The 1950s-style belly tank racer that will be entered in the 2023 Bonneville Salt Flats World of Speed races.

A Bonneville ‘Bonus’

After the students joined the Great Race, additional excitement came to the Early Ford V8 Foundation Museum and National Auto and Truck Museum. The museums expanded their partnership agreement with a 1950s-style belly tank racer that will be entered in the 2023 Bonneville Salt Flats World of Speed races. It will be driven by Kadin Goebel in the under-18-years-of-age “Youth Class,” and by Jack Pontius in the over-18-years-of-age “Adult Class.” Both are participants in the NATMUS Youth Volunteer Program.
16-year-old Kaden Goebel (foreground) will be one of two people to pilot the belly tanker at the 2023 Bonneville Salt Flats World of Speed race in 2023. He is joined in this Jan. 23 image at the NATMUS Garage by several of the Youth Volunteers.

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The belly tank race car will be the first Bonneville Salt Flat entry for the EFV8FM and NATMUS. Much like the Great Race venture between the two museums, the Bonneville project will include the Youth Volunteer Program students.

Legendary engine builder Steve Myers has also joined the team. He’ll work his magic on a pair of Ford flathead V-8/60 engines that will carry the belly tanker down the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2023.
Goebel will be 17 years old when he pilots the belly tanker at Bonneville in 2023.

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As his father Cort Goebel looks on, 16-year-old Kaden Goebel settles into the cockpit of the Belly Tanker for the first time.

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The belly tanker can be seen in its current form at NATMUS. A formal plan to transform the belly tanker to Bonneville Salt Flat race requirements is underway. Once it’s formalized, the belly tank racer will be moved to a new location to make it race ready. It’s recommended to call the museum before visiting to ensure it’s on display.

What’s behind, what’s ahead

Nearly five years after Monesmith first had a vision for putting students in a Great Race car, he can begin to see it come to fruition. With that vision incorporating NATMUS and EFV8FM, it’s probably bigger and better than he originally envisioned.
“The variety and experience these students are going to get is the capstone of our Youth Volunteer Program,” he said. “It’s an unbelievable incentive tool, just phenomenal, and I couldn’t be happier for them”
The future is looking bright for these two world-class automobile museums in Auburn, and the students affiliated with them. Could there be more breaking news in the future? Stay tuned!