dean (43:05):
But yeah, he, but yeah, he crashed that year
too.
That was kind of a yeah.
Yeah that was a tough year,yeah, but yeah, those are some.
Bob and Lee are some of myfavorites, so I'm glad you saved
their lives.
So yeah, but yeah, that's.
(43:26):
I mean, that's some greatstories.
What would you like?
What kind of advice would yougive to somebody who I'm sure
you see a lot of newbies outthere first runs, or maybe just
you know more green than others?
Monte Widdison (43:53):
What is some advice that you would give
people that maybe are coming outfor the first time or second
time on things that you see outthere, what you do, yeah, uh,
you know, originally they weused to run all the 130 and 150
cars on the main course.
So those people, um, you knowthey're not seasoned yeah land
speed racers.
So I would always tell them putyour arms down on your legs and
hold the steering wheel on thebottom and let the car move.
Allison Volk Dean (44:17):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (44:17):
If it decides to move left or right, don't
really try to correct it, justlet it do what it's going to do,
because normally it may move afew feet but it'll come back,
and that seems to have workedpretty well.
Of course, now they have theirown course, so I don't really
get to do much with them anymore.
Allison Volk Dean (44:39):
Yeah, that's good advice, but that was always
kind of.
Monte Widdison (44:41):
My advice to them is just let the vehicle do
what it's going to do.
Allison Volk Dean (44:46):
I would say that you kind of dance with it.
Yeah, like the roadsters movemore than a feet.
Yeah, they like to go both,both ends of the course they
they like to hop around a littlebit.
Um, yeah, that's.
That's really good advice,though, because if you fight it,
yeah it's, you got to kind ofjust let it, you know, move
across the course most of themost of the new drivers.
Monte Widdison (45:10):
I try to give them a similar, similar advice.
You know, just kind of take iteasy, let the, let the vehicle
do what it will and come backsafe.
Allison Volk Dean (45:24):
Yeah, and, and that's for your like, 130,
150 club members that you'resaying that and even some of the
rookie LSR people.
Yeah, yeah, no, because that youknow.
You just come out there andsometimes you know people have
been doing it for a long time.
Just assume people that are newknow a lot and they don't, and
(45:49):
it's okay.
They're out here doing it likethat's what.
When people say, no, I'm notlegend, I'm like, well, you're
out there doing the thing thatyou you're pursuing, the thing
that you love or you like orthat you're interested in, you
know, and that's that's whatmakes it, you know, special you
know, I one of the other things,things that we haven't talked
(46:09):
about yet I've served as theclub vice president.
Monte Widdison (46:14):
I call it the club.
Allison Volk Dean (46:15):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (46:16):
But the association.
I served as vice president for26 years and it's been just a
lot of fun to be involved insome of the decision making and
everything you know the clubbusiness as such.
So I served under Gary Allen hewas the president when I became
(46:41):
vice president and then JimBerkdahl and then Dennis, so
that's been a whole greatexperience for me as well.
Allison Volk Dean (46:53):
Yeah, and you can get involved if you know,
if you're in the Utah area, theUtah South Flats or SCTA there's
.
Scta is a little bit morecomplicated.
You have to join a club and allthat.
Monte Widdison (47:05):
But, but USFRA, if you're in this area, man,
it's really easy to get pluggedin if you want to if it's
something you want to do Exactlydo exactly and and it's a way
to be involved in racing withouthaving to spend all that money
yeah, and you know, andeverybody's needed.
Allison Volk Dean (47:23):
You know we need starters just as much as
you need racers and and I thinkit's you know the support is
super important to have andyou're the last person people
see before they head down thereand that's a lot, that's asking
a lot out of you.
But you have this.
You know just that calm.
I think you're right, that'sreally key.
(47:44):
It takes a special person, ifyou think about it.
I mean I'm thinking, like,think about Nick Arias, like
he's more of a calm chill.
Monte Widdison (47:51):
You know the starter, you know you probably
have to have a certain you can'tbe like that intense person out
there doing it.
Yeah, you can't, you can'tstart yelling and screaming at
people, because that justdoesn't work.
Allison Volk Dean (48:05):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (48:10):
I don't know if you remember when the group from
Australia came with the AustinHealy.
When the group from Australiacame with the Austin Healy and
one of the people that they hadbrought with them it was a gal
she came up and kind of grabbedmy arm and she says you know?
She says I've been involved inmotorsports for many, many years
(48:30):
.
She says I've never seenanybody like you before.
She said the way you handlethings up here and conduct
yourself, she says I'm justblown away by what goes on.
Allison Volk Dean (48:45):
Yeah Well, and there's intense moments too.
You know it's intense as thecrew or the driver being up
there that close and you knowyou're trying to get pushed up
and buckled in on time andthings started and so it is nice
to have that calming presence.
And if nobody knows what youlook like, you're tall, I mean,
how tall are you?
Monte Widdison (49:05):
Six seven.
Allison Volk Dean (49:06):
Yeah, so you're like kind of a gentle
giant type, but that's.
Yeah, I can see how it's verycalming to people.
Monte Widdison (49:14):
The job has suited me quite well, yeah.
I've thoroughly enjoyed it.
You found your niche.
Yes, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (49:23):
Well, great.
So now you're doing this,you're still doing it.
Then I don't know where I musthave got bad information,
probably from my dad.
Monte Widdison (49:31):
I'm still planning on being there.
Yeah, because I opted not torerun for vice president this
year.
Oh, maybe that's what he wasthinking, because it's time for
some younger members to getinvolved in the decision making
and move the club forward,because the rest of us are kind
(49:52):
of getting up there.
Allison Volk Dean (49:54):
No, I think it's a good little mix.
You guys got going on right nowso it's been, it's been good
yeah good, well, is thereanything else that you would be
that we haven't talked about, oranything else that you'd want
to?
Monte Widdison (50:08):
um, yeah, my daughter got into the 130 club.
Allison Volk Dean (50:12):
I did not know that.
Monte Widdison (50:13):
Yes, this would have been back in about 2003 or
4, I think yeah I had a mustangand uh, so we got her into the
club.
It was really kind of funbecause everybody out there was
treating her like a rock star.
Because they go you're Monty'sdaughter.
Allison Volk Dean (50:34):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Monte Widdison (50:36):
Oh, that's fun.
Now, she hasn't really shown alot of interest in this sort of
thing, but she enjoyed that andof course, it was a thrill for
me to be able to help her dothat.
Allison Volk Dean (50:49):
Well, that 130 club and 150 club is just
such a great little thing thatUSFRA has got going and it
brings and there's a lot ofpeople that come in and start
land speed racing or get likeyou get hooked up into
volunteering, that start kind ofthere and it's, it really is
fun.
So, and the 130 club isprobably the easiest.
(51:09):
Well, it is the easiest to dobecause you just have to make a
few.
You just have to wear a helmet,right, or do you have to have a
few?
You?
Monte Widdison (51:15):
just have to wear a helmet, right, or do you
have to have a fire suit?
No, no fire suit, but you haveto have a helmet and, uh, a roll
bar oh, you have to have a rollbar in the 130.
Allison Volk Dean (51:23):
Okay, okay, and then it gets a little bit
more technical with the 150.
Monte Widdison (51:26):
A few more things are added for safety 150.
Then you have to have the fivepoint harness yeah a few other
things, but anyway, that hasproven to really be quite
popular because it gives peoplea chance to experience racing a
car on the salt flats without,yeah, breaking the bank,
basically or if it's somethingyou're like, I think I might
(51:48):
want to do this.
Allison Volk Dean (51:49):
It's a great way to just kind of start
getting involved in somethingand it's fun.
I'm sure it's fun because it'snot I mean, sometimes the the
racing that's on the smallerlevel, I guess that's maybe not
going for the big records orit's.
It seems like it can be a lotof fun because that pressure is
kind of taken away of yeah youknow, we have three days to do
(52:10):
this and we have.
Monte Widdison (52:11):
I'm like yeah, one of the other things that
I've always enjoyed is, you know, ron Christensen does the radio
broadcast and he's the onlyperson that is actually allowed
to stay on the salt flatsovernight.
Allison Volk Dean (52:29):
No, I did not know that until this year.
Monte Widdison (52:31):
And I'm not sure how he actually worked that out
, but he sleeps in his car.
Allison Volk Dean (52:37):
I know I was blown away, I was like the whole
week and he's like yep, I waslike, well, that sounds awful,
but he doesn't seem to mind atall.
Oh heavens, no he loves it.
Monte Widdison (52:47):
He does, and so what we've done the last several
years is I'll stay out therelate, sometimes till midnight
and we just look at the stars.
Allison Volk Dean (52:58):
Oh, I bet you it's amazing yeah tell stories
and solve the world's problems.
Oh yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
Monte Widdison (53:05):
He and I have really enjoyed our visits out
there.
Allison Volk Dean (53:10):
Yeah, ron is a very knowledgeable guy.
I did an interview with him too.
Yeah, I didn't know any of thatabout too.
So and his, he, yeah, I didn'tknow any of that about him and I
was like, oh, that's so cool.
You lived out here, you sawthese, you know big time cars,
you know the famous, famous onesthat got everybody interested
coming out and yeah.
Monte Widdison (53:30):
His memory is a lot better than mine, so he's
got a lot more stories than I do.
Allison Volk Dean (53:36):
I have a bad memory.
