We began our 2007 pilgrimage to the “Salt” early Thursday morning, August the 9th; my birthday.
We had hoped to get an early morning start of around 6:00 am but, as expected, some of our team are not early morning risers and we did not get on the road until around 7:30. The caravan consisted of Kevin and Joanna pulling the Car, Jim Bardini’s truck pulling a trailer and Cliff pulling a tool trailer with miscellaneous equipment.
We had two challenges this year; 1) the “pit” site on the Salt which is a pretty complete sheltered garage and maintenance site and, 2) our camp. We are not allowed to live on the Salt and we were unable to book rooms in Windover Nevada. We expected to dry-camp on some BLM land approximately 5-miles from the raceway.
The first day out was a challenge. We blew two tires on the trailer and had to replace all four tires along the road. We also got some good news, as we were parked along Highway 99 changing tires, that we would be able to stay at the Windover KOA and have a “wet” camp. No motel rooms through.
As you may be aware, this was the last year that Cliff and I plan to participate in this event. The car has been turned over to Cliff’s children, Jeff Ransom, of Mariposa and his two daughters Lisa and Joanna, all of whom have made this race event a part of their lives over the past five years.
Cliff’s health will limit his ability to directly participate in future racing of the car affectionately known as the “Spirit of Bootjack”. This name was coined after Craig Breedlove’s famous land speed record holder “Spirit of America”. Bootjack is a small community in Mariposa along Highway 49. Cliff will, however, be a source of inspiration to future “team” members and a fountain of technical insight on how to “go faster”.
Cliff was diagnosed with Cancer several years ago. With a little help from his many friends, he built this high-tech racer to finish a journey he started as a young man and member of the Southern California “Throttle Merchants”. All members of our team have been inspired by Cliff’s courage in waging his personal battle with the pain of Cancer. His endless generosity, caring and patience with his “crew” has forever changed all of the team members’ lives.
Cliff’s creation, the “Spirit of Bootjack”, will be a source of pride and inspiration to many in the future as well. Over the past 5-years his effort has grown to include many people in the community of Mariposa. To name just a few 2007 supporters, there is Jim Bardini who has donated his time and his equipment to transport the car over thousands of miles to race and back home. The folks at Above All Towing have helped getting the car back and forth from Stan’s Body Shop where Stan Rothfuss’s artistry transformed our humble race car into a world class show car. Stan also donated a trailer to house some of the crew at Bonneville and drove across Nevada to support us.
There was Gary Williams who took time out of his busy schedule to add the finishing “name and title” touches to the paint job, Jeff Schutt who was there in the shop at every opportunity to engineer special parts and lend support and a helping hand where ever it was needed. Cole became a new and invaluable member of the crew in 2006 and continued to support our efforts in 2007. We also need to thank Russ Kanarowski for his support. There are countless others who have worked tirelessly and donated money, tools, equipment and technical support to this effort over years past. This has truly become a “community” project.
In past years the Ransom Racing Team has attracted supporters from around the U.S and world and this year was no exception. Our new friends include the Corvette Club of Christchurch New Zealand, some fellow racers from England in addition to folks from Idaho and especially Roger Wood and his wife Jennifer from Portland Oregon; even Monterey, Aptos and Berkeley were represented on our team. Of course there was a large group of “Throttle Merchants” from all over the state who showed up to support our home-town team.
At times there were over 30-people at our camp-site causing a little “stir” among the KOA campground management staff. All of our neighbors where cool with it, however, they all joined in for movies, conversation and especially Jim Bardini’s special dinner events.
The “Spirit of Bootjack” and the Ransom Racing team have represented Mariposa at this world class event for five years and earned the respect of the Land Speed Racing community in the process. It has been a great honor to be part of this tradition and I would like to thank Cliff Ransom, his family and all of the team’s supporters for allowing me to participate in this very special event.
