Bonneville Salt Flats » Buoyed by cool temperatures and the hardest and best salt conditions in years, nearly 150 drivers from all over the United States and parts of Europe have gathered here this week for inspections in preparation for the Southern California Timing Association's Bonneville World Finals.

With world record runs beginning at first light Thursday and running until dusk on Sunday, this smaller version of August's Speed Week left crews making last-minute adjustments on a wide array of vehicles, including roadsters, streamliners and motorcycles.

There was also time for drivers and car owners such as 75-year-old Jeff Shipley of Upland, Calif., to recall past exploits while still searching to join that elusive 400-mph club in his streamliner.

Shipley, who teaches electricity at a junior college, first came to Bonneville in 1958 and has more or less been involved in seeing how fast his vehicles can go across the salt ever since.

He told a wonderful story about Burt Munroe, the New Zealand motorcycle rider played by actor Anthony Hopkins in the movie "The World's Fastest Indian."

It was 1962 and Munroe had somehow managed to get his souped-up Indian motorcycle from New Zealand to the Salt Flats, where he hoped to set a record.

"I passed this old guy pushing his motorcycle across the salt," recalled Shipley. "I asked him where his crew was. He didn't have one. So I took the front wheel of his motorcycle and helped bring it back to the pit. He made three runs after that."

Shipley suggested that Munroe try a special blend of nitro fuel in his motorcycle, a concoction that increased the speed of the Indian by about 10 mph. He gave his newfound friend about five gallons of the stuff to take back to New Zealand.

Airport security, of course, had a bit of a problem with that, so Munroe drove to Shipley's California home to return the fuel. That was near wine country, so Shipley talked to a friend who put the fuel into bottles and placed it in a case labeled, "Fine California wine," which was shipped back to New Zealand.

Shipley said everyone helps everyone else during these speed trials when the only prize is a trophy and your name in a record book.

"Your closest competitor would lend you the part that would break his record," he explained.

With two 437-cubic-inch engines producing 1,500 horsepower, Shipley has hopes that either he or primary driver David Haas, of Las Vegas, might better the streamliner's top speed of 368 miles per hour this week.

"We always expect to go 400 mph, but we would be happy to go 370 mph," he said.

Greg Carlson, another Salt Flats veteran who does press relations for the SCTA and has raced on and off since the early 1960s, said conditions are ideal for setting records. A rainstorm last week delayed the start of record runs by a day, but the track was hard with good traction. The cool weather should help increase the speed for most drivers in a sport in which experimentation is the norm.

Carlson also met Munroe when the New Zealand rider set a record in 1962, but he remembered another New Zealand racer named Rollie Free who raced across the Salt Flats in a Speedo swimsuit on an ironing board in order to cut down the friction and get more speed.

Curtis Halvorson, of Sheboygan, Wis., was hoping that his streamliner, called "The Mormon Missile," could become the fastest diesel vehicle in history by breaking the record of 350.092 mph.

"We'll never find more perfect conditions than this when we will see these cool temperatures and salt conditions like this," he said. "We'd like to push that record to 400 mph."

Car owner Don Feguson, of Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., was hoping to set a record in his 1927 Model T Modified Roaster and had hopes of hitting between 225 to 230 mph. He has been coming here since 1970 and said conditions have never been better.

wharton@sltrib.com