Bonneville Salt Flats are disappearing - Great Falls Tribune
The first time Jim Kunz saw the Bonneville Salt Flats up close, he was in awe. , businessman saw daredevil drivers testing the limits of both their vehicles and their valor on those 50 square miles of absolutely flat salt crust, he was hooked. So is every other car enthusiast and adrenaline junkie for whom the highlight of every summer entails a return to northwestern Utah for a few adrenaline-pumping runs at the Mecca of motorized speed. One high-octane extravaganza has already been canceled this summer and two more — including the Sept. 12-15 World of Speed, for which Kunz and his playfully named “Monkey Business” buddies have been fine-tuning their 1997 Camaro Z28 for months — may face the same fate. The short-term concern is simple and short-term: too much water. Residual water and mud from a wet spring and summer forced the Southern California Timing Association to cancel the annual Speed Week extravaganza there for the second straight year. Standing water from a summer storm had wiped out the 2014 event. The long-term concern, though, is more troublesome: not enough salt. A century ago, the Bonneville Salt Flats spanned nearly 100,000 acres. Will Smith dragged a dead alien quite slowly across it in “Independence Day,” and Anthony Hopkins drove a motorcycle quite rapidly across it in “The World’s Fastest Indian. Source: www.greatfallstribune.com
