Elizabeth Baumberger, Junior Intern
Something of a motorsports milestone has been reached in 2024 for Lone Rock resident Gary Ilminen. The American Motorcyclist Association National Motorcycle Land Speed Record he set at the 2014 Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials has survived unbroken nearly a decade later.
10 years and numerous bottles of Bonneville salt ago, under clear August skies and on vast salt flats, a man and his motorcycle waited at the starting line to the track where untold records had been set before him, and where he would become a part of history. The man: Ilminen, amateur motorcycle tuner, racer and moto-journalist. The cycle: a 1974 Honda CB350F. The record-setting bike ran in the 350cc Production Classics class in the 2014 race, meaning the engine and frame had to be in stock production form—as they were originally manufactured. Bikes in this class must be manufactured between 1960 and 1980.
A three-mile course lay ahead of Ilminen. In land speed racing, the goal is to achieve the fastest timed mile in your class. The timed mile is preceded by a one mile run-up, and ends in a one mile shut-down.
Several factors affect engine performance and top speed at the Bonneville International Speedway, located near Wendover, Utah. Because the track is nearly a mile above sea level, air density is lower, causing engines with old-style carburetors to run too rich, reducing their power. The salt surface provides less traction than pavement, and a bike’s age and restoration status at the time it’s run could also affect overall performance.
Keeping these things in mind on race day, Ilminen strategized by keeping the bike in fourth gear for the entirety of the timed run. Ilminen’s bike is powered by an air-cooled, four-cylinder engine running on octane pump gas. To prevent prohibited fuel additives from being used, bikes competing in the pump gas category are fueled on the salt flats at the event under event officials’ supervision.
As Ilminen sped across the track, he heard the “high-pitched Honda Howl”, a sound he describes as “pure magic”, and reveled in the success of his strategy. Looking back on the experience, he notes how he felt a sense of history out on the flats.
“I started thinking about that, that I am actually here where these other guys who wrote their names in the history of motorsports did it too…it’s a really cool feeling,” said Ilminen.
He goes on to talk about Burt Munro, a motorcycle racer from New Zealand who set a record at Bonneville in 1967, with vivid detail and clear enthusiasm. Ilminen attributes his drive to motorcycle racing to role models like Munro, which created a childhood dream of achieving a record like this. With that childhood dream beating reverently in his chest, Ilminen barreled toward fulfilling that dream at roughly 80 mph.
After completing the first run, Ilminen headed off the track, got his timing slip and hopped back on for the return run, with a plan to use just the same strategy.
Ending his return run with an average of 79.994 mph and an overall average of 80.102 mph, Gary Ilminen had done just what he had intended to do when he stepped foot on the salt that year, and four years prior at the 2010 Bub Motorcycle Speed Trials, and when he was 14, bent over Cycle World and Hot Rod magazines. He set an AMA National Motorcycle Land Speed Record that still stands today.
For Ilminen, this meant a dream, once so potent, and then seemingly forgotten, had finally been placed upon the mantle, and his inner child could rest easy.
Big happenings in a small community are not coincidence or chance — they are a result of hard work, compassion and empathy, and there is often much to be learned from them. Ilminen believes that this record serves to show the community that, “No matter what the dream is, no matter the age of the dreamer—it can be made true.”
While Ilminen now describes himself as a more conservative racer than even a decade ago when he was determined to set a record, his wife Jacci, the lady behind the scenes, characterizes him as driven and focused.
Ilminen hopes to make another record attempt sometime in the future in the 500cc Production Classic class, riding a 1973 Honda CB500K2 when its restoration is complete..
Ilminen has also competed in 500cc class competition at Bonneville in 2009 and 2012 aboard a 1984 Honda VF500C, running the bike in the Production engine and chassis class. That machine is powered by a liquid-cooled, double-overhead cam V-4 engine. In the 2009 event, Ilminen reached a speed of 104.536 mph, missing the class record by 7.5 mph.
Despite the vivid memory they hold, Utah’s salt flats aren’t just a racing ground for Ilminen. From his involvement in the Bonneville trials, he learned the salt is being diminished in alarming amounts—from once covering a vast 96,000 acres to now as little as 30,000 acres. Much of this loss can be attributed to potash and salt mining. Ilminen recounts catching a glimpse of one such building dedicated to the endeavor.
“We saw this huge building out in the middle of nowhere, but on top of this tower is the emblem of the Morton Salt Company: the little girl with the umbrella and the salt spilling,” said Ilminen. “A lot of people don’t realize that salt occurs naturally. And that kind of thing is where we get our table salt from.”
Ilminen has sent contributions to the Save the Salt Coalition, where efforts are being made to work with the Utah state government and potash and salt mining companies to restore the salt flats through methods like brine pumping.
Ilminen is originally from Hurley, Wisconsin and holds degrees in Mechanical Design and Nursing. He retired from his career as a registered nurse after 37 years and from his career as an EMT/paramedic after ten years. Today, he is a freelance associate editor for Ultimate Motorcycling magazine.
The story of Ilminen’s four trips to the Bonneville Salt Flats to compete in motorcycle land speed racing can be found in his book, “The Unlikely 1.”
