In a 1996 edition of NINES magazine, Tim Winker wrote about Dick Catron‘s efforts at setting Land Speed Records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2-stroke Saabs. In 1963 he drove a 1962 Saab 96 with an engine built by Saab Motors in Connecticut, and set a record of 98.079 mph in the Touring Sports Category (F-TS).
Dick Catron of Denver set records in two-stroke Saabs in 1962 and again in 1964. Catron was owner of Saab Denver, a Saab dealership, and Rocky Mountain Saab Inc., Saab’s West Coast distributor during the 1960s.
In 1962, Catron took a new Saab 96 to the Bonneville National Speed Trials to take a shot at a record speed, then in the low 80 mph range and held by a VW Beetle. Catron’s 96 had an engine built by Saab Motors (the predecessor of today’s Saab Cars USA) under the direction of Bob Wehman.
Sponsors included Saab Motors, Rocky Mountain Saab, White & Bagley (Oilzum), Champion Spark Plugs and Koni Shocks.Saab 93
Starting with a Qualifying Speed of 101.99 mph (helped by a tailwind), Catron went on to establish a record in Class F Touring & Sports of 98.079 mph. Early in the day, the Saab established a record of around 93 mph, but Catron kept running the car, setting new records five times, up to the final record of 98.079.
Catron and the 96 went back to Bonneville in 1963, but the record was taken by an Alfa Romeo which set the speed at 104.406 in IIPRO (production class, 0.76 to 1.00 liters). So Catron went back again in ’64,
this time with a SAAB 93F, believed to be slightly more aerodynamic, equipped with a 940cc engine built by
Saab’s competition department under the direction of Rolf Melde. Running I-Production, Catron set a record of 105.453, with a qualifying speed of 107.39 mph. That engine is still in the Saab Car Museum in Trollhattan.
