Speed Demon Triumphs at 2023 SCTA Bonneville Amid Weather Challenges

The 2023 SCTA Bonneville Speed Week almost didn’t happen this year, but Team Speed Demon came through and won the Hot Rod Trophy during this week of speed.

The Bonneville Salt Flats is the location of this event which typically covers more than a 3-mile course. Unfortunately, the sprint distances were cut short due to two days of rain prior coupled with high winds the few days prior to the racing. Thankfully, the SCTA team and volunteers got three miles of the course in racing condition, allowing racers to set up and rocket to the end of this amazing flat and straight area.

How fast was Team Speed Demon?

If you want to see insane speed and unique vehicles that you’ll never see on a road, the Bonneville Speed Week event is where you’ll find what you want to see. The event, scheduled for August 7-11 was cut short by weather, but a record run that won the trophy took place on Wednesday August 9 during the event. Speed Demon clocked a top speed of 333.360-mph with driver Chris Raschke behind the wheel of the car. This is the 11th time in the history of this even that Team Speed Demon has won the Hot Rod trophy.

Speed Demon has been faster

During the 2021 event, Speed Demon recorded a much faster time. Weather didn’t interrupt this event, allowing participants to drive over the entire course. During the 2021 Speed Week, the Speed Demon racer rocketed to 466.290 mph. The 2021 running marked the tenth time Speed Demon won the Hot Rod trophy, setting a record for one team during this event. The Speed Demon car holds the record as the world’s fastest Piston Driven, Wheel Driven car with a speed of 481.576 mph set during the Bonneville Speed Week in 2020.

How long is the Bonneville Speed Week course?

Typically, the course at the Bonneville Salt Flats offers five miles of driving space and two or three miles for stopping and shutting down the vehicles. Unfortunately, the unfavorable weather conditions caused the SCTA to provide a three-mile course instead. The starting of the racing was delayed by three days, which cause the SCTA to move the starting line up by two miles, which created a shortened course and schedule. Some of these high-speed cars can’t stop in the space given, which caused some to depart the event.

Speed Demon was the favorite

Other contenders were expected to make an appearance at this event, but two cars that could challenge the more than 400-mph runs of Speed Demon didn’t show up at the course for the event. The Speed Demon team competes in the E/BFS class, with BFS standing for Blown Fuel Streamliner. The goal was to set a new record in this class, which was 348.150. Unfortunately, only three miles of course makes this a little tricky for any team, but the Speed Demon team worked to make it happen. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite reach this mark, but still took home the trophy.

The driver faced a few challenges on the course

Some might think its easy to rocket a car that looks like a rocket on its side down a long straight course at high speeds. That’s certainly not the case and lots of things can go wrong. Chris Raschke piloted the Speed Demon car down the salt flats during every run and had a textbook run during testing that offered an impressive 286.552-mph speed. This run wasn’t quite as smooth and clean as it seemed. The engine had some issues with thrown rods courtesy of the clutch at extreme engine speeds. The team put a plan in place and got ready for the next run.

A challenger emerges

The only car that had any chance of challenging Speed Demon at the SCTA Bonneville Speed Week was the bare aluminum B/BGS streamliner owned by Ed Umland. This car uses a turbocharged 427 LS V8 engine that sends power to all four wheels. This car could accelerate harder and take the win, but the car only clocked a speed of 231.865 mph, which wasn’t enough to beat the venerable Speed Demon team.

Final thoughts

For the eleventh time, the Speed Demon team has won the SCTA Bonneville Speed Week Hot Rod Trophy. Sometimes we don’t think of the potential weather issues that high-speed racing machines could face on a track like the Bonneville Salt Flats. Maybe next year we’ll see Speed Demon set new class E records or offer a speed of more than 400 mph once again.