Eric Ritter waits to join the starting line in the Team Vesco car. The Middle Village auto technicianhas been travelling to the famed Bonneville land-speed race since 1987. Photo Courtesy of Team Vesco.
To Middle Village’s own Eric Ritter, “Life in the Fast Lane,” is much more than a classic Eagle’s tune. It’s the way Ritter rolls, both figuratively and literally.
Ritter, 50, an auto technician for Hillside Honda in Jamaica, flies out to Utah three times per year in August, September and October to race a specially-equipped, enclosed body, aerodynamic car atop Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats, 3,500 feet above sea-level.
“It’s definitely a blast of a ride,” said Ritter, who back in October became the first New York City man to gain entrance into the rarefied air of Bonneville’s 200 mph Club when he and his race team, Team Vesco, clocked an average speed of 339 mph at the Southern California Timing Association’s World Finals.
Only in recent years have records over 200mph fallen, said Ritter. “You really have to do something special with your car to get into the 200 or 300 mph club,” noted Ritter, who has been going to Bonneville since 1987 when he first connected with land-speed racer Don Vesco and his team.
Describing Bonneville as a “hard-pack surface of salt,” Ritter said the terrain is very clean to run- on. But, he added, “It will rust everything out if you don’t keep the cars cleaned properly.”
Ritter explained that the Utah Salt Flats make a great track because it’s very hard to get wide-open spaces that run for at least 11 miles. “Bonneville has that,” Ritter said. “You need time to get up to speed… but you also need time to slow down.”
But, while Ritter, who first became involved in the sport as a motorcycle racer admits he gets “a lot of satisfaction” from racing, he says it’s still just a hobby.
“The only people who make money in racing are involved with the National Hot Rod and Racing Association and NASCAR,” Ritter said. “Land-speed racing is private and more of a passion.”
Ritter, who’s lived in Middle Village with his wife June since 2000, said he can’t say enough about Queens. “The borough is a nice combination of the city and the suburbs,” said Ritter, who lived on the West Coast before moving to Queens.
Going forward, Ritter says that he wants to hit 500 mph. “We’ve already had our streamliner up to 470 mph,” he said. “Hitting 500 is the next step, to do that in a wheel-driven vehicle would be a real accomplishment.”
However, Ritter said that achieving speed records is teamwork. “You can’t do this stuff without your team,” he said. “The Vesco team has much experience at Bonneville…it’s great to be involved with bright guys who know what they’re doing.”
And, talking about safety, Ritter said that things can get out of control “real fast” when you’re doing these types of speeds.
“You have to use your head. If you don’t do right things, you can get into problems.”
He described a past close call on a motorcycle where he “hopped off” the back of his bike at around 250 mph.
“You just have to relax, be really calm and think about what you’re going to do at that speed.”
Ritter recalled that the bike “kept going and I got off.” He added that he was lucky to have not been injured in the incident. ”The bike kept going for about three miles.”
Asked if his wife ever worries about his racing, Ritter said his wife is generally calm. “You need to have a really together wife when you do this type of stuff,” he said. “She gets concerned sometimes, but she’s not a worry-wart.”
“You’ve got to enjoy life,” he added. “And this is my thing.”
For more information on Team Vesco, visit www.teamvesco.com.
By Alan Krawitz
