Richard A. Keller, III Bonneville Salt Flats racing films
Collection
Identifier: A0019
Scope and Contents
The Richard A. Keller, III Bonneville Salt Flats racing films (1970-1974) consist of five 16mm films about the cars and people attempting to break the world landspeed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah. Almost all of the films focus on the Blue Flame, a rocket powered natural gas vehicle, which broke that record on October 23, 1970. Richard "Dick" Keller was one of the designers of the car and shot, edited and narrated the film, "Speedquest! The Blue Flame Story 1964-1970." This collection has been digitized.
Dates
- 1970-1974
Creator
- Keller, Richard A., III (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Materials must be used on-site; no use of original material, access copies will be made available for viewing. All items have been digitized and are available. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law, condition of the material, or by donor.
Conditions Governing Use
The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.
Biographical Note
As a founding member of the Igniters Auto Club of Chicago in 1951, Keller, along with his eighth grade classmates, had a passion for hotrodding. Both drag racing and the fantastic speeds at the Bonneville Salt Flats filled his youthful dreams of building and racing fast cars in the 1950s. Inspired by working with "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, Keller briefly raced at the drag strips in his Cadillac-powered 1939 Ford. NASA-sponsored contract research projects at the IIT Research Institute brought him to the Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville, Alabama where he worked on rocket propellant monitoring hardware for the Saturn I and Saturn V booster test programs. Later, working in research at the Institute of Gas Technology on catalysis in natural gas combustion led to gas industry sponsorship of The Blue Flame land speed record vehicle.
As a partner in Reaction Dynamics, he helped to design and build the X-1 rocket-powered dragster, the prototype of the Bonneville streamliner, and the Blue Flame. The Blue Flame was their first attempt to run on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1970. Their successful initial land speed venture resulted in Gary Gabelich setting the world land speed record, 630.388 miles per hour (1,014.656 kilometers per hour) over the kilometer distance with a flying start. It was also the first world land speed record over 1,000 kilometers per hour. This record was not broken until 1997. The following year (1971) he designed and built the Honda Hawk motorcycle streamliner, ridden by Jon McKibben to 286.556 miles per hour over one mile distance. This was not backed up by a return run, however.
In 1972, Keller was the rocket engineer for the Pollution Packer dragster at Bonneville. Dave Anderson set numerous world acceleration records over the ¼-mile, 500 meters, and the standing start kilometer at 234.775 miles per hour, the average speed over the distance. Back at the Salt Flats in 1974, he designed and built the Pollution Packer Bonneville Dragster, driven by Vern Anderson to new world acceleration records in the 1/4-mile and 500 meters. The latter distance average speed was 203.506 mile per hour. This was, again, a rocket-powered vehicle with a unique monocoque chassis structure.
Following these projects, he has designed and built the rocket propulsion systems and chassis for several rocket-powered dragsters; Lew Arrington's "Captain America", John Luna's "Moonshot", and Sammy Miller's "Vanishing Point" to name a few. These rocket-powered "exhibition" cars were very fast and popular attractions at drags strips across the country for several years. At the same time he has continued on with a successful engineering career in the medical device industry from the 1980s until now.
(This biography was provided by Richard A. Keller, III.)
As a partner in Reaction Dynamics, he helped to design and build the X-1 rocket-powered dragster, the prototype of the Bonneville streamliner, and the Blue Flame. The Blue Flame was their first attempt to run on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1970. Their successful initial land speed venture resulted in Gary Gabelich setting the world land speed record, 630.388 miles per hour (1,014.656 kilometers per hour) over the kilometer distance with a flying start. It was also the first world land speed record over 1,000 kilometers per hour. This record was not broken until 1997. The following year (1971) he designed and built the Honda Hawk motorcycle streamliner, ridden by Jon McKibben to 286.556 miles per hour over one mile distance. This was not backed up by a return run, however.
In 1972, Keller was the rocket engineer for the Pollution Packer dragster at Bonneville. Dave Anderson set numerous world acceleration records over the ¼-mile, 500 meters, and the standing start kilometer at 234.775 miles per hour, the average speed over the distance. Back at the Salt Flats in 1974, he designed and built the Pollution Packer Bonneville Dragster, driven by Vern Anderson to new world acceleration records in the 1/4-mile and 500 meters. The latter distance average speed was 203.506 mile per hour. This was, again, a rocket-powered vehicle with a unique monocoque chassis structure.
Following these projects, he has designed and built the rocket propulsion systems and chassis for several rocket-powered dragsters; Lew Arrington's "Captain America", John Luna's "Moonshot", and Sammy Miller's "Vanishing Point" to name a few. These rocket-powered "exhibition" cars were very fast and popular attractions at drags strips across the country for several years. At the same time he has continued on with a successful engineering career in the medical device industry from the 1980s until now.
(This biography was provided by Richard A. Keller, III.)
Extent
5 16mm film
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Richard A. Keller, III Bonneville Salt Flats racing films (1970-1974) consist of five 16mm films about the cars and people attempting to break the world landspeed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah.
Arrangement
Materials are arrenged mostly chronologically.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Richard A. Keller, III in 2012.
Creator
- Keller, Richard A., III (Person)
- Title
- Guide to the Richard A. Keller, III Bonneville Salt Flats racing films collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid created by Danielle Rausch.
- Date
- 2022
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections Repository
Contact:
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City Utah 84112 United States
801-581-8863
special@library.utah.edu
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City Utah 84112 United States
801-581-8863
special@library.utah.edu