This morning we were all excited about finally having the chance to make the first run with the streamliner. It has been a long time coming. The weather has been great this time around. Yes, it has been hot but that is a given.

Since today was the official start of Speed Week it started with the drivers’ meeting. We were ready to get in line to make a run immediately after it ended. The line was not too long. I guess there may have been 10 cars in front of us. However, because the car has to be assembled after it is transported to the line we had to allow others to get ahead of us until we had it ready. At that point we just waited our turn. It seemed to take forever. We had a tent over the cockpit to keep the car from getting too hot. Mike didn’t put on his driver’s suit and helmet until there were perhaps 5 cars ahead of him. Then we kept the tent over the cockpit with him in the car until the last minute.

When it was finally our turn the guys cranked the car and jumped into Mike’s truck and the other crew vehicle. John has taken on the task of pushing the car out since Marshall is not with us. We did not have to push him but a short way before he accelerated and we veered off to the left. The car wiggled a bit on the course which concerned us. Driving a vehicle on the salt is quite tricky. It can be likened to driving on a snow-covered road. You just have to coax the car to continue going straight with your steering and not use the brakes. Mike was able to steer through and made it all the way down the course. By the time we picked him up on the other end we had heard on the CB radio that he had topped out at 191 mph. We were excited but didn’t know if he might be penalized in some way because he was only supposed to go 175 mph. However, Lee Kennedy beat us to the car and pushed it off the track. Nothing was said about him going faster than the officials had dictated.

We couldn’t believe it was 2:30 pm when we arrived back at the pits. We had left to go to the drivers’ meeting at 8:45 am. What a long time to wait with no more of a line than that. Mike decided that the gear set needed to be changed for the next run to allow him to go faster and yet in a more stable manner. He is to be allowed to achieve a top speed of 200 mph the next time. By the time the guys got the gears changed it was nearly 5 pm. Mike decided that we will make that next run as soon as possible in the morning. We can get in line much earlier than we did today and the weather will be cooler. We will hopefully get in two runs.

By the way, Adam did a Facebook Live event of Mike’s run. I started it and then Adam took over as we followed Mike down the course in the push truck. The whole thing probably lasted 5 minutes. I imagine we will be doing the same thing for future runs if you want to be on the lookout for it.