IN
THE
WIND
P48
SAM WHEELER SUFFERS FATAL
BONNEVILLE CRASH
T
he death of Sam Wheeler,
revered land speed racer,
innovator and engineer, has sent
the two-wheel land speed rac-
ing community into shock. Sam
Wheeler, of Arcadia, California,
was performing a test run in his
streamliner at the Bonneville
Salt Flats on Monday, July 25
when the vehicle fishtailed, went
airborne and crashed. He was
73 years old.
Wheeler was immediately
transported to Intermountain
Medical Center near Salt Lake
City, Utah, and though he was
unconscious, his vitals were
initially good. He suffered a col-
lapsed lung, cracked ribs and
severe head trauma, and he was
taken into emergency surgery to
relieve bleeding on his brain, but
died shortly after.
Wheeler was taking place in
Mike Cook's "Test and Tune"
event in anticipation of the up-
coming August and September
races. Organizer Mike Cook
witnessed the crash, and de-
scribed that Wheeler's stream-
liner motorcycle began to slide
after it fishtailed, then popped
up into the air and came crash-
ing down on the caged section
where Wheeler was seated.
His death has devastated the
land-speed racing community,
who unanimously name Wheeler
the most humble and well-liked
person in the paddock.
"Sam was one of my he-
roes," said current two-wheel
land-speed world record holder
Rocky Robinson. "I learned a lot
watching him. One of my goals
was to compete against him
and Dave Campos and all those
guys. I hold Sam up there as
one of my all-time heroes."
Sam Wheeler,
one of the
most gifted
motorcycle
engineers ever
to compete
at Bonneville,
died in a
practice crash
on Monday,
July 25.