I just tell myself I live inthe moment and that's why.
I don't remember anything.
Monte Widdison (53:41):
You know, it's been kind of fun.
I, when I was first being thestarter, um, I kind of let some
of the pressure get to me alittle bit, especially towards
the end of the day when you'vegot 20 cars still in line and
there's only 10 minutes leftbefore we're going to shut down.
(54:02):
So everybody's going.
Well, can't I run?
Please let me run.
And originally I would have togo back and just tell everybody
sorry, we're done for the day.
And so I was complaining aboutit one night and to some of the
other club members.
Well, anyway, the next day Ishow up and they had made a
(54:24):
little cardboard like a suit ofarmor with duct tape and they'd
made a target on it.
Because I said I feel like I'mthe one that has to take all the
heat at the end of the daytelling everybody just put this
on.
Yeah, so they and I actuallywore it for a little bit, just
you know yeah to have some fun.
(54:46):
But nowadays I don't worry somuch about that.
I've been doing it long enoughthat people kind of respect the
position.
Allison Volk Dean (55:01):
Well, and the knowledge and the you know, the
wisdom that you have on, say, Ireally want to learn how to
drag, how to prep you better,like books on tape.
Monte Widdison (55:27):
Yeah, the majority of them will last less
than a day.
By about the time we break forlunch, it's like um, I got some
other things I need to do notfeeling so good and I when you,
when you are in the course prepmode, we typically have two
(55:49):
trucks, so one truck will followthe other, but you stagger it
so we can get twice as much workdone.
And one guy he would constantlyjust get right behind me.
And we have CB radio so we cantalk back and forth.
So I'd have to get on the radioand say, hey, move over, you're
(56:10):
following my exact track.
So he'd move over.
Allison Volk Dean (56:13):
And then a couple minutes later he'd be
right behind me, and thenanother guy.
You should have followed him.
You could have just gone.
Monte Widdison (56:19):
whichever, way he wasn't going.
Another guy as we were goingdown, he made almost a 90 degree
turn.
It's like hey, where are yougoing?
He says oh, I thought the trackwas over here.
It's like no, just follow me.
Allison Volk Dean (56:34):
I know what I'm doing Listen to me.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Dragging yeah is not for theweak of heart.
It's definitely a long day.
Monte Widdison (56:47):
Yeah, I mean, if you're, we typically try to get
eight to nine miles and thetruck goes about eight to 10
miles an hour.
So it takes an hour to go fromone end to the other and you
turn around and do it again andyou do that for, yeah, you do
that for 12 or 14 hours.
Allison Volk Dean (57:10):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (57:10):
There's takes a special personality to be able
to do it.
So the last several years JasonMasservi's been my helper and
he and I got it down to ascience.
Allison Volk Dean (57:25):
Oh that's good.
Monte Widdison (57:27):
Yeah, he's been good help, Makes it easy, real
good help.
Allison Volk Dean (57:30):
Yeah, that's good, that's interesting about.
Yeah, it's probably hard tofind good help sometimes with
some of it I know I've draggedthe track before.
It was like one year I think Idid it.
I was like, yeah, that doesn'tsound so much fun anymore.
I wanted to.
It was, I think they had stick,the ones had stick chefs and I
wanted to practice using youknow, doing a stick.
(57:53):
Anyways, I was probably 16,excited just to drive anything,
or you know yeah in fact.
Monte Widdison (57:58):
In fact, when I first started doing it, we had a
couple of old trucks that wehad gotten from the state of
Utah, trucks that they had wornout and they were worn out.
Allison Volk Dean (58:08):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (58:09):
So one of them, the gear.
It would just pop out of gearso you'd have to drive it
continuously, holding the gearshift.
Yeah, and some of them they hada cable throttle so you could
set the throttle and then youdidn't have to keep your foot on
the gas pedal, and so sometimesI would actually get out and
walk alongside the truck becauseyou don't have to sit for so
(58:33):
long it's like man, I need toget up and walk around, but
those trucks were so worn out,exhaust leaks, no air
conditioning, and I was glad toget rid of those when we finally
started.
Oh yeah, well, first of all westarted renting U-Hauls, and
that's a whole other story there.
Allison Volk Dean (58:55):
Oh yeah, they don't appreciate you taking
them up at the salt and tracking.
Monte Widdison (59:01):
I am blacklisted from renting from U-Haul.
Allison Volk Dean (59:03):
Oh that's so funny Like oh, monty Witteson no
.
Monte Widdison (59:09):
Exactly what happened was first we would rent
them in Salt Lake and drivethem out.
Now they worked really well,but the disadvantage was there's
no room in the cab to keep yourcooler or your food or anything
, so I'd have to carry my coolerin the back in the cargo box in
(59:32):
the cargo box.
So if you ever wanted to eat ordrink something, you'd have to
stop and get out, walk aroundthe back, raise the door and get
your food out.
Well, anyway, back when MikeCook was having his shootout
(59:53):
each year I'm getting ahead ofmyself here.
Anyway, mike Crawford, whoowned the parts store in
Wendover.
He got a U-Haul franchise.
So now we didn't have to rentthem in Salt Lake, we could
actually rent them from him, andthe deal was made that he would
(01:00:13):
rent them to us and then hewould charge us $200 per vehicle
to wash them and clean themafter we were done.
Well, one year I went out.
We'd made arrangements to getthe truck from him.
I went out, but Mike was out oftown.
So he said look, I'll leave thekey on top of the tire.
Blah, blah, blah.
(01:00:35):
Well, when I get out there Icould tell the truck had been
used.
It was all covered in salt.
And come to find out my cookhad been using it.
Well, they had been using itwhen the salt was really wet and
they were driving the truck upand down the track to try and
(01:00:55):
evaporate some of that water bysplashing it out.
Well, that wet salt water gotup on top of the engine, the
transmission.
Well, anyway, I get the truckand go out there and the first
day, about three-fourths of theway through the day, the truck
quits.
It's like hmm.
So I called Mike, crawford,said hey, this truck quit
(01:01:19):
running.
So he comes out, we open thehood and the whole thing is just
the engine compartment is justpacked with salt.
You couldn't hardly see theengine and what had happened is
the salt had gotten into thebearing on the fan belt
tensioner and it had seized upand the fan belt broke.
(01:01:42):
And then, of course, the badtruck takes it back to his place
, but he didn't clean it.
So what he ended up doing wassending it to the Salt Lake shop
(01:02:03):
and said hey, there's somethingwrong with this truck.
Allison Volk Dean (01:02:06):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (01:02:08):
Now, I didn't know any of this at the time.
Of course they get it and lookat it and it's like holy cow.
They get it and look at it andit's like holy cow.
I guess it actually sat atMike's shop for a few weeks so
the salt had dried out and wasjust hard as a rock Well, they
get it in Salt Lake and it hadruined the brakes.
It had the transmission, theengine, the truck was.
(01:02:31):
They declared it a total loss.
So they sent pictures of allthis damage to me and then said
hey, we are claiming this onyour car insurance Because you
know they would ask me for mypersonal car insurance when I'd
rent the truck, because I wasrenting it in my name, not under
(01:02:52):
the Salt Flats, because we knew, you know if they see oh, salt
Flats.
Introduction (01:02:56):
Racing.
Monte Widdison (01:02:57):
Association Anyway.
So they declared the truck atotal loss.
So I wrote a letter to myinsurance company and said hey,
here's the situation, here'swhat happened.
And so they denied the claim toU-Haul, and so U-Haul then they
just kind of gave up, but theyput you on the list.
(01:03:19):
Yes, I'm on a blacklist.
Allison Volk Dean (01:03:22):
I hope you gave Mike a hard time about that
when you saw him be like, hey,you got me blacklisted, we did
we did so.
Monte Widdison (01:03:29):
Then we gave up on the U-Hauls and we just rent
from Rugged Rental and that hasworked out really well because
they're four-door diesel pickupsand you can carry your cooler
and have your food and drinksall right there in the truck,
and air conditioning and thewhole works.
Allison Volk Dean (01:03:46):
Oh I drove in one of those original ones, the
UDOT ones.
It was uncomfortable and hot.
Introduction (01:03:53):
The radio didn't work.
In one of them, you're like, ohmy gosh, and it wasn't work.
Allison Volk Dean (01:03:55):
and one of them you're like oh my gosh, and
it wasn't like at the time, youknow, when there was, you had
to get your like cd walk man totake with you to listen to music
.
Oh man, that was.
But there's a lot I I thinkthat's good to see, like all the
work that everybody's doing forpeople to understand how
important the volunteers are andto make sure you think a
volunteer, because there's a lot, even if it's something you
(01:04:18):
know at the nine mile,somebody's got to do it in order
to run that race and that's notfun work either to go to that
nine mile and wait out there allday.
And so and they're, they're,they're doing it.
So I think that's a goodreminder to everyone about you
know 12 hours to prep a course.
I mean, no, that's so.
That's a good reminder toeveryone about you know 12 hours
(01:04:38):
to prep a course.
I mean that's so long of doingthat and so, yeah, it's really
important and it's really timeconsuming and it's not.
You're not really getting paid.
I mean you're a volunteer, youget, you know, lunches and
whatnot, but yeah, you do it forthe love.
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (01:04:55):
You do it for the love.
