86-year-old Sacramento driver sets Bonneville speed records, eyes 400 MPH
By Brian Hickey
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SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — At 86, Gary Matranga is still chasing speed records—at more than 300 mph.
The Sacramento driver and his team set two records this summer at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in a highly modified 1966 Barracuda. Matranga raised his own record in the gas division by 17 mph, reaching 308 mph.
Then the team entered the car in the fuel division, where it faced competitors running on nitromethane and alcohol. Matranga’s car reached 310 mph, topping a record that had stood at 305 mph for eight years.
When asked how long he’s been obsessed with speed, Matranga said, “Almost all my life, I’m 86.”
While the salt flats are known for miles of seemingly smooth surface, Matranga says the ride is quite violent at first, “It’s a handful of work sometimes.”
About halfway down the five-mile track, he says the car stabilizes but continues to drift, requiring constant input.
“About 2.5 miles, it kind of settles down with the air force and then at 300 mph it still moves around, the car moves around quite a bit. When we pull the shoots it really pulls off,” said Matranga.
The Barracuda is powered by a twin-turbocharged Hemi engine with more than 500 cubic inches of displacement and over 2,400 horsepower. Matranga’s team believes that with a few tweaks to the engine, it could reach 340 mph, though the car’s performance depends on the condition of the salt.
“It’s all about reading the salt. Sometimes the salt won’t take the power. We have to keep taking horsepower out of it and Gary has to drive it harder. Other times, the salt is very grippy and we can apply a lot more power,” said car chief Glen Hutchison.
The team plans to spend the winter testing the Barracuda’s engine and looking for the extra power needed to go faster.
The team works nights and weekends around their day jobs, fulfilling their need for speed, “It’s just an addiction, once we say we are going to do this, we set a goal. We have to do that,” said Hutchinson.
Matranga also has his sights on a new car called a streamliner.
A streamliner looks like a rocket with wheels lying on its side.
Matranga hopes to record his fastest speeds ever.
“The idea is to go streamliner at 400 mph,” he said.
The search is now on for a streamliner as Matranga approaches his 87th birthday and sets his sights on joining the 400-mph club.
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