WEBBTIDE 2001-2002 @ SHORELINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Volume 37 No.11 Mar. 15 - Mar. 28, 2002 [ ARCHIVE ] [ FEEDBACK ] [ HELP ]
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'SALT' speeds across Utah

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      While Hollywood often glamorizes car racing and rarely examines the human equation, film documentarian Lisa Hardmeyer offers "SALT," an honest, gripping look into the world of the Bonneville Salt Flat time trials in Utah.
      Recently featured at the Seattle Art Museum through TheWarrenReport, "SALT" is a story of the amateur car racers who annually gather to drive their home-built speedsters, testing themselves against time and their own nerves.
      Bill Burke, an 80-year-old former street hotrodder, has been coming to the races since their inception 50 years ago. Burke was one of many youngsters who felt an irresistible urge to drag race, albeit illegally, in Los Angeles in the 1950s. The 30,000-acre salt flats at Bonneville provided just the proving grounds needed to stretch the limits of speed far from the annoying interference of traffic enforcement officers.
      Burke is a lovable, gregarious fellow who began a family tradition that involves his son, Steve, and daughter-in-law, Corin. Burke and Steve have already achieved their coveted 200-mile-per-hour hats, having broken through that speed barrier, and now it's Corin's turn.
      Time trials are almost exclusively male, but Corin does not merely sit on the sidelines and cheer. Finding happiness in her marriage to Steve after leaving an abusive marriage years before, Corin is anxious to challenge her fears yet again through racing on the flats. Steve and Corin work together to build a car, and he firmly nudges her forward, loving and supportive.
      One of the most remarkable features of this film is the ease with which Hardmeyer draws candor from her subjects. While the community of racers is unique and eccentrically quirky, viewers also hear the personal stories of dreams, motivation, pain and triumph. Within the first 15 minutes, it is easy to begin internally cheering for Corin and crossing one's fingers for her ultimate success.
      "SALT" also follows two photographers, Walt Cotten and Steve DePinto, who conduct their own races across the flats to capture the raw emotions of the drivers as well as spectacular vistas complete with incongruous vehicles built in wildly individual styles.
      Cotten and DePinto are compelling characters themselves, as they share their view of this phenomenon after 20 years of following the races. The artists clearly respect the racers and are in evident awe of the commitment required to return to the flats year after year. As DePinto bawdily, succinctly puts it, "They've got bigger balls than we've got."
      Another extraordinary aspect of "SALT" is the magnificent beauty of the landscape. Hardmeyer and co-director Kate Brown chose to shoot with film rather than video, and it was the right choice. The richness of color and the starkness of the white salt flats are so vivid they make the eyes water. Photographs by Cotten and DePinto are interspersed throughout, making "SALT" a visual feast.
      According to TheWarrenReport, Hardmeyer is an Emmy and Bronze Apple award-winning producer. Her credits include "Where Have All the Children Gone?" a story about a group of people who immigrated from the Great Plains, and "Planet Neighborhood and DC & Death: The Trip of a Lifetime." She has been a documentary producer for ten years and currently wishes to produce one on Buddhism, prayer and meditation.
      TheWarrenReport indicates that Brown is a free-lance journalist who has contributed to The Stranger, The Seattle Times and The Moscow Times, among others. She is also a Soviet history professor at the University of Maryland.

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by Cindy Valleley

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'SALT' speeds across Utah
.	While Hollywood often glamorizes car racing and rarely examines the human equation, film documentarian Lisa Hardmeyer offers "SALT," an honest, gripping look into the world of the Bonneville Salt Flat time trials in Utah. Recently featured at the Seattle Art Museum through TheWarrenReport, "SALT" is a story of the amateur car racers who annually gather to drive their home-built speedsters, testing themselves against time and their own nerves. Bill Burke, an 80-year-old former street hotrodder, has been coming to the races since their inception 50 years ago. Burke was one of many youngsters who felt an irresistible urge to drag race, albeit illegally, in Los Angeles in the 1950s. The 30,000-acre salt flats at Bonneville provided just the proving grounds needed to stretch the limits of speed far from the annoying interference of traffic enforcement officers. Burke is a lovable, gregarious fellow who began a family tradition that involves his son, Steve, and daughter-in-law, Corin. Burke and Steve have already achieved their coveted 200-mile-per-hour hats, having broken through that speed barrier, and now it's Corin's turn. Time trials are almost exclusively male, but Corin does not merely sit on the sidelines and cheer. Finding happiness in her marriage to Steve after leaving an abusive marriage years before, Corin is anxious to challenge her fears yet again through racing on the flats. Steve and Corin work together to build a car, and he firmly nudges her forward, loving and supportive. One of the most remarkable features of this film is the ease with which Hardmeyer draws candor from her subjects. While the community of racers is unique and eccentrically quirky, viewers also hear the personal stories of dreams, motivation, pain and triumph. Within the first 15 minutes, it is easy to begin internally cheering for Corin and crossing one's fingers for her ultimate success. "SALT" also follows two photographers, Walt Cotten and Steve DePinto, who conduct their own races across the flats to capture the raw emotions of the drivers as well as spectacular vistas complete with incongruous vehicles built in wildly individual styles. Cotten and DePinto are compelling characters themselves, as they share their view of this phenomenon after 20 years of following the races. The artists clearly respect the racers and are in evident awe of the commitment required to return to the flats year after year. As DePinto bawdily, succinctly puts it, "They've got bigger balls than we've got." Another extraordinary aspect of "SALT" is the magnificent beauty of the landscape. Hardmeyer and co-director Kate Brown chose to shoot with film rather than video, and it was the right choice. The richness of color and the starkness of the white salt flats are so vivid they make the eyes water. Photographs by Cotten and DePinto are interspersed throughout, making "SALT" a visual feast. According to TheWarrenReport, Hardmeyer is an Emmy and Bronze Apple award-winning producer. Her credits include "Where Have All the Children Gone?" a story about a group of people who immigrated from the Great Plains, and "Planet Neighborhood and DC & Death: The Trip of a Lifetime." She has been a documentary producer for ten years and currently wishes to produce one on Buddhism, prayer and meditation. TheWarrenReport indicates that Brown is a free-lance journalist who has contributed to The Stranger, The Seattle Times and The Moscow Times, among others. She is also a Soviet history professor at the University of Maryland.	.
by Cindy Valleley