Allison Volk Dean (01:04:56):
Yeah, you do it for the love, yeah, and I
think that's all the volunteersout there doing it for the love
of, even if they're not racerssome of them are, some of them
aren't Even if they're not on acrew, it's, you know, makes the
world go round.
Yeah, sure, yeah Well, Iappreciate you coming out and
doing this interview with me.
I think there was a lot ofinformation there that we don't
get on a lot of other interviews, right In terms of how things
(01:05:20):
work and what to look for andyeah, so that was really great.
I appreciate it.
Monte Widdison (01:05:24):
It was my pleasure.
Introduction (01:05:25):
All right, thanks so much Thanks for listening to
Land Speed Legends.
Make sure you subscribe so youdon't miss any future episodes.
In the meantime, keep up withthe show on Facebook and
Instagram under LandspeedLegends.
Until next time.
Welcome to Landspeed Legends, a podcast
talking to the men, the women,the legends that make land speed
racing great.
Discover the stories of theseordinary people whose passion
for land speed racing has madethem legendary.
And now here's your host theBonneville Belle, the high boy,
(00:23):
honey, the salt princess, alisonVolk-Dean.
Allison Volk Dean (00:29):
Okay, so today I have the legendary Monty
Witteson with us, and a lot ofyou may know him from being a
starter.
For how many years were you astarter?
Monte Widdison (00:40):
Well, let's see, it's been over 30 years.
Yeah, 30 years, I couldn't sayexactly.
Allison Volk Dean (00:46):
But Yep at the USFRA events that he would
was the head starter for theevent.
Right, correct, all right, well, how did you?
How did you originally getinvolved?
Did you?
Were you involved in otherracing before or how did you get
started in all this?
Monte Widdison (01:02):
I've always been a car enthusiast and when I was
in high school and college Iwas an athlete, so I didn't
really get involved in the carpart of it.
But once I graduated fromcollege I said I'm going to
start pursuing my interest incars.
(01:24):
So I was into old Mustangs iswhat got me started and I went
to a car show at the Salt Palaceand, lo and behold, the USFRA
had a booth there and I'd alwaysbeen interested in what was
going on at the Salt Flats, butI never really took the time to
(01:47):
go out there.
So when I went to the booth,Gary and Ellen were there and we
got talking and I found outabout the 130 mile an hour club.
So that's what really piqued myinterest to go out.
Allison Volk Dean (02:01):
Is it right?
After college you kind of wentto the Salt Flats, so yeah, so
there was a quick to go out, isit right?
Monte Widdison (02:06):
after college it kind of went to the soft spot,
so yeah, so there was a quick.
Yeah, it actually took a coupleof years before I got out there
.
But yeah, as a young boy I readarticles in Hot Rod magazine
and, of course, would see thearticles in the newspaper and
news stories on the television,so it had held my interest for
many years.
Allison Volk Dean (02:25):
It was in your ethos a little bit, but
yeah, finally got experience.
So how did you do when you wentout?
Monte Widdison (02:31):
Did you take your Mustang out the first time,
or I didn't have a Mustang atthat time Okay, because it was a
few years before I had a carthat I felt comfortable actually
taking on the salt.
This is kind of a funny story.
But I went out and of coursethey give you the rules and tell
(02:51):
you the procedures andeverything.
So I made my first run.
I had a.
It was a Lincoln Mark VII thatI had put a Mustang GT engine
and transmission in it, so itwas I called it my hot rod
Lincoln.
Anyway, I made the run.
I come back around and get mytiming slip and it said 116.
(03:12):
And I said your clocks arewrong and I don't remember who
was handing out the timing slips.
But their response was well,try it again.
So I went back out, made asecond run 116.
So I said, well, where's thehumble pie?
Introduction (03:30):
I'm ready to take a bite.
Monte Widdison (03:33):
And one of the old timers and I couldn't tell
you who it was, but he came overto my little pit area and he
said, hey, ask around and find atiming light.
And he said bump the timing afew degrees.
He says then drive out to thetruck, stop by the interstate
and put 50 pounds of pressure inall four tires.
And he said try that.
(03:55):
So I thought, well, what have Igot to lose?
So I tried that, went back outand it went 123.
So then I got real excited andthought out and it went 123.
So then I got real excited andthought, hey, this is pretty fun
.
So I went back to the pits andI took out the passenger front
seat, I took out the rear seat,I opened the trunk and emptied
everything out, went and madeanother run and it went 120.
(04:20):
So it actually slowed me down.
Allison Volk Dean (04:23):
So at that point I realized this is a game
that really takes somebody thatknows what they're doing to be
successful at it yeah, or havethe information from others,
yeah, weight's a good thing outthere sometimes, yes, well, um,
what year was that that you were, that you kind of found out
(04:43):
about USFRA?
Monte Widdison (04:46):
That would have been the first time I went out.
Would have been right around1987, maybe 88.
Allison Volk Dean (04:54):
Okay, and then you were racing a couple of
years after that.
Monte Widdison (05:00):
Yeah, I tried that.
Well, actually I tried thatonce and then realized I don't
have enough horsepower.
Yeah, and so you're done.
You were done with that.
(05:21):
And they put me at the ninemile marker with another guy by
the name of Jarl Bowles and wesat out there all day long and
we saw one car through thebinoculars and at that time our
radio system didn't work verygood.
We could hear the timing tower,we could hear the timing tower,
(05:43):
but they couldn't hear us.
So they'd say nine mile, reportin.
So we would hold the radio upand go we're here, everything's
good, and then pretty soon, ninemile, please check in.
And all day long it was likethat.
They never did hear us.
It was quite frustrating.
Allison Volk Dean (06:00):
You guys could have been dead in that
truck out there Exactly For awhile.
Well, okay, so that was yourfirst year volunteering.
They really want to make sureyou want to volunteer.
Monte Widdison (06:10):
Yes, and I kind of found out that that was
pretty much standard procedure,that they would take new
volunteers and put them outthere and if they came back the
following year, then it's like,hey, we've got somebody here
that's actually interested.
Allison Volk Dean (06:28):
Yeah, so you came back the following year.
Monte Widdison (06:29):
Yeah, as a matter of fact, I came back the
next year and it was kind ofinteresting.
I didn't really get a chance tomeet a whole lot of people from
the club that first yearbecause I was so far out there
and we stayed there all day.
So by the time everything gotdone, most people were already
in town.
And anyway, come back the nextyear, and I was standing at
(06:54):
registration, uh, waiting forsomeone to tell me what to do.
I didn't really realize at thatpoint that they had already
been out there several daysgetting set up, so I just showed
up the first day of racing.
Anyway, as they're standingthere, or as I was standing
there, registration someone sayshey, uh, has anybody seen the
(07:18):
starter?
And of course they were talkingabout marty west.
And someone else remarkedsomething similar to this.
I saw him at the bar last night, but I don't know where he is
today, and so it was kind of amad panic.
Everybody goes, what are wegoing to do?
So I raised my hand and saidI'll do that.
(07:42):
I didn't have a clue what thatreally that job really entailed,
but the racers, bless theirhearts were absolutely fabulous
to me?
Allison Volk Dean (07:54):
Yeah, well, yeah, because they're relying on
you, too, to make sureeverything's clear.
And what does it consist of?
To be like a starter?
What does like what?
What do you all have to do?
What is the process?
Monte Widdison (08:08):
well, when a vehicle comes up to make a pass,
a run, the starter's job, ofcourse, is to communicate with
timing and give the timing, thetimer, the vehicle number and
then, once the course is clear,then the timer will, or the
starter will, send the vehiclenumber and then, once the course
is clear, then the timer will,or the starter will, send the
vehicle down the course.
But also in that process thejob entails you're the final
(08:34):
safety check.
So you reach in and you checkthe driver's belts.
I always check and make surethat the pins are out of the
fire bottles, that the pins areout of the parachute, that the
steering wheel's locked on good,and a lot of times you can
sense when the driver's nervous.
(08:56):
Now, with these modern helmets,all you can see is their eyes.
But even that will, you canjust sense what's going on in
there.
So I try to be real calm.
I don't raise my voice.
Sometimes I'll joke around abit.
I talk to them, I let them knowwhat I'm going to do.
(09:19):
I'm going to reach in, I'mgoing to check your belts and I
like to pull them as tight as Ican get them and then basically
just try to make sure they'reready to go, and then, when the
time is ready, I send them ontheir way.
Allison Volk Dean (09:35):
Yeah, you're a pretty calming force.
I would say when you're outthere, I've seen I don't think
I've ever.
Maybe I don't know, you'vestarted me maybe, but it is nice
when they when it.
There's something comfortingabout the starter when they come
in and check everything andmake sure that you're OK and
safe and not that it's not nervewracking.
You're ready to go off the line.
But yeah, there is.
(09:55):
There is kind of an art to it.
I would say, just like how youwere explaining it.
How long did you do that for?
Monte Widdison (10:03):
Well, geez, I'm still doing it.
Allison Volk Dean (10:05):
Oh, you are still.
Are you still a head starter?
Monte Widdison (10:08):
Yes, oh, okay, yes.
Allison Volk Dean (10:09):
Okay, okay, you started back in like the
late 80s.
Monte Widdison (10:13):
Yeah, and you just after that encounter.
Yeah, it's been my job eversince.
Allison Volk Dean (10:18):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (10:20):
One of the things that happened.
You remember Mike Cook?
Yeah, he came out.
