Legendary motorcycle land speed record racer and Bonneville Salt Flats regular Sam Wheeler was killed while test-running his EZ-Hook LSR Streamliner on the Bonneville Salt Flats on July 25th.
After having set the then fastest ever one-way pass of 355.303 mph on September 6th 2006, Wheeler had been continuing to chase the dream of setting a new two-way world record of over 400 mph ever since.
He survived a high-speed crash in 2006, just seconds after setting that new mark, but despite being fastidious about safety, on July 25th this year he lost control of his Streamliner at around 200mph. He was pronounced dead from his injuries at the Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City later that same day.
After two years of adverse conditions at Bonneville, in 2016 hopes remain high that this year could see the Streamliners out in force again - sadly Sam Wheeler won’t be among them.