We came back to watch the team during Speed Week in August 2004.  This was the event that started it all in 1949.

This time they were hunting for records with an all new line up of racers.

The expedition to Bonneville was led by a highly modified, pre-release version of Chevrolet’s then new 2005 Cobalt SS supercharged sport compact coupe.  They hoped this car would write a new chapter in the long history of the SS line at Chevrolet.

They had a new car and a new driver – NHRA Sport Compact drag racing champion Nelson Hoyos. 

GM and So-Cal had learned a lot with the Saturn Ion and had designed the Cobalt SS racer to run even faster.  The production Cobalt SS supercharged uses a 2.0 liter engine with forced induction and so did the new racer.  But it has a turbocharger.

Also running for records with Ecotec power --- Todd Hass’ 1934 roadster and Ron Main’s EcoFire Streamliner.

The Haas family’s ’34 roadster was inspired by a classic racer that once set a 182 mile per hour record.  David and Todd Haas had their sites set on breaking 200 running a beefed up Ecotec. 

The fastest Ecotec on the Salt Flats would probably be Main’s EcoFire Streamliner.  Its exposed wheels and low-drag body once helped this pencil box rocketship reach 302.674 miles per hour with a flathead V8.  Main hoped his new Ecotec would shatter the Gas Blown Fuel S class record.

The four vehicles spanned the range of Bonneville racers, from vintage hot rods and stock-bodied production cars, to specially-built high-speed record breaking machines.  GM still wanted to create some buzz about the Ecotec and prove that it was a world-class, high-performance engine.  It was touted as the next generation’s Chevy small-block V8, which was introduced more than 50 years earlier.

It was finally time to test the Cobalt SS and its 700 plus, horsepower Ecotec engine.  You have a team helping you build the car, bring it to Bonneville, get it ready and push you off --- but once you’re underway it’s up to you.

After two successful runs the timer let Hoyos and the team know they’d done it.  They’d established a new record in the G/Blown Fuel Altered class at 243.127  miles per hour.  This eclipsed the record set in the Saturn Ion.

Next up was Todd Haas in his Ecotec powered roadster.  He was shooting for a record and membership in the 200 mile-per hour club.

Hass pulled off getting a record – producing a 193.231 record in the Blown Fuel Modified Roadster Class.  But he missed membership in the 2 Club by not quite reaching 200 miles per hour.

It was now up to Ron Main and the EcoFire to really rev things up.  He was ready.

“Generally the push truck rolls the car out, such a high geared transmission that actually shifts out of first gear at approximately 130 miles per hour.  I have to be careful in first and second gear not to spin the tires.  Once you spin the tires sometimes, the rear end wants to outrun the front end.  Our main goal this weekend was to put a number over 300,” said Main.

Main’s streamlined EcoFire did it – a new record in its class, 309.607 miles per hour.  We asked him if he thought it could do 400?

“Four hundred is a hard number to predict and I think this 4-cylinder motor has potential, I think maybe not by us, but someone, will get over 400 miles per hour,” said Main.