Speed Week Director talks Chris Raschke, veteran driver who died attempting to set speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats

WENDOVER, Utah (ABC4) — A driver trying to set a speed record during a racing event at Utah’s famed Bonneville Salt Flats died Sunday after losing control of his vehicle, organizers said.

Driver Chris Raschke was treated by medical professionals at the scene, but died from his injuries, according to the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), which organizes the popular land-speed racing event known as “Speed Week.”

Raschke, 60, lost control of the vehicle about two and a half miles into a run. His death is currently under investigation. He was the driver for a vehicle known as the Speed Demon and had worked in motor sports for more than four decades.

ABC4 spoke with Keith Pedersen, SCTA President and Speed Week Race Director, about the incident.

“We lost a racer out here … We lost Chris,” Pedersen said. “Many, many people here knew him. Chris is one of those people that is really friendly, very knowledgeable about racing. He’s one of the people that would really go the extra mile for you.”

Raschke’s team, Speed Demon, is reportedly one of the top teams at the event, and Raschke was known as an excellent racer. The team has speed records above 400 mph, according to Pedersen. Raschke also competed in a truck at the SCTA’s dirt course at El Mirage Lake, a dry lake bed in southern California, and won as the 2024 points champion.

While tragic incidents like Raschke’s death can happen, Pedersen said there’s a lot that goes into the safety of these vehicles. There’s a checklist that is quite involved, and requires that racers wear a fire suit more protective than those required by NASCAR, for example.

The Bonneville Salt Flats event is known as one of the biggest land speed racing events.

“There is literally nowhere else in the United States that has this amount of salt at this level of hardness,” Pedersen said.

And Raschke was known as one of the most popular people at the event.

“When you lose someone that you know and is very popular, it’s a big deal,” Pedersen said. “It hit all of us pretty hard yesterday … He’s just one of our heroes and it’s terrible. But we know he was doing something he was very passionate about, and that’s how it is.”

For decades, people have used the flat, glasslike surface at Bonneville Salt Flats, 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Salt Lake City, to set speed records. Speed Week has long been a draw for motorcycle and car fans.

According to the Speed Demon racing team’s site, Raschke worked at the Ventura Raceway in the early 1980s, raced 3-wheelers and cars in the mini stock division, learned to fabricate and maintain race cars when working with an acclaimed engine builder and later became a driver for the Speed Demon team.

The Race Week event began on Saturday and runs through Friday.