Bonneville broadcast will add pepper to the salt

If you've ever been to Bonneville during Speed Week, you know what a thrilling corner of the motorsports world the place occupies: standing out on the endless, blazing-white expanse of salt, hearing the cars before you see them, seeing first the roostertail of salt rocketed into the air, then the tallest part of the rear fin, then the car itself, blasting over the curvature of the Earth, followed by engine cutoff, popping chutes, deceleration and the giddy celebration of driver and crew as yet another record falls.

But most people -- those with jobs, kids, responsibilities (where are your priorities, people???) -- will never get a chance to go. So this year, the Southern California Timing Association has made a deal to broadcast audio of the entire Speed Week live, as it happens, direct from the salt, on the fabulous internet.

We got word from motorsport historian Harold Osmer, whose voice you will hear from B-ville, that the SCTA will be broadcasting Aug. 9-16. Racing begins at 7 a.m. and continues until 7 p.m. each day. The link to listen will be on the SCTA front page.

“This will be the first time for the announcer feed to be sent out live from the salt,” Osmer said. “There have been scattered attempts at internet reporting, but never an officially sanctioned (and clear) connection from the announcing booth.”

The logistics always got in the way. There isn't much out there, as you know if you've ever been.

“Bonneville is so vast that there isn't even a PA system in the pits,” Osmer said. “Speed Week participants get the signal via a local, short-range FM broadcast.”

Osmer will be the main announcer along with long-time SCTA/FM announcer Ron Christensen. “Ron and I are not SCTA officials, but we will draw the same volunteer wage ($0.),” Osmer joked.

The logistical challenges were more daunting than you might think.

“To make this happen, we have to provide our own internet connection via various pieces of equipment to get our signal off the salt and to as local a cell tower as we can find. This was the work largely of SCTA Chief Timer Scott Andrews.”

The idea of an internet broadcast came about last year.

“Scott had me come out to announce World Finals last October. When asked back for 2013, I highly suggested some updates to the game at hand: cut down on background noise with better microphones, get a mixer to balance various inputs, add a mike to the roof for ambient sound, etc. ...Since we have a clear signal, let's record the whole thing for later podcasting ... Since we are using a computer to save this, why not get an internet connection ...”

It snowballed from there. Or maybe it saltballed.

“The vastness of the salt flats as well as the wide-open format for events don't lend themselves well to live video (even audio is a stretch). So we could label this an experimental run. Strikes me as apropos.”

Tune in at www.scta-bni.org August 9-16 and listen all day.

By Mark Vaughn