National GeographicNatGeoKids
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It's one of the flattest places in North America, a giant expanse of salt so vast you can see the curvature of the earth. Each year thousands of hot-rudders make the pilgrimage to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah with one mission in mind, to go as fast as their wheels will allow. The world's fastest wheel-driven vehicles need a track at least 11 kilometers long and a surface as smooth as glass. But this year, the salt is behaving badly, leaving Race Director, Mike Cook with a tall task. The track is rough, requiring several teams to work round-the-clock in the final few days before the race. Using five ton trucks with graters and slivers attached, they will drag the course in an attempt to smooth bumps and divots. For cars traveling at staggering speeds of over 640 kilometers an hour, a single flaw in the track can cause spin-outs, or even worse, serious crashes. Will the track be up to speed? To clock these confounding speeds, state-of-the-art timing units are placed at pre-determined points along the course. Extremely precise, optical sensors take a virtual speed snapshot, accurate up to several decimal places. By the week's end, records may be broken, lives may be lost but at Bonneville, the salt rules all.

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