He had a Thunderbird that hewas running as a competition
coupe so it had the engine setback, so he was actually sitting
in the car in what would havebeen the backseat backseat area
(10:42):
anyway, yeah.
So I kind of climbed inside thecar and as I'm checking his
belts, he grabbed ahold of myshirt and he pulled me right up
to his helmet and he said hey,he says I really appreciate the
fact that you're checking all mysafety gear, he said, but I
want to know what the course islike.
Are there any soft spots, spots?
(11:03):
Is one lane better than theother?
You know what's going on and atthat point I realized, hmm, I
should be doing course prep sothat I understand what's going
on out on the track.
So that's when I took on thejob of actually doing the course
prep as well okay, and so you,that was you your two main
(11:27):
things.
Allison Volk Dean (11:27):
You're in charge actually doing the course
prep as well.
Okay, and so that was your twomain things you were charged
with, because course prep's alot.
Yeah, that is a lot.
So what do you look for whenyou're doing course prep?
Like what is some of the thingsthat you think about?
Monte Widdison (11:36):
Well, it's kind of interesting.
In the last few years theyleave the survey markers in the
salt year round.
So once I go out there thetrack is pretty much already
laid out.
But there were years that therewere no survey markers, so I
(11:57):
would have to drive around andpick out what I thought was good
salt.
Now this is where your dadcomes in, because you know your
dad has that little pick hammerthat he would carry around with
him.
And he still has it.
Yeah, and he would.
He would knock that into thesalt and he could tell where the
(12:20):
best salt was by what thehammer did to it.
So I kind of learned that trickfrom him.
I don't have a hammer, but Ican look at the salt, because
when you look at it you're notlooking for the bright white
salt.
What you want is kind of agrayish, opaque looking salt,
(12:43):
because that's the stuff.
Allison Volk Dean (12:44):
That's really hard, okay I know exactly what
that color, you know what itlooks like, but okay, I didn't
know that either, though I thinkmy dad would pass some of that
knowledge on to me.
But um, okay, that'sinteresting.
So that's what you would lookfor.
Is that grayish opaque salt?
Okay?
Monte Widdison (13:01):
now here's another interesting thing.
You go out there and there's nosurvey markers.
You've got to lay out astraight line.
So, the first few times I triedthat.
It was extremely difficultbecause you would start dragging
and then, before you knew it,you were off by several degrees.
(13:22):
So what I figured out was Iwould lay cones out, but I would
put the second cone down first.
Allison Volk Dean (13:32):
Okay.
Monte Widdison (13:32):
Now I'll explain how that works.
Okay, you put the second conedown.
Then you come back towards thestart line and you pick a point
out on the horizon.
Now, usually this is floatingmountain, so you pick a point
there and then you line up yourthe cone you just laid down with
the point on the mountain.
(13:53):
Then you put your first conethere and then you can sight
down those cones.
Right.
And then you go back around andyou look back towards the start
line and you can lay eightmiles worth of almost perfectly
straight cones that way?
Allison Volk Dean (14:11):
So okay, so cones are.
You can just see some peoplelay cones.
That does exactly what you'resaying, like it just starts to
curve.
You're like where is this going?
That's really interesting.
So you just kind of learn thatAre you an engineer.
Is that what you're saying?
Monte Widdison (14:25):
No, but my dad was in the road construction
business.
So I learned what smoothing uh,gravel and asphalt was all
about.
Allison Volk Dean (14:35):
Yeah so.
Monte Widdison (14:35):
I think that has really Just prepping you for
the salt.
It has really helped me.
Allison Volk Dean (14:39):
Yeah, that's cool.
So, what else do you look for?
Um on the salt.
Monte Widdison (14:46):
Anything?
Yeah, that's cool.
So what else do you look for onthe salt?
Anything else that you're?
Yeah, you know, in years pastwe didn't have to worry so much
about what visitors to the saltwere doing or tourists, let's
say.
But nowadays they go out thereand they have their big bonfires
and their camps and everythingelse.
So we try to find a place wherethey haven't disturbed the salt
(15:07):
too much.
And yeah, I have to say thatsocial media has not done the
racers any favors as far as whatthe salt has to endure now from
people that go out to spenddonuts.
Allison Volk Dean (15:24):
Yeah, well, you think that the BLM might put
a sign out and be like, hey,there's an international race
course right here.
Maybe just, you know, justeducate them a little bit.
But no, not even.
Monte Widdison (15:38):
And the funny thing is or the interesting part
about that is is that, ofcourse, the racetrack is the
smoothest part out there.
So even while I'm out theredragging, people will come right
behind me and start spinningdonuts right in the middle of
the racetrack.
Allison Volk Dean (15:52):
Right, but if you didn't know, you wouldn't
know, like you wouldn't knowwhat you were doing what that's
about.
And so, like I can't, I can'tblame them too much, because
they just don't know.
Monte Widdison (16:01):
Now, if you knew and were doing it, then know
that's something else but yeah,and I try to keep that in mind,
I I don't get too upset, but Ido.
Allison Volk Dean (16:10):
I will try to chase them down and say hey, um
, please go somewhere else, goover here yeah, I bet you, the
majority of the time they'relike yeah, oh, sorry you know,
but I'm sure there's a few thataren't that way.
But that's life, that'severything I going to say.
Think about what else would berequired for prep track, but is
like okay.
So when you're telling somebodywhere you think the good salt
(16:31):
is like what is it exactly thatyou're telling them Like, what
are they looking for, I mean,besides big potholes?
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (16:39):
If there is a pothole or a real soft spot,
I'll say, okay, down about amile and three quarter.
It's on the left-hand side andit's about 10 feet inside from
the line, so I try to give thema pretty good indication of
where that is.
So I'll say hey, just excuse me, stay right of center until you
(17:04):
get down to about a mile andthree quarter, and then you're
free to move wherever you wantto.
On the track, Of course, thevehicles kind of move around on
their own anyway.
Allison Volk Dean (17:15):
Yeah, they dance with you, and our
motorcycles, I would imagine,are looking for different things
.
Then Are you like to conveyinto a motorcycle something
different than to a race cardriver?
Monte Widdison (17:26):
yeah, with motorcycles, wind is a big issue
, so sometimes we'll have a windcheck and then I can report to
them what the wind speeds areand what direction it's coming
from.
And I usually try to tell thepeople on motorcycles to stay
towards the outer edges of thetrack, because most of the cars
(17:49):
tend to run right down thecenter, so that's kind of where
the track starts to get chewedup a little bit more.
But they can stay eight or 10feet off the side of the track
and it's a lot smoother for them.
Allison Volk Dean (18:05):
Yeah, and then what about some of the fast
cars?
What is something that you'retelling them or looking for,
like you know, any of thespecial lane cars?
Monte Widdison (18:15):
Yeah, most of those drivers well all of them
really have so much experiencethat I don't really tell them a
whole lot unless they ask.
If they ask me then I'll say,hey, I suggest you stay here or
move over there, but otherwise Ijust kind of let them do their
(18:39):
thing.
The reason I say that isbecause when the meet starts we
always let all the drivers andcrew people take a run or take a
drive down the track in theirown vehicles.
That way they get a chance tolook and see what the track and
the course looks like.
Allison Volk Dean (18:58):
Yeah, and that's.
I think that's always a smartthing to go see what it looks
like, and that's.
I think that's always a smartthing to go see what it looks
like.
So that's pretty much what youhave done for the USFRA, for the
, since the Hades is prep trackand and that's a lot prep track
and the head starter and you'rein charge of the other starters.
Are you in charge of like,making sure, like the line lanes
(19:19):
and all of that kind of stuffwhen you're, when you're.
Monte Widdison (19:22):
Not so much.
Okay, I'm so busy right at thestarting line.
We always have a couple ofpeople that are our line
wranglers if you will.
So they're the ones that tellthem, hey, it's time to get in
the car and get suited up andready to go, and they keep the
lines moving and keep everythingorganized Because I just don't
(19:45):
have time to mess with that.
Allison Volk Dean (19:47):
Yeah, you're focused on the drivers and
safety.
Well, what have been some ofyour more interesting like do
you interesting stories?
Well, first of all, what is oneof your favorite cars to watch,
to get ready for and watch go?
Monte Widdison (20:02):
You know I actually love all of them to get
ready for and watch go.
You know I actually love all ofthem.
Yeah, I mean, I realize thatthis is not the greatest
spectator sport in the world,but for me, interacting with the
crew members and the driversand I know enough about cars I
(20:30):
can appreciate the work that'sgone in to getting there
building these vehicles.
And so that for me that's thebig thrill, just being there and
being part of it, or maybe anymemorable runs that were that
you can really, you know thatreally stick out.
Well, we'll back up a little bithere, because I I finally did
build a car that I thought wouldmake it into the 130 club.
(20:55):
I got ahold of a little.
Uh well, it was a FordThunderbird 1990 and it came
from the factory with a 3.8liter V6 with a belt-driven
supercharger on it.
Ford called them theThunderbird Super Coupe.
So I got this car and Iactually put a full roll cage in
(21:17):
it, because at the time therecord in production,
supercharged, was only about 160, 170 something.
So I thought, hey, that'sprobably within reach.
So I took the car out there andI thought, well, I'm going to
(21:37):
run it into 130 and then the 150, and then we'll see where it
goes from there.
So I ran it into 130 and itwent 139.
