Rishel would later try his hand at speeding on the salt, and it was Rishel who was the first promoter of the flats west of Salt Lake City for land speed racing. Rishel had scouted the salt flats as he surveyed a course for a coast-to-coast bicycle race. Others had foreseen the usefulness of a large, flat, open area for going fast that was not shifting sand bounded by a restless ocean. Prior to Bonneville’s rise, Ormond Beach in Daytona, Florida had been the primary place to go for land speed record attempts in the United States. In addition to this, Jenkins’ persistent promotion of the flats would eventually put Bonneville on the map as the go-to place for land speed records. This was the same year that his arch-rival, Erwin ‘Cannon Ball’ Baker, drove a loaded two-ton truck along the same route for a (truck) record of 137 hours and 30 minutes!Īlthough Jenkins was involved in board track racing in the 1920s and endurance events for Studebaker up through 1931, it was his high-speed record-making on the Bonneville Salt Flats that would establish Jenkins’ national fame. In the same year, Jenkins established a coast-to-coast record from New York to San Francisco of 86 hours and 20 minutes in a Studebaker Sheriff, which brought him recognition in newspapers and on radio variety shows.
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