I got another call from Andy today, and he asked me to go ahead and spill the beans.
Two Classes, Two Land Speed Records!
On Saturday he went 151.7968 mph in C/CBGAlt, which is C/Classic Blown Gas Altered. This run broke the previous record by over 4 mph!
On Sunday, he went 152.4807 mph in C/CGAlt, which is C/Classic (not blown) Gas Altered, breaking this record by over 2 mph.
The Nelsons are now on the road home to PA. Everyone is very happy and very tired.
Wow! That's awesome! What car(s) did he use? Can we expect a GRM article?
Congratulations Andy!
Kind of surprised me that the unblown record would be higher.
P71, He was in a 1951-ish Studebaker - same car ran in both classes. They allow naturally aspirated engines to run in the blown classes ( I suppose they figure blown is better )- I guess they didn't know what Andy could do - they do now!!
Great job Andy!!
Great job Andy. Let's see some pictures!
Very impressive!
Can't wait to see some pictures.
Well done gang! Congrats!!! Erik
Congrats!
AngryCorvair wrote: I got another call from Andy today, and he asked me to go ahead and spill the beans. Two Classes, Two Land Speed Records! On Saturday he went 151.7968 mph in C/CBGAlt, which is C/Classic Blown Gas Altered. This run broke the previous record by over 4 mph! On Sunday, he went 152.4807 mph in C/CGAlt, which is C/Classic (not blown) Gas Altered, breaking this record by over 2 mph. The Nelsons are now on the road home to PA. Everyone is very happy and very tired.
Just wait until they hear the details of the enigne. Classic Nelson assembly.
So cool to be able to do that in the car's debut.
Eric
To be able to do that with a new car...."impressive" is not superlative enough.
Congratulations Nelsons!
you guys are amazing!
Congrats Andy!
Good job! Congratulations!
MadScientistMatt wrote: Kind of surprised me that the unblown record would be higher.
I thought the same thing, must be a weird loophole in the rules or just nobody pushing the limits of the class much in the past. Either way, pretty cool!
I've just been getting interested in land speed stuff in the last year or so...I was saving my vacation time and planned to go to Bonneville for speed week this year, but it's so close to the West Coast challenge that I don't think I'll be able to pull it off unless I get done WAY ahead of time (yeah right!). It seems like a lot of people doing land speed stuff have the GRM mentality...not all of them, but a lot. There's not really prize money to be had, just passion/glory/speed...which tends to bring out the REAL enthusiasts more than events with more corporate sponsorship, TV coverage, etc.
Bryce
Awesome job, Nelson family! Congrats.
Margie
congrats andy
Brilliant! Andy is so ... umm...
There aren't words to desribe the degree of awesomeness possessed by the Nelson clan!
To add to the whole thing - the car had never been to Maxton and this was it's shakedown! 150plus with that combo?! 200 should be very reachable!
I'm pretty sure that car had never been anywhere NEAR that fast in its life!
Congrats Andy, Paula, Calvin and Cameron - GREAT JOB!
Congrats guys,
Congratulations!
Home...Yaaaaaaaay. Thanks for all the calls and well wishes! WOW what an experience.
You guys will love the stories we got to experience. Highs, lows, and a dream come true. A lot of work with the family and help from a bunch of GRM'ers. Thank you all.
The car is a 1954 Studebaker. Rusty and primered. Pics soon.
Eric mentioned the engine....well..... we were running about 5 mph faster than one of the high dollar cars and the owner asked, "What's in it?" Blah, blah, blah, SBC flat top 355 used dirt track rotating assembly, bucket truck cylinder block, homebuilt headers, Bought the water pump last week at the Maple Grove flee market, flee market intake, $300 flee market heads, $3.33 cam. .......The guys stops me and says inquisitively, "A $3 cam?". I said "Ya, I bought 3 for 10 bucks and stuck the biggest one in." For about 30 seconds I didn't know if he was going to black out my eye or throw up. Needless to say the car is true Grassroots, but definitely not Challenge budget limited.
BTW, my face still hurts from smiling so much.
Thank you to everyone who wished us well and help along the way.
Awesome! I'd love to have seen that conversation take place!
Congratulations Andy and Co.! Hey, did you keep your receipts to prove you are under the $2009 budget? 
Jensenman wrote: Congratulations Andy and Co.! Hey, did you keep your receipts to prove you are under the $2009 budget?
It is not a Challenge car friendly budget. It is just a Grassroots type Hot Rod build. FWIW, the rear and some other parts did come out of the $2004 Challenge Nova. 
But, ultimately it is not a Challenge car.
So Andy, could you give us a little bit of a play by play? I have this vision of you rocketing to 130mph in the 1/4 and soft throttling your way to a 152mph finish.
Awesome. Can't wait to hear the details. Congrats!!!
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