Allison Volk Dean (21:48):
So that put me into the 130 club.
Monte Widdison (21:51):
And then I um, I cheated a little bit, I went on
a run and I went the full fivemiles.
I still catch heck for that,but anyway, um, the car actually
went 172 miles an hour.
Oh wow.
But to back up a little bit,the first year I went out there
(22:14):
with it.
As I was in the pits, I seethis tractor-trailer pull in and
it said Ford MotorsportsDearborn, michigan on the side.
And I said to myself I know forsure, when they open that rear
gate, that they're going to pullout a Thunderbird Super Coupe.
And sure enough they did.
And I thought, well, thatrecord now is going to be way
(22:37):
out of reach.
And yeah, they bumped therecord to over 200.
They went like 208.
And I may not be exact withthese numbers, but anyway, at
that point I realized, well, I'm30 miles an hour and about
$100,000 short.
Allison Volk Dean (22:59):
Hey, sometimes I remember when that
JCB Diesel Streamliner came outand the one guy got, he got the
record first like the littlehomegrown.
I can't even remember whatclass it was, but yeah, there
was a guy in that same classthat was with that streamliner
and he so he set the recordfirst and then they they bumped
it.
Monte Widdison (23:17):
Okay, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (23:18):
So and they were like kind of going, you
know and yeah, so sometimesthat's a beautiful thing too.
Monte Widdison (23:24):
Well, yeah, and here's, here's one of the
serendipitous events thathappened to me.
When they came out the guys I'mtalking about the guys from
Ford they came out with thatThunderbird.
They saw my car and I hadpainted this Thunderbird yellow.
So they came over and said wenever made any yellow
(23:45):
Thunderbirds.
Where did you get that?
And I said, well, I painted itmyself.
Hello, thunderbirds, where didyou get that?
And I said, well, I painted itmyself.
So anyway, I got to be prettychummy with these guys as the
event went on and after about amonth, after the event was over,
the UPS truck pulled up to myplace and unloaded this huge box
(24:07):
and it said Ford Motor CompanyDearborn, michigan.
So I thought what the heck isthis?
So I opened it up and insidethey had sent me a new
supercharger.
They sent a new set of fuelinjectors, a new fuel pump, and
they had custom programmed aprocessor and said here, plug
(24:28):
this in and see how it goes.
So that's how the car actuallywent.
172 is with all this stuff thatthey had sent to me, no charge,
of course.
How cool is that it was reallyquite the deal.
So I took my timing slip andmade a photocopy and I took a
(24:49):
picture of the car and then Iwrote a real nice thank you note
.
Allison Volk Dean (24:53):
So you know thanks for this.
Monte Widdison (24:55):
The car really worked well.
Allison Volk Dean (24:56):
Oh yeah, I bet you, they love getting that,
slip you know what.
I'm saying yeah.
Monte Widdison (24:59):
And, as a matter of fact, a couple of years
after that, as I was on thestarting line, some spectator
come up and said, hey, do youown the yellow Thunderbird?
And I said yeah.
And he says I was in theengineering building at Ford
just last week and there's thisplaque on the wall, a picture of
your car and the thank you noteand everything so yeah, so they
(25:20):
put it up in the in thebuilding.
Allison Volk Dean (25:23):
You're legendary at the Ford building
in Dearborn, michigan.
That's cool, that's a reallycool story, so, um, so it's,
that's.
That's kind of where youstopped racing then at that
point was you're just like ahyeah.
Monte Widdison (25:38):
Yeah, I realized I just didn't have the budget
to to do what I would have likedto do.
But being involved, beingaround it has satisfied my
desires you need for speed.
Allison Volk Dean (25:56):
Oh yeah, no, it's just such a great.
I'm sure all motor sports arethis way, but it's just a great
sport.
It's a great family oriented Idon't know, kind of thing.
Monte Widdison (26:08):
I have to say that some of my dearest friends
are people I've met in the saltflats group.
Um, it's just been amazing.
Allison Volk Dean (26:18):
Yeah, absolutely amazing so, um, back
to some.
Some memorable runs were.
Let's see, can you think of anyones that were like you're like
, wow, that was cool, oranything that sticks out to you
about those some?
Monte Widdison (26:33):
of those starts.
I'll tell you a couple of funexperiences.
Okay, Several years back, BobbyUnser showed up and he was
driving a little modifiedRoadster that belonged to a
friend of his.
I'm sorry.
Allison Volk Dean (26:48):
I don't remember.
No, I remember that yeah.
Monte Widdison (26:50):
Yeah Well, anyway, when they brought the
car up to the start line thepush truck had kind of bumped
the car.
So the car coasted up to theactual start line but the crew
truck push truck was back alittle ways.
So I walked up to the car.
Of course I I knew who he was.
(27:22):
So I said I'm going to reach inand check your belts and he
said no, you're not.
Allison Volk Dean (27:24):
I said with all due respect, I need to check
your belts or I can't let yourun.
Monte Widdison (27:26):
He says, no, I'll say it one more time.
I check your belts or I willhave to push you out of line.
So kind of grumbling says, okay, so I reached in.
The first thing I always do isI grab a hold of the shoulder
straps and I just give him agood tug.
So I grabbed his shoulderstraps and the right shoulder
(27:46):
strap came up they hadn'tlatched it.
And the right shoulder strapcame up, they hadn't latched it.
So he's like, oh my gosh, getmy crew guys up here.
Well, at that point they wereactually walking up towards the
car.
I said, well, I can take careof this for you.
So I unbuckled everything andas I'm in the process of
buckling it all back together,the crew guys are like what's
(28:07):
going on?
I said, well, there was aproblem here with the shoulder
strap.
Anyway, we got him all latchedback together and as I'm pulling
the belts, he says, oh, becareful.
He says my back is so bad fromall my car crashes.
He says I just can't have thebelts real, real tight.
And I said, well, I appreciatethat.
(28:29):
You let me know when I snugthem down to the point where you
know it's not too much.
So anyway, we got him all tuggedup and he took off, and now
he's just making his licensingpasses at this point and if I
recall, they actually may havewaived one of his first passes
(28:56):
or something.
You know, I don't think theymade him do the 125.
Anyway, when they came back tomake their second licensing pass
, as they pushed the car up, hejust raised his arms up like
this and says okay, check me out.
Allison Volk Dean (29:10):
He got.
He got the memo.
Monte Widdison (29:13):
And he you know, his objective was to get into
the two club and they weresuccessful.
Allison Volk Dean (29:19):
Yeah, what year was that?
I wonder.
If it was like the.
I remember anyways.
Yeah, that's funny.
That, yeah, I mean there'sdefinitely.
I mean I've heard stories ofpeople loosening afterwards.
That didn't end well, and solisten to your starter make sure
.
Don't give him any trouble.
Monte Widdison (29:39):
You know, john Hanson used to be the manager at
the Pepper Mill and some of theother casinos out there.
He was trying to get into thetwo club and they were running a
little Honda I can't rememberif it was a Civic or what,
anyway, they were running aHonda.
(30:00):
And when he came up to the lineI could just see he was just
nervous, as could be.
So I said, john, close youreyes.
So he closes his eyes and Isaid, okay, now inhale as deeply
as you can, I said, and thenlet it out real slow.
And we did that twice.
(30:21):
Then, when he opened his eyes,I could see his demeanor had
he'd really calmed down, and hereminds me of that almost every
time I see him.
Allison Volk Dean (30:31):
Yeah, because you could really start working
yourself, get in your head andstart working yourself into a
frenzy real quick and then butyeah, I could see how that would
definitely just kind of bringyou, center you, back to where
you're at.
Oh, I know John, I love John.
Introduction (30:45):
He's a great guy.
Monte Widdison (30:46):
Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (30:46):
And then what about some of the more
well-known race like racers outthere that you've dealt with,
you know the Vesco's and theNish's and I know I'm going to
forget people, but Nolan Whiteand, oh, come on.
(31:19):
Al Teak.
Monte Widdison (31:20):
Yeah, that's the name I was trying to think of.
It's tough to get old.
Introduction (31:25):
I know, trust me Wow.
Allison Volk Dean (31:27):
My brain still like just clicks out.
I don't know what it is.
Monte Widdison (31:32):
I'll tell you another story here.
If you remember the ChetHerbert car, the first time I
started that vehicle or was thestarter when that vehicle came
up, clayton was driving and Iremember thinking to myself why
are they putting an 18-year-oldkid in this car?
(31:56):
Well, anyway, you know, it's afour-engine streamliner.
So when they pushed the truckup.
The car wasn't pointed exactlystraight down the course.
It was off about 10, 12 degrees.
It was actually pointed moretowards the pits.
Well, to start this thing, theyhad a pickup truck that had, I
(32:22):
don't know, maybe eight 12-voltbatteries all wired together and
then a big industrial plug thatcame off those batteries and
plugged into the side of the car.
So what they would do is crankthe car to get oil pressure and
then they would come back andprime all the injectors and then
(32:45):
crank it again and then flipthe, the mag switch and away
they would go well anyway.
So clayton gets in the car and II get him all buckled in.
Well, they have a fresh airsupplied system with pressurized
air, so when he closes thevisor on his helmet he sounded
(33:08):
just like Darth Vader.
As he's breathing, you can hearit go.
It was really kind of strangebecause I hadn't seen that
before.