The Ransom Racing Team, returned to Mariposa the weekend of August 18, 2007. Over the eight day stay on the “Salt”, the team made eight timed high speed runs; some in excess of 150 MPH. Due to problems with the installation of the Nitrous fuel management system, the team was not able to exceed the 166 MPH record or achieve their 175 MPH goal.
We had two challenges this year; 1) the “pit” site on the Salt which is a pretty complete sheltered garage and maintenance site and, 2) our camp. We are not allowed to live on the Salt and we were unable to book rooms in Windover Nevada. We expected to dry-camp on some BLM land approximately 5-miles from the raceway.
The first day out was a challenge. We blew two tires on the trailer and had to replace all four tires along the road. We also got some good news, as we were parked along Highway 99 changing tires, that we would be able to stay at the Windover KOA and have a “wet” camp. No motel rooms through.
As you may be aware, this was the last year that Cliff and I plan to participate in this event. The car has been turned over to Cliff’s children, Jeff Ransom, of Mariposa and his two daughters Lisa and Joanna, all of whom have made this race event a part of their lives over the past five years.
Cliff’s health will limit his ability to directly participate in future racing of the car affectionately known as the “Spirit of Bootjack”. This name was coined after Craig Breedlove’s famous land speed record holder “Spirit of America”. Bootjack is a small community in Mariposa along Highway 49. Cliff will, however, be a source of inspiration to future “team” members and a fountain of technical insight on how to “go faster”.
Cliff was diagnosed with Cancer several years ago. With a little help from his many friends, he built this high-tech racer to finish a journey he started as a young man and member of the Southern California “Throttle Merchants”. All members of our team have been inspired by Cliff’s courage in waging his personal battle with the pain of Cancer. His endless generosity, caring and patience with his “crew” has forever changed all of the team members’ lives.
Cliff’s creation, the “Spirit of Bootjack”, will be a source of pride and inspiration to many in the future as well. Over the past 5-years his effort has grown to include many people in the community of Mariposa. To name just a few 2007 supporters, there is Jim Bardini who has donated his time and his equipment to transport the car over thousands of miles to race and back home. The folks at Above All Towing have helped getting the car back and forth from Stan’s Body Shop where Stan Rothfuss’s artistry transformed our humble race car into a world class show car. Stan also donated a trailer to house some of the crew at Bonneville and drove across Nevada to support us.
There was Gary Williams who took time out of his busy schedule to add the finishing “name and title” touches to the paint job, Jeff Schutt who was there in the shop at every opportunity to engineer special parts and lend support and a helping hand where ever it was needed. Cole became a new and invaluable member of the crew in 2006 and continued to support our efforts in 2007. We also need to thank Russ Kanarowski for his support. There are countless others who have worked tirelessly and donated money, tools, equipment and technical support to this effort over years past. This has truly become a “community” project.
In past years the Ransom Racing Team has attracted supporters from around the U.S and world and this year was no exception. Our new friends include the Corvette Club of Christchurch New Zealand, some fellow racers from England in addition to folks from Idaho and especially Roger Wood and his wife Jennifer from Portland Oregon; even Monterey, Aptos and Berkeley were represented on our team. Of course there was a large group of “Throttle Merchants” from all over the state who showed up to support our home-town team.
At times there were over 30-people at our camp-site causing a little “stir” among the KOA campground management staff. All of our neighbors where cool with it, however, they all joined in for movies, conversation and especially Jim Bardini’s special dinner events.
The “Spirit of Bootjack” and the Ransom Racing team have represented Mariposa at this world class event for five years and earned the respect of the Land Speed Racing community in the process. It has been a great honor to be part of this tradition and I would like to thank Cliff Ransom, his family and all of the team’s supporters for allowing me to participate in this very special event.
The Ransom Racing Team, returned to Mariposa the weekend of August 18, 2007. Over the eight day stay on the “Salt”, the team made eight timed high speed runs; some in excess of 150 MPH. Due to problems with the installation of the Nitrous fuel management system, the team was not able to exceed the 166 MPH record or achieve their 175 MPH goal.
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