Anyone every heard of world land speed record holder Bruce Geisler? More to come.....

 

Bruce Geisler: Earned the distinction of setting the most records at Bonneville with a grand total of 99, of which 50 were produced with his famed '53 Studebaker coupe that has operated with a variety of Chevrolet engines. He began land-speed racing in 1957 with a SR-1 factory Corvette, of which only six were built, and set a new mark of 126 mph for the B/Sports Car class for his first record. Next came his '29 roadster that he raced at the old San Gabe Drag Strip and later at El Mirage before moving on to Bonneville competition. In 1960 he transplanted the roadster's injected Chevy small-block engine into his newly acquired Studebaker body. He soon joined forces with another Studebaker campaigner, a then unknown Gale Banks, and the two shared shop space for their race cars. It was with Banks assistance that Geisler prepped a twin-turbo 304-cid engine that propelled him to a 209 mph record in 1980. Among Geisler's most productive years were 1968 and 1972, when he set four records each year at Bonneville, and at the end of the 1974 season, the Geisler name was on 11 active records. In recent years, Geisler has been extremely active in the "Save the Salt" campaign for Bonneville.

 

I know Tom's little secret.

 

Some guy with a thing about Studebakers and who has
a buddy named Gale.

.

 

Not the same studebaker that got turned into scrap in ORR? Wiped out on a assload of crickets. Mormon crickets. Too bad about that car (if indeed it's him) I saw it on a trailer in the desert on my way out to cali a few years back. The next time I saw it was in PHR magazine. All smashed to bits.

 

I cheated and used google, sorry. His Stude ran an injected Corvette motor for those runs at Bonneville.

"Bruce Geisler: Earned the distinction of setting the most records at Bonneville with a grand total of 99, of which 50 were produced with his famed '53 Studebaker coupe that has operated with a variety of Chevrolet engines. He began land-speed racing in 1957 with a SR-1 factory Corvette, of which only six were built, and set a new mark of 126 mph for the B/Sports Car class for his first record. Next came his '29 roadster that he raced at the old San Gabe Drag Strip and later at El Mirage before moving on to Bonneville competition. In 1960 he transplanted the roadster's injected Chevy small-block engine into his newly acquired Studebaker body. He soon joined forces with another Studebaker campaigner, a then unknown Gale Banks, and the two shared shop space for their race cars. It was with Banks assistance that Geisler prepped a twin-turbo 304-cid engine that propelled him to a 209 mph record in 1980. Among Geisler's most productive years were 1968 and 1972, when he set four records each year at Bonneville, and at the end of the 1974 season, the Geisler name was on 11 active records. In recent years, Geisler has been extremely active in the "Save the Salt" campaign for Bonneville.

"

Would you be freshening his car with an updated small block? A real honor if you are.

 

It was an honor indeed for me to work on Bruce's street rods. Somehow he heard of me through the local street rod club called "slowpoks". That week I tuned three of Bruce's street rods, a 32 blown 302 Ford High Boy, a earlier 32 Ford pick up with a blown 283 and the last was a 59 Chevy suburban with a big block. At first I didn't know who he was, and of course being the person he is he didn't mention that he had won several world land speed records at Bonneville. In fact I think he was one of the first if not the first to break the 200MPH barrier.



Here is Bruce giving me a hand



Here I am tweaking one of the dual quads, jeez its been a long time since I worked on a CARBURETOR.

 

Congrats. I'm blown away!

 

Sweet!!!

 

Bruce has a hilarious sense of humor as well. Very animated.

 

Great story! Great whodunit! Great to know, you dun it, TJ!

 

The word must be out on the street that you are the best! You need to get those pictures framed and put up in your shop!

 

I'm not sure whether TJWONG means 200 MPH anywhere or 200 at
Bonneville. In either case, while Mr. Geisler is in the 200 MPH club,
he is not a charter member. In no way does this diminish his
accomplishments on or off the salt.

Just so people know, Sir Henry Seagrave was the first to officially
break 200 anywhere. It was on the sands of Daytona Beach in 1927
- he drove a Sunbeam to 203 MPH then and another one to a record
231 in 1929.

Sir Seagrave's rival, Sir Malcolm Campbell traded the land speed
record back and forth with Major Seagrave. Sir Campbell set a record
of 301 MPH at Bonneville in 1935.

Mr. Geisler is recorded as breaking 200 at Bonneville in 1969. Among
many things of note, he did it with considerably less displacement than
Mssrs Seagrave and Campbell had at their disposal.

Want more info? Try here and here and here for starters.

.

 

So, the $64,000 (rhetorical) question:

What's up with the Geisler vehicles?

Are they going to be sold? Are they headed for the
Peterson Museum?

A guy doesn't just wake up one day and say, 'hmmm,
think I'll shlep the fleet over to someone I've heard
about and get him to lay a tune up on them.

I already know that TJWONG 'doesn't know and if he
did he wouldn't say' (to put Peter Jennings words in
TJWONG'S mouth).

Anybody else have any info?

.

 

Well, I have no idea that is for sure. But when Mr. Geisler stops by again and I am sure he will. I will ask him about his cars and their whereabouts. He stopped by this Monday out of the blue to just shoot the breeze with us. I do know that he spends six months out of the year in Huntington Beach California, and the other six months is spent here in the Portland Oregon area. And he also told me that the cars I worked on are stored here in a large shop when he is back in California.

 

Colour me green with envy ...

Enjoy the bench racing and reminiscences.

I've read on-line that he is active in efforts to
preserve the salt. Maybe suggest that he post
in CF to raise awareness and see whether members
here might contribute to the cause.

Regards,
Ken R.

 

 

TJ:
What can you say... the words out there, congrads, hope you put those pics up in the shop. Again, congrads...

And FYI: I still have that stupid Low Coolant lite on? LOL...

 

It is times like these that we all (when it is us directly involved) that we remember forever. Good for you TJ! Wasn't there an old ad that went something like, "When TJ speaks, everyone listens" ?

 

I own Bruce Geisler's first top end car, the SR-1 1956 Corvette. Shown here setting record at El Mirage