The Bonneville Salt Flat Experience- Salt Shaken

View From The Seat Of A Rookie-Jerilyn Kugel-Heuer And Chuck Vranas
Recently we caught wind that two people within our corner of the industry were in line to join those ranks: Jerilyn Kugel-Heuer and Chuck Vranas.

One of Jerilyn's names is one of the cornerstones of the street rod industry: her father, Jerry Kugel, pioneered independent suspension systems back when the term street rod was just a trendy new name. Nowadays she runs the office at the family business.

Born on the exactly opposite coast to non-car-people, Chuck Vranas' story couldn't be more different from Jerilyn's. From an enthusiastic amateur, he's climbed the ranks within the hot rod community. Nowadays he freelances for print, championing the vintage tin from the northern Midwest to the East Coast. They say that once you get that Salt in your blood, there's no way to get it out. In describing it, stand-up members of society often sound like common junkies. "One is too many..." they say, "...and a thousand times isn't enough."

So read along as Jerilyn and Chuck reflect upon their maiden voyage on the Salt. You never know; you might actually find yourself in their driving shoes one day.

Jerilyn Kugel-Heuer
Of all of the racers on the Salt, only the rarest can say they were born into it. But that's exactly what Jerilyn Kugel-Heuer can claim. Her dad, Jerry Kugel, founded Kugel Komponents as the hot rod reappeared as the street rod, but before that, 1962 to be exact, he began racing at Bonneville. First with a '33 coupe and later with a succession of roadsters, Jerry made the pilgrimage to the Salt almost every year.

By the '80s, Jerilyn and her brothers started tagging along. In 1987, Joe and Jeff began racing a roadster of their own, and by 1995 they transitioned to a Firebird. In their hands, the Kugel-LeFevers Pontiac became the first stock-bodied passenger car to exceed 300 miles per hour. "It was fun hearing about all the success my dad and brothers had at Bonneville over the years, but I never thought I'd ever get the chance to drive one of dad's cars."

In 2000, Jerilyn came to work with the family at Kugel Komponents to manage the office. "Ever since I started working here I thought 'oh, it'd be so fun to do that one day.' But I never thought I'd get the chance. Then, over dinner one night about a year and a half ago, Jerry Magnuson (Magnuson Products) and dad got to talking. Jerry already owns one full-fendered Muroc roadster and dad was telling him about the new Muroc he was building for himself. Well, somehow talk about the new car turned into 'let's make it a racecar and take it to Bonneville.' Jerry Magnuson would supply the engine and Jerry Kugel would turn his street rod into a racecar. I guess after sleeping on it a few nights, dad decided this was a project he really wanted to do: drive a street rod to Bonneville, change it out to a racecar, drive it as fast as he could, and then change it back and drive it home. It's a feat not too many people can say they've done. About six months later, dad asked if I wanted to drive the car at Bonneville. I was like heck yeah, man; I've waited long enough for my turn! I wasn't going to say no. How lucky am I? I mean how many people get a chance like this? Not very many. I'm super lucky."

She actually got more than her rookie credentials; Jerilyn now holds a Class B license, a piece of paper that says she can go over 200 miles per hour. Typical of the things the Kugels build, the car she drove is special. Though based on the '32 Ford design, Jerry's Muroc roadster has a steel body entirely hand-made by Marcel's Custom Metal. The chassis is longer than stock. It rides on the independent suspension systems that made the company famous; the same ones anyone can buy for their road-going cars. "We actually drove it part of the way to Bonneville (Ed: for the 700 miles they drove, the car got 17 miles per gallon on 91-octane pump gas). They had to make a few alterations such as changing out the wheel and tires, replacing the license plate with a parachute, removing the windshield, installing the tonneau cover, and adding the intercooler tank. And yeah, then we went racing. Dad took the first run of the week and he did 192 mph on the short course, so we knew the car was ready to go. After dad's shakedown run, he put me in the car.

"It was nerve-wracking," she continued. "I was so darn nervous the morning of my first run. My stomach was in knots. I couldn't eat. I couldn't drink. I couldn't do anything. I asked my brothers if it's normal. 'Yup, that's normal,' they said. They kept giving me pointers, telling me 'if you hear the wheels spinning, take your foot off the gas; don't oversteer the car, just don't do anything stupid'...they are my brothers! They were giving me all these tips, but I swear I could hardly register any of it; I was so nervous.

"Then, to top it off, Discovery Channel was following us the whole week! They'd heard about our family and all the Bonneville history between dad and the boys and that I was going to be a rookie driver this year, and I guess since there aren't too many women drivers they wanted to follow our story. So my very first time running at Bonneville they put a camera on me. And that was a little nerve-wracking. I've never done that whole TV thing.

"They also had a helicopter following the run. As I'm sitting in the car ready to go, it's, I forget, 90-something degrees, you're dying of heat, you're claustrophobic, you're belted into this car, and then they stick this camera in your face and say, 'Well how are you feeling? What are you thinking right now?' It was just so...crazy," she said, groaning. "Looking back now I just laugh and think about how fun it was. But at the time I was almost in a panic and I was trying to not hyperventilate. My dad's buddies-everybody's around, they're all saying 'Good girl; you can do it! We know you're gonna be fine!' It was so much fun.

"The most nerve-wracking part is, when you're in that car, and you're looking at the starter, and he's counting down 'four, three, two...' those last few seconds, that to me was the scariest. It was the unknown. I had no idea what I was in for, whether I could do this or not. I didn't want to let my dad down, I was nervous about that. I didn't want to do anything to ruin this car that he'd spent so much time and money on, as well as Jerry Magnuson, whose team had spent so much time and effort on this car. I didn't want to let these guys down, I didn't want to look like an idiot, so I couldn't fail.