Racer dies trying to set land speed record at Utah salt flats

A driver died Sunday after he crashed while he was trying to set a land speed record at an annual event on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, event organizers said.

Chris Raschke, 60, died after the crash at around 3:03 p.m. MT, officials with the Southern California Timing Association, which runs the event, said in a statement.

Organizers said the crash happened after Raschke “lost control of his land speed vehicle at approximately the 2 1/2 mile.” It occurred during the annual “Speed Week,” which opened Sunday.

The Bonneville Salt Flats are about 12 miles long and 5 miles wide and are made up of sodium chloride, or table salt, according to the federal Bureau of Land Management, which oversees it.

The area is used for land speed racing, among other purposes, it says. Drivers at the Bonneville event can reach speeds of more than 300 mph.

Raschke was a driver with the Speed Demon team in Ventura County, California, and piloted the Speed Demon streamliner, the team says on its website. He began working in motorsports in the 1980s, it said.

“We are deeply devastated,” the team said on social media Sunday.

The American Hot Rod Foundation was among those also mourning Raschke’s death. It said he was reportedly traveling in the neighborhood of 300 mph when the crash occurred.

“To those who knew him on the salt, he was someone who found the perfect balance of friendly and competitive. Never a usual combination and one that speaks to the quality of his character,” the association said in a statement. “We send our deepest sympathies to Chris’s family and friends.”

The flats are around 120 miles west of Salt Lake City, on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake Basin, the BLM says on its website. They’re remnants of Lake Bonneville.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, the Southern California Timing Association said.