Dairyland Peach , October 2 , 2022 Page 17

By ZACH HACKER Staff Writer zach . hacker @ apgecm . com

Greg Friedrich is a man who wears many hats .

A contractor by trade , the rural Long Prairie man manages 750 acres of privately-owned white tail deer hunting property , helps stock area lakes and ponds with fish as a licensed hatcher and is a beekeeper who makes his own honey . He can also be found flying around his property , “ Boulder Ridge ,” on a powered parachute , or even officiating a wedding as an ordained minister . Perhaps his newest title , however , is land speed car

“ We ’ ve always done any kind of racing you can imagine over the years , and he grew up with it ,” Friedrich said . “ He got into land speed racing with a ‘ 34 Ford that he was a crew member of ; a crew chief . The guy that owned the car , that drove it , got too sick so my son turned into the driver .”

The younger Friedrich and his team gained notoriety in the land speed racing community . Since their car was street legal , they made the annual trek from Minnesota to the Salt Flats in their land speed vehicle . Once there , they raced — reaching a top speed of about 186 miles per hour — and then drove it back home .

It was about four or five years ago , Friedrich said , when he and his

“ I wish it was next week , but we ’ ll have to wait for August . That ’ s the worst part about it , just waiting .”

— Greg Friedrich wife , Colleen , made their first trip to the Salt Flats as spectators .

“ They call it ‘ salt fever ,’” he said . “ Once you get down there and you do it once , even spectate , you ’ re just hooked ; you want to go back . It ’ s really a unique experience .”

It became an annual trip for the Friedrichs to go with to help their son . Eventually , however , Friedrich decided to purchase his own vehicle . They couldn ’ t get his and his son ’ s vehicles ready in time

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Staff photo by Terry Lehrke

Greg Friedrich , right , stands next to his land speed car at the Lone Eagle Auto Club Car Show and Swap Meet in Little Falls , Sept . 11 . His crew members are his brother , Bruce Friedrich , left , his wife , Colleen Friedrich , center , and his son , Greg Friedrich , Jr . ( not pictured ). In August , they attended the 74th Bonneville Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah . for the 2021 event , so they set their sights on 2022 as the year Greg Sr . would make his rookie run .

His car is about 10 years old , but its previous owners had only ran it once . “ We bought this in Indianapolis , brought it home and have done a ton of work on it , starting with — they call it the funny car roll cage ,” Friedrich said . “ I didn ’ t fit in there . We cut it out and , thank God my son knows what he ’ s doing . He built a brand new cage , which took a long time .”

With what Friedrich said was countless hours of help from his crew — Greg Jr ., Colleen and his brother , Bruce — they had it ready just in time for Speed Week .

“ If it wasn ’ t for my wife , my son — which is the brains — and then my brother — which , he just pours his heart out into this thing — there ’ s no way I could ever do it ,” Friedrich said . “ There ’ s no possible way . It ’ s just countless , countless hours .”

There was plenty to keep in mind for the crew as they got the car ready . Under the hood is a 530 horse , small-block Chevy engine — a 383 stroker motor . It has a 2-speed , power glide transmission , meaning Friedrich would shift from first to second gear at about 180 miles per hour .

That is really just the tip of the iceberg , though .

Friedrich said the Southern California Timing Association ( SCTA ), which puts on Bonneville Speed Week , is “ very , very safety oriented .” Not only did the engine , transmission and every other mechanical component need to pass a rigorous inspection when they arrived at the Salt Flats , so did several safety features . Those include fire extinguishers in both the cockpit and the engine bay , which are controlled by a pull lever in the cockpit .

Another aspect of the vehicle Friedrich said garnered interest from visitors at the Lone Eagle Auto Show and Swap Meet , Sept . 11 , in Little Falls , was the tires . The vehicle sits on 26-ply tires , which are rated for 300 miles per hour . What sticks out about them most , however , is the fact that there is no tread .

“ They claim that at some certain speed — and I can ’ t tell you what it is — but your tread will just fly off your tire , if you ’ ve got tread ,” Friedrich said . “ Number two is , if you think about how drag racers , they heat up their tires , or slicks , it makes them hot and sticky . That ’ s what these do . As they get hot , they get stickier , so you get better traction and more control over the car at high speeds .”

In all , he said three officials looked through the vehicle and tried “ to pick anything apart they could .” After inspection , Friedrich and his team only had to make one minor adjustment , and they were ready to race .

That was Friday , and he was set to make his first run Saturday morning .

“ We left and went to the hotel and it started raining ,” Friedrich said . “ It just kept on raining and kept on raining . Pretty soon , Saturday morning came along and they kind of postponed things . They wouldn ’ t say much other than , ‘ You can ’ t come out here .’ When it gets wet , you tear up the salt when you drive on it .”

For two days they sat and waited , but the weather got worse and worse . Finally , event officials “ pulled the plug ,” according to Friedrich . They told drivers they could come back to the Salt Flats to pick up anything they had left on Friday , but they had to be escorted — going five miles per hour over three miles to the pit .

Friedrich said there were between three inches and Continued on page 19

Staff photo by Zach Hacker

A look “ under the hood ” of Greg Friedrich ’ s land speed car .