For those of you more interested in pure high speed as opposed to racing around a track, there is a venue on the east coast where racers can get their fix. ECTA, formerly the East Coast Timing Association runs several meets during the year at the Laurinburg/Maxton Airport in North Carolina. Their first meet is coming soon on April 2nd and 3rd. Nowhere near the length of the salt flats, the course is 1.90 miles on a concrete runway. Although considerably shorter, the traction is a lot higher than on the salt. The idea is to see how fast you can go from zero to one mile. Exit speed is measured at the one mile mark.
The racing used to be primarily cars but these days, motorcycles are a big part of the event. Record speed currently is a Hayabusa, ridden by Lee Shierts, at just a tick over 250mph. Now, I wonder what a guy like Hank Booth could do with his 700 horsepower Hayabusa…