Well, anyway, Clayton's dadsays okay, push the clutch pedal
in and we're going to crank theengines.
So I can actually hear thelinkage functioning.
(33:33):
So he pushes the clutch in andthey start to crank and his dad
says when we get oil pressure,just give me a thumbs up.
So sure enough, clayton giveshim the thumbs up.
Now, of course, at this pointthe canopy's down.
Introduction (33:48):
Yeah, they're ready to rock and roll.
Yeah, they're ready to go.
Monte Widdison (33:56):
So he had just a little squirt bottle that he
would squirt all the injectorsand he said, all right, let's
crank it again.
So, as they crank it the minuteit well, it cranked for maybe
two or three seconds and the carfired and the throttle went
wide open.
And when that happened I don'tknow if they didn't have the
clutches adjusted properly, butthat car just took off.
(34:19):
Oh, my goodness, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (34:21):
Was it a push-off car, though, or did it
just it could actually take offon its own, but anyway, it just
took off.
Monte Widdison (34:28):
It tore the battery cable out and we're all
standing there like what?
Allison Volk Dean (34:34):
Yeah that's a pretty wild start Then.
Monte Widdison (34:36):
I realized he's not even on course.
He was headed directly to thepits and for me it was mad panic
.
Allison Volk Dean (34:45):
Oh yeah.
Monte Widdison (34:46):
So I get on the radio and I said I don't know if
anybody can even hear me, butthat car is headed straight for
the pits, heads up, yeah Well,anyway, he got down maybe a mile
and a half and the car slowlyturned and got back on course.
Introduction (35:05):
Oh, wow.
Monte Widdison (35:06):
And I remember thinking that's why they have an
18-year-old in there.
Nobody else would get in thatcar.
Allison Volk Dean (35:14):
Now, this is just my interpretation.
Your personal assessment, yeah.
Monte Widdison (35:18):
Yes, yes, well, I found out later.
Dennis was the rover back thenand when he caught up to Clayton
after the run he said, clayton,what happened?
And Clayton says well, they hadthe exhaust would come up
through the top of the car.
And he said the fumes billowedout of the exhaust so much that
(35:43):
he could only see just rightbetween the exhaust pipes.
And he said I had to finallylet off the throttle and
realized, hey, I'm off course.
So, to his credit, he was ableto figure out where he was
exactly and get back on thetrack.
Allison Volk Dean (36:01):
Especially if you're not I don't mean if
you're not really aware outthere of where everything's at,
you could easily just get lost.
Monte Widdison (36:09):
So after that I had a whole new respect for that
car and for him, because Ithought you know he really knows
what he's doing here.
Allison Volk Dean (36:16):
I'll give him a break on this one.
Yeah, that's.
I can't remember if this is aUSFRA meet, but one time we were
at the starting line and allthis guy had these like track
running pants I cannot rememberwhich meet this was but had like
these track running pants on,like those that I don't know,
that thin material, and he allof a sudden, like you could just
(36:40):
see the pants go, and they weregone Like, but it was alcohol,
you know, like you couldn't,like you're, like you seem
dancing, and then you're likewhat is going on?
And he's just right there onthe starting line, his pants
went up.
Monte Widdison (36:53):
Did they actually catch fire, oh?
Allison Volk Dean (36:54):
yeah, like the pants were gone.
I mean it wasn't like the wholething burned off, but it was
definitely.
And you could tell he wasconfused at first.
You can't see, you know likeit's.
But yeah, that was.
There's some interesting thingsthat happened on the starting
line.
Monte Widdison (37:11):
Yeah, it's kind of.
It's kind of crazy becausethings happen and then you can't
remember what year was that.
Allison Volk Dean (37:17):
What meet.
Yeah because for a while andthey do the test and tune, but
that used to be a full July meet.
Yeah, it always seems like itwas two or three days.
Yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, they were just like twoday meets is all.
Monte Widdison (37:30):
Yeah, it always seems like it was two or three
days.
Yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, they were just liketwo-day meets is all.
Allison Volk Dean (37:35):
Yeah, and then I don't know, there's lots
of cars that you've probablyseen go by.
You got to give me some otherones here.
You've seen everything.
Monte Widdison (37:45):
You know most of them are.
There's no drama involved.
They make a safe run and you'reon to the next vehicle and, as
a matter of fact, that's one ofthe parts that's kind of hard
for me to deal with, because I'mso focused on what's going on.
When a vehicle leaves the startline, I'll look down, course
(38:06):
and watch them until they getdown about a mile course and
watch them until they get downabout a mile and then at that
point, I turn around and myfocus is completely on the next
vehicle.
And of course they don't reportthe speeds or times over the
main communication radio, so alot of times I have no idea how
(38:29):
fast they went on, and ifsomething does happen then of
course I'll hear that on myradio.
The car spun, they turned outearly or something like that.
But otherwise my focus keepschanging you know from this
vehicle to that vehicle.
Allison Volk Dean (38:49):
But all your focus is going there?
Monte Widdison (38:51):
What are you looking at?
Allison Volk Dean (38:52):
when you're watching them take off, like,
are you just making sure thatthey're out of the way?
Monte Widdison (38:59):
The first course steward is down at a mile and a
half.
So if they turn out before themile a lot of times it's hard
for them to see.
So I like to watch and justmake sure that if there's a
problem I can report it.
Allison Volk Dean (39:12):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (39:13):
Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (39:15):
Yeah, I think it'd be fun to be a starter.
It'd be fascinating just to seeeverybody.
But I'd have a hard time justfocusing on one thing.
You'd be surprised, you'd besurprised, you'd be surprised.
Monte Widdison (39:28):
Just this last year, one of the guys with one
of the old vintage circle trackcars came up and when I reached
in to check his belts I pulledon the lap belt and it came up
and he goes.
What did you do?
And I says I don't know, buthere's the end of the belt that
(39:54):
should be attached to thechassis.
Oh, shoot yeah I come to findout the bolt had worked loose,
and so when I tugged on it itcame off.
So anyway, they got that fixed.
But it's a job that I take veryseriously.
I've had more than a couple ofexperiences when Bob Dalton
(40:17):
crashed and he was doing over400 miles an hour.
Now, normally I do not go tocrash sites, I want nothing to
do with that, but it was thelast run of the meet and when I
heard that he was out of the car, and okay, I drove down there
(40:39):
and he was, he was sitting.
I think he was actually sittingon the car talking on his phone
, oh yeah.
So anyway, once he got off thephone, I went up to him.
The first words out of hismouth were you saved my life.
Now, those words, I mean, Irealize it wasn't me.
(41:05):
Yeah, all I did was check thebelts and I told him.
I said, bob, that's your chassisbuilder yeah that's you and the
guys that do all this stuff.
And he said no.
He says I've never had anybodypull those belts as tight as you
did.
He said when that car went overI didn't budge oh, wow so, and
(41:29):
I've had that happen more thanonce.
Allison Volk Dean (41:32):
Oh yeah, that was a gnarly crash.
I was like he.
I was like, oh my gosh, bob'sdead.
I really thought he was.
I mean, I was like there's justno way that you know you're hey
.
Lisa had to talk him into goingto the hospital just to make
sure everything like nothing wasdamaged.
He didn't even want to go dothat.
Monte Widdison (41:51):
In fact, dennis was telling me that they put him
in the ambulance and then theambulance just sat there and
then, all of a sudden, the reardoors opened and Bob jumps out.
Allison Volk Dean (41:59):
And he's like I'm not going in the ambulance.
That's an expensive ride I'mnot taking that.
Monte Widdison (42:04):
But then I saw him at Speed Week this year and
again the first thing out of hismouth is you saved my life.
Allison Volk Dean (42:12):
That's awesome.
Monte Widdison (42:13):
And then Lee Cilio.
When he crashed, we went up tothe hospital to visit him and
when we walked in the hospitalroom, same conversation.
Allison Volk Dean (42:25):
Man.
Monte Widdison (42:26):
So I mean, I like to joke around and have fun
, but I take that job veryseriously.
Allison Volk Dean (42:34):
Those were both two very gnarly crashes.
I think that same year Leecrashed was, oh my gosh, the
black car.
I have to think about it now.
He was like from back East,from Pennsylvania.
Introduction (42:51):
What is?
Monte Widdison (42:52):
that the Carbonite Yep.
Allison Volk Dean (42:54):
The Carbonite .
His wife stayed with us toowhile he was in the hospital,
like just stayed in our houseCause we had a separate entrance
, it was easy for her to get tothe.
We were right by, you know,close to the U.
Introduction (43:05):
Okay.
Allison Volk Dean (43:05):
But yeah, he, but yeah, he crashed that year
too.
That was kind of a yeah.
Yeah that was a tough year,yeah, but yeah, those are some.
Bob and Lee are some of myfavorites, so I'm glad you saved
their lives.
So yeah, but yeah, that's.
(43:26):
I mean, that's some greatstories.
What would you like?
What kind of advice would yougive to somebody who I'm sure
you see a lot of newbies outthere first runs, or maybe just
you know more green than others?
Monte Widdison (43:53):
What is some advice that you would give
people that maybe are coming outfor the first time or second
time on things that you see outthere, what you do, yeah, uh,
you know, originally they weused to run all the 130 and 150
cars on the main course.
So those people, um, you knowthey're not seasoned yeah land
speed racers.
