Speed fiends have been traveling to a largely out-of-the-way barren piece of land in northwest Utah for nearly a century now in their quests to achieve velocities most other people can only dream about, and in all that time there has never been more than a small, now defunct museum to commemorate those pioneers. Two men are well on their way to changing that, however, with their plans for the Bonneville Speedway Museum quickly taking shape.

Wendover, Utah, Mayor Mike Crawford and local Bonneville enthusiast John House recently announced that they have secured a five-acre plot of land on the eastern end of town, right off Interstate 80, where they plan to erect a 25,000-square-foot building that chronicles not just the history of land-speed racing on the Bonneville Salt Flats, but also the story of the Salt Flats and the town of Wendover’s contributions to land-speed racing.

Crawford and House both estimated that it will be another three to five years until the museum is ready to open, but Crawford said he’s already received verbal commitments from a few historic land-speed car owners to display their cars in the museum. “The history of this sport is scattered all over, so this museum will be a good way to collect it all in one spot,” he said.

The previous museum closed its doors 12 years ago. Crawford’s auto parts store currently inhabits the same building that once housed that museum. Written by Daniel Strohl, November 18th, 2011