Like those who went behind the wheel on the salt flats, daredevils have taken skijoring to new extremes, namely through the use of modern horsepower.
Cowboys took to it, and it flourished in places like Jackson, Wyoming and Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where organized competitions legitimatized the sport to the point where Denver proposed it as an exhibition event in their bid for the ‘76 Olympics. Legend has it that the sport made it to the Western United States through the men of the 10th Mountain Division, having seen it during their time in Europe. This place occupies a unique place in Americana - in the class of American motorsport meccas, alongside iconic locations like Daytona or Indianapolis. The speedway attracts all types of vehicles, from classic American muscle (Don Draper drives a tuned-up 1970 Chevelle SS across the flats in the opening scene of the series finale of Mad Men), to foreign classics (a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL touched 190 mph in 2016), to jet-propelled cars that have streaked across the flats threatening to break the sound barrier in stunning displays of one-upmanship. There is a distinct feeling of freedom here, and perhaps that’s why it has enticed a certain type of automotive enthusiast and daredevil: one with a need for speed. But, ironically, when the temperatures warm and the water dries up, it becomes a snowy wonderland of salt a bizarre winter landscape in the desert. Framed by Graham and Cobb Peaks, the flats hold a couple inches of water through the winter months, making it look more like a mirage - some sort of lake in the middle of the desert. Just off of I-80 to the west of the Great Salt Lake lies Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway, a flat, dense salt pan named for an Army officer who explored the greater Intermountain area in the 1830s.
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