So I would always tell them putyour arms down on your legs and
hold the steering wheel on thebottom and let the car move.
Allison Volk Dean (44:17):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (44:17):
If it decides to move left or right, don't
really try to correct it, justlet it do what it's going to do,
because normally it may move afew feet but it'll come back,
and that seems to have workedpretty well.
Of course, now they have theirown course, so I don't really
get to do much with them anymore.
Allison Volk Dean (44:39):
Yeah, that's good advice, but that was always
kind of.
Monte Widdison (44:41):
My advice to them is just let the vehicle do
what it's going to do.
Allison Volk Dean (44:46):
I would say that you kind of dance with it.
Yeah, like the roadsters movemore than a feet.
Yeah, they like to go both,both ends of the course they
they like to hop around a littlebit.
Um, yeah, that's.
That's really good advice,though, because if you fight it,
yeah it's, you got to kind ofjust let it, you know, move
across the course most of themost of the new drivers.
Monte Widdison (45:10):
I try to give them a similar, similar advice.
You know, just kind of take iteasy, let the, let the vehicle
do what it will and come backsafe.
Allison Volk Dean (45:24):
Yeah, and, and that's for your like, 130,
150 club members that you'resaying that and even some of the
rookie LSR people.
Yeah, yeah, no, because that youknow.
You just come out there andsometimes you know people have
been doing it for a long time.
Just assume people that are newknow a lot and they don't, and
(45:49):
it's okay.
They're out here doing it likethat's what.
When people say, no, I'm notlegend, I'm like, well, you're
out there doing the thing thatyou you're pursuing, the thing
that you love or you like orthat you're interested in, you
know, and that's that's whatmakes it, you know, special you
know, I one of the other things,things that we haven't talked
(46:09):
about yet I've served as theclub vice president.
Monte Widdison (46:14):
I call it the club.
Allison Volk Dean (46:15):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (46:16):
But the association.
I served as vice president for26 years and it's been just a
lot of fun to be involved insome of the decision making and
everything you know the clubbusiness as such.
So I served under Gary Allen hewas the president when I became
(46:41):
vice president and then JimBerkdahl and then Dennis, so
that's been a whole greatexperience for me as well.
Allison Volk Dean (46:53):
Yeah, and you can get involved if you know,
if you're in the Utah area, theUtah South Flats or SCTA there's
.
Scta is a little bit morecomplicated.
You have to join a club and allthat.
Monte Widdison (47:05):
But, but USFRA, if you're in this area, man,
it's really easy to get pluggedin if you want to if it's
something you want to do Exactlydo exactly and and it's a way
to be involved in racing withouthaving to spend all that money
yeah, and you know, andeverybody's needed.
Allison Volk Dean (47:23):
You know we need starters just as much as
you need racers and and I thinkit's you know the support is
super important to have andyou're the last person people
see before they head down thereand that's a lot, that's asking
a lot out of you.
But you have this.
You know just that calm.
I think you're right, that'sreally key.
(47:44):
It takes a special person, ifyou think about it.
I mean I'm thinking, like,think about Nick Arias, like
he's more of a calm chill.
Monte Widdison (47:51):
You know the starter, you know you probably
have to have a certain you can'tbe like that intense person out
there doing it.
Yeah, you can't, you can'tstart yelling and screaming at
people, because that justdoesn't work.
Allison Volk Dean (48:05):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (48:10):
I don't know if you remember when the group from
Australia came with the AustinHealy.
When the group from Australiacame with the Austin Healy and
one of the people that they hadbrought with them it was a gal
she came up and kind of grabbedmy arm and she says you know?
She says I've been involved inmotorsports for many, many years
(48:30):
.
She says I've never seenanybody like you before.
She said the way you handlethings up here and conduct
yourself, she says I'm justblown away by what goes on.
Allison Volk Dean (48:45):
Yeah Well, and there's intense moments too.
You know it's intense as thecrew or the driver being up
there that close and you knowyou're trying to get pushed up
and buckled in on time andthings started and so it is nice
to have that calming presence.
And if nobody knows what youlook like, you're tall, I mean,
how tall are you?
Monte Widdison (49:05):
Six seven.
Allison Volk Dean (49:06):
Yeah, so you're like kind of a gentle
giant type, but that's.
Yeah, I can see how it's verycalming to people.
Monte Widdison (49:14):
The job has suited me quite well, yeah.
I've thoroughly enjoyed it.
You found your niche.
Yes, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (49:23):
Well, great.
So now you're doing this,you're still doing it.
Then I don't know where I musthave got bad information,
probably from my dad.
Monte Widdison (49:31):
I'm still planning on being there.
Yeah, because I opted not torerun for vice president this
year.
Oh, maybe that's what he wasthinking, because it's time for
some younger members to getinvolved in the decision making
and move the club forward,because the rest of us are kind
(49:52):
of getting up there.
Allison Volk Dean (49:54):
No, I think it's a good little mix.
You guys got going on right nowso it's been, it's been good
yeah good, well, is thereanything else that you would be
that we haven't talked about, oranything else that you'd want
to?
Monte Widdison (50:08):
um, yeah, my daughter got into the 130 club.
Allison Volk Dean (50:12):
I did not know that.
Monte Widdison (50:13):
Yes, this would have been back in about 2003 or
4, I think yeah I had a mustangand uh, so we got her into the
club.
It was really kind of funbecause everybody out there was
treating her like a rock star.
Because they go you're Monty'sdaughter.
Allison Volk Dean (50:34):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Monte Widdison (50:36):
Oh, that's fun.
Now, she hasn't really shown alot of interest in this sort of
thing, but she enjoyed that andof course, it was a thrill for
me to be able to help her dothat.
Allison Volk Dean (50:49):
Well, that 130 club and 150 club is just
such a great little thing thatUSFRA has got going and it
brings and there's a lot ofpeople that come in and start
land speed racing or get likeyou get hooked up into
volunteering, that start kind ofthere and it's, it really is
fun.
So, and the 130 club isprobably the easiest.
(51:09):
Well, it is the easiest to dobecause you just have to make a
few.
You just have to wear a helmet,right, or do you have to have a
few?
You?
Monte Widdison (51:15):
just have to wear a helmet, right, or do you
have to have a fire suit?
No, no fire suit, but you haveto have a helmet and, uh, a roll
bar oh, you have to have a rollbar in the 130.
Allison Volk Dean (51:23):
Okay, okay, and then it gets a little bit
more technical with the 150.
Monte Widdison (51:26):
A few more things are added for safety 150.
Then you have to have the fivepoint harness yeah a few other
things, but anyway, that hasproven to really be quite
popular because it gives peoplea chance to experience racing a
car on the salt flats without,yeah, breaking the bank,
basically or if it's somethingyou're like, I think I might
(51:48):
want to do this.
Allison Volk Dean (51:49):
It's a great way to just kind of start
getting involved in somethingand it's fun.
I'm sure it's fun because it'snot I mean, sometimes the the
racing that's on the smallerlevel, I guess that's maybe not
going for the big records orit's.
It seems like it can be a lotof fun because that pressure is
kind of taken away of yeah youknow, we have three days to do
(52:10):
this and we have.
Monte Widdison (52:11):
I'm like yeah, one of the other things that
I've always enjoyed is, you know, ron Christensen does the radio
broadcast and he's the onlyperson that is actually allowed
to stay on the salt flatsovernight.
Allison Volk Dean (52:29):
No, I did not know that until this year.
Monte Widdison (52:31):
And I'm not sure how he actually worked that out
, but he sleeps in his car.
Allison Volk Dean (52:37):
I know I was blown away, I was like the whole
week and he's like yep, I waslike, well, that sounds awful,
but he doesn't seem to mind atall.
Oh heavens, no he loves it.
Monte Widdison (52:47):
He does, and so what we've done the last several
years is I'll stay out therelate, sometimes till midnight
and we just look at the stars.
Allison Volk Dean (52:58):
Oh, I bet you it's amazing yeah tell stories
and solve the world's problems.
Oh yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
Monte Widdison (53:05):
He and I have really enjoyed our visits out
there.
Allison Volk Dean (53:10):
Yeah, ron is a very knowledgeable guy.
I did an interview with him too.
Yeah, I didn't know any of thatabout too.
So and his, he, yeah, I didn'tknow any of that about him and I
was like, oh, that's so cool.
You lived out here, you sawthese, you know big time cars,
you know the famous, famous onesthat got everybody interested
coming out and yeah.
Monte Widdison (53:30):
His memory is a lot better than mine, so he's
got a lot more stories than I do.
Allison Volk Dean (53:36):
I have a bad memory.
I just tell myself I live inthe moment and that's why.
I don't remember anything.
Monte Widdison (53:41):
You know, it's been kind of fun.
I, when I was first being thestarter, um, I kind of let some
of the pressure get to me alittle bit, especially towards
the end of the day when you'vegot 20 cars still in line and
there's only 10 minutes leftbefore we're going to shut down.
(54:02):
So everybody's going.
Well, can't I run?
Please let me run.
And originally I would have togo back and just tell everybody
sorry, we're done for the day.
And so I was complaining aboutit one night and to some of the
other club members.
Well, anyway, the next day Ishow up and they had made a
(54:24):
little cardboard like a suit ofarmor with duct tape and they'd
made a target on it.
Because I said I feel like I'mthe one that has to take all the
heat at the end of the daytelling everybody just put this
on.
