Some Chick at LA Roadster Show told me to go to Bonneville Speed Week 2023

Meeting Chick Huntimer, land speed racer and general bad-ass, then checking off a bucket-list item.

The appearance of competence is half the battle in many of life’s endeavors. At the LA Roadster Show 2023, a 1928 Ford Roadster caught my eye. Wow, a roadster at the LA Roadster Show caught your attention? In the words of the owner, “It’s just some chick’s car…I love it, I’m the only not-shiny car officially in the show.” And indeed, of the registered pre-war cars in attendance, Chick Huntimer’s 1928 Model A was one of the very few “dressed in suede.”

There were plenty of spectator cars in the 1974-and-earlier specialty parking section that wore their naturally-earned patinas or primered-finishes proudly, but Chick’s daily-driven ‘28 Ford caught my eye because it oozed so much personality. I’m not trying to disparage the rest of the registered attendee’s hot rods, I love shiny paint and A/C as much as anyone, but Chick’s little blue Ford spoke to me. Then Mrs. Huntimer spoke to me herself. This is where the “looking competent” part comes into play.

When I set out as a freelance automotive journalist, I wanted to buy a professional-grade full-frame mirrorless digital camera. When I was on staff at HOT ROD Magazine, I was borrowing one of the company’s old Canon 5D Mk III bodies with a versatile 28-300 pump-action lens that made me feel like I was somebody. Helped me look the part, too, especially because I proudly repped the HOT ROD colors any time I was at an event. That’s not to say that a new cell phone with the latest camera technology wouldn’t have managed all my photography needs just fine. You’d be surprised by how much you see online and in print that is captured by someone who knows what they’re doing with an iPhone. But, as a small-time player in the industry now, a cell phone doesn’t cut it. When Chick saw me pointing my new Canon RP (so much lighter than that old 5D!) at her blue Ford Roadster, she must have thought I was somebody.

That’s when I learned that the Model A wasn’t just “some chick’s” car, it was the daily driver of a land speed racing, custom pinstriping, representative of Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) and Bonneville Nationals Inc. (BNI). We only spoke for a few minutes, but it didn’t take long to get to land speed racing, and it was even less time for Chick to convince me to make my first-ever pilgrimage to the Bonneville Salt Flats for Speed Week. Thanks for the assist in getting registered as media for Bonneville Speed Week 2023, Chick!

Chick Huntimer’s 1928 Ford Model A Roadster wasn’t eye-catching simply because it lacked shine. The original steel body rides on 1932 Ford rails, powered by your standard hot rodder’s Small-Block Chevy 350 V-8. Backed up by a 700R4 transmission with 3.50 gears, Chick says the Roadster cruises perfectly, especially with the baffled headers singing the song of our people right in front of the doors. The Duvall split windshield gives the blue suede Model A a classic sporty stance, like it just came off El Mirage dry lake bed in the 1950s. As a pinstriper, Chick adorned her Roadster with her own handy work, but she had injured her left eye and was wearing a patch when she did some of it, and the parallax of only seeing from one side gave the artwork a very unique style. 

The touches that really tickled me were the Amazon seat heaters hidden under the seat covers, and the desktop computer speakers wired to the Bluetooth-equipped single-DIN head unit under the dash. With a 60-amp alternator handling charging duties, Chick says she can motor to El Mirage or Bonneville in comfort and style, completely worry free. When someone like Chick Huntimer—a genuine car enthusiast and legit land speed racer— says, “it’s time you go to Bonneville,” you should listen.

I’ve always been a fan of land speed racing. Reading about Bloodhound breaking the sound barrier in Popular Mechanics in high school, of course watching the critically-acclaimed World’s Fastest Indian, growing up riding dirt bikes and loving the mechanical world in general; it’s natural that one of my life’s goals is to earn my own red hat at Bonneville on a motorcycle. For the uninitiated, a red hat from the SCTA signifies a land speed record between 200-299 MPH. The run has to be an official record though, simply hitting 200-plus MPH on the salt does not earn one the coveted red hat.

So here I am, nervous about the 740-mile drive and my first visit to the Mecca of land speed racing. If you follow my blog, you might be wondering, didn’t the transmission in your 500,000 mile Ford Ranger blow up? Yes it did. But Bill got a new transmission (hopefully AAMCO does a much better job rebuilding Mazda manuals than whoever rebuilt the last one), and he’s ready to stretch his legs. Check out my Instagram @JordoMotive to follow my Bonneville Speed Week 2023 adventures!