El Mirage is No Illusion

While far saltier dry lake cousin Bonneville gets most of the glory, it was in the dusty Southern California desert where drag and dry lake racing got going on a grass roots level. Miscreants, racers, nerds, and tough guys alike motored out from Los Angeles and Orange County to the high desert in hopped-up gow jobs and jalopies. The goal was to run flat out in an unlimited contest of speed and on-the-spot innovation. The trip out from the Los Angeles basin to the dry lake beds was a challenge in itself. Over one hundred miles in each direction without modern convenience was no easy drive for cars powered by junk and recycled speed equipment from circle track cars, or whatever else they could scrounge up.

That these guys drove out there, tore off the fenders and even bodies of their cars, raced to the limit on the lakes, and then drove home again is a feat in itself. Muroc was the happening spot until 1941, when the United States Air Force decided that testing top secret aircraft was of more importance than a bunch of hot rodders. The racing moved a little south to El Mirage, while the really big land speed contests were moved out to the Bonneville salt flats in Utah for the sake of national defense. While Muroc is currently off-limits to any jalopies, the good news is that the Southern California Timing Association still hosts six races per year at El Mirage dry lake bed. Recumbent motorcycle sidecars join blown nitro-huffing Lakesters on the parched alkali dust bowl in a contest to prove who is the fastest.

The Southern California Timing Association and El Mirage await your visit.