Geoff Stilwell who only came to land speed racing in 2016 when Ron and Brian Hope invited him to the Bonneville Speed Week and let him drive their 1985 4WD Dodge Daytona. Although he had raced motorcycles some years ago, Geoff had never been in a land-speed car but he was quickly hooked and purchased the Kuhl, Olson & Bowman Roadster. In 2018, Geoff powered the 500 ci Keith Black Hemi-powered rear-engine ’27 Ford Roadster to a new A/Blown Fuel Rear-engine Modified Roadster record of 258.679 mph. A record that still stands.

Unfortunately, Geoff did not get the coveted ‘red hat’ that is the only reward in land speed racing—beyond personal satisfaction—for setting records. The minimum speed for entry in the Bonneville 200 MPH Club in Geoff’s class is 290 mph—go figure.

Since the 2018 record runs, Geoff’s 7707 has been completely rebuilt by the team at Mick’s Paint, Pomona, CA. A new, longer chassis was built to accept a new 496 ci Brad Anderson-based hemi built by John Beck of Vintage Hot Rod & Design & Fabrication, Chico, CA. The 5,000 hp engine features Bill Miller pistons and rods, a Blower Shop 14-71 supercharger and Enderle injector with MSD ignition and Racepak data acquisition. The transmission is a B&J 2-speed and the rear end a Winters quick-change.

Unfortunately, the gods of speed do not play nice and the 2022 speed week was canceled due to mother nature who decided to turn the salt flats into a shallow lake.