While the Bonneville Salt Flats were a bust for racers this year, the other worldly vista was still booming as a back drop for everything from commercials to music videos and of course movies.
Except for a few individual racers the Salt Flats were all but closed this year due to excessive rains for the second year in a row.
According to the SCTA web page the amount of water dumped on the famous race was simply was too much to drain or evaporate before the start of the event.
The last time rain caused the cancellation of Speed Week was in 1994 but according to what few records were kept and the memory of old time Nevadans this year’s cancellation could be harbinger of several more in the coming decade.
Heavy rains both last year and this past spring caused a layer of mud to flow down from the surrounding mountains onto the salt flats, covering roughly 6 miles of the area usually converted into a race course.
“It’s disappointing but it is not the end of the world,” said Wendover Mayor Mike Crawford. “Some local businesses will take a hit but I would not say any will shut down because of the cancellation. Anyone who has lived here more than 25 years knows that there are good years and bad ones for Speed Week of any other events on the Salt Flats. Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s they were talking about canceling Speed Week forever because we had several wet years in a row. Then we had 25 dry years. I guess people got spoiled but there is no reason to panic.”
The cancellation of Speed Week may have Wendover casinos millions in gaming win according August’s gaming win report.
Released last the Gaming Control board reported Wendover casinos made $13.9 million in total gaming win down 5.0 percent from the same month last year. Wendover Casinos had been on a three month roll of increasing gaming win including one of their best July’s in even years with a 14 percent increase.The cancellation of Speed Week in 2014 was also blamed for a 10 percent drop in total gaming win July 2014.
Still Bonneville is a draw to visual artists and photographers. While the racers were bemoaning the cancelations a Utah based group called the piano guys released music video shot last month on the Salt Flats.
In the video, The Piano Guys perform a cover of “A Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover.
The back to back cancellations of Speed Week and perhaps the World of Speed has given new life to the “SOS” or “Save the Salt” movement.
Begun after multiple cancellations of racing in the late 80’s and early 90’s SOS pitted racers against the mine operations on the salt flats. A deal was struck in the mid-1990’s where the mining companies agreed to dump waste brine back on the slat flats and for 25 years friction between the two groups was kept to a minimum. That animosity could return. While racers point the blame at the miners, miners return the favor and while not as flashy as million dollar race cars they do have a point.
In the 25 years of excellent racing conditions Speed Week has grown from a couple of hundred race cars to about 700 vehicles and if no cancellation had taken place this year and last the number could well have exceeded 1,000. The wear and tear of that many vehicles and crews on the very limited area of the salt flats by so many machines and men could have contributed the deterioration of natural resource.
A future compromise could include future restrictions on mining and also limit the number of racers.
