WENDOVER — Terry Nish is going very slowly in his pursuit for high speed, which by his standards means starting at around 360 mph and going up from there ... up to 400 and eventually more than 409.277.

On its maiden voyage on the 7-mile track on Bonneville Salt Flats, his high-speed streamliner, driven by his son, Mike, "made one of the prettiest runs you could ever imagine ... 360 mph en route to its first 400 run."

Not wanting to risk car or driver, his instructions were to shut down after four miles rather than run the full five miles. At the four-mile timing light, the car was at 360 and climbing.

"There's time," he said as he sat sheltered from the sun under a large canopy. "This isn't like other types of racing. There are no hot laps or warm-up runs. You can't strap a driver into a car like this and tell him to run out and crank it up to 400. So we'll make a couple of runs to let Mike get the cobwebs out."

Tuesday, after several hours waiting in the lineup of cars at the start, Mike Nish announced it was going for "400 mph."

Coming out of the five-mile timing light, the streamline was running at 385 miles per hour.

"I'm greedy, I guess," said Terry Nish. "I was hoping for a 390 run, but I'll take this run, don't get me wrong. We'll have to check the car over, now, before we decide if we'll make a run on the 385."

The Nishes are going for a record set in 1965 of 409.277 mph. That car had four engines, one for each wheel, and was naturally aspirated. Officially, that record has never been broken. Unofficially it has. There have been several cars run over 409.

Al Teague went 409.98, but his single engine was assisted by a blower. Tom Burkland went 417.02, but his two engines were power-assisted. And the late Don Vesco went 458.44, but did it in a turbine-powered car.

"No one has broken the record with a naturally aspirated, single-engine car. We've had the car up to 386 and that's as fast as anyone has ever gone with a single engine, so we're pushing the envelope. But, there's no doubt in my mind the car will run over 409," he noted.

The engine, the smaller of two Nish is running with, was modified over the winter to increase the horsepower from 558 to more than 600. If the salt can take it, he'd like to run the car, with the smaller engine, at 400 or above. He plans to return to the salt in September for a private running on the 409 record set by Bob Summers in 1965.