Yeah, so they and I actuallywore it for a little bit, just
you know yeah to have some fun.
(54:46):
But nowadays I don't worry somuch about that.
I've been doing it long enoughthat people kind of respect the
position.
Allison Volk Dean (55:01):
Well, and the knowledge and the you know, the
wisdom that you have on, say, Ireally want to learn how to
drag, how to prep you better,like books on tape.
Monte Widdison (55:27):
Yeah, the majority of them will last less
than a day.
By about the time we break forlunch, it's like um, I got some
other things I need to do notfeeling so good and I when you,
when you are in the course prepmode, we typically have two
(55:49):
trucks, so one truck will followthe other, but you stagger it
so we can get twice as much workdone.
And one guy he would constantlyjust get right behind me.
And we have CB radio so we cantalk back and forth.
So I'd have to get on the radioand say, hey, move over, you're
(56:10):
following my exact track.
So he'd move over.
Allison Volk Dean (56:13):
And then a couple minutes later he'd be
right behind me, and thenanother guy.
You should have followed him.
You could have just gone.
Monte Widdison (56:19):
whichever, way he wasn't going.
Another guy as we were goingdown, he made almost a 90 degree
turn.
It's like hey, where are yougoing?
He says oh, I thought the trackwas over here.
It's like no, just follow me.
Allison Volk Dean (56:34):
I know what I'm doing Listen to me.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Dragging yeah is not for theweak of heart.
It's definitely a long day.
Monte Widdison (56:47):
Yeah, I mean, if you're, we typically try to get
eight to nine miles and thetruck goes about eight to 10
miles an hour.
So it takes an hour to go fromone end to the other and you
turn around and do it again andyou do that for, yeah, you do
that for 12 or 14 hours.
Allison Volk Dean (57:10):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (57:10):
There's takes a special personality to be able
to do it.
So the last several years JasonMasservi's been my helper and
he and I got it down to ascience.
Allison Volk Dean (57:25):
Oh that's good.
Monte Widdison (57:27):
Yeah, he's been good help, Makes it easy, real
good help.
Allison Volk Dean (57:30):
Yeah, that's good, that's interesting about.
Yeah, it's probably hard tofind good help sometimes with
some of it I know I've draggedthe track before.
It was like one year I think Idid it.
I was like, yeah, that doesn'tsound so much fun anymore.
I wanted to.
It was, I think they had stick,the ones had stick chefs and I
wanted to practice using youknow, doing a stick.
(57:53):
Anyways, I was probably 16,excited just to drive anything,
or you know yeah in fact.
Monte Widdison (57:58):
In fact, when I first started doing it, we had a
couple of old trucks that wehad gotten from the state of
Utah, trucks that they had wornout and they were worn out.
Allison Volk Dean (58:08):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (58:09):
So one of them, the gear.
It would just pop out of gearso you'd have to drive it
continuously, holding the gearshift.
Yeah, and some of them they hada cable throttle so you could
set the throttle and then youdidn't have to keep your foot on
the gas pedal, and so sometimesI would actually get out and
walk alongside the truck becauseyou don't have to sit for so
(58:33):
long it's like man, I need toget up and walk around, but
those trucks were so worn out,exhaust leaks, no air
conditioning, and I was glad toget rid of those when we finally
started.
Oh yeah, well, first of all westarted renting U-Hauls, and
that's a whole other story there.
Allison Volk Dean (58:55):
Oh yeah, they don't appreciate you taking
them up at the salt and tracking.
Monte Widdison (59:01):
I am blacklisted from renting from U-Haul.
Allison Volk Dean (59:03):
Oh that's so funny Like oh, monty Witteson no
.
Monte Widdison (59:09):
Exactly what happened was first we would rent
them in Salt Lake and drivethem out.
Now they worked really well,but the disadvantage was there's
no room in the cab to keep yourcooler or your food or anything
, so I'd have to carry my coolerin the back in the cargo box in
(59:32):
the cargo box.
So if you ever wanted to eat ordrink something, you'd have to
stop and get out, walk aroundthe back, raise the door and get
your food out.
Well, anyway, back when MikeCook was having his shootout
(59:53):
each year I'm getting ahead ofmyself here.
Anyway, mike Crawford, whoowned the parts store in
Wendover.
He got a U-Haul franchise.
So now we didn't have to rentthem in Salt Lake, we could
actually rent them from him, andthe deal was made that he would
(01:00:13):
rent them to us and then hewould charge us $200 per vehicle
to wash them and clean themafter we were done.
Well, one year I went out.
We'd made arrangements to getthe truck from him.
I went out, but Mike was out oftown.
So he said look, I'll leave thekey on top of the tire.
Blah, blah, blah.
(01:00:35):
Well, when I get out there Icould tell the truck had been
used.
It was all covered in salt.
And come to find out my cookhad been using it.
Well, they had been using itwhen the salt was really wet and
they were driving the truck upand down the track to try and
(01:00:55):
evaporate some of that water bysplashing it out.
Well, that wet salt water gotup on top of the engine, the
transmission.
Well, anyway, I get the truckand go out there and the first
day, about three-fourths of theway through the day, the truck
quits.
It's like hmm.
So I called Mike, crawford,said hey, this truck quit
(01:01:19):
running.
So he comes out, we open thehood and the whole thing is just
the engine compartment is justpacked with salt.
You couldn't hardly see theengine and what had happened is
the salt had gotten into thebearing on the fan belt
tensioner and it had seized upand the fan belt broke.
(01:01:42):
And then, of course, the badtruck takes it back to his place
, but he didn't clean it.
So what he ended up doing wassending it to the Salt Lake shop
(01:02:03):
and said hey, there's somethingwrong with this truck.
Allison Volk Dean (01:02:06):
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (01:02:08):
Now, I didn't know any of this at the time.
Of course they get it and lookat it and it's like holy cow.
They get it and look at it andit's like holy cow.
I guess it actually sat atMike's shop for a few weeks so
the salt had dried out and wasjust hard as a rock Well, they
get it in Salt Lake and it hadruined the brakes.
It had the transmission, theengine, the truck was.
(01:02:31):
They declared it a total loss.
So they sent pictures of allthis damage to me and then said
hey, we are claiming this onyour car insurance Because you
know they would ask me for mypersonal car insurance when I'd
rent the truck, because I wasrenting it in my name, not under
(01:02:52):
the Salt Flats, because we knew, you know if they see oh, salt
Flats.
Introduction (01:02:56):
Racing.
Monte Widdison (01:02:57):
Association Anyway.
So they declared the truck atotal loss.
So I wrote a letter to myinsurance company and said hey,
here's the situation, here'swhat happened.
And so they denied the claim toU-Haul, and so U-Haul then they
just kind of gave up, but theyput you on the list.
(01:03:19):
Yes, I'm on a blacklist.
Allison Volk Dean (01:03:22):
I hope you gave Mike a hard time about that
when you saw him be like, hey,you got me blacklisted, we did
we did so.
Monte Widdison (01:03:29):
Then we gave up on the U-Hauls and we just rent
from Rugged Rental and that hasworked out really well because
they're four-door diesel pickupsand you can carry your cooler
and have your food and drinksall right there in the truck,
and air conditioning and thewhole works.
Allison Volk Dean (01:03:46):
Oh I drove in one of those original ones, the
UDOT ones.
It was uncomfortable and hot.
Introduction (01:03:53):
The radio didn't work.
In one of them, you're like, ohmy gosh, and it wasn't work.
Allison Volk Dean (01:03:55):
and one of them you're like oh my gosh, and
it wasn't like at the time, youknow, when there was, you had
to get your like cd walk man totake with you to listen to music
.
Oh man, that was.
But there's a lot I I thinkthat's good to see, like all the
work that everybody's doing forpeople to understand how
important the volunteers are andto make sure you think a
volunteer, because there's a lot, even if it's something you
(01:04:18):
know at the nine mile,somebody's got to do it in order
to run that race and that's notfun work either to go to that
nine mile and wait out there allday.
And so and they're, they're,they're doing it.
So I think that's a goodreminder to everyone about you
know 12 hours to prep a course.
I mean, no, that's so.
That's a good reminder toeveryone about you know 12 hours
(01:04:38):
to prep a course.
I mean that's so long of doingthat and so, yeah, it's really
important and it's really timeconsuming and it's not.
You're not really getting paid.
I mean you're a volunteer, youget, you know, lunches and
whatnot, but yeah, you do it forthe love.
Yeah.
Monte Widdison (01:04:55):
You do it for the love.
Allison Volk Dean (01:04:56):
Yeah, you do it for the love, yeah, and I
think that's all the volunteersout there doing it for the love
of, even if they're not racerssome of them are, some of them
aren't Even if they're not on acrew, it's, you know, makes the
world go round.
Yeah, sure, yeah Well, Iappreciate you coming out and
doing this interview with me.
I think there was a lot ofinformation there that we don't
get on a lot of other interviews, right In terms of how things
(01:05:20):
work and what to look for andyeah, so that was really great.
I appreciate it.
Monte Widdison (01:05:24):
It was my pleasure.
Introduction (01:05:25):
All right, thanks so much Thanks for listening to
Land Speed Legends.
Make sure you subscribe so youdon't miss any future episodes.
In the meantime, keep up withthe show on Facebook and
Instagram under LandspeedLegends.
Until next time.
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