Speed Week 2008 marked the two-year anniversary of Diesel Power's first visit to Utah's Salt Flats. Our first visit to Bonneville was a memorable experience in many ways. We were witnessing the amazing landscape of the Salt for the first time, and the shear number of diesel-powered vehicles racing was impressive.
There were a dozen different diesel-powered entries competing at Speed Week in 2006-in about every imaginable class, from motorcycles to semitrucks and streamliners. The most notable streamliner, however, was the JCB Dieselmax. It came over from England to set a new diesel land speed record using two 5.0L four-cylinder engines that JCB and Ricardo developed for JCB's construction vehicles.
Another vehicle that debuted that year was the Duramax-powered streamliner owned and driven by Lynn Goodfellow. Speed Week 2006 was Lynn's first run on the Salt in almost forty years. Yet, while JCB's Dieselmax went on to set a new land speed record of 350 mph, Lynn struggled with his car to hit 221 mph. So in 2007, Lynn returned to the Salt for a rematch, and pushed his Duramax to more than 242 mph.
All New Land Speed Racer
Now lets fast-forward two years to Speed Week 2008, where the circumstances are immensely different. This year the corporate-backed JCB Dieselmax team stayed at home, and a waning economy meant there were fewer diesel race vehicles. Unlike two years ago when JCB was the center of attention, the talk of the paddock this year was about a different diesel-powered car. Yes, you guessed it; Lynn Goodfellow's team was back. And back in force with a brand-new car and much stronger effort.
Lynn's previous Duramax-powered streamliner served as a learning tool, and whet his appetite for a faster speed record. After setting the B Diesel Streamliner record in the Summer of 2007, the team had returned home to Boulder City, Nevada, to construct an all-new car-the Mormon Missile. Lynn and a small team worked around the clock for seven months to create the Mormon Missile streamliner. It's a Duramax-powered car that just might be able to take the diesel land speed record away from the JCB Dieselmax. The Mormon Missile name is a tribute to the historic Mormon Meteor car of David Abbott "Ab" Jenkins. In order to build Lynn's new diesel streamliner, the team had a simple design criterion: create a chassis to hold a Duramax V-8 in the most aerodynamic shape possible. They ended up with a chassis that places the engine in the center of the car driving the rear wheels, and putting the driver in front of the engine.