Bonneville 2020: 480 mph Speed Demon—World’s Fastest Piston Driven Land Speed Record
August 2020 • By Tony Thacker, photos Marc Gewertz and Tony ThackerHow hard can it be? Forty-six square miles of empty white space—who can’t go fast? It’s not that easy. Bonneville is a tough, unforgiving place to race. Take, for example 72-year-old George Poteet, he’s been chasing land speed records for years. He’s taken more 400-mph rides than anybody else, crashed and walked at 380 mph, won the Hot Rod Magazine Fastest Speed of the Event trophy eight times and still it ain’t easy.
Flathead Ford V-8-powered FlatFire went 302.674 mph in 2003.
This saga of speed started when racer and promoter Ron Main went in search of the World’s Fastest Flathead (Ford V-8). Eventually, in 2003 after 14 years, Ron reached his goal and hit 302.674 mph with the 700 hp ‘FlatFire.’ Next, Ron switched to a GM 4-cylinder EcoTech and renamed it ‘EcoFire.’
In 2006, Ron met George Poteet a self-made car-guy from Mississippi who founded nutritional company Juice Plus+. “I persuaded George to sit in ‘EcoFire,’” said Main, “and eventually I persuaded him to get involved saying, ‘I have the crew, you pay for the hotel and the food and I’ll take care of the rest.’ Well, Poteet certainly took care of the driving chores attaining the F/Blown Fuel Streamliner record of 325.934 and set an FIA record of 326.117 mph at Mike Cook’s Bonneville Shootout (http://landspeedevents.com).
Speed Demon’s exit speed was 481.576 mph. The two-way average record is 470.035 mph. Photo Marc Gewertz.
Poteet and Main decided to step up their game, retire EcoFire and go to Steve Watt’s MaxwellIndustries.com to build a new ‘Speed Demon’ to go 400 mph. Their sights were set on the AA/Blown Fuel Streamliner record of 417.02 mph set by Tom Burkland in October. In land speed jargon, AA means an engine capacity bigger than 501 ci and in this case a 556.5ci big-block Chevy built by Kenny Duttweiler ‘s Duttweiler Performance, Ventura, CA. They were also after Danny Thompson’s AA/FS (unblown) record of 448.757 set in 2018. Both Burkland and Thompson used two Chrysler Hemis, Speed Demon would use but one twin-turbocharged Chevy.
Duttweiler’s engine is based on a Dart Big M MkIV block with the extra compacted graphite iron (CGI) option that doubles the block strength without weight penalty. The bores are finished to 4.565in and the cam journals to LS-spec 55mm. The stroke is 4.25 in. The Callies Ultra Billet crank is fitted with custom made Swedish Auto Verdi Racing con rods, Diamond deep-dish forged 9.3:1 pistons, Total Seal rings and ARP Custom Age 625+ fasteners. Meanwhile, Comp Cams custom ground the mechanical roller cam from tool-steel billet while the pushrods are Manton.
Atop the motor is a pair of Dart PRO120-degree cast 86 cc aluminum heads fitted with Jesel single-shaft valvetrain that includes PAC springs, Victory 1 retainers and Ferrea 2.04 in intake and 1.8-in exhaust valves.
Forced induction is provided by Precision Turbo GEN2.2 Pro Mod 88 turbos feeding methanol through a Visner billet intake. With 35 lbs of boost, Duttweiler’s monster produces a massive 3,155 hp and 2,017 lb-ft of torque at 8,300 rpm but according to Duttweiler 20 psi was all they needed to push the car to 480 mph and a two-way record of 470.035 mph. They re-set the bar high.
Of course, Speed Demon was not the only car running at Speed Week. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, SCTA-BNI.org worked with all necessary officials to host a compliant and safe event. Pits were well spaced and everybody wore a mask as requested. Due to the pandemic, entries were confined to around 250 domestic racers compared to the normal 500-plus entries from around the world.
The entries ranged from the big dogs such as Speed Demon all the way down to Andy Pickett’s 50 cc Honda and a whole lot between including the ‘Electraliner.’ This Tesla-powered electric E2-class streamliner set a record at 229.363 mph; however, the Internet was alive with controversy surrounding the effort.
Frank Silva Jr. set a new AA/BFL record at 353.514 mph.
Every racer has a story because racing is an adventure especially at Bonneville where the dreaded salt eats into everything causing problems you never knew could exist. Two of our favorite stories involve Frank Silva and Jerry Kugel. Frank inherited the ‘Got Salt’ lakester, which is to all intents and purposes a dragster for the salt from his late father Frank Sr. Running, a 541 ci Arias on methanol, Frank set a new AA/BFL record at 353.514 mph.
Jerry Kugel attempted to break his own 40-year-old record of 245.804 mph in this very same car.
The story to end all stories was that of 81-year-old Jerry Kugel of Kugel Komponents. Jerry has been a rodder and lakes racer since dot and in 1979 he set a record in his ‘Holmes, Kugel & McGinnis’ Model A Roadster at 245.804—a record that still stands. 40 years later, he returned in the same roadster to break his own E/Blown Fuel Roadster record. Unfortunately, as he had not raced in several years, he had to go through the licensing process and maxed out at 203 mph. A full story on this amazing achievement will post soon.
It wasn’t the perfect Bonneville Speed Week but it was pretty darn close. For more info about future events visit SCTA-BNI.org
