291.269 MPH Top Speed at SCTA Season Opener
May 2023 • By Nestor Cabrera, Virginia Petorin, Tony Thacker & Alan Zusman
Presented by MicksPaint.com, RatTrapracing.com & USAutomotive.co.uk
Arley Langlo sets top speed at 291.269 mph and 11 land speed records fall at El Mirage Season OpenerDespite a wet n’ wild storm blowing through and closing the event a day early, the May ’23 Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) season opener promised clear blue skies and a rock hard racing surface.
Top speed of the meet once again went to 81-year-old Arley Langlo who went 291.269 mph in the J&S Racing streamliner while the fastest motorcycle was Pat Womack of Womack Landspeed Racing who went 216.475 mph.
There were 120 entries and in total, 11 records were broken by six by motorcycles and the following five by automobiles:
AA/ Blown Fuel Competition Coupe Record Brad White 246.932 mph.
V4/Blown Gas Roadster Record Ruth Lundring 168.034 mph.
G/Blown Street Roadster Record Don Tuttle 174.507 mph.
C/Gas Lakester Record Cal Rothe 244.949 mph.
H/Blown Gas Modified Mid-Mini Pickup Keith Pedersen 133.322 mph
As the day’s racing came to a close, a small dust devil appeared in the south east corner of the lake. It grew like Topsy into a wicked looking tornado. The wind whipped up the dust like a scene from ‘The Mummy’ and suddenly in the snap of a bottle cap the lake was gone, replaced by a Biblical dust storm. Thunder and lightning—very very frightening—rolled around the dust bowl and dumped on the end of the track putting paid to Sunday’s racing.
All we could do was sit it out, watch the storm and hope that the rain stayed away from the lake because if it rained on the lake it might well turn into a lake and then where would we be? Stranded is where.
Besides the extremely eclectic race cars that range from 300 mph streamliners to vintage World War II belly tanks, the spectators also arrive in a wild mix of rides.
If you’ve never been land speed racing then add it to your bucket list—it’s an experience.
El Mirage Dry Lake, the spiritual home of American land speed racing, is located about 100 miles north east of Los Angeles. People first raced on the nearby Muroc Lake but when World War II broke out the Army Air Corps closed the Muroc Bombing and Gunnery Range the racers were forced east to El Mirage. Approximately six miles long at an altitude of 2,840 feet, ‘El Mo’s hard packed and flat surface is God’s own racetrack.
For full results and future dates go to: https://scta-bni.org/el-mirage-race-results
Fast fact:
In August 1977 stunt woman Kitty O’Neil ran the quarter mile at El Mo in 3.22 seconds at a speed of 412 mph and is still considered the fastest woman to ever run at El mirage.