Flathead Engine Breaks 300 mph Barrier

Recycled Teenager Shatters 300 mph Barrier;
Sets New Speed Record With "Antique" Ford Engine

Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah -- Driving with ideal weather and surface conditions, Ron Main, 60, a reinforced steel contractor from Chatsworth, California, recorded an astonishing top speed of 302.203 mph during a one-way run, solid proof that the car, was still accelerating past the timing lights. At the controls of Flatfire, the handcrafted, supercharged technologically advanced streamliner; he inked a new land speed record with an unprecedented 296 miles per hour average.

Where each mile-per-hour achieved on the brutal salt flats is the result of dogged determination and exhausting work, "Rebar Ron" qualified at 295.668 m.p.h. (terminal speed 301.173 m.p.h.) and backed up his speed bid with a return run of 297.988 m.p.h., bumping up his own 2001 record by nine miles-per-hour to 296.828 m.p.h. in the blown fuel streamliner class.

Already the world's fastest flathead, Flatfire flew across the five-mile racecourse to establish the new land speed record on August 14, 2002, during the 54th Annual Speedweek, conducted by the Bonneville Nationals, Inc., a division of the Southern California Timing Association.

The Flathead, introduced as Ford's first V8 in 1932, is considered an "old tech" relic at best in modern racing circles. A 50's rock-and-roll fanatic with a passion for period films, Main's 1946 cast-iron engine block produces a whopping 700 plus horsepower and runs in Blown Fuel Streamliner Class. The "overnight success" took only 14-years to realize.

"We broke 300, what I consider to be the sound barrier for the Ford flathead," remarked driver Main, "The car handled like a boulevard cruiser and it was still pulling hard when I shut it off. Most people may find it hard to believe that the payoff is nothing more than a tiny piece of paper with a few numbers printed on it, but for me it represents a lifetime achievement and without my dedicated crew it never would have happened."

Main is quick to cite that Flatfire's remarkable engine was "updated" with the expertise of several high-performance notables including Dick and Mike Landy, of Dick Landy Industries; Jim Middlebrook, of Vortech Engineering; Bruce Crower, of Crower